This is often called the Lord's Prayer because Jesus gave it to the disciples. It can be a pattern for our prayers. We should praise God, pray for His work in the world, pray for our daily needs and pray for help in our daily struggles.
The phrase "Our Father in heaven" indicates that God is not only majestic and holy but personal and loving. The first line of this model prayer is a statement of praise and a commitment to hallow, or honour, God's holy name. We can honour God's name by being careful to use it respectfully. If we use God's name lightly, we're not remembering God's holiness.
The phrase "Your kingdom come" is a reference to God's spiritual reign. God's kingdom was announced in the covenant with Abraham (Luke13:28) is present in Christ's reign in believers' hearts (Luke 17:21), and will be complete when all evil is destroyed and God establishes the new heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1).
When we pray "Your will be done", we are not resigning ourselves to fate but praying that God's perfect purpose will be accomplished in this world as well as in the next.
When we pray "Give us today our daily bread", we are acknowledging that God is our Sustainer and Provider. It is a misconception to think that we provide for our needs ourselves. We must trust God daily to provide what He knows we need.
When we pray "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors", we are indeed following God's instruction for us to forgive others so that He too will forgive us our sins (Matthew 6:14-15).
And the last phrase "And lead us not into temptation....", is that God doesn't lead us into temptations (James 1:13) but sometimes He allows us to be tested by them. As His children, we should pray to be delivered from these trying times and for deliverance from Satan and his deceits. All Christians struggle with temptation. Sometimes it is so subtle that we don't even realise what is happening to us. God has promised that He won't allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). Ask God to help us recognise temptation and to give us strength to overcome it and choose God's way instead.
ABOUT TEMPTATION
The devil often tempts us when we are vulnerable - When we are under physical or emotional stress (For example: lonely, tired, weighing big decisions or faced with uncertainty). But he also likes to tempt us through our strengths where we are most susceptible to pride. When we give in to the devil and wrongly use our strengths, we become proud and self-reliant. Trusting in our own powers, we feel little need of God. To avoid this trap, we must realise that all our strengths are God's gifts to us and we must dedicate those strengths to His service. We must guard at all times against his attacks.
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