Luke 11:1-6

Luke 11:1 (KJB)
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Jesus was engaged in a time of prayer and when He had finished one of His disciples came to Him and asked Him to teach them how to pray just as John taught his disciples how to pray. In ancient times it was customary for Rabbis to teach their disciples how to pray and to compose prayer formulas for them. The disciples saw the intimacy that Jesus had with His Father when He prayed to Him and they wanted that same intimacy rather than cold repetitive prayers.

Luke 11:2 (KJB)
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Our Father - The term “our Father” indicates a personal relationship with God the Father and this only happens when one is saved in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “our” is plural word denoting a brotherly relationship with other true Christians. While we can think of God the Father as our own personal Father, He has millions of children worldwide. This is not an implication of the universal fatherhood of God, but it states the universal brotherhood of all true believers. "Father" indicates the familial relationship between God and His children.

Which Art In Heaven - God is in Heaven meaning that He is higher than man's earth. (Psa 20:6 KJV) Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. We must realize that God is the King of the Universe and Heaven and that He is the potter and we are the clay. The fact that we realize God is in Heaven, means we understand that we are the creation and He is the Creator. We come to God in faith knowing that we are on earth and He is in Heaven. (Heb 11:6 KJV) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Some of the New Age based religions teach that we can become a god and that is so false. This is why we acknowledge the fact that the true God is in Heaven and if anyone states they are god, then we know they are false.

Hallowed Be Thy Name - God is to be reverenced. Hallowed means to make holy. This is why God’s name is never to be attached to a swear word or even some type of “joke.” Since Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also God, then their names are not to be used as swear words or even in a common manner. His name is holy and we find many places in the Bible where it speaks about the worship of God because of His holiness. David felt this part of prayer was so important that he had a group of men in the temple to do just that. (1 Chr 23:5 KJV) Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith. (1 Chr 25:7 KJV) So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning, was two hundred fourscore and eight. God is so holy that He is worshipped by special angels. (Rev 4:8 KJV) And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. As Christians when we approach God, it must be in the Spirit, that is, we must be saved because otherwise we are in the flesh and God does not hear the prayer of the unbeliever. (John 4:23-24 KJV) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. {24} God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Unsaved man is spiritually dead and still in their sins and therefore can never come into God’s holy presence.

Thy Kingdom Come - When Jesus was speaking at this time there was an expectation that the Kingdom of God would arrive when the Messiah came. Many have attached this verse to the false teaching of a literal thousand year reign of Christ. The Kingdom of God which came is made up of those who are born again in the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is the eternal church and it will not be a visible kingdom as some are looking for. (Luke 17:20-21 KJV) And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: {21} Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. The only time the church is visible is when it is assembled for worship. The ultimate fulfilling of this coming Kingdom will be when the New Heavens and the New Earth are created after this present age is completed with the Great White Throne Judgment and then God makes everything new for eternity.

Thy Will Be Done In Earth As It Is In Heaven - At the present time, God's will is that He redeem a people for Himself. He did this by establishing His salvation plan on earth. God's will for salvation was established in heaven before the foundations of the world. (Eph 1:4 KJV) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Before Adam and Eve sinned, they walked in harmony with God but once they sinned, that fellowship was broken and had to be restored by means of Christ going to the cross. The ultimate will of God is for His people to become saved. When a person becomes saved in Christ, they are then made holy by means of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So the believer is the extension of the holiness found in Heaven but on earth. (Rom 14:17 KJV) For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Notice in Ephesians 1:4, we see that the believer should be “holy,” and that holiness comes from Heaven as God establishes His will that His children will be holy for He is holy. That holiness comes to the believer by the imputed righteousness of Christ.

Luke 11:3 (KJB)
Give us day by day our daily bread.

Our praying should be as our eating habits - daily. The daily bread that we are to seek is spiritual nourishment. We must seek the face of God in prayer every day.  (John 6:34-35 KJV) Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. {35} And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. It is the bread of life that we are to seek. When we ask for daily bread, we are asking for those attributes that the Lord Jesus Christ has to help face our daily trials. We ask for meekness in the presence of trials, we ask for strength to face the day, we ask for wisdom to confront our enemies, we ask for joy to face the losses of the day, and we ask for true love to be able to be a witness to the unbelievers. We may also ask God for daily physical sustenance but the weightier meaning of this verse is in the spiritual realm. George Mueller, when he ran his orphanages in England, would always pray for the sustenance needed to take care of the orphans and God always provided, so it is not wrong to pray and ask God to provide our food for us.

Luke 11:4 (KJB)
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

And Forgive Us Our Debts - Debt is a word used here to signify sin. We pray that God will forgive our sins and if you are true believer then Christ has paid for your sins. Each person is a debtor to God because of our sin and when we become saved, that debt is paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke gives a clear definition that sins are in view.

As We Forgive Our Debtors - Do we put forth our hands and say to others I forgive you? One of the best narratives in Scripture which deals with unforgiveness is found in Matthew 18:23-35. A master forgave financial debt of a slave which amounted to 10,000 talents of gold or silver. Each talent weighed 56 pounds and 11 ounces. Here is the value of that by today’s standards on 7/7/13. The weight would be 683 ounces. If it was gold, it would be 683 X $1614.70 = $1,102,840.1 equals one talent of Gold. 10,000 X 1,102,840.1 = 11,028,401,000. Silver equals $28.19 per ounce. The value would be $192,537,700. Where would a slave get 11 billion dollars or even 192 million dollars? Both of these sums would be absolutely impossible for any slave to raise. Even by today’s standards, how many could raise 192 million? What Jesus is showing us here is that no person on earth has the ability to pay for their sins in their entirety. God forgave us our sins because Christ took the penalty of those sins and as a result, we are totally free from the penalty.

Now within that parable, the one who was forgiven obviously forgot how much he was forgiven and went and found someone who owed him a mere pittance in comparison to what he previously owed. The amount would be approximately 8 ounces. A Roman pence was 1/8 of an ounce. If it was 8 ounces of silver, the debt would be $225.52 and if it was gold, it would be $12917.6. What a tremendous difference! 192 million versus $225.52 or 11.02 billion versus $12,918. When we look at what God has forgiven us, how could we not forgive someone else who has sinned in such a small way in comparison to our sins. The Lord is basically teaching that those who sin against us will never match the amount and severity of the sins we have committed against God. (Psa 51:4 KJV) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

And Lead Us Not Into Temptation - The word "temptation" may also be translated "a proving, testing, or trials." In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we read "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." The word "temptation" in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is the word for "trials." What is the great trial which will come upon the entire world which is common to man? It is Judgment Day which is the great trial of all people on the earth who are unsaved. If you have become saved, then Christ has stood in your place at your trial and because of Him you were found not guilty.

What is also in view here is that we pray that God would not allow us to be led into temptation, that is, into a temptation that we may not initially see as a temptation but may see it differently. (Deu 31:8 KJV) And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. We pray that the Lord will go before us and keep us from the path of erroneously engaging something which may be a satanic snare which could lead us away from the path of righteousness. God never leads us into a temptation which could cause us to fall away. (James 1:13 KJV) Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: We are seeing in this prayer that we pray to be kept from temptations which will cause us to stray and that is the basic gist of the meaning.

But Deliver Us From Evil - Many of the modern versions translate “evil” as “the evil one,” which I believe is erroneous. The reality is that Christ already delivered us from the evil one at the moment we became saved. (John 14:30 KJV) Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. Satan has nothing in the Lord Jesus Christ and he has nothing in the believer. Jesus uses this phrase right on the heels of “lead us not into temptation or trials.” Those trials which could possibly cause us to stray from the path of righteousness. If I was to paraphrase this section, I would say it this way, “lead us not into the trial which could cause me to stray from holiness but deliver us from the evil intent and substance of those trials.” We are to pray that we would be delivered from the evil principles of the kingdom of Satan. Even though we have become saved and taken from the kingdom of Satan and adopted into the Kingdom of God, we can still be tempted and if we fall prey to those trials, then we may lose our testimony or something else. We are asking to be delivered from the evil snares that the kingdom of Satan will place before us to try and get us to fall.

Luke 11:5 (KJB)
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

After Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray, He then launches right into the parable of the Friend at Midnight. This parable speaks of the character of God who always responds to the needs of His people. Jesus takes an every day incident to stress the important principle that those who possess true faith will be persistent in prayer until they receive and answer. He starts out by asking the people that if you have a friend and go to him at midnight and ask for three loaves of bread, what would his response be?

Luke 11:6 (KJB)
For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

Normally the days need of bread is baked in the morning and only enough is made that would last for the meals of the day. Since they had no place to store it so it would not go bad, the bread was totally consumed. So this man is surprised by a friend who shows up at his door at midnight hungry, and his host has nothing to give him since all the bread is gone. It was an ordinary custom to feed a person who has just newly arrived but this fellow arrived at midnight making the situation a little awkward.

Back