Matthew 6:11-15
 
Mat 6:11 (KJB)
Give us this 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.
 
Mat 6:12 (KJB)
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
 
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 11:4 KJV) 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. 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 8/18/12. 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 12918. 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.
 
Mat 6:13 (KJB)
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
 
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.
 
For Thine Is The Kingdom, And The Power, And The Glory, For Ever, Amen. - This is a great doxology to end a prayer on. A good example would be David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:10-19. We are being reminded here that our lives are not our own because we are in the Kingdom of God and it is His Kingdom and we represent Him on this earth at present. Jesus had taught previously “thy kingdom come” and He is speaking about the eternal Kingdom of God. We are to recognize that all the power belongs to God because it was through His power that sin and Satan was defeated at the cross and it was His power that will raise us up on the last day. We are also reminded that all that God has done for us, from forgiveness to deliverance from Satan, is to the glory of God and not to ours. There are many false preachers out there thinking that they have some type of divine power and they glorify themselves instead of God. Then Jesus winds up the prayer reminding us that God’s glory, His power, and His kingdom, of which we are a part, will be forever. Then the word Amen is used which means “finality, stability, truly, so let it be,”
 
Mat 6:14 (KJB)
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
 
This particular verse is aimed at true believers. (Eph 4:32 KJV) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Forgiveness is a trait of the transformed life of a Christian. They forgive those who have sinned against them as we saw in verse 12. If this verse is not looked at in the light of other verses in Scripture, it may look like a works gospel. The evidence that we have become saved is that we forgive those who have sinned against us. The fact that we are saved means that God has forgiven us all our sins. (Col 2:13-14 KJV) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; {14} Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
 
Mat 6:15 (KJB)
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
 
One of the characteristics of the unsaved is an unforgiving spirit. If they are hurt in some manner, the world’s way is to exact revenge upon the other person and get even. That type of spirit shows that a person has not become saved and in essence, God has not forgiven their sins. If they never become saved, then the Father has not forgiven their trespasses and they will die unsaved.

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