Victory in ‘Living’ The Lord’s Prayer: Conclusion
Conclusion:
This study started with my recollection of what the Lord said to me about the Lord’s Prayer:
“You have been praying the Lord’s Prayer all of your life…now it’s time to live it!”
The Lord told me that within the prayer itself is a summary for victorious ‘Kingdom living.’—that it contained keys for revival and for walking in the Kingdom daily.
Since then I have not only used the Prayer as an outline to direct my daily prayers but also as a reminder of how I need to live daily.
Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned for victorious Kingdom Living from the Lord’s Prayer:
-Our Father:
When we believe in Jesus and accept him as our Lord; intimacy with His Father becomes possible and the almighty creator touches us and dwells within us with his Holy Spirit and we become members of his family and the new temple of God.
It is time for the church to get this down—all of the church. I believe that the ‘Fatherhood of God’ and greater intimacy with Father God is part of the ‘Good News’ of the Kingdom message that is supposed to go into all the world—every nation, people, and tongue before the end. And part of a ‘New Awakening’ coming soon near us.
All of creation awaits for the church to understand more fully what it means to be and act like the children of God and cry out—Abba Father!
When we pray ‘Our Father’ daily, it should remind us of our true eternal identity as part of the family of God; including all of the promises that go with that identity that Jesus prayed over us (John 17).
-Hallowed be thy name:
We really do need to take the time daily to worship God daily—he is God and we are not
There is a balance to the prayer here—on one hand we are declared to be part of God’s family but he is still the Creator God –the one that needs to receive our praise and worship daily.
-Thy kingdom come, Thy Will Be Done:
The prayer is not future, it has implications for daily living. We are asking in the present for his kingdom to come now—Thy Kingdom come—let your Kingdom come right now. Let healing come, let oppression cease, let freedom ring, let abundance come to the poor, let God’s justice reign.
Again, the original Greek word for Kingdom – ‘Basileia’ actually means ‘rule’. So wherever God rules, there is his Kingdom. So when we pray for his Kingdom to come we are really praying for an extension of his rule and authority.
When we accepted Jesus as the Lord of our life we became part of God’s ‘Basileia’ –his kingdom rule is in our lives—and the Kingdom is ‘Good News.’
When he actually rules in our lives—his will is being done on earth and all the ‘good news’ of the Kingdom is available to us in this life. We can become ‘naturally supernatural.’
It is time for us to clearly understand that Jesus is our example. He demonstrated what it means to bring the Kingdom and rule of God into human experience. How to be naturally supernatural.
Daily we have a choice to live under his kingdom rule or like everyone else, according the world culture and the rules of our enemy Satan. We get to choose (Rom. 12:1-2).
-Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven:
when we pray for his Kingdom to come we are really praying for an extension of his rule and authority; which is exactly what we are praying for also when we say:
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”
Jesus holds the keys to bringing the rule of God to the earth just as it is right now in the Heavenly realm. And he has chosen us and called us to follow his example.
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have a choice. We can live and walk in God’s Kingdom under his authority OR by default under the dominion of Satan and the fallen world. Hope in this life and the life to come only comes through faith in Jesus and by intention seeking the Lord and his Kingdom in all we do.
-Give us this day our daily bread:
The ‘Good News’ is that we have a choice. We can live according to the Kingdom ‘rule’ of Father God and our prayer for ‘daily bread’ will be honored. We can receive everything we actually need daily for our body, mind, and spirit from God when we pray according to his will and not just the stuff we want.
The abundant daily life in the Kingdom of God also includes hope, peace, and joy which the world cannot provide.
-And forgive us our debts:
Jesus paid all our debts and sins on the cross. So what do we do with this part of the prayer—how do we ‘live’ it?
It is a matter of intention- We are called to live lives of forgiveness—and continue to deal with sin in our lives. Sin separates us from Father God and the Devil uses any sin in our life to fool with us. Fortunately, Jesus paid for all of our sin and all we have to do is ask for his forgiveness.
So how do we live with this part of the prayer daily? First of all we ask the Holy Spirit what there is in our lives that we need to repent of—what do we need forgiveness for and what do we need to change today.
Guess what—he will tell you.
Don’t let the devil dig up ancient history—stuff you have already been forgiven for–during this time of contemplation—just declare—I don’t receive that– I have already been forgiven of that long time ago. Just receive what the Holy Spirit tells you and repent.
-As we forgive our debtors:
Also ask the Holy Spirit who you need to forgive. He’ll tell you. Sometimes I am surprised who and what circumstance he brings up—since I didn’t think it was a big deal.
But just declare your forgiveness of those whether you feel like it or not.
Especially if you don’t feel forgiving—declare it anyway—it will break to power of it and it won’t be hanging over you anymore. Then soon you will be able to declare it with real conviction.
Unforgiveness gives our enemy the Devil permission to deal with us. It really is important to forgive everyone we can think of who has ever done anything against us.
-And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
Fact is, every day we are either walking in the Kingdom of God or by default in the dominion of Satan. It happens by our intension or inattention. If by intention we live by the teaching and commandments of Jesus and listen to his Holy Spirit daily then we shut the door on temptation. By inattention we allow the devil an opportunity to get to us; if we live like everybody else (unbelievers) and get carried along in his fallen world and culture.
I have heard many good Christians counsel that their life changed for the better when by intention they prayed and asked the Lord to help them daily and better yet, continued to pray throughout the day. If we remember to take the Lord with us and include him in everything we do all day long, it makes it very hard for the enemy to get to us and tempt us.
Read the Word –the Bible daily and the Holy Spirit will be able to provide us with the very scripture we will need when the enemy comes calling and does try to tempt us. That is exactly what Jesus did when he was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. He quoted scripture to defeat the devil and we should do the same.
-For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Be encouraged—always—and live in victory no matter what is happening. Remember to thank him daily no matter what circumstances you may find yourself in. There is victory in our daily praise and thankfulness.
God is ultimately in charge of all of history and we will be victorious in the end. Every promise and prophecy of the Bible will be fulfilled. Read God’s word and apply it to your life, including this prayer, and live victoriously. Just read the last page of the Bible—we win and live victoriously with God forever!
This concludes our study on The Lord’s Prayer.