The Meaning of The Lord’s Prayer
Understanding the Lord’s Prayer
There are as many ways to pray as there are people who pray.
There are no wrong ways to pray. There are no intrinsically right ways to pray.
That said there are a few great prayers that incorporate the unique elements that make up a truly great prayer. The best known of these is most likely the one attributed to Jesus known as The Lord’s Prayer.
I feel what is said and crafted into this prayer contains all of the best features of prayer. When you think about the words and the mystical importance of the words used I am always amazed at how powerfully it utilizes all of the most effective elements in a very few words.
Take a few minutes with me below and consider the meaning of The Lord’s Prayer and what is truly being said and created in this great prayer. Ponder the underlying and even magical power of these words as I help you understand the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer line-by-line.
Our Father,
This address in this prayer is one of the most important aspects of this prayer. In using this salutation to God as Father we are establishing a particular type of relationship with God, that as a child to a loving and benevolent Father.
It is interesting to note that during the life of Jesus, God was not seen by many of the scholars and Rabbis of the time in this way. The God of the Israelites Yahweh was seen as a jealous often vengeful God. By Jesus shifting the attention with the salutation of the Lord’s Prayer to Our Father, he is bringing us into a specific relationship with God. It is a relation of what the great Jewish theologian Martin Buber referred to as an I Thou relationship. The I-Thou relationship with God as a loving and benevolent God is a subtle power of this salutation.
When you pray, consider the words of the salutation as an important part of the prayer, not just automatic words muttered ritually. In the salutation you are aligning yourself into right relationship with God; however, you see or believe God to be. This lets you focus the power in your prayer.
What matters is not the name of God that you call upon, but rather the alignment and relationship that is created in the salutation. Ponder this and consider this in light of that relationship. There is great power in the words that we choose. This is always true and even truer when we pray.
Who art in Heaven,
This is an affirmation that our Heavenly Father exists in a unique and special realm of consciousness. Our words, our prayer, and our intention must go to the realm of God and spirit. It is because God is a spirit that God is everywhere. It is because God is spirit that our prayers can access God anywhere and everywhere we go.
Hallowed (or Holy) be thy name.
This is an affirmation of both the greatness of God and of our homage to that greatness. In this short phrase, you are brought into a relationship of honor and respect with the Divine.
Thy kingdom come,
This is an affirmation and invocation in the prayer. It is to some extent the “ask” part of the prayer. In this phrase, you are asking for God’s kingdom to come to this oft-ravaged earth.
Thy will be done,
This is the surrender. The surrender is a special time in every prayer where we acknowledge that Divine wisdom is superior to our own.
On earth as it is in heaven.
This is again affirming and invoking that the kingdom of God be manifested here on earth. It is perhaps significant that of the ten stanzas or phrases in this prayer, two are about bringing about the kingdom of God on earth. This point is worthy of pondering.
How would your life experience on earth be different if God were directing your life in every step you take and every move you make?
What can you do to bring this more into your experience of life on earth, live, demonstrate Love more, practice forgiveness and be generous and giving to others?
Give us this day, our daily bread.
This is significant in what it says, but most importantly in how it says it. This is the second “ask” in the prayer, the first being for all of the citizens of earth, but it is important to note that it is only asking for what is needed now. It both assumes and affirms that our daily needs will be met, but it also focuses our “ask” on the present time, the NOW, not the future.
And forgives us our (debts, trespasses, sins, mistakes)
The words used here vary greatly, but the important principle is asking for forgiveness and seeing forgiveness as something you must give. Your giving forgives is so very important that your request for forgiveness is asked for in proportion to your ability and willingness to give it.
as we forgive those have trespassed against us.
I have always liked the word trespasses because it incorporates a large breadth of mistakes and failure in both others and us.
This stanza is 10% of the whole prayer, and to my mind and heart one of the very most important parts of the prayer because it implies a responsibility not just to receive forgiveness but also to give forgiveness, to others and to ourselves. This is the only part of the prayer where what we receive is dependent upon our actions as well as God’s.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
This stanza contains two very important aspects. It asks for help in overcoming and avoiding temptation, to which you are all subject by your human nature. Most important it acknowledges that there is evil in the world while invoking your protection from it.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the Glory forever and ever.
This is an affirmation of the divinity of God and His ownership or dominion over His entire kingdom. It is further affirmed that He rules with power and glory, eternally.
In some versions of the prayer, it concludes with the assurance of eternity by concluding with the words, forever and ever.
Amen (So be it) or (It is so)
The actual interpretation of this word goes back to several Sanskrit words, the OM (the sound of Universal Presence) and the AUM. The word Amen also is brought forward from the Old Testament and was used in the New Testament to signify deep truth. Today it is most often used as a confirmation of truth and has become a traditional close to most Christian prayers.
This speaks to the eternal nature not only of God but also to the eternal nature of our affirmations and invocations. It is also an expression of gratitude while affirming the eternity of the Divine. The gratitude affirmed in the saying of Amen is an affirmation of your faith that you believe that what you have prayed for will come into manifestation.
When you pray it is most powerful to pray with the wholeness of your Self. Prayer is the merging of your heart, your mind and your Soul. When you pray you are not only petitioning or asking, you are opening yourself up to merging your energies with the Presence of the Divine in an experience of Oneness and unity. This merging of your heart and mind, with your Soul and the Eternal Presence of God invokes the blessings of being touched by the comforter, being sustained by eternity and restored.
Namaste,
Genevieve
The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!
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Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”
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Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.
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