The Lord's Prayer (An Exegetical Analysis Of Matthew 6:6-14)

          In prayer, our principal focus is to be on God. He ought to be the object of our attention and thoughts. We are in His divine presence. God answers a man's prayer based on his sincerity and faithfulness (v. 6). Christ's words are not a condemnation of public worship itself. Rather, prayer is not to be done with the intent of impressing other people. It is more so a matter of one's heart (what a person is like in the inside) than his outward posture (what a person looks like to other people).

          We are not to pray in the manner that pagans do, like the worshipers of Baal (1 Kings 18:26). Prayer should be intelligent and coherent. Repetition itself is not a problem (Matthew 26:42–46). Prayer is not to be done boisterously or in a state of unrestrained euphoria. We are not to utter rash sayings in offering up our prayers to God (v. 7). He rejects prayer tainted with self-righteousness, which infected the religious leaders of Jesus' day.

          God knows everything, which includes our prayer requests, even before we even go to Him (v. 8). We do not know ourselves as well as He does. Only pagans think that their gods need to be told about human needs. That is not the case with the living God. Therefore, the purpose of prayer is communion with Him. Christ is our spiritual food. He is consumed by faith.

          We acknowledge that God is the Creator and Lord of all. It follows from that premise we are to give Him rightful honor and worship (v. 9). We must approach Him in humility and respect. Jesus Christ was giving to His disciples a proper model for prayer in contrast to the empty words of unbelievers, who only wanted temporal blessings. It would also indicate who was one of His disciples. Israel had failed to properly honor God's name (Ezekiel 36:22-23).

          We pray with knowledge beforehand that God is sovereign for His kingdom to be inaugurated (v. 10). It has no boundaries in terms of depth or extent. Our wills are to be perfectly aligned with God's will. Our desire is that good conquers the evils of this world. God has a plan, which cannot be thwarted. It will be fully brought to fruition when Christ returns for a second time.

          We live in a world that overflows with tragedies, from poverty, wars, famine, and diseases. Only goodness can exist in the kingdom of God. We pray that He supply our needs on a daily basis (v. 11). He continues to provide for us according to His will. This points to the reality that we need to depend on God always. Prayer is more than merely asking God for material items. 

          Some have seen the expression "daily bread" as referring to Jesus Christ's literal presence during communion, but the Greek term epiousion is a hapax legomenon—appearing only in the Lord’s Prayer—and its exact meaning remains uncertain. The context of Matthew 6 and Luke 11 naturally emphasizes God’s provision for our everyday needs, not a declaration of miraculous material change in the elements during the Lord's Supper. The leap from a meaning of “necessary” or “for tomorrow” to “super being” is a speculative stretch that projects later Aristotelian theological constructs back into the text without sufficient contextual or linguistic warrant. Further, communal language need not only be understood as an assertion of metaphysical change in the bread and wine. By focusing on a single Greek term to validate a specific doctrinal claim, such an approach reduces the rich, multilayered meaning of the eucharist to a linguistic puzzle. The real power of the communion elements lies in their ability to foster communal identity, invite personal transformation, and recall the profound mystery of divine love made manifest in Christ’s life and sacrifice. 

          In prayer, we humbly petition God for the forgiveness of our sins (v. 12). Sin is an offense against Him. We have repeatedly violated His perfect standard of morality, the Law. We must pray for sins committed, even after conversion. This does not mean we must approach God with a list of our misdeeds because we could not possibly remember all of them or realize the degree to which we are sinful. His mercy is greater than that, knowing no limits.

          We must follow the example of God forgiving our trespasses against Him (v. 14). We ought not hold anger or resentment toward other people. We are not to hold offenses committed against us by others in the past over their heads. We must forgive the sins of other people because that is what He has done for us. We too are sinful beings. Forgiveness is the essence of the Christian message. It eliminates human pride and boasting.

          We pray to God that He protects us from succumbing to the influences of evil in this world. This request encompasses both support against attacks by minions of Satan and other human beings. Temptation is inevitable for us as long as we live on this earth. God will bring His purposes to pass in His own timing. He is entitled to perpetual glory (v. 13).