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a. Our Father: Our shows that prayer belongs among the people of God. Jesus assumed that His people would be praying together.
b. When we say Father we use a privileged title, demonstrating a privileged relationship. In the Old Testament, we don't see great men and women of God pray to the Lord this way. Jesus opened up to us new and greater paths of intimacy with God.
c. Our Father in heaven: The right kind of prayer comes to God as a Father in heaven; it rightly recognizes whom we pray to. To say that God is in heaven says:
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i. He is a God of majesty and dominion: O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? (2 Chronicles 20:6)
ii. He is a God of power and might: But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. (Psalm 115:3)
iii. He sees everything: The Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. (Psalm 11:4)
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d. Hallowed be Your name: Hallowed means "set apart." It is a to say that there is no one like God, He is completely unique - not just a super person or a better person. Name means that God's whole character, His whole person, is set apart.
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i. "The name in antiquity stood for far more than it does with us. It summed up a person's whole character, all that was known or revealed about him." (Morris)
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e. Your kingdom come: We pray with a longing for God's kingdom; we want to see Jesus rule and reign on this earth, and we want it to begin with us.
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i. The ancient Jews used to say: "He prays not at all, in whose prayers there is no mention of the kingdom of God."
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f. Your will be done: We should pray with a desire to see God's will done, and put first. "In heaven God's will is obeyed by all, spontaneously, with the deepest joy and in a perfect manner without a shadow of unfaithfulness. And the believer must pray that such a condition should also prevail on earth." (Geldenhuys)
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i. This is prayer that puts God's interests first; it is His name, His kingdom, and His will that are primary. Our needs are addressed secondarily. Prayer isn't a tool to get what we want from God. It is a method to get God's will accomplished in us and all around us.
ii. Some see the Trinity in these requests. The Father is the source of all holiness; Jesus brings the kingdom of God to us; and the Holy Spirit accomplishes God's will in us and among us.
iii. Some see the three greatest things in these three requests. To pray Our Father requires faith, because he who comes to God must believe that He is. To pray Your kingdom come requires hope, because we trust it is to come in fullness. To pray Your will be done requires love, because love is the incentive to obey all of God's will.
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