Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of the Lord's Prayer as the most famous apostolic prayer, teaching that it serves as a model for how to pray. He highlights the importance of understanding each line as a profound truth that reflects God's nature and the principles of His kingdom. Bickle encourages believers to approach prayer with both reverence for God's majesty and the intimacy of a father-child relationship. He outlines six key requests in the prayer, three focusing on God's glory and three on human needs, urging that both aspects are essential in our prayer lives. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper engagement with this prayer to unlock its treasures and align our hearts with God's will.

Chapter 6, commonly called the Lord's Prayer. This is the greatest apostolic prayer. The last session, session 8, we were talking about the value of apostolic prayers. Well Jesus is the chief apostle. He's the main apostle and this is the primary apostolic prayer that he taught us. It's the most remarkable and most important passage because Jesus taught us. The great intercessor, he said, this is how you do it. Every line represents a body of truth that's obviously bigger than just a line. This is more than just a poem that we quote, but they're the great subjects that the Father delights in when we come before him in prayer. Paragraph A, this is a great gift to learn about prayer from the greatest prayer life and the greatest teaching ministry in history. The greatest intercessor and the greatest teaching ministry, he lays it out. It's one of the most familiar passages, but when we search it out, we find it like other passages that there's tremendous treasure beneath the surface. I want to encourage you to resist the over-familiarity that we have with this passage and being content with just the broad strokes kind of approach to it, the superficial view of this passage when it has glorious depths and content to it. Paragraph B, Jesus said, in this manner. In other words, this is a model of prayer. It's not that we quote these words, although these words are good to quote, but he says in this manner, meaning this is the principles, this is the nature of the kingdom. This prayer reveals what God's like, how the principles of the kingdom that he wants emphasized, the nature of the kingdom, the priorities of the kingdom. That's what it means when he says, in this manner, pray. It covers all the basic foundational, basic issues of the kingdom that are expanded on throughout the rest of scripture. In this prayer, Jesus is really telling us, keep these six requests central. Make these primary, the primary themes of your prayer life. Paragraph C, he pointed out six requests that every one of us should pray regularly. And again, the apostolic prayers of Paul and the other apostles, they elaborate on these themes and develop them. Now of these six requests in paragraph C, three of them focus on God's glory, the first three. Then the next three, the last three focus on man's request or our personal human needs. Together, the six of them bring a combination that is essential to walk in all that's in God's heart. Well, let's start, he says, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now this is the Mount Everest of the kingdom of God, our Father who art in heaven. Jesus' prayer starts with a focus on the Father. He brings two dynamic truths together. We'll develop this in a moment, the tenderness of God as a Father, but the awesome power of his transcendence, the one who is in the heavenly realm, the one that rules the realm of the heavens. That phrase in heaven is pointing to his supernatural other than qualities of transcendence, majesty, awe, his terrifying glory. He's other than the earth in a completely different realm. He's in heaven is what that verse means. Not just his throne is there, he is the king of the realm of the superior and the supernatural and the utterly greater than realm. But not only is he king of that realm, he is at the same time our tender Father. Foundational to a strong prayer life is the view of God in his majesty, but as a Father. It's the both together, not the either or. A.W. Tozer wrote a well-known quote. Most of you know his name. He wrote on the deeper life in God and wrote on the knowledge of God, the character of God. He said a low view of God is the biggest problem in the church today. The fact that we reduce God to one who meets needs almost like a buddy, a friend, but a friend that we have a common kind of peer relationship. He is a friend, but he's much more than a friend. He's the king of the heavenly realm. He's the one in the utterly superior, greater than realm. Paragraph B. Now in the time when Jesus taught this, the Jews, the nation of Israel, they saw God as the transcendent creator, the heavenly one, the transcendent. Transcendent means, you know, infinitely superior. They saw him as king. The Jews at that time, they trembled, or at least in theory, theologically, this was their posture. They trembled before his great power. Jesus made a very startling statement. He said the awesome, terrifying God of Moses is your father. The very core of his being, he is a father. He doesn't just function like a father. It's not just a role. It's not just a job description. He actually, at the core of his being, he thinks and feels like a father. This was a new idea to Israel, although there's a few references in the Old Testament to that, but Israel never emphasized those as a nation. So Jesus is combining two ideas here. Our father in heaven, the powerful and the personal. The fatherly love and the heavenly power. The transcendence and the tenderness. The highly exalted one bowed so low to come near, to draw us near to himself. The infinitely high one bowed low in order to bring us near to him in fellowship. Now this is not a new doctrine that God is a father, because it is in the Old Testament. But it was a new emphasis in Israel and a new emphasis in history. Paragraph D. He is God who longs for relationship. But he doesn't just long for the deep partnership of a father. He trains us. He disciplines us. He protects us. He provides for us. He directs us. All the functions of the ideal father. The idea is that we can draw near to him with confidence. With adoring, awestruck humility. But with confidence. We come with humility. He's the most high. We come with confidence. He is our father. We come with adoring love. Our Abba, Papa. But awestruck majesty. The most high God from whom the angels bow and cover their face. Paragraph E. I like what C.S. Lewis said. He said, God is beyond personality. He's more than just a personality. I mean, he has the dynamic ideal personality. The ultimate personality. But his power and presence, totally other than, superior, infinite majesty, and dynamic personality. Some neglect this revelation of God, the fact of his fatherhood. And they depersonalize him. And they end up, undoubtedly in an unintentional way, with a cold, distant approach. Awestruck, but cold and distant. Other folks do just opposite. They become familiar and close and confident. But they don't have the sense of majesty as to who he is. Paragraph F. He's not only my father. He's not only your father. He's our father. It's a very important word. Our prayers are tempered by the reality that we are dear individuals, but we're part of a family. The family's bigger than our ministry. Obviously, we know that. That God is, as a father, directing his people, thinking of the welfare of his family, not just our personal ease and comfort in the temporary sense. You know, when we pray for the breakthrough of God, that's something that I've been big on for years, is that we pray for revival. I don't think I've, maybe I have once and forgot, but I don't think I've ever prayed for revival for IHOP. Just IHOP. I always pray for revival 99% of the time. Man, there must be an exception in there somewhere. Or I pray for God. You're people in this city and region. It's always the people of God. The church and a thousand congregations, one family. Abba, you are our father. Visit us in revival. Though I want to see revival in my little sphere, it's not enough that our sphere becomes lively and the family isn't lively in the things of God. It is not a great victory if things are lively in our sphere and lethargic and dead everywhere else. Well, that would never happen. I mean, that's a purely hypothetical situation. I'm talking about the motive of the heart. Some folks are fixated on their sphere. And if they had an increased energy of the Lord, us four no more, even if it's a couple thousand people, they'd be happy as can be. And the Lord says, I'm a father. What about them? We don't want to be silent until God is visiting his people in the city or the region that he's placed you. And then we have the same prayer for the nations of the earth. It's bigger than our sphere. That's why I always steer people to the bigger picture, our father, not just my father. Talk about page 2. Now, one of the great passages on the Father's heavenly glory is Revelation chapter 4. In this chapter, I identify four categories, or I don't know if that's the right word, of the beauty and the majesty of God that are revealed around the throne. And each one of those four categories has three specific themes. So when I read through this passage, I'm always looking and asking the Spirit. I mean, I don't mean always, but asking the Holy Spirit, show me the majesty in these 12 areas. Verse 3, the beauty of God's person. Verse 4, Revelation 4, the beauty of God's people. Verse 5, the beauty of his power. And then his, verse 5 to 7, the beauty of his presence. Revelation 4, verse 2, a throne is set in heaven. This is where our father is. Jesus understood this is our father who are in this throne, who sits on this throne in heaven. That's what he meant. This is the father from the heavenly view. And the different colors are giving expression of his beauty and his majesty and his glory. It's like a jasper and a sardius. Rainbow, an emerald rainbow of mercy around his throne. There's so much on each one of these. That's not my point here to break that down. Verse 4, there's elders that are robed, crowned, and enthroned. They're sitting on thrones. They have crowns. They have royal robes on. These are not just robes. These are royal robes, part of the family. Here's the idea. The God of majesty, in verse 3, wants partnership with his people. His glory is manifest in them and through them. He has people around his throne. I believe these are people. Some commentators believe these are angels. Verse 5, but from the throne there's lightning and thunder, voices. Later on in Revelation, instead of voices, it says noises. I put the word music. Beloved, those noises are awesome. They're not just noise. It's the most terrifying, wonderful, beautiful music coming out of the throne. Then there's the presence of fire all around the throne. Paragraph H, Jesus set the context. Our father in heaven, intimacy with God within his sovereign majesty. Or he set the context of God's sovereign power within the context of family love and partnership. So when we talk intimacy, it's in context of majesty. When we talk majesty and sovereignty, it's in context of family love and intimacy and relationship. We don't want to separate the two. The reason I say that, that I found that it's easy for a group to go one way or the other. They'll go the tenderness of the father. They'll overlook the majesty or they'll be so locked in the majesty, they miss the tenderness of the father. Romans number three. So let's begin the request. The first three requests. Praying for the glory of God. Petition number one. Praise that the father's name would be hallowed or treated as holy and manifest as holy on the earth. Because God's name is treated as holy in heaven. So the prayer is that it be manifest in its holiness and treated as holy while on the earth. Our father who art in heaven, here's the request. Hallowed be your name. Here's the petition that God's majestic name would be acknowledged as holy. Not just declared and described as holy, surely that, but more than adored and treasured and declared as holy and meditated on as holy. But it's also responding to his name and that kind of abandonment and that kind of respectful way to the father. His name refers to his person, his character, his authority. Paragraph B. In this prayer we're asking God to break him with power to cause more people to acknowledge and to see his holiness. Lord, hallowed be thy name. Break in and manifest glory that multitudes in the church and outside the church would be awestruck by who you are. Because the whole stimulus of culture that has a strong like magnetic pull to pull us away from the truth of his awesome majesty. The whole stimulus of the culture around us and the people and the sights and the sounds and all that we, conversations naturally pull us away from that in Jesus' prayers. Let's pray that this would be central. We would cry out that the holiness, the awesomeness of God as father, but would be seen, received and honored in the church and proclaimed by the church. Paragraph C. Some people take God's name in vain. We're aware of that. They use God's name in a joking way. They love God, but they make jokes. We don't want to touch the being of God in any kind of casual or joking way. Not the being of God. Not the name of God. Others take his name in vain by expressions of anger and contempt. I don't necessarily mean just at God. Certainly some of that. But their anger at people, but they're using the name of God with contempt when they're cursing a person. Number one, we pray for God. The father has the highest place in our life and our heart. That's what this prayer is. We revere or hallow his name. Number two, by not asking for anything against his will consciously. When we're aware of something that's not in his will, we might not know for a while, but sometimes I've prayed for things and later it became clear to me it wasn't his will. I want to let go of it then. That's part of how it would be your name. Paragraph D, petition number two. Still praying for God's glory. The second petition. That your kingdom would come. This is for asking for an increase of the kingdom being manifest on the earth. Now the kingdom of God is the place, well I'll say this. Some folks are confused. They go, what's the difference between the church and the kingdom? The church is the family of God, the community of God in relationship with one another. It's who we are together as a family in community. That's the church. The kingdom is anywhere in society, well anywhere in the universe, but anywhere, we're thinking of the earth right now, where God's word is obeyed, his will is done, his power is expressed. Meaning when the person who works at the bank does the will of God in their economic transactions and their policies, the kingdom is being expressed right there. That's not the church. The church is the family of God in relationship, but it's a church member expressing the kingdom. When there's a God-honoring movie coming out, that's the kingdom of God being expressed. The will of God is being expressed in their own medium. When in a neighborhood association, there's honesty and justice. In the association, there's believers speaking up, there's unbelievers speaking up. There's all kinds of contributions, but wherever the will of God or the justice and righteousness is being expressed on God's terms, the kingdom is being expressed. That neighborhood association is not the church, but it's an expression of the kingdom, whether it's in athletics or whether it's in music or whether the children's soccer league. Wherever the will of God is done, the kingdom is expressed. And so we meet together as the family in gatherings like this and home groups or friendship groups, we call them, or twos and threes and fellowship. That's the church gathering in various ways. And the church is the vehicle that expresses the kingdom. We can express the kingdom all through society, wherever we proclaim or do the will of God. Whenever there's healing or demons are cast out, that's an expression of the kingdom. We've got a little bit more on that, but let's go to paragraph E, petition number three. Praying for God's will to be done. Petition number three. Your will be done on earth like it is in heaven. Well, ultimately, this is going to be fully answered. It's partially answered in this age. It's substantially answered in the millennial kingdom. When Jesus comes in His throne, the will of the Father is done in a substantial way. It's partial now. It's substantial then. But at the end of the millennial kingdom, the Father's throne comes to the earth. Then the kingdom is ultimate. The will of God is being done in the ultimate sense. There is no mixture at all. In the millennial kingdom, there's still sin in the nations. It's minimal compared to now, but it still exists. So this pray that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven is one of the great prayer requests because this is where history is headed. The will of God fully manifests on the earth. But we're not waiting until the Lord returns, and we're not waiting until the Father's throne comes on the earth. We can see the will of God done now. Partially, but still it's important. Significant. Now when we pray the will of God be done, we're praying for, this includes our personal obedience. Some folks are in their ministry, they're focused on the will of God being done, and what that means to them, and this is important, they think of missions. They think of evangelism. That's certainly key to this verse. The will of God be done that the unbelievers would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus that in our city, or we go to the nations and see that, or they get really focused on ministry that helps other people encounter God and do the will of God. Very important part of this verse. But this verse starts in our own hearts. The will of God being done in my life. You know, to pray for the harvest, great harvest in our city, in the nation, or the nations, while consciously disobeying God in my life. I'm not talking about weakness where I'm stumbling, but I'm warring against it. Stumble, but I war against it. I stumble and I still war against it. That's one thing. Because the intention is obedience. There's a spirit of obedience in the very resisting and disdaining of the stumbling. The honest confession that sin is sin and that's not my portion. Yes, I'm stumbling, but I'm warring. There's a spirit of obedience with that mindset. We pray that your will be done on earth. It has a spirit of obedience. Then it expresses itself also in a passion for ministry to get other people to encounter, enjoy, and obey. But there's a blind spot when I'm focused with passion on getting others to encounter and obey and enjoy God where I am not obeying and enjoying God in areas of my life consciously. I mean, where I'm okay with that. Like that one area, I'm just going to let that go. I'm just going to coast for a couple of years in this area and I'll get done with it one of these days. Jesus is saying here, pray this third petition over your life. Pray the will of God. Be done. And as you do that, again, there is passion for ministry for others. There is passion that the lost would encounter the Lord, enjoy the Lord, obey the Lord, walk in His goodness. The will of God being done on earth like it is in heaven. Roman Numeral 4. Let's move now to the next three requests of this great apostolic prayer. Now we're moving, the first three are about the glory of God. The second three requests are personal needs. You know, we don't have to choose between the two. Some folks, they're locked into God's glory and they somehow think God's glory is diminished if we get blessed and our needs get met. Like, I don't worry, it's not me God, it's you. And he says, well, I'm a father, so if it's me, it's got to include you because I'm a father. I'm not just a being in heaven, I'm a father. You're on my heart. I don't know too many Christians like that. Most of them are real locked into their personal needs and not so focused on the glory of God. And I'm not making a big negative point about that, although we want the glory of God first and our personal needs second, but it's not one without the other. It's the both and. And there's not many that are so focused on the glory that they minimize their own needs because they think somehow it detracts from God. If our needs are met or our sphere is increased, we just don't want it to be the number one thing of our life. It's an outcome of our faith because our sphere is going to be blessed and increased for billions and billions of years because it's in the heart of our Father. And He does it in part in this age. So we don't have to pick between the two. Every now and then you'll meet a real zealous believer and I love that zeal. When I meet someone a little overbalanced on that, I go, I'd rather you be overbalanced on that than the other ten things that people are overbalanced on the other direction. But I'd rather you be in the spirit of what Jesus taught though. That's even better. If you've got to pick an heir, overdo the glory of God. And what I mean by overdo it is only by minimizing what the God of glory has set in His heart to do in your midst. That's what I mean by overdoing it. You can't overdo it in the one sense for sure. So I have here in paragraph A that some conclude that prayer for such things are just selfish. So they neglect to make petitions or petitions are requests. It's the same concept. A personal request for their own needs. But when our quest for humility goes beyond the Word of God, it's a religious spirit. It's not true humility. And I say, Oh God, You're so glorious. I'm so nothing. I neglect Your fatherhood because I'm so nothing. I'm so humble. You know the one preacher said, That guy is so humble he needed to pray for pride. Never met a person like that. What I think they met was they had a humility that went beyond the Word of God and it looked amazing, but it's a religious spirit. It's what it is. I want to agree with God. Jesus is telling us, Pray about your own needs now. Well Jesus, you get your eyes on the glory of God and you wouldn't give that kind of teaching. It's what some might think. Again, there's not so many like that today, but through history we've had those camps emerge. It's sincere, that over humility, but it distracts from the relationship with God and that minimizes His glory. It actually minimizes the glory of God because His glory isn't just His power and His awesomeness. His glory is that He's so abundant in love. He uses His power to express love. That's what's so glorious about Him. God's not glorious because He flexes His muscles and He can overpower everybody. That's not the ultimate of His glory. The ultimate of His glory is He has such power, but He uses it for love. That's what's glorious. That's a wow. Who else would do that besides our Father? Well, let's look at the fourth petition. There are six petitions, six requests. This fourth one, we're beginning the personal needs. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, what I like to pray is give me my monthly bread. Technically, I prefer annual bread. I would like God to give me needs, meet my needs for a year from now, today. Put the check, put the money in the bank. Lord, I'm different than all the others. It won't. It'll be good for me. I'm not like the others. Give me a couple years worth and I'll be fine. Well, bread isn't just provision. It is provision, but more give me my yearly direction. Let me know what's going to be happening two and three years from now. I mean in detail. I don't mean the general sense. I'm going to be walking with God and growing in love. I mean I want details because I'll give you tomorrow's direction tomorrow. Oh, come on, Lord. Give me a year or two. He says, no, no, it will keep you connected to me. Oh, I'm different than those other guys. I'll stay connected. I'm saying that sarcastically. I'm sure you're following me. I'm just like everybody else. Now, we don't pray for daily bread to inform God that we need it. Jesus made the many times. He said, your heavenly Father already knows what you need. Right here in Matthew 6, he says that a little bit later in Matthew 6. He knows what you need before you ask it. You don't ask it to reveal the needs. You ask it to enhance the dialogue, to strengthen the encounter. The conversation is what God's after. Now, when the Lord does meet our needs, there's this God-ordained cooperation between human process and supernatural provision. Let me say it again. There's a God-ordained cooperation between human process. He wants us to do our part, but also supernatural provision where he releases the wisdom. He releases the strength. He releases the people that help. He releases the money. He releases the direction. That's the supernatural provision. But there's a human process that's a part of it, meaning one guy. He says, you know, I'm not going to be about the work of the kingdom. I'm not going to be responsible with my money. I'm not going to work hard. I'm just going to ask you to give it to me. And they quote the verse, and they give some money away and say, God, if I give enough money away, you'll give me tenfold back. So they're lazy, and they're negligent in doing their kingdom assignment, and they just think money will drop out of heaven. And so they think, well, Lord, give us our daily bread. He goes, no, there's a human dimension to it as well. You need to be about your assignment whatever season that you're in. Many of you, your main assignment right now is going to school. But that's your assignment. You be diligent about your assignment. You're in the will of God. Others of you in this room, your assignment is you're a full-time missionary. That's a real job, a real assignment. Others of you, your assignment is in the marketplace or one of the spheres of society being deeply involved. No, that's your assignment. If we're involved with diligence in a responsible way in our assignment, we are in a position to ask for daily bread. But it's not about lazy people claiming faith as a substitute for their human dimension of the process. That's just self-evident to 99% of you. But there's always that one guy that needs to hear that. Paragraph C, the fifth petition. Praying for forgiveness. Now there's two points to clarify here. You don't earn forgiveness by praying for it. There's no element of earning it. Like if you pray for forgiveness a lot after a certain point in time, God will eventually give in and forgive. No. Our forgiveness is a free gift of God. And we don't earn forgiveness by forgiving people. It says forgive us our debts or trespasses, our sins, as we forgive others. This verse has been misinterpreted by some that our forgiveness from God, that it's earned because we forgive. Because we forgive, therefore He forgives. No, it's the other way around. It's completely the other way around. That if you've been truly forgiven and you know it, you have generosity in forgiving those who sin against you. A sign of a person that is not genuinely aware of their free forgiveness is someone who won't forgive someone else. When a believer won't forgive someone else, they are in a crisis of faith. And the crisis of faith isn't, well, if you don't forgive them, you're going to end up in hell. There you go. He warned you. No, the crisis of faith is the reason they're not forgiving another person is because they're not aware of the magnitude of the freeness and the generosity they were given as an absolute free gift. They're in a crisis. That's one dimension that's here. But another dimension of what Jesus is saying here, He's talking about, it's not a prayer for salvation here. He's not talking about a believer asking to be saved in the sense of born again. He's talking about being cleansed from the dullness of our sins, like sinning today, sinning yesterday, and saying, Lord, cleanse my spirit. Cleanse my emotions from that defilement. And in my gratitude, I'm energized to be generous to others. I mean, there's a, it's just indication of a spiritual crisis. When I can participate in defiling sin, have my emotions defiled by sinful words and sinful deeds. And I've had that many times. I know that experience, that horrible feeling of having my emotions defiled by something I said. My salvation's not up for grabs. I'm solidly saved. But my spirit or my emotions are dulled and, I don't like that feeling at all. But the crisis is doing that and then not asking the Lord to cleanse me. This is a prayer for cleansing. This is a believer asking for that daily cleansing so they have that renewing of the Holy Spirit, that fresh confidence, that fresh communion with the Lord. But then, having had that renewal of that sense of cleansing, that free cleansing from things I said or did yesterday. Or yesterday, you know, or the day before, the week before, the month before, just yesterday is what I mean. And then having the generosity to be generous with somebody else who's sinning against me because I'm so aware of how kind He was to cleanse me of what I did. The two go together. The idea that it's not okay to live defiled. I want to be cleansed. And then I want to give expression of my gratitude by forgiving somebody against me. Whereas many believers, they're content to stay dull, to live defiled, and then they don't forgive the people that are against them. They have the both and. They touch immorality. They slander. They judge. I mean, in that biblical way because there is a biblical way to evaluate. That's the word judgment. They do wrong things with their money so their spirit, their emotions are defiled. And then they get mad and they don't forgive other people so they've got both dimensions. Defiled heart. Refusal to forgive. Whoa. That's a crisis. There are so many believers that live that way. They've got an area or two in their life. They're content to live defiled in it. And it doesn't trouble them that they're really upset against somebody else about how they're treated. And the Lord says, don't you have a sense of gratitude that I've cleansed you? Can't you give them the generosity I've given you? Even a part of it. So Jesus is actually making two points here. Keep short accounts with God. It is your inheritance to have a cleansed heart. I mean, I'm talking about emotions. To feel the cleanliness of that fresh communication with the Lord and then to feel the generosity of giving it to people who don't deserve it because I didn't deserve it. And again, it's a crisis. When I won't give it to you, it's only an indication that I'm not enjoying it. I'm not aware of it in my own life. Paragraph D. Jesus didn't say forgive our debts because we forgave our debtors. Compare Scripture with Scripture. He's talking about 1 John 1, 9. We confess our sins as believers. We don't confess our sins so that we can go to heaven. We've already done that. Our citizenship is in heaven. We have the gift of righteousness. We're freely forgiven. My salvation is not in jeopardy when I get stuck in an area of defilement. I mean, you don't want to stay in that area for years and let it grow to other areas. You want to attack it right away. But the issue that 1 John 1, 9 confesses our sins, He's faithful to cleanse us. He means to cleanse from that spirit of defilement on our mind and emotions that gets into our conversation with God that causes shame and uncleanness to dominate our thinking and our words. John 13, I think, says it so good. I mean, it gives such a good picture of it. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, I want to wash your feet. Peter goes, No, Lord, you can't wash my feet. I'm more humble than even you are, Jesus. Peter, if Jesus wants to wash your feet, you better take those shoes off or those sandals off right now. Just say thank you. Don't say, Oh, no, not me. Just say thank you. And then when Jesus said, Peter, he that is bathed needs only to wash his feet. But it's completely clean and you are clean. He goes, And the grace of God, in your relationship of redemption to Him, even though He is going to the cross, you know, just right after that, but in the economy of God, it was clear what was happening. He goes, Peter, you're clean. There's an area that's defiled. Your feet are dirty. We could have our position before God and our life secure in the kingdom, but still have an area that's dirty. And I believe that's what Jesus is talking about here. Forgive us our trespasses. Cleanse our heart. Renew our mind and heart with the Holy Spirit. Give us that fresh sense of cleansing and that sense of gratitude that causes us to be energized to forgive others. Okay, paragraph E, the final petition, the sixth one. There's a bit of discussion on this one. I have a little bit more on the notes than we'll cover. I'll just take the next two or three minutes and we'll give you the, I think it sets you in the right direction. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now God never leads us in temptation, so that's, the petition seems strange, like, lead us not into temptation. It's like, Lord, you're leading me to be tempted. Would you change directions and lead me out of temptation? That's, Jesus isn't suggesting that God leads us into temptation. What the prayer means in one sentence, it's really saying the same thing two different ways. It's not two different requests. It's one request stated from two different angles. In paragraph E, we're praying that God would lead us to escape from tempting situations. F, many agree that Jesus here is using a figure of speech. He's saying the same thing in two different ways. Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil, the same thing said in two different ways. This is clear when we read both parts of the one request. The second half of the request, deliver us from evil, defines positively what the first half expresses negatively. Lead us not into temptation. Now let's develop this idea just another moment or two. Paragraph G, Matthew 26, a few hours later, I mean after the Last Supper, I mean, from John 13, when Jesus washed their feet a few hours later, Jesus says, pray that you won't enter into temptation. Now that's a strange word, pray that you won't enter into temptation. I mean it's strange like, I don't mean strange, that's not the right word, but it's like, what do you mean exactly by that? To enter, and that's a prayer that I'm assuming many believers don't pray very much. But Jesus was urgent. He was zealous about this prayer request and this is his sixth prayer request, but he's really saying it again here in Matthew 26, 41. To enter into temptation is something far more than the general temptations in culture. I mean it's not just walking down the road and feeling tempted to covetousness like we see all what everybody else, what other people have. I want that, the lust of the eyes. It's not just a temptation to lust for immorality or possessions or lust for position. It's more than a general temptation being delivered from that. There are key moments, strategic moments in a believer's life. They don't happen that often where I call it when a storm of temptation hits you. It's not just the general temptations of lust that are in the culture for money or immorality or pleasure or pride and position. It's what Jesus referred to in Luke 22. He said, Peter, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. That's what he means by temptation. It's a storm. It's a unique, I mean unique, not once in a lifetime, but I mean it's not something that happens every day. There's an opportune time Satan is looking for to sift you like wheat. And that opportune time is, I have written here in paragraph G where demonic activity, demons, demonic activity is heightened in that moment. That moment might be a couple hour period. Lusts are aroused and the circumstance is optimal. You're in the right situation. Lust is aroused or fear is aroused because from Peter it was fear. And the demons are operating at a higher level than normal of attack. The demons don't attack you scale one to ten at full on ten every time. You'd be so aware of it. Part of the power of Satan's temptation is the subtlety. It's scale one to ten. He's tempting you little, little, little and you get comfortable that you're above temptation and boom, he hits you when you're depressed, fatigued, in the right situation. The right person comes by the exact situation. You're depressed. You're angry at somebody. Nothing's working right. Boom, he's got you because you got confident. Well, I'm not really in a big temptation storm. He goes, that's right, that's right, devil. I'm not tempting you. So his strategy, his tactics are that he, he just, he draws back, draws back, then hits a little harder, draws back, gets us confident in our flesh that we're above temptation and particular things that he hits us and the hour we're, we're depressed, the crisis happens, the situation's right and the demons are coming in full steam against us, so to speak. Peter, Jesus said, you'll be sifted as wheat. That's a sifted as wheat hour. That's a storm of temptation. Entered temptation, you entered into temptation. Far more than a general one. Paragraph H, Luke 4, the devil left Jesus until an opportune time. There are the opportune moments in your life. The devil waits like a lion in prey, waits, he cases the situation, he waits, he waits again, he wants to get you alone, get you in a little self-pity, throw in a little condemnation, add a little heightened fear to it, a little crisis situation, get you real fatigued and then the situation, you'll walk into without even knowing what's going on and boom, he's got you. That's what Jesus is talking about. And he told Peter and he told the apostles to engage in this sixth petition is what he was telling them. In other words, paragraph H, pray before the storm hits. That expresses humility. I'll come before the Lord, I'll say, Lord, don't lead me not into temptation. In other words, let your leadership be in my life to where I'm aware of what's happening. You're guiding my path. I'm crying out for help when I'm not feeling the intensity of the battle. I don't do that enough, but my point is when you do do that, any of us, that's a humility. I call it a pre, look at this, a pre-temptation prayer strike. It's a preemptive strike before the devil hits us. We're praying ahead of time is what he's doing. We can reduce the temptation of that opportune moment, the devil's opportune moment against us by praying and engaging in this sixth request. When I look at these six requests, I think of the sixth one as the most ignored one, the most neglected one. Maybe it's not understood. Matthew 21, I won't go read the verse. You read it on your own. Jesus is commenting on this, the great snare that's gonna come upon the earth. He goes, pray before the snare is on you and wait. Don't wait till you're in the trap to pray. Pray before, connect. Dialogue with God ahead of time and then when the snare comes, you're already positioned and connected in a way of alertness. I'll end with this, Psalm 19, David prayed this prayer. Verse 12, in essence, it's an Old Testament language. He says, cleanse me from secret faults. And I believe what David means, not secret faults, cleanse me from stuff I know that nobody else knows. That's not what I think he's praying for. Lord, you know that stuff I'm doing in secret, help me from that. That's not what I think he's saying. I think he's saying, faults I'm not even aware I'm gonna step into. Cleanse me, help me. Step in now. And then he goes on, develops it. Verse 13, keep your servant back from presumptuous sins. Keep me from that situation that I can't imagine what it will look like, but Lord, I'm aware of my weakness and your generosity and I'm using the, again now I'm putting us in David's prayer. We're praying that sixth petition because we believe in our weakness. We've taken our fallenness seriously. A lot of believers, they know they're sinful, but they don't take their fallenness, they don't take their fallenness in a serious way. They just walk into situations. They haven't been talking to the Lord, they haven't been praying that sixth petition and a storm takes them out at an opportune moment and they're all confused and befuddled how it happened. David was praying this in Psalm 19. I encourage you to put this one on your list. Don't let these sins have dominion over me. Don't let these unperceived sins come to a storm and overtake me and take me out. Amen and amen. Let's stand. I'm gonna pray over you. We're gonna have a coffee break then or just a 15-minute break. Lord, I just ask you, Lord, that these six requests, you would mark our hearts with them. Lord, I ask you, mark my heart, Holy Spirit, with this most glorious insight into intercession by the greatest intercessor and the greatest Bible teacher ever. Lead me, Holy Spirit. Escort me into the deeper truth of this apostolic prayer. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.