Please turn to Matthew 6.
Matthew 6:11:
Give us this day our daily bread.
We have been considering together this so-called Lord’s Prayer. We know that it is the prayer that our Lord has taught His church to pray.
In this prayer, we find, first of all, that our Lord wants us to pray for God’s needs first, before we pray for our own. This is the order. Oftentimes we forget that God has needs too. We are so completely wrapped up with our own needs that, when we come to Him, we just begin with our own needs and forget His needs altogether. Probably this is one reason why oftentimes our needs are not met.
But if we really can see that, we should pray for God’s needs first. And if we pray for His needs first, then we will find, when we pray for our own needs, they will be met.
Now, in Matthew 6, the Lord says:
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
The Lord wants us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. Of course, in seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, that includes bread. So that is why we feel that the church really needs to pray for God’s name, for God’s kingdom, and for God’s will. These are the things that the church ought to pray for.
I do not feel there is a contradiction. It says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Then the Lord teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Sometimes we wonder: if we really seek His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto us—and all these things include our daily bread—does it mean that we do not need to pray for all these things?
Well, He says all these things shall be added unto you, but He does not say that they shall be added unto you without prayer. In other words, sometimes these things will be added to you without even praying for them; at other times, we need to pray for them. It is just a matter of keeping the right order.
We need to pray for God’s needs first, and then we pray for our life. Why? Because the kingdom of God is the basic; daily bread is the addition. If we forget the basic and just go right to the addition, it may not be added. But if we go to the basic, then we can pray for that addition, and we will find that it shall be added.
So it does not mean that we should not pray for our daily bread. As a matter of fact, we should, because the Lord teaches the church to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” I wonder how much the church has really prayed that prayer.
Sometimes we think, “Well, it seems a lack of faith to pray such a prayer—a lack of trust.” Sometimes we feel that when we get down to physical, material things, it is not too spiritual in our approach. And I wonder whether it is because the church has not been praying this prayer that we find problems in this case.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” The Lord teaches us; He instructs us to pray this prayer. It is for the church to take up this prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Now why should we pray this prayer? I think there are several reasons. Number one: we are living in a very hostile world.
For Christians, for us to live a righteous and godly life, is not easy. In other words, we are living in enemy territory. The atmosphere around us is hostile and opposed to us. If we want to be faithful to the Lord, if we want to live a righteous life, if we want to live godly, we find it is not easy—easy, easy.
Because of this, how we need to look to our heavenly Father to support us and to supply us with all our needs.
One day you will find that, without the mark of the beast, you cannot even sell or buy. In other words, even these physical things will be under such control that, for people to live godly and righteously, it will mean starvation; it will mean death—physical death—if they will not yield.
Such days are coming. In a sense, we are already in those days. Because of this, the church should pray for daily bread. We need to look to our heavenly Father to supply us with our necessities. Otherwise, we will find that the enemy is trying to take away even our necessities. We are living under such hostile conditions.
Number two, I think the Lord wants us to pray this prayer because it creates within us a spirit of dependence. As Christians, we need to cultivate the spirit of dependence.
Sometimes we think, “Well, I earn my own bread.” Now, it is true: we have to work. As the Bible says, if you do not work, do not eat. But that does not mean that because we work, we earn our daily bread.
If the Father does not give us our livelihood, no lack of diligence will help. Sometimes we forget. We depend on ourselves so much. We think, “Well, we have a job, and we are working, and we work very diligently, so we earn our own bread.” That is the way we have our livelihood and support, and we tend to forget that it is our heavenly Father who gives.
We need to be reminded: He gives, and if He does not give, we will not have any, no matter how we work.
We need always to be reminded that our daily bread is given by our Father, that we really depend upon our heavenly Father to supply us with all our necessities. He is the One who gives us. That creates within us a spirit of dependence upon God and a spirit of thankfulness.
That is the reason why people eat and pray. It is not because it is a formality. When we do it, it is because we do acknowledge that our daily bread is given to us by our heavenly Father.
Number three, I think it helps to cultivate within us a sense of trust, that we do trust the Lord for our needs. I do believe that, as we go on and the days become more and more evil, this sense of trusting the heavenly Father should increase. We really need to trust Him for our needs.
We may not think that prayer is necessary because we have enough. But we must remember that there are people in this world, even within the household of God, who have to look to the Father for their daily bread.
That is the reason why it is the church’s prayer. As the church of God, we should not be so self-centered because we do not have this need at the present moment; therefore, we do not pray this prayer. Even if we do not have it, there are brothers and sisters in this world who have such a need, and literally they are praying for their daily bread.
We should, as God’s church, stand with our brothers and sisters and remember that this is the prayer of the church, that we should pray for them.
Fourthly, I think the reason why the Lord wants us to pray such a prayer is to build within us an attitude of contentment.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” We are not asking for abundance. We are not asking for luxury. We are just asking for daily bread—not for tomorrow, but for today. In other words, it will develop within us an attitude of contentment.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. You see, the problem with the world today is that people are never content. They always want more, want more, and want more. Because of that, you find they are tempted and fall into destruction.
Now, as God’s people, when we pray this prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” it helps us really to be contented with the daily need, the need of the day. It really develops within us an attitude of contentment.
So I do feel that it is the will of God that His church will pray this prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, it is true that He was always looking at the basic. That is, He always preached the Word and tried to supply the spiritual need. That is the basic.
But we also find that while He was on earth, He did use five loaves and two fishes to feed the five thousand. He was compassionate and considerate, and out of His compassion and consideration, He took care of the needs of the people. Certainly, the Lord wants us to be compassionate and considerate.
We may only have five loaves and two fishes, but the Lord can multiply and feed five thousand. So I do believe that, when the Lord teaches us to pray such a prayer, it is not in any sense that He wants us to forget God’s needs and fall so low as to our physical needs.
But I do believe that the Lord really cares for us. He promises us that if we seek His kingdom and righteousness first, all these things shall be added unto us.
Sometimes, when you read biographies of God’s servants, God’s people all over the world and in different centuries, you find how many of them have had to pray for their daily bread. Because they prayed, the Lord attended to it. That created within them a deep sense of daily looking to the Lord, depending upon the Lord.
In one sense, we may think that kind of life is very difficult; but in another sense, that kind of life is really glorious. They have come to know the Lord in such a personal, such an intimate way—to see that the Lord really takes care of every small thing in their lives. It is a blessing. It can be a blessing.
So I do feel that it is not forbidden to pray for our daily bread. On the contrary, we are commanded to pray. But remember, it is a matter of priority.
We need to pray this prayer because, even if we do not have the immediate need today, we know that somewhere God’s people have such a need. If we pray such a prayer, I do believe it will do us good spiritually, because it creates within us, as I say, a sense of dependence, trust, compassion, looking to the Lord, and not becoming forgetful and self-reliant, thinking that we made it all. I think that will help us to look to the Father and then trust Him.
Editorial Note: References in this message to Andrew Murray should be understood as references to G. Campbell Morgan.
Please turn to Matthew 6, verse 12.
Matthew 6:12:
And forgive us our debts,
As we also forgive our debtors.
We are still considering together this so-called Lord’s Prayer—that is, the prayer that our Lord teaches His church to pray.
We mentioned that we have three petitions in the beginning of that prayer which concern God’s interests. We must always, in all prayer, take God’s interests as the first and foremost things to pray for.
Then you find three more petitions that pertain to our needs, our interests. So after we pray for God’s interests, then we are able to pray for that which concerns us immediately, and it is always within the context of God’s interests first.
In the three petitions for our own needs, you find that they actually cover all the needs that we have while we are on earth, waiting for the return of our Lord.
“Give us this day our daily bread”—our physical needs.
“Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors”—our soulical, our psychological needs.
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”—our spiritual needs.
“Give us this day our daily bread” is basically our relationship with our heavenly Father, because we look to our heavenly Father for the supply of our daily needs.
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” is primarily our relationship with our fellow men.
Then, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,” reveals our relationship with the evil one—that is, we ask the Lord to deliver us from him.
Now, this prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors,” is the only petition with a condition.
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
“As we also forgive our debtors” is the condition.
Now remember, this is not a sinner’s prayer. If it were a sinner’s prayer, there would be no condition.
As a sinner, when we cry out for mercy, God hears us and forgives us. It is on the basis of the shed blood of our Lord Jesus. It is not conditioned upon what we do.
So, as a sinner, when we come to God and ask for forgiveness by believing in the Lord Jesus, our sins are forgiven. Our debts are all paid. God does not lay down any condition for us to fulfill before He will forgive us. We thank God for that, because if He should lay down any condition, we would never get forgiveness.
But as the song that we sing says, “Jesus paid it all.” The Lord Jesus has paid it all. Because of this, there is no condition. If only we come to God through Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven unconditionally, because Jesus has paid it all.
Now, that is a sinner’s prayer. But you see a difference here. Here you find that our being forgiven is conditioned upon our forgiving others. Or, to put it another way, if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.
Therefore, it is not a sinner’s prayer; it is the prayer of the church. That is, after we come to the Lord Jesus and have received mercy and forgiveness, within the context of the church, God expects us to exhibit the same compassion, the same mercy that He has shown us. If we do not, then He will not forgive us.
Now, if we think about it, probably we dare not pray this prayer. Maybe by habit we may be repeating, reciting the so-called Lord’s Prayer, but if you really understand what it means, I wonder: do we dare to pray such a prayer?
Father, forgive our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
An unforgiving spirit is very unhealthy to our soul. God wants us to have a healthy soul, a sound soul. God wants us really to have peace in our heart and rest in our soul.
But if we do not forgive, we will find that our unforgiveness actually hurts our own soul. It may hurt others, but it hurts us at the same time. So God wants us always to have a forgiving spirit.
If we forgive others, then He will forgive us.
On the one hand, when we come to our heavenly Father, we come with boldness. We approach the throne of grace boldly because of the blood of the Lamb, because of the blood of our Lord Jesus. He has opened a new and living way for us, and He is our High Priest, interceding for us.
So, when we think of what the Lord has done for us, we can come to Him boldly and pray. But at the same time, when we think of ourselves, we cannot help but feel that we owe Him so much.
No one can come to God and feel that he does not owe God anything. We always owe Him. Why? Because we come short of His glory. Even the best that we have is below standard.
As we come to Him, we realize how much we owe Him. We owe Him glory, honor, praise, worship, and love. We can never come to a place where we can say that we owe Him nothing.
If this is true, how much we need to forgive others, that we may receive forgiveness for our own debts. Otherwise, our prayer will be hindered.
So it is vital to our spiritual well-being, to the well-being of our soul, that we, by His grace, learn to forgive others, that we may receive forgiveness from Jesus.
You remember in Matthew, Peter came to the Lord and said, “My brother sins against me seven times, and I forgive him. What will You say about it?” And you remember the Lord said, “I do not say seven times; I say seventy times seven.”
The Lord used a parable to illustrate it. The parable is of a certain bondservant who owed his master over a million dollars. He could not pay back. He said, “Give me time, and I will pay that,” but he could not.
Yet the master, out of his compassion, forgave him his debt completely. He went out and met a fellow servant who owed him only less than a dollar. But he took hold of him and said, “Pay, otherwise go to jail.”
His fellow servant pleaded with him, but he would not listen and put him in jail. This matter was known to the master, and the master called him back and said, “I forgave you all your debt, and yet you will not forgive. Therefore, you have to pay.”
In that parable, the Lord is teaching us how we need to forgive others. When we think of how much we owe the Lord, what people owe us is nothing.
This is the only condition you find in the so-called Lord’s Prayer. Even after He finished teaching this prayer, He further explained and enlarged on this one point. It shows how important it is.
This is a prayer that the church ought to pray. Why? Because you find among God’s people today so much unforgiving spirit, bitterness against one another. God’s people are so divided. God’s people fight against each other, devour each other, and will not forgive each other.
Because of this, you find that the testimony of God’s people suffers tremendously. It is because of this unforgiving spirit among God’s people. Remember, this not only affects others; it affects ourselves.
So it is most important to us today that we should pray this prayer.
Thank God, because we can forgive others. Why? Because His life and His Spirit are within us. If we do not have His life, if His Spirit is not in us, we do not have the strength or the willingness to forgive others.
But having His life in us—and His life is a forgiving life, His Spirit is a spirit of forgiving—with His life and Spirit within us, we are able to forgive our debtors. That is grace.
Because we are able to forgive our debtors, therefore we will receive forgiveness from God. God wants His people not only to be a forgiven people, but also to be a forgiving people.
We are forgiven much, so let us forgive much. If we forgive much, we will be forgiven much more.
So this is not a sinner’s prayer. I would emphasize again: if you are confused with that, it seems as if forgiveness is based on your forgiving, but that is not true. It is a church prayer. After we come to the Lord and have all our debts paid, all the past forgiven, God expects us from now on to be merciful as He is merciful, and forgiving as He is forgiving.
So we hope that in our prayer we will not skip this or forget this.
May we continue to read Matthew 6, verse 13.
Matthew 6:13:
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
This is the last of the three petitions for ourselves.
As we mentioned before, we have physical needs, so we need to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We have soulical needs, so we need to pray that He will forgive our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. We have spiritual needs, so we need to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
We live in a hostile world. We are strangers and sojourners. But one thing really comforts our heart: our God is sovereign, and He rules and overrules everything.
Even though evil is upon this earth, we know that without our Father’s permission, nothing can fall upon us.
God has not promised us that we will not be tempted.
In James 1, we are told that God cannot be tempted by evil things, neither does He tempt anyone. Temptation comes from the enemy. The enemy tries to tempt us to sin, and it is because there is lust of the flesh within us that we can be enticed and fall into sin.
But without God’s permission, even the tempter cannot tempt us. In other words, there is a limit. God sets a limit. He rules over even this matter of temptation. That is the reason why we can pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
We are tempted because of our human nature. God cannot be tempted, but we, as human beings, can be tempted.
In 1 Corinthians 10, you remember the famous verse, verse 13:
No temptation hath taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able.
In other words, man’s nature is a fallen nature. In man’s nature there is lust. Because of this, we can be tempted, and we will be tempted.
But the wonderful thing is that God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear. In other words, so far as man’s nature is concerned, we are exposed to temptation. We will be tempted. We give ground to the enemy to tempt us and to attack us. But God is faithful.
In what sense? He is faithful in that He will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear. He knows how much we are able to bear, and only within that limit will He allow us to be tempted. That is the faithfulness of God.
If God allowed us to be tempted without setting any limit, how could we stand? But He has set a limit to the temptation that will come upon us. Even though we have ground within us for the enemy to tempt us, still God, in His faithfulness, sets a limit.
If He allows us to be tempted, at the same time He will always, with the temptation, make the issue also. Here you find two things. First, He will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear. He knows just how much we can stand.
Secondly, as we are being tempted, or as we are in the process of temptation, He will always make an exit, an escape. He will always open a way for us to escape—from falling, to escape from evil.
This God promises us. He does not promise us that we will not be tempted. He does not tempt us, but He does not promise us that we will not be tempted. Temptation comes from the enemy. Temptation is because there is lust within us.
Yet God is so faithful that He really rules and overrules over the whole matter of temptation. First, He will not allow us to be tempted above that which He knows we can bear. Second, He always makes an exit, an escape for us, so that we can bear it.
Now, why is it that God allows us to be tempted sometimes?
In the case of Job, Satan had to ask permission from God to tempt Job, and God gave the permission. Why? Because, unconscious to Job and yet known to God, there was some ground, some impurity there.
So God gave permission for Satan to tempt Job. Yet God set a limit there, and God made an exit for him. The result was that, through the temptation, Job was purified.
God, in a sense, used Satan to purify Job. That is the reason why He allows us sometimes to be tempted. Even though the thought of the enemy is evil when he tempts us, yet God’s thought about it is good: that out of the temptation we may be stronger than ever before.
The reason why people fall in temptation—or, to put it another way, there is no reason why we should fall when we are tempted. If we fall, it simply means one thing: that we do not look to God.
There is enough that has been planted in us by God to endure the temptation. God knows it. He has measured it. So if we fall, it is simply because we do not draw upon that which He has already put in us. That is the reason why we fall.
There is really no excuse if we fall in temptation, because it is within God’s control.
Our Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, was tempted in all things in like manner as we are, except sin.
We are tempted because we have that lust within us. Our Lord Jesus was tempted in all things, but He did not have that lust within Him. Why was He tempted?
In Hebrews, we are told that He suffered being tempted, that He might sympathize with us and be a help to us. In other words, we are tempted because of our lust, but He was tempted because of us, not because of Himself.
He was tempted in all things. God allowed Him to be tempted, and even the Spirit led Him to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It was not because of something in Him. It was because He was going to be that High Priest. He was going to be that help to us.
That is the reason why He was tempted. Through temptations, He did not sin. So He is able to deliver us from evil whenever we are tempted.
The prayer here is, “Lead us not into temptation,” as if God leads us into temptation. Now, what is really meant here? Why should we pray this prayer? Or, to put it another way, if we do not pray this prayer, will we have more temptations than necessary?
Probably we will. That is the reason why we need to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”
Sometimes we can be so bold, thinking that we are able to stand. We become self-confident. We become presumptuous. We think that we are able to meet any temptation. We become careless.
Even in 1 Corinthians 10:12, the verse before verse 13, it says:
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
So, in praying, “Lead us not into temptation,” it actually creates in us a spirit of humility. It is a holy caution. We should not be presumptuous. Knowing ourselves, knowing what is in us—that in our flesh there is no good—knowing our human nature, we need to pray to the Lord that He will not lead us into temptation, lest we cannot stand.
This kind of prayer is necessary. It keeps us away from self-confidence.
Peter said, “Well, if everyone will leave You, I never will. I am willing to die with You.” Satan asked for him, and God gave permission. Peter was sifted.
But thank God, at the same time the Lord said, “I prayed for you. Satan asked for you, to sift you, but I asked for you, that your faith will not fail.” Even though you fall, yet your faith will not fail. You will be recovered.
It is because sometimes we expose ourselves, as it were, to temptations. So we really need to pray that prayer of protection: “Lead us not into temptation.” Knowing how fragile, how weak we are, we need to ask the Lord, “Do not lead us into temptation.” The Lord knows.
If we have such a humble spirit before Him, I do believe that many temptations will be avoided.
It is necessary sometimes. God thinks that temptation is necessary. God will use that temptation to complete us. Then, “Deliver us from evil.”
Even if we are tempted, or are being tempted, yet we will not commit evil. We will not fall into the trap of the enemy. Save us from evil.
In a sense, when our Lord Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, listen to what He prayed:
Father, if it be possible,
Let this cup be removed from Me.
“Lead us not into temptation.”
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
“Deliver us from evil.”
This is the prayer of our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane. I do believe that we, as God’s people, the church of God, need to pray the same prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil.”
Thank God, He is in control, and He will hear our prayer. We will escape many temptations that are not really necessary.
But those temptations that are needed—we will find that He will keep us from evil, that we are able to stand, to withstand, and to stand. We will become stronger after we are tempted, just as our Lord Jesus, when He came back from the wilderness, was full of the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same thing will be our portion. So I do feel that oftentimes, because we do not pray this prayer, we are exposed to many unnecessary temptations, and we tend to fall into evil.
But actually, you will find that He is well able to save us from evil. If He allows temptation, He knows there is enough He has deposited in us to overcome evil.
This concludes the ministry of Brother Kong on corporate prayer.