I want to emphasize the three points that are mentioned in the Lord’s prayer or this model prayer. There are three points that I think are very important. Number one, you have the matter of the name of God: “Let Thy name be sanctified”. Then you have the matter of the Kingdom of God, “Thy Kingdom come”, and then you have the matter of the will of God, “Thy will be done”. These are three important points in this prayer: Thy name, Thy Kingdom, and Thy will. These things are related to spiritual warfare.

Let’s cover the Lord’s prayer point-by-point. At the very beginning He says, “Prayer like this”. In some translations you get different connotations. In some cases you get the impression you have to pray exactly what it says, word-for-word, right out of the King James’ translation! I don’t think, that is really the sense in the Greek. Another translation says, “Pray like this”. I kind of like that translation—“Pray like this.” You need to realize that the different English translations translate this differently. Some people get hung up thinking you have to pray the Lord’s Prayer exactly like it appears, from the beginning word to the last word and you cannot stop, you cannot pause, and you cannot interject any other prayer in the middle of it. I have done this myself too. Then some pray all over the place. So there are two extremes. Proper prayer mingles or mixes the Word of God in with your prayer. So it is okay to take part of the Lord’s Prayer and pray it back to God. For instance, consider the words, “Thy will be done”. Sometimes you are aware of a situation where God’s will needs to be done. You may be aware of a situation—a family situation a financial situation, or a health situation and maybe you are not even sure what God’s will is. It is always safe to pray, “God, Thy will be done in right here in this situation just like it is in heaven.”

Okay, let’s go through this prayer point-by-point. The first point it says, “Our Father Who is in Heaven.” Now it doesn’t say, “O God” or “Our Heavenly Father”, but it says, “Our Father”, indicating a couple of things. Number one, “Father” indicates a family relationship, an intimate relationship with God. In the book of Romans Paul says that our spirit is crying, “Abba Father”. It is like our spirit or the spirit of His Son in our heart is crying, “Father, oh Father”. This phrase, “Our Father” indicates an intimate relationship with God. And also it indicates that God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. Now, it also indicates something else. When you say, “Oh God”, or, “Our Father” or, something like that, it is a statement of the existence of God. You see, today the enemy doesn’t want people to think that God exists. For example, in the study of biological systems and biological studies and things like that you have things like evolution taught. To me, when you get into evolution, you find that it is really not a very scientific system; it is a very biased, one-way view. In the first chapter of the book of Romans, it says when people turn away from God they do not like to remember God or retain God in their knowledge. They don’t like to think God is around, but in this prayer there is a statement, “God exists.” Evolution is a system of thought designed to make people think that God isn’t real. If you get into a study of evolution, you will find it is not very scientific at all. Now I realize that when it comes to science, you want to present a lot of different viewpoints. Evolution is one way you can present things scientifically, but when you say it is the only way, you are not really a scientist, but kind of a biased person. But in this prayer we have the statement, “Our Father”, which is a statement that God exists. Not only that, it is an indication of an intimate relationship. Not only that, this indicates God is the source. A father in the family is the one who provides for the needs of the family. God provides for our needs. So in this prayer, “Our Father” is a statement, first of all, that God is real. Secondly, God wants an intimate relationship with us. Thirdly, God is our source.

Let’s continue on. The second point in this prayer is, “Let Your name be sanctified.” I know some translations have, “Let Your name be hallowed” or, “Hallowed be Thy name.” I like the word, “sanctified”. Or if I could take the liberty to translate it a little differently I would say, “Let Your name be lifted up in the earth.” When I think of that phrase it reminds me of the other places in Scripture like the psalms. Psalm 8:1 says, “Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth.” It’s interesting that the psalmist would say that. Most of the psalms were written by David and he kind of goes up and down, up and down. If you read his psalms you will see sometimes he is depressed and other times he is up in the heavens. He kind of has these mood swings—up and down—kind of like you and I have. Sometimes we really feel good and sometimes we don’t feel good. Well, in Psalm 8:1, he is up. So here is something related to the Lord’s prayer where he says, “Your name is excellent in all the earth”, it is similar to, “Let Your name be sanctified” in the Lord’s prayer.

Now one other place in the Bible related to this is in Philippians, “And being found in fashion as a man”, that is speaking about Jesus Christ, “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the cross, even to death on a cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him a name, or the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” This is a statement about how Jesus went through death and resurrection, and then He was exalted. When He was exalted He was given a name. Listen—everything else has to come under that name. That means things in the heavens, things on the earth, and things under the earth.

Okay, this is related to the name of Jesus. We realize, today, that just about everything has a name. Trees have a name, citifies have a name, lakes have a countries have a name. You and I have a name. Our cars have a name. The street we live on has a name. But according to this verse, the name of Jesus is higher than any other name on the earth. This is a very good way to pray, because when things come along to trouble us, distressful things and things that are out of line with the will of God, we can pray this way. We can say, “God, in the name of Jesus, we claim that all other things have to bow under, or come under the name of Jesus.” They have to come under the name of Jesus. Why? Because that name is a lifted up name. That is the highest name in the universe. In one of the first television programs I said that when Jesus passed through death and resurrection, He attained to highest management position in all the universe. In other words, He is Lord of lords. He is King of kings. In the book of Philippians it says that at the name of Jesus, the highest, most powerful and exalted name—everything else in the universe, especially on the earth, has to come under the name of Jesus.

Let’s continue on here with the Lord’s prayer. The next portion says, “Thy Kingdom come.” Now why would He say this? Well, today there are lots of kingdoms on the earth. You and I have our little realms and the devil has his realm. But God’s Kingdom needs to come to this earth. Whenever I read that portion or pray that portion, “Thy Kingdom come”, I think about this little phrase in the book of Revelation that says, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever.” Now this is really the conclusion of the Bible. The book of Revelation is kind of split in half. The first eleven chapters are one portion, and the second eleven chapters are another portion. They both begin and end. So here in chapter eleven, we actually have a conclusion of the entire book. Let me read this verse from the book of Revelation, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and forever.” This is in chapter eleven, and it is one of the conclusions of the book. This is the first conclusion and there is another in chapters 21 and 22. But here it is saying that finally this world, this earth, has become the Kingdom of our Lord. In the Lord’s Prayer, the model prayer, we are taught by Jesus to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” Why? Because His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God has not yet fully come to this earth. So we need to pray that prayer.