The Lord's Prayer | Episode 10

Thank you for listening to today's episode!  Today, Johnny opens Matthew 6:6–13 and walks through the Lord’s Prayer step by step, focusing on secret prayer, engaging relationship, and a surrendered will that brings real reward. He ends with a guided prayer, gratitude for Christ, and a call to practice this pattern all week.

• reading and context for Matthew 6:6–13 
• call to pray in secret to the Father 
• avoiding empty phrases and performance 
• honoring God’s holiness and authority 
• inviting God’s kingdom and laying down our will 
• asking for daily bread and practicing dependence 
• forgiving debts to receive forgiveness 
• seeking rescue from temptation and evil 
• gratitude for Jesus, the cross, and the Spirit 
• guided closing prayer and blessing

Transcript

Welcome And Scripture Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, Johnny Underwood here with the Undivided Podcast. Thank you for tuning in today. I really hope you're blessed by this episode. Good afternoon, Undivided Podcast listeners. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm super excited to bring uh just a fresh scripture that means so much to me uh to bear today. Um I'm very grateful for you dialing in.

Reading Matthew 6:6–13

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So, with that said, today's topic is going to be about prayer and more specifically out of the text of Matthew 6, 6 through 13. So I'm gonna just read that and then we're gonna unpack it a little bit. So here we go. It's out of Matthew 6, 6 through 13. And it's red letter here, which is worth noting. These are the words of Jesus, and he's talking to his disciples, and now to us, all that are listening, now that we have this canonized book called the Bible. He says, But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty word phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask. So pray like this Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Called To Pray In Secret

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So there's just a really there's just a lot here that I want us to unpack. But the first thing that I see is the the statement when you pray. So it's not a it's not a suggestion. It's what I see here is a directive. I see the statement when. It just screams off the page to me that it's we're called to pray. We're called to be people of prayer. So so we have that. That would be my first point that we're called to pray. It's not an if, it's a when. Secondly, it's to go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. So what I see there is also this command of the statement, not just to pray to anyone, but we're praying to our father. And we're praying to him in a private place. So we go into a private place, we go into a secret place, we shut the door behind us, if you will, because that's what he says, and we're praying to our father, right? So I love this because the picture, and we're gonna unpack this in the actual prayer here in a minute, but father is a position of authority and supremacy. So anyway, I just see that there, but I also see the word secret, that we're we're called to go into a secret place, a private place, and get alone with, uh,

Avoiding Empty Words

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get alone so that we can engage him. And it says, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. So there's also a blessing. I love the word reward there. So we go in and we engage God as a father in our in the secret place, and then there's a reward for coming and bringing our prayers to him. And then he says in verse 7, and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do. We can unpack Gentiles and how that's different than Jews, but that's not the point. The point, at least for this conversation, is the that the heaping up or just bombarding God with lots of empty words or phrases. So he says that for us not to do that, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. So we're not, he's not interested in hearing our many words, he's interested in us getting right down to business. So it's worth pointing out. And he also says in verse 8, do not be

Our Father And His Holiness

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like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask. So just be in, just that's wonderful to me, just being mindful that my heavenly father, who invites me to go pray or have a conversation with him in secret, knows what I need before I even ask. That tells me that he's attuned to me, that he's mindful of me, he's mindful of my needs, and that so I don't have to come bombard him with every little detail. I can just lay out, um, if you will, uh, and in in short form what it is. I'm not trying to tally up words or talk his ear off. And then when I do this and I do it the way he's called me to do it, that there's I go back to this previous word that there's a reward for me. So, but he also says, starting in verse 9, he says, So when you pray, pray like this. And so this is the the actual what we know is the Lord's prayer, and we're gonna break this down with a little bit more detail. So he says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So I love this. Well, I mentioned before, it's when we say our father, one, our references possessiveness. It's ours, it's not yours, it's not his, but I'm addressing God as our or mine. It's my father, it's our father collectively. So it's there's a personal possessiveness that's here. I'm his and he is mine, and that I'm naming father. Again, that's that position of authority, it's a one of position, and again, it's a possessiveness that he's father. So if he's father, I'm not father. I'm in this case, as a son, I'm a man, I'm a I'm in the posture position gender as son. So uh in the feminine it would be that daughter, but it's that of we that he's ours as a father. And so when we're acknowledging him as a father, and as a father, I have expectations of him, right, that I wouldn't have if he wasn't my father. I have it my my children have expectations of me as a father that they don't have of other fathers or other neighbors in authority or other men in their in their lives that are authorities. It's a different expectation that they can have of me as their father, in the same way that we have earthly fathers. God is a much better father and he's a heavenly father, so or as our heavenly father. So as our heavenly father, we have uh expectation of him, and he's gonna um he's gonna lay out some of that to us here. Secondly, our onward is in heaven, that God is in heaven,

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done

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he is not walking the earth as you and I are walking the earth the same way that we are. He's in heaven, he has a different vantage point um to to see, if you will, what goes on. Um, so we just acknowledge that he's in heaven and there's a kingdom of heaven, and things work differently in heaven than they do here on earth. But he's in heaven and we're here on earth, but he is mindful of us um from his vantage point in heaven. And then he's saying, hallowed or holy be your name. So even as we're addressing him as a father, we are saying, you're not just a father, but you're a holy father. Holy is your name, holy is your title, reverent, powerful, separated, set apart. Different is your name than the names of other people or other objects. Or I would even say, as people worship false gods, that his name is holy and false gods' names are not holy. But his is holy, it is set apart, it does have power and authority. So we're acknowledging that when we say, holy is your name. And again, even how we handle holiness, right? We see this that we bow before holiness. We we show different admiration, different postures of respect to things that are holy. We handle them differently. Right? We can go back and look at the way that the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was handled. It was handled in a holy manner. It was respected, it was revered, it was feared. So there's a holy, reverent fear that is uh is associated with God, that even as we know him as Father, we should honor him with such. So we've got that going on here. And then we've got in verse 10, he says, You he's telling us to pray, Your kingdom come, your will be done. I love this as I've uh worked through this passage of scripture over and over again at different times in my life. Your kingdom come. That's such a powerful statement. We're asking, it's a request, or we're I hate to say commanding, but we're we're saying, Father, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that there's an actual kingdom in heaven. And we're asking, or we're saying, we're making the declaration, your kingdom come, that he actually has a kingdom, it's his kingdom, and we're asking for it to come to to engage earth, right? And so it's not just your kingdom come, but he's also at we're also saying your will be done, that God has a will, and for his will to be done on earth. I know for me, as I'm praying this these words, I have to lay down my will and submit it to his will. I'm submitting my carnal will, my earthly will to his holy will, because he's a holy God with holy expectations. And I'm not even just deferring, but I'm laying down or putting down, putting to death my desires for his will and his desires to be done. And then we have this last uh portion of verse 10, on earth as it is in heaven. So when Jesus is saying to us to pray this way and then to say, on earth as it is in heaven,

Daily Bread And Dependence

SPEAKER_00 10:54

he's pointing to something and he's telling us something here. There's a way that things work in heaven that they're not functioning as they ought to, or they're going to eventually, one day, upon his return, in his in his millennial reign, that on earth it's things are not as they're gonna be and as they are in heaven, because in heaven it's God's will, God's way, all the time. It all centers around God, or centers around God. And he's inviting us, Jesus is giving us direction, he's given us example and giving us um words, vocabulary for how to pray. So, verse 11, give us this day our daily bread, right? That's one, it's it's a it's give, it's it's it's an ask, it's an expectation. We're coming with acknowledgement of need. We need bread, and we're asking you to give us the bread, our daily bread that we need, right? We're acknowledging our hunger, we're acknowledging our dependency upon you. You are God, you have authority, you have all authority. We look to you as the supplier of our needs, the the one who can deliver and take care of our hunger. And well, our substance, the thing, you know, we our bodies live on food. So we're saying, God, your food, you're the one who has control of this, and we're looking to you for substance. And so, so that's what we're called to ask for here.

Forgiving Debts And Debtors

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Give us our this day, today, our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. So I really love this scripture, this part of scripture, and this is verse 12 that I just read there. And give us and forgive us our debts, because it's in our debts. We're acknowledging that we have debts we owe people. We have um, whether it's we owe people a debt of love, whether we have we owe them literally a physical debt, uh, if it's something we've traded or bartered, if it's we owe them labor, whatever it is that we owe them forgiveness, whatever that is, we were saying we're going to forgive that. It says, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. So that's very interesting to me because it's we're asking for the forgiveness of our debts, and we have a right or a directive of that because it's a in response to or after, if you will, uh the the statement that we have because we've already have forgiven our debtors. So I would just offer to you if you have uh people that you're holding them to a debt, if you're holding them to something that they owe you, what I see in this scripture here in verse 12 is that we're invited to, nicely said, I'm nicely saying we're commanded or given directive from a holy God that we call get to call Father, that we are invited or commanded to forgive others the debts that they owe us. And again, whether that that debt is one of where we've had to turn the other cheek or we've been we've had the opportunity to to walk through some element of suffering or or violation or uh just suffering of any of any kind, if it's even literally practically money that we've loaned to someone, right? We think, at least when I think of debt, I think of money typically, but there's so many more things that are debts. We have maybe parents that owed us things, maybe there's a level of nurture and care um that was that we were owed, or we can feel entitled to that we didn't receive, or a level of protection, or or just anything around those family of origin things as we grew up, and we can hold people in contempt for what they didn't give us, or things that we feel owed, and God is what He's commanding us to here is to extend forgiveness to them. And when we do so, we've set the position, we've set in a posture now that we can expect forgiveness. Because it's easy many times to see the places where we've been owed things, but it's harder to look at the places that we we owe, right? I can justify my actions based on I'm just responding to someone else's actions, words, or behavior to me and go, well, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes, right? But that's not okay with God. And what he is saying here is, hey, we have to forgive people, and to the and when we forgive them, our posture is now such that we can expect forgiveness. So, but we're I'm not gonna get hung up there. We're gonna stay here, we'll keep going down in verse 13. And lead

Temptation, Evil, And Deliverance

SPEAKER_00 16:02

us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So 13 is a very interesting verse to me because uh the idea that again, this is red letter, we're saying to God, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So when I read this, it's interesting to me because the idea of God leading us into temptation is is a foreign concept to me, you know, because we can uh go over here and look in uh James 1, and we we hear that God doesn't tempt any man. So in verse uh James chapter 1, verse 12, it says, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Verse 13, very key here. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot tempt can God for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person, that's you and me, is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires, then desire, when it is when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, gives birth, brings forth death. So again, verse 13, I really uh like that. It's comforting to know that God's not the one tempting me, right? And so he's I believe not he's not referencing James's letter there, but he states it right here in the Lord's Prayer here in Matthew 6, that, and lead us not into temptation, so God's not going to lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So there is evil in this world, right? Sometimes that evil is the byproduct of our own temptations, our own sin luring us away, and we've given way to it, and now evils become of it. And then here's the bigger reality is that there is an enemy of God that has rule, reign, and authority for a time and a season here on earth. And his name is Lucifer, he's a fallen angel, he's not a deity equal with God. There is no deity equal with God, there is just God, the triune God. But he is a fallen angel that God has subjugated to earth for a time and a season, and he rules here and reigns here with evil and with evil intent. And he is after us, the sons and daughters of God, right? To that is his aim is to separate us and keep us separated. We're born in separation because of the uh sin of Adam and Eve, and man has been in separation, born into separation ever since. So there is real evil, and that real evil is uh brought on by our sin nature and by Satan. So this prayer is for us to be delivered from evil. So it's one, it's important that we acknowledge that there is real evil. There is real evil that is um can be in me because I'm born with a sin nature, and but I'm no longer a slave to that sin nature once I'm in Christ, but it's still around me and I can still choose to partake of it, uh, which would be sin and is sin. But there is a real enemy of God that wants me to partake and that wants me in bondage, wants me separated from God. That is evil. And then the various ways that he tempts us and invites trauma into our lives as we experience harm and uh not just harm, but we experience uh trouble in this life. Uh that is its own, if you will, flavor of evil. And Jesus is teaching us how to pray here, and he's saying, but deliver us from evil. So as we sit in that space and we we look at this scripture again as a whole, it's interesting and it's comforting to know that one, Christ before he ascended to earth, he gave us direction on how to pray, how to engage God. So we're able to even pray this to the Father because of the gift of Christ. Um, so one, just acknowledging the gift of Christ, uh, how we have access to the Father is through Jesus Christ. So I want to acknowledge that. I want to just literally say, Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for the gift of the work that you did on the cross, that you who knew no sin or no sin of your own took on sin, took on my sin, took on the sin of man, that we could be redeemed back into the Father to have relationship with him as the sons and daughters of God. So I am grateful for that. And so to wrap this up, what I want to do is I want to read this scripture again, just from beginning to end here,

Gratitude For Christ And Access

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and then we'll close up from that. So Jesus said, When you pray, pray like this Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So, Lord, we just thank you for this directive, this outline of how to pray. And I just thank you for the the opportunity to break this down today. And Lord, as just as we close here, I want to just close in prayer. So uh if you're uh tuning in today, I just invite you to bow your head and engage with me here as I pray. And I say, Heavenly Father, you are the our father, you are my father, and I am grateful you are a great father. And I am I love being your kid. And I do want just to acknowledge that you are in heaven and holy is your name. And I thank you for Jesus who came, who we know uh out of Scripture is that God, you coming to earth cloaked in humanity, that you came and laid it all down so that you could redeem us back unto you. And I am grateful for that. And I do, I do pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Father, we want your kingdom to come, and we want the economy of heaven, the the authority of heaven, we want you to come and in your time to come and rule and reign on earth, and that earth would run the same way that heaven runs, and that it orientates all around you. So we look forward to that day and we pray for that day to come. And we say, give us this day, give me, God, give me this day, my daily bread. God, I need that daily bread. You built this

Closing Prayer And Blessing

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system that my body runs on. Uh, and Father, you know that it runs on bread, if you will, it runs on substance. And I don't look to others, I look to you for my daily bread. And I am grateful that you continue here at the age of 54, almost 55, that my body still works and I'm still here because of your provision, God, to deliver and to uh to bring what it is that I need and what it is that my family needs, what it is that this world needs, Father. It all runs on the goodness of you, Father, and we are grateful. And that, Father, that you invite me to forgive my debtors. Father, I won't unpack that here on this podcast, but I will say, Father, I thank you for the opportunity to forgive my debtors. Father, even as you've invited me to acknowledge that I have the opportunity and I have chosen to forgive those that have owed me and owe me anything. And I just thank you for that, God. I thank you that as I've received, as I've extended forgiveness, I also get to receive forgiveness, Father. It's a wonderful thing to walk in freedom and not in bondage. So, Lord, I just thank you for that. I thank you for your goodness and your care of um of me and of even just the body of Christ, and as you you tend to your bride, Father, that when we do life your way, when we pray this way, that you are so good to us, we get to experience the goodness uh of life under your care and under your direction. So we thank you for that, God. And Father, this last verse here, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord, I thank you that you don't lead us to temptate into temptation, but that you also that you also you deliver us from evil, Father. That Father, the evil has no authority over us, Father, because you deliver us from it. And we are grateful, Father. Your word is so good. Father, your word is so good, it is so rich, it is life to us, Father. We are so grateful for it. We thank you for Jesus, we thank you for the cross, we thank you for the empty grave, and we thank you for the the gift of the Holy Spirit, that it's a continual reminder of what is to come. So, Lord, we thank you. And Lord, we just ask as as we as we go throughout this next week that Father, we we would be reminded of your word, of how to pray, and that we would not just be reminded of how to pray, that we would actually engage you in prayer. Lord, in Christ, we are redeemed back into fellowship, back into relationship with you, Father. And Father, our aim as we embark on this second week of 2026, our aim, our desire is to walk in relationship with you, Father, walk in fellowship with you, Father, to get off into that secret place and engage as a father, to go adventure with you as a son, engaging our Heavenly Father, and to be rewarded for doing so doing. We look forward to this week. We look forward to it to doing life with you this week. Lord, we thank you. We thank you that we get to do this life with you. We pray all this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Well, thank you so much for tuning in today. Thank you for your time. Thank you for this opportunity to s to hopefully speak life into you as we find it right here in the Word. God bless you. We'll talk to you again soon.