- #GC271 What do you mean by asking that the will of God may be done? That all creatures may be brought under obedience to Him, and so that everything may be done according to His good will.
- #GC272 Do you mean that nothing can be done contrary to His will? We ask not only that He may bring all things to pass, as He has determined in His counsel, but also that, putting down all rebellion, He may bring all wills to conform to His own.
- #GC273 In so doing, do we not renounce our own wills? We do, not only that He may overthrow our desires, which are at variance with His own good will, bringing them all to nought, but also that He may create in us new spirits and new hearts, so that we m...
- #GC274 Why do you add "on earth as it is in heaven" Since His heavenly creatures or His angels have it as their own object to obey Him, promptly without opposition, we desire that the same thing may be done on earth, that is, that all men may yield the...
- #GC275 Let us come to the second part. What mean you by "the daily bread" you ask for In general, everything that we need for our body, not only food and clothing, but all that God knows to be expedient for us, that we may be able to eat our bread in peace.
- #GC276 But why do you ask God to give you your food, when He orders us to win it, by working with our hands? Though He commands us to work for our living, nevertheless it is not our labour, industry, and diligence, that provide us with food, but the blessing of God alone, which makes the labour of our hands...
- #GC277 Why do you call it yours, when you ask God to give it to you? Because of the kindness of God it becomes ours, though it is by no means due to us. We are also reminded by this not to desire the bread of others, but only that which we acquire by legitimate means,...
- #GC278 Why do you say "daily" and "this day" That we may learn to be content, and not to covet more than our need requires.
- #GC279 Since this prayer is common to all, how can the rich, who have an abundance of good things, provide for a long time, ask for bread each day? The rich, as well as the poor, should understand that none of the things profit them, unless the Lord grant them the use of them, and by His grace make it profitable to them. Thus in having we have no...
- #GC280 What does the fifth petition contain? That it pleases God to pardon our sins.
- #GC281 Is any man living so righteous, that He does not need to make this petition? No, for the Lord Jesus gave this form of prayer to His Apostles for His Church. Wherefore he who would exempt himself from this, must renounce the community of Christians. And indeed Scripture testifi...
- #GC282 How do you think that such remission is granted to us? As the words of Jesus Christ used declare: because our sins are debts, making us liable to eternal death, we pray that God will pardon us out of His sheer kindness.
- #GC283 You mean, them, that it is by the gratuitous goodness of God that we obtain remission of sins? Yes, for we can offer no satisfaction for the smallest sin we commit, if God does no exercise His sheer kindness toward us in forgiving us them all.
- #GC284 What gain and profit do we receive, when God pardons our sins? We are acceptable to Him, just as if we were righteous and innocent, and our consciences are assured of His paternal love, from which comes salvation and life.
- #GC285 When you pray that He may forgive us as we forgive our debtors, do you mean that in pardoning men we merit pardon from God? By no means, for then pardon would not be by grace, and would not be founded, as it ought to be, on the satisfaction which Jesus Christ made for us in His death. But since by forgetting the injuries d...
- #GC286 Do you think, then, God refuses to have as His children those who cannot forget the offenses committed against them, so that they cannot hope to be partakers of His grace? Yes. And He intends that all men may know that with what measure they mete to their neighbours, it shall be measured to them.
- #GC287 What follows? "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
- #GC288 Do you treat this as one petition? Yes, for the second part is an explanation of the first part.
- #GC289 What is the substance of it? That God does not allow us to fall to evil, or permit us to be overcome by the devil, and the lustful desires of our flesh, which strive against us (Rom 7:23), but He gives us strength to resist, sust...
- #GC290 How is this done? When He governs us by His Spirit, to make us love the good, and hate the evil, follow justice, and flee from sin. By the power of His Spirit, we may overcome the devil, sin and the flesh.
- #GC291 Do we stand in need of this? Yes, for the devil continually watches for us, like a roaring lion ready to devour us (I Peter 5:8). We are so feeble and frail that he would immediately overcome us, if God did not fortify us, that w...
- #GC292 What does the word "temptation" signify The wiles and assaults of the devil, which he uses to attack us, seeing that our natural judgment is prone to be deceived and to deceive us, and our will is always ready to addict itself to evil rathe...
- #GC293 But why do you pray God not to lead you into evil, when this is the proper office of Satan the devil? As God by His mercy preserves the faithful, and does not permit the devil to seduce them, or sin to overcome them, so those whom He means to punish He not only abandons, and deprives of His grace, but...
- #GC294 What is intended by the addition, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" To remind us again that our prayers are altogether grounded on the power and goodness of God, and not on ourselves, for we are not worthy to open our mouth in prayer; and also that we may learn to clo...
- #GC295 Is it lawful to ask anything else, not mentioned here? Although we are free to use other words, and another form and manner, yet no prayer will ever please God which does not correspond to this as the only rule of right prayer.
- #GC296 It is time to come to the fourth part of worship we are to render to God? IV. The Word and sacraments. We said that this consists in acknowledging with the heart and confirming with the mouth that God is the author of all good, that thereby we may glorify Him.
- #GC297 Has He given us any rule for this? All the praises and thanksgivings contained in Scripture ought to be our rule and guide.
- #GC298 Is there nothing regarding this in the Lord's Prayer? Yes there is, for when we pray that His name may be hallowed, we pray that He may be glorified in all His works, as indeed He is--that He may be praised for His justice when He punishes, for His mercy...
- #GC299 What shall we infer from all that we have said? What truth itself tells us, and was stated at the outset, viz. that this is eternal life to know one true God the Father, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17:3)--to know Him, I say, in order th...
- #GC300 How can we attain to such a blessedness? For this end God has left us His holy Word, which is, as it were, an entry into His heavenly Kingdom.
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