Our Father in heaven.
—Matthew 6:9
The last half of the Lord’s Prayer in the New Living Translation reads: “Give us our food for today, and forgive us our sins . . . And don’t let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Mt 6:11–13).
Three brief petitions:
- Give us.
- Forgive us.
- Deliver us.
It teaches us to lay everything before God:
- The present—our food for today. God cares about our physical needs.
- The past—our sins. God cares about our spiritual needs. He sent Jesus “who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21).
- The future—our temptations. God cares about our vulnerability and will not permit the evil one to tempt us beyond our ability to resist (1 Cor 10:13; Jas 4:7).
Past, Present, Future.
Trust God with all.