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We’ve spent the last couple of episodes talking about how praying—and specifically praying the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2‑4, which we say during each Divine Liturgy—can help us develop self-control. The reason for this is that the Lord’s Prayer focuses on some of the areas of life in which we most need self-control. If we pray for God to work in those areas, He will give us the strength we need to develop self-control.
We almost finished the prayer in the last episode, but there are still two phrases left about which we need to quickly talk.
We left off with the phrase, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In this phrase we pray for divine strength to resist falling into sin. St. Cyprian of Carthage notes, “When we ask that we may not come into temptation, we are reminded of our infirmity and weakness, in that we need to ask this.” Blessed Augustine points out that this phrase does not mean that God Himself leads us into temptation. Rather, “God does not Himself lead, but suffers that man to be led into temptation whom He has deprived of His assistance, in accordance with a most hidden arrangement, and with his deserts. Often, also, for manifest reasons, He judges him worthy of being so deprived, and allowed to be led into temptation.”
The final part of the Lord’s Prayer is the conclusion, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” This phrase is particularly important because it reminds us of the reasons for which we should worship God. Here’s what St. John Chrysostom says,
Having then made us anxious as before conflict, by putting us in mind of the enemy, and having cut away from us all our remissness; (Christ) again encourages and raises our spirits, by bringing to our remembrance the King under whom we are arrayed, and signifying Him to be more powerful than all. ‘For Thine,’ He says, ‘is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory’…Thus He not only frees you from the dangers that are approaching you, but can make you also glorious and illustrious. For as His power is great, so also is His glory unspeakable, and they are all boundless, and no end of them.
So, with all of this you can see how praying the Lord’s Prayer is an essential part of the spiritual life, and absolutely necessary if you’re going to develop true self-control. Here’s what St. John of Kronstadt tells us about how we should pray, not only the Lord’s Prayer, but every prayer:
Be true to God always and in everything. If you say the prayer “Our Father. . .” pronounce each word sincerely, with reverence, fixing your mind and heart upon God alone, not paying attention to anything or anybody around you. If you say any other prayer, say it also with all your soul, not with your heart divided, not paying undue attention to anything or anybody.
