Give Us and Forgive Us - Matthew 6:9-15

The Disciples’ Prayer begins with an invocation: “Our Father in heaven.” An invocation is an appeal for God’s attention. It’s an invitation for Him to come and make His presence known to us. The invocation governs and guides the entire prayer. We tend to link the invocation to the first three petitions. We are so comfortable praying, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” we can overlook the fact how the invocation also applies to what comes next: “Our Father 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.”