Lead Us Not into Temptation Matthew 6:13 Introduction This morning we’re taking our last look at the Lord’s Prayer before we go on to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. As we do that, I’d like us to read Matt 6:1-18 – the larger section that includes the Lord’s Prayer. So turn there with me in your Bibles, and let’s read it together. <Read the text> As you can see, the Lord’s Prayer is a kind of elaboration on the whole subject of prayer. Jesus is contrasting Christian prayer with its alternatives: pagan or Gentile prayer on the one hand and Pharisaical prayer on the other. Or in modern vernacular: superstition with hypocrisy. There is an approach to prayer – the hypocritical religious approach – that uses prayer to make us look pious to other people. That shows off so that other people will make much of us – our discipline, our obedience to God, our spirituality. The religious approach uses prayer as a club. By praying we hope to beat God into submission. “I’ve been good. I’ve been disciplined. I’ve kept the rules. I’m a spiritual person. Therefore, God, you’ve got to do this for me or you’ve got to do that for me”…which usually amounts to nothing more than looking for heaven to rubber stamp you running your own life. On the other hand, and even though it comes from what appears to be a very different place, there is an approach to prayer that hopes that the gods, or fate, or whatever will do something to protect me from what I fear, or provide for me what I need. The pagan approach to prayer is convinced that if I can just say the right words, or enough of the right words, if I can master the right technique, I can control the fates, or whatever our conception of God may be. If I can say the magic words, God will be my little genie, giving me my three wishes, and then some! Jesus says that neither of these approaches to prayer is Christian. They don’t get it. Christianity is not paganism or Pharisaism. It is not superstition or hypocrisy. It is not religion or irreligion. It is something else entirely. Jesus is abundantly clear on this: Verse 5: “You are not to be like the hypocrites.” Verse 7: “Do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do.” Verse 8: “Do not be like them” (the Gentiles). I love how careful Jesus is here to distinguish both paganism and Pharisaism from Christianity. Our tendency will be to react to one approach by adopting the opposite approach. We’ll say essentially, “I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so I’ll be a pagan.” Or “I don’t want to be a pagan, so I’ll be a hypocrite.” Of course, no one says these things all that self-consciously or deliberately. But the net effect of our reaction is for us to let the pendulum swing in the opposite direction and call that “truth” or the “right” way to connect with God. Instead, Jesus says, “Listen: I am saying that Christian prayer is not on the one hand a reaction to hypocrisy, and neither is it a reaction to superstition. It is something else entirely. A third thing.” And Jesus gives that “third thing” concrete expression in the Lord’s Prayer. Here’s how a Christian is supposed to pray – vv 9-13. <Read the text> The Last Line of the Prayer So far in this series-within-a-series on the Sermon on the Mount, we’ve unpacked what this is a phrase at a time. This morning we’re going to work through the final line of the prayer – v 13. Check it out. <Read the text> Now before we work on “lead us not into temptation,” I should probably address what may seem to you like a major omission on my part, or, at least, a failure to see the obvious: “Lead us not into temptation” is the last line of the Lord’s Prayer! Check out the second part of v 13, the part that’s in brackets in the nasb: “For Yours is the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Well, there’s a reason why that line is in brackets. It’s not found in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts of the New Testament. In fact, “a variety of later endings have been added to the prayer.” In fact, one book-type manuscript, called a codex, “actually includes a note explicitly indicating that

‘the “because yours is the kingdom” to “amen” is not found in some copies’ [end quote].” The explanation for the additions is that they were inserted for liturgical purposes; that is, because this prayer was recited in the church’s worship so often, worshippers, very naturally I think, would add the doxology at the end. After all, it’s like how many of us add “in Jesus’ name” to the ends of our prayers. It feels weird otherwise. Well, something similar to this apparently happened with the Lord’s Prayer. As a result, the human copy machines, called scribes, because they were so familiar with praying the Lord’s Prayer in church began to figure that the last line was part of the prayer that Jesus’ gave. They assumed that the reason they didn’t see it in the manuscript they were copying was a mistake on the part of the previous scribe. They figured that the guy who copied the manuscript accidentally left it out. Oh, and if it gets you nervous to talk about the manuscripts and things missing and copying copies, you don’t have to be. You don’t have to be nervous. There is a way of recovering with a very high degree of certainty what the original gospel of Matthew contained. And by “high degree,” I mean near 100%! And that in the fraction of a percent that we don’t know, scholars are certain that none of those impinge on any cardinal teaching of Christianity. The Lord’s Prayer is a great example of this because whether or not this last line was part of the original teaching of Jesus doesn’t make or break our understanding of the prayer (or any other significant teaching of the Bible for that matter). So then, we’re left with what actually is the last line of the Lord’s Prayer. And as you can see, it comes in two parts – v 13: “Lead us not into temptation” – that’s part one. And “deliver us from evil (or the evil one)” – part two. The first part is negative. It says, “Lord, don’t do this,” and the other part is positive, and gives explanation to the first: “Lord, do this.” Do not lead us into temptation. Do deliver us from evil. A Strange Prayer Request Now at first glance this should seem like a strange request to make of God. James 1:13 says that no one has the right to say that he is being tempted by God, for God is not tempted himself, nor does he tempt anyone else: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” Now what James means is that God cannot be wooed by anything or by anyone into sin. Neither does he do it with people: he never tries to trap them into sinning. Now then, if this is the case, if James is right, then why would we even have to pray, “Do not lead us unto temptation”? God isn’t tempted and he doesn’t tempt, so what’s the point? Well, the answer to that question is found in the meaning of the word translated “temptation.” It’s not easy to translate. It can either mean “trap” or it can mean “test.” And I’m sure you can see how these things could be closely related. I mean, if you are scheduled to take an exam, and you haven’t prepared for it, what will it be like for you? It’ll be a mine field, right? It will be one huge trap! On the other hand, if you have prepared for it, the exam simply measures your overall preparedness. It may have challenges. Some parts may be more difficult for others, but it doesn’t feel like a trap. It simply tells you what you know and what you don’t. It evaluates where you’re really at. Now what I want you to see here is that the difference between something being a test or a trap has to do with the person taking the exam. The difference is you. If you’re ready, the exam is a test. If you’re not, the exam is a trap. The difference is you. So when Jesus tells us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil,” he’s saying that you should pray to be a certain kind of person – a person whose exams are not traps, but tests. Read it like this: “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” That is, “Lord, do not allow us to turn your tests into traps.” Or we might say, “Protect us from ourselves.” “In the midst of trials, protect us from ourselves, make us the kind of people who can persevere in them.” Now let me add that before you can pray something like this, certain things need to be in order in your heart and mind. Prayer like this operates from a particular foundation. Let me suggest that a prayer like, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” presupposes at least four things: (1) the certainty of trials; (2) the cause of traps; (3) the Savior’s success; and (4) the Father’s acceptance. Let’s take those one at a time. The Certainty of Trials First, in order to pray “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” you need to be convinced of the certainty of trials in the Christian life. You wouldn’t even feel the need to pray something like this if you didn’t. Trials are going to come. James 1:2 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” Not if you encounter various trials, but when you encounter them. Prayer like this begins with a robust understanding that trials and tests are not an “if” question; they’re a “when” question. Man, is this important to understand. Turn with me to 1 Pet 1:3-9. <Read the text> I want you to see this passage because it is a very helpful text for showing us the certainty of trials and difficulties in life. In it, Peter writes to beleaguered and suffering believers – believers who are experiencing some pretty severe trials at the hands of family members, community members, and agents of the government. And what he does for them is to embed their lives in the story of the gospel. He shows them their past, their future, and their present: Notice first their past – v 3. <Read the text> Now take a look at their glorious future – vv 4-5 & 7. <Read the text> It’s as if Peter is saying to them, “Consider who you are. You were born again by the Holy Spirit. You’re life has been transformed by the gospel. You were saved.” And then he says, “But wait, there’s more. You have a glorious future to look forward to. A life with God in heaven. A wonderful inheritance awaits you.” Now before we get to the present. Let me pause to say that I agree with Paul Tripp who says that churches are really pretty good at talking to Christians about their past and their future. To talk about how they became Christians and about what will happen to them when they die or when Jesus returns. But what the churches are not so good at is the present, what he calls the “now-ness” of the gospel. Check out v 6. <Read the text> What is the now-ness of the gospel? What is the time between your conversion to Christianity and the consummation of your Christianity in heaven? Verse 6: “Now for a little while you have been distressed by various trials.” Now it’s the time of trial. And although Peter says it lasts “a little while,” he means that only with reference to our eternal future. But as we live our lives that “little while” (for most of us) lasts something like 75-80 years! That’s a pretty long “little while.” And according to Peter one of the things that characterizes this time, if necessary, and certainly it is, is that we will face all kinds of trials and tests and difficulties and suffering. This is why later in 4:12 Peter will say, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon your for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” It isn’t strange. It’s certain. It’s normal. It’s par for the course. It is the now-ness of the Christian life. And our failure to appreciate this can cause ancillary trials – trials within the trial that make our experience even more difficult. Let me suggest two. First, and I think one of the greatest problems we face in the midst of trials, is the shock and even outrage we feel when these tests come upon us. We think and say things like, “How could this be happening to me? I can’t believe this is happening. What have I done to deserve this? I’ve been good.” The problem is that we forgot that this life is a furnace. I like how the 18th century Scottish minister, Robert Murray M’Cheyne put it: “Some believers are much surprised when they are called to suffer. They thought they would do some great thing for God; but all that God permits them to do is suffer.”  Second, our trials can get complicated by an underlying suspicion that we must have done something wrong for this stuff to be happening to us. And although it is possible to suffer for our stupidity, that is not the kind of suffering that the Bible says dominates the life of the Christian. Most of our trials are things we encounter, as James says – things that just happen. But when we don’t see our trials as normal, there can be a tendency for us to end up very guilt ridden: “I must be very bad. God must be smiting me. I knew the other boot was going to drop considering what kind of person I am” response. Now even though these are opposite responses to the trial, they come from the same place: a failure to believe the gospel. A person who believes the gospel is not surprised at the difficulties of life, is not outraged that these things happen to him because he knows that he deserves far worse. He sees his whole life as a kind of “free pass” and that as a sinner he deserves not only trials but the terrors of hell. On the other hand, a person who feels like “they’re getting what they deserve because they’ve been so bad” also shows that they don’t understand the gospel because what the gospel shows them is that they have been perfectly and permanently accepted by a God who loves them so much that he sent his son to pay the penalty for their sins. More than that, when he remembers Jesus having to die for his sins, he never sees the trial as punishment because it would be like saying that Jesus’ punishment wasn’t enough, as if my sins needed Jesus’ payment and mine! This is the part of the Christian faith that churches tend to miss – the big “little while” between the beginning and end of your life on earth. If you want to be able to pray “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” you’ve got to begin with the assumption that trials are a part of what it means to be Christian. You’ve got to begin with the certainty of trials. The Cause of Traps: A Need for Refinement The second thing a prayer like this presupposes is an understanding of the cause of the traps. That is, that the biggest problem that we face in the midst of our test is not our circumstances, but ourselves. So in order to pray this prayer, you’ve got to realize that the biggest problem in the test you’re facing is yourself. Like that old cartoon, “I have seen the enemy, and he is us!” Or when a prominent newspaper asked the question, “What is wrong with the world?” and G K Chesterton wrote in with two words, “I am.” We think that if only God would deliver me from what I’m facing that I would respond ten times better. If only I were not facing these circumstances, I wouldn’t be succumbing to this sin. “God, you’ve got to stop this so that I can do better.” Well, this is not what this petition asks. Remember what we said earlier? When we pray, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” we’re praying that God would not allow our tests to become traps. And what makes a test a trap is not the test itself – it’s the test-taker! It’s you…and me. That’s why we need refinement. You’re still there in 1 Peter 1. Check out vv 6-7. <Read the text> What does v 7 say is the purpose of our trials? Refinement: so that the proofe of your faith…even though tested by fire…may be found to result in praise and glory and honor. And why? Because when it comes to our trials the biggest change that needs to take place is change in our character. We need change more than we need our circumstances to be changed. And so God’s grace of refinement takes over. The illustration that Peter uses here is one from metallurgy. And as you know, in metallurgy, raw ore is refined to become something of great beauty and strength. But what is significant about this illustration is that until the ore is exposed to a catalytic agent and white-hot heat, it can’t be brought to its highest state of strength and beauty. And because the Lord loves us, he is not satisfied with what, again Paul Tripp, calls our “ore-ism,” the raw, unpolished, weak, rough sins, weaknesses and failure that can only become what God wants it to be under the fires of trial. Our “ore-ism” must go in order for our beauty and strength to come. As Job says, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” We think that God’s deliverance is a deliverance from our trials, when according to God, although deliverance can certainly come in the form of rescue from adversity, the main way he rescues us is not from our trials, but by them! Think of it like this. The life preserver he’s throwing to us is on fire. In other words, God intends the trial itself to produce the kind of character that can keep tests from becoming traps and enticements or inducements to sin. There is an absolutely amazing verse in the book of Job that has really helped me in the last few years. Job 36:15 says, “He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.” Did you hear that? He delivers the afflicted by their affliction. By affliction we are delivered! Have you ever thought that the very trial you faced is the deliverance you’ve been praying for? I’ll bet you haven’t. I know that I haven’t! But it’s true. And the reason for it is that the biggest problem that we face, what invariably turns the trial into a trap is ourselves – our own weakness, failure, and sin. The trap is self-set and self-inflicted. The problem is our own evil. The Cause of Traps: The Problem of (Our Own) Evil Turn back to Matthew 6 to see this. <Read the text> The problem is evil: “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Now, you may know, because of the Bible version you read or because you’re particularly attentive to footnotes that the phrase “deliver us from evil” can be translated, “deliver us from the evil one,” that is, from Satan, the devil. Now I’m persuaded that the devil is who Jesus has in mind. And the reason for this is that earlier in Matthew, back in Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested/tempted by the devil. Therefore since this petition is essentially a prayer to respond like Jesus did in the midst of trials, it seems to me that the context demands that we render this, “Deliver us from the evil one.” Now having said that…I need to say two more things. First, there is such a thing as the devil. There is a real, actual, personal, active source of supernatural evil in the universe. Of course, he’s not an equal and opposite power to God, he is on God’s leash. But he’s not the worse for wear. He’s still in good shape. Still able to accuse us, manipulate us, deceive us, and solicit us to sin. Now I know that all this talk of the devil makes educated and intelligent people blush, or at least mumble the words. (*Hands over mouth*: “Yeah, I believe in the devil.”). I know that Satan is like the bogeyman for most people. But you’ve got to admit that there are things that happen in the world that are so awful, things that people do that are so heinous that regular, old, garden-variety evil can’t explain. More than that, you need to keep in mind that Satan is perfectly happy with you being ignorant of his existence. In his classic work, The Screwtape Letters, a fictional collection of letters from a master-demon to his underling (and nephew), Wormwood, Screwtape addresses the importance of keeping their existence a secret:  I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves….I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you. The second thing I want to say is that this doesn’t mean that whenever we sin we can say “the devil made me do it.” That’s the spiritual equivalent of a kid saying “the dog ate my homework.” Now the reason we can’t say that “the devil made me do it” is that the devil doesn’t put anything new into you. He works with what’s already there. James 1:14 makes this clear: “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own lust.” Listen to that again: “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own lust.” It’s your own desire for sin that even makes temptation possible. Sin is not an “out there” issue; it’s an “in here” one! Satan could try to convince you till he’s blue in the face that you should have an extramarital affair with your co-worker, but if you had absolutely no interest in her, if you found him or her completely re-sistable, then no manner of temptation would work. There is nothing on God’s green earth that could get me to eat Brussels sprouts – little balls of metal that they are – so if you put a bowl in front of me and tried to tempt me with them, I wouldn’t be tempted. The point is you need something in you in order for the temptation to be effective. You first have to want what the devil offers. And what you want is the problem. You want good things too much and bad things too often. And because of that, Satan can work his influence in your life. Finally, third, I need to say that to pray, “Deliver me from evil,” or “deliver me from the evil one” are functionally equivalent because the evil one’s aim is to try to get you to do evil. It’s a zero sum game. Either way, you end up with your own evil and the need to be delivered from it. Whether it’s evil in general, or the evil one’s influence to get you to perform evil in general, the bottom line is that we need deliverance from the evil one and our own evil that he enflames.  All this is to say that the real enemy we face in the midst of trial is not the trial itself, it’s us! We are the problem. If you are prepared, the exam is a test. If you aren’t, the exam is a trap. So we need to pray that we would be prepared. That’s in part what this petition is about. It’s a prayer that the Lord would not allow us to fall into the traps we set for ourselves, to deliver us from our own evil, to change our character even more than to change our circumstances. So then, the second sort of prerequisite for praying “Do not lead us into temptation” is that we understand the cause of our traps – our own sin. The Savior’s Success Third, in order to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We need to look at Jesus who was led into temptation and delivered from evil for us! We need to reflect on the savior’s success. Check out how Jesus handles temptation in Matt 4:1-11. <Read the text> Of course, this isn’t the only place where Jesus was tested. The rest of his life was a test. Testing by the devil through the Jewish leadership, the Roman government, his family, the crowds, even his own disciples. And last, but by no means least, his testing in the garden of Gethsemane in Matt 26:36-46. <Read the text> Every exam Jesus took was a test. It was never a trap for him. He succeeded where we constantly fail. As the writer to the Hebrews puts it: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” “But wait!” you’re say, “How can Jesus understand when he never sinned?” That’s a good question. I think this illustration will help: Imagine a strong man who performs at a state fair by bending bars of steel. The first bar he picks up is a half inch in diameter. He bends it to a ninety degree angle and it breaks. Then he picks up an inch-thick bar and bends it until the ends of the bar touch, but still it does not break. Which bar endured the most pressure? The obvious answer is the second bar. It absorbed the full force of the man’s strength and did not break. On earth, Christ was like that second bar. Because he never gave in, because he did not run away, because he never went where temptation would lead, but stood strong until that moment of temptation was over, he endured the full power of temptation. Christ endured stress, pain, suffering, and sacrifice of an intensity that we will never face because he did not break. He stood strong against sin for us. He endured everything the world could throw at him. So our savior succeeded where we consistently fail. And what I’m saying is that in order for us to pray this prayer, we need to look to Jesus’ success. Notice very carefully what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that we need to look to Jesus’ example, as helpful and as appropriate as that might be. But if we focus on Jesus example without focusing our Jesus’ success, then we are hopeless, and should be hopeless. If Jesus isn’t your first your success, he’ll never be your example. And the reason I say this (and why this matters so much) is that his life as much as his death is what theologians call “vicarious.” In other words, Jesus died for us – his death was our death to sin. But Jesus also lived for us, which means that his life – was our life to God. Let me give you a really wonderful, kind of deep quote from a theologian that I think will help. And if it doesn’t, I’ll give you a little something after it. The vicarious humanity of Jesus Christ…fulfills a representative and substitutionary role in all our relations with God…such as trusting and obeying, understanding and knowing, loving and worshipping…Jesus Christ…in and through His humanity took our place, acting in our name and on our behalf before God, freely offering in Himself what we could not offer and offering it in our stead, the perfect response of man to God in a holy life of faith and prayer and praise, the self-offering of the Beloved Son with whom the Father is well pleased. What this means, in laymen’s terms, is that his success is your success. Because you have believed in Jesus, you already have passed the greatest test in the universe. His success is our success. And because his success is our success, we can pray this prayer with confidence, knowing that all the strength that he employed in the power of the Spirit to withstand the greatest trial ever conceived is ours through the gospel. When you remember this, you have power. In a sense, to pray deliver me from evil is to pray that Jesus’ deliverance would be your deliverance. And because his success is our success, we also have the motivation to persevere under trial, refusing to give into the temptation to sin in the midst of it, knowing what Jesus went through to secure your ultimate deliverance from the ultimate trial, the ultimate fiery trial, will motivate you to hang in there in the midst of yours. His love for you will compel you to persevere under trial.  And because his success is our success, you can know that he will be with us in the midst of your greatest trial. Because Jesus passed the test, he was highly exalted by God, and now, by the power of the resurrection is with us in all our fiery trials. The good shepherd says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.” Jesus says at the end of Matthew that he will be with us always even to the end of the age, knowing full well the that our live between his first and second advents would be a life marked by trial, suffering, and difficulty. So then, in order to pray this prayer with any confidence, in order to pray it with any comfort, in order even to want to pray it in the first place, we’ve got to see our savior’s success. We’ve got to see Jesus, being led into temptation and delivered from evil for us. Conclusion: The Father’s Acceptance Finally, not only does this petition presuppose that we understand (1) the certainty of trials; (2) the cause of traps; and (3) the Savior’s success. But it also presupposes an understanding of the Father’s acceptance. Go back to vv 8-9. <Read the text> These two verses modify the entire prayer. We are praying not to an omnipotent, impersonal force, but to an omnipotent, personal father, who loves you and wants to bless you even more than you ant to be blessed! You can pray hallowed be your name because you know that it’s safe and satisfying to live with your father at the center of your universe. You can pray thy kingdom come because you know that his agenda for your life is an agenda of spiritual prosperity lined up for you by your loving father. You can pray thy will be done because the God who ordains everything that happens in the universe will never ordain your destruction – your father loves too much. You can pray give us this day our daily bread because your father loves to give good gifts to his children; he wants to say yes unless it’s in our best interest for him to say no. You can pray forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors because you know that you’re father, even though he is all-knowing, accepts you anyway; therefore, you can be completely honest with him about your weaknesses, failings, and sins. And you can pray lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil because your father does not want you to sin, he wants to make you stronger; a father like our father only wants to make us beautiful and strong.  Conclusion So pray it! Make the Lord’s Prayer part of your life. It doesn’t just teach us to pray. It changes us into a person who embodies the prayer. Pray it. Hallowed be thy name: Pray that the Lord would be the center of your universe. Thy kingdom come: Pray that the Lord’s kingdom agenda for your life would overthrow the agenda of your own and that he would use you to bring that agenda to bear in this world, now and in the future. Thy will be done: Pray that you would yield yourself to God’s will both in what he commands and in what he sovereignly ordains. Give us this day our daily bread: Pray for what you need, especially for what you need to live out the first three petitions. Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors: Confess your sin to the Lord and seek his forgiveness as you extend that same forgiveness to everyone who sins against you. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: Pray that your trials would never be traps, that the Lord would deliver you from the evil one and his devices. And above all, remember the gospel! Remember that you are praying to your father who loves you. You are praying to the God who mortgaged his very self in order to adopt you into his family. You are praying to the one who loves you more than words can say. Therefore, don’t pray like Pharisees, who don’t see God as a father, but as a boss who owes them for their obedience. Don’t pray like the pagans, who don’t see God as a father, but as a capricious, unknown deity who may or may not ruin their lives if they say or do the wrong thing. Instead, pray like Christians. Pray like a person who sees in the cross the unfathomable grace, mercy, and acceptance of a Father who loves them everlastingly and eternally. Pray, then, in this way, “Our father in heaven.” Amen.