I'm enjoying thinking about the Lord's prayer and the slightly wider context of Matthew 6:7-15 ready for this coming Sunday's services.
In the Lord's prayer we are told who we address (our Father in heaven), then three petitions for matters related to God (his name, his kingdom and his will) and then three petitions related to our own needs.
John Stott, with characteristic clarity, makes an interesting observation of the second group of 3 (page 151 of his BST Commentary):
Moreover, a Trinitarian Christian is bound to see in these three petitions a veiled allusion to the Trinity, since it is through the Father’s creation and providence that we receive our daily bread, through the Son’s atoning death that we may be forgiven and through the Spirit’s indwelling power that we are rescued from the evil one.
Could not the same point be made of the first group of 3? The name of God is fundamentally Father (because although only one of the 3 persons is "The Father", the other two are named by their relation to the Father); the kingdom of God comes as the reign of Jesus, the incarnate Son, is acknowledged; the will of God is done as the Spirit transforms us into God's likeness.
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