[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

3 (Big) Cracks in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Do an Internet search and ask, “How did life begin on earth?” and you’ll find articles and videos pointing to some kind of evolutionary explanation. One honest NASA scientist in a video on the subject begins and ends with, “We just don’t know.” Yet, he is clearly looking for a naturalistic or evolutionary explanation.

Consider that there are only three fundamental hypotheses for the origin of life on planet Earth.

• Life was transported to Earth (panspermia).
• All life evolved from non-living matter.
• An intelligent being that we might think of as God created life.

Setting aside the huge problems of even bacterial life traveling through vast distances of space, over immense times, and in an environment that is hostile to life—the idea that life was transported to Earth from somewhere else in the universe merely postpones the central question. If life was transported to planet earth by a meteor or some other unknown means, how did it begin at that original source? Was it by chance? Or was it by an infinitely great mind with unlimited power?

Since the time when Charles Darwin’s thesis, On the Origin of Species, was published more than 165 years ago, the need for God in people’s minds has been diminished. After all, if we are no more than the product of blind evolutionary chance, what need is there for a Divine Creator?

1. Fossil Evidence Does NOT Support Evolution

However, in the last half century, insurmountable cracks have appeared in Darwin’s thesis. Let’s note three of them. Crack number one:

1. The fossil record argues against evolution.

But this may surprise you, since evolutionists often point to the fossil record as proof! However, they personally know better. The lack of fossil evidence was a problem from the beginning—and Darwin admitted this. But it was hoped that with greater fossil finds, the intermediates, the so-called missing links, would be found. But sadly, for evolutionists, that has not happened.

Every few years we hear “the missing link has been found,” but is that true? The answer is no, it is not. Part of the problem is that it is not a single link, but many thousands of links that are required—not only for man, but for every living creature.

Scientist Michael Denton pulls back the curtain on the geologic record in his insightful book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.

The overall picture of life on Earth today is so discontinuous, the gaps between the different types so obvious, that, as Steven Stanley reminds us in his recent book Macroevolution, if our knowledge of biology was restricted to those species presently existing on earth, “we might wonder whether the doctrine of evolution would qualify as anything more than an outrageous hypothesis” (pp. 157–158).

And as Denton points out—and evolutionary scientists must admit—missing transitions (that is, intermediate forms) plagued Darwin from the beginning.

The absence of intermediates, although damaging, was not fatal in 1860, for it was reasonable to hope that many would eventually be found as geological activities increased (p. 160).

However, time and new discoveries have not been allies for evolution. Denton suggests that “probably 99.9%” of our current knowledge of the fossil record has been discovered since 1860, and:

Only a small fraction of the hundred thousand or so fossil species known today were known to Darwin. But virtually all the new fossil species discovered since Darwin’s time have either been closely related to known forms or, like the Poganophoras, strange unique types of unknown affinity (pp. 160–161).

Transitional forms simply are not there, and Denton states the obvious to any honest person who looks at the fossil record with an open mind.

Without intermediates or transitional forms to bridge the enormous gaps which separate existing species and groups of organisms, the concept of evolution could never be taken seriously as a scientific hypothesis (p. 158).

So crack number one in the evolutionary hypothesis is the fossil record argues against evolution.

2. Mathematical Evidence Is Against Evolution

And now for crack number two:

2. It is mathematically impossible for life to rise from dead matter by chance.

Science writer and evolutionist Bill Bryson explains.

No one really knows, but there may be as many as a million [different] types of protein in the human body, and each one is a little miracle (A Short History of Nearly Everything, p. 288).

One of those million or so miracles that you have likely heard of is collagen. And regarding the odds of it self-assembling, Bryson states what all rational scientists must admit:

The chances of a 1,055-sequence molecule like collagen spontaneously self-assembling are, frankly, nil. It just isn’t going to happen (ibid).

He then went on to describe the mathematical odds against a much smaller 200-string protein self-assembling as greater than all the atoms in the universe. The larger collagen protein happening by chance is of a magnitude incomprehensibly greater, but collagen is not even close to the largest protein.

Titin gives elasticity to our muscles and much more, and it contains somewhere in the neighborhood of more than 33,000 amino acids. That’s like throwing letters of the alphabet together and by accident forming a coherent sentence made up of some 33,000 or more letters. No wonder evolutionist Bill Bryson makes this remarkable admission:

By all the laws of probability proteins shouldn’t exist (A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson, p. 288).

Nature programs and books generally portray evolution as fact rather than theory. However, this theory is in crisis, as Michael Denton explains in Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. So far, I’ve given you two cracks in the theory.

Crack #1: The fossil record argues against evolution.

And crack #2: It is mathematically impossible for life to rise from dead matter by chance.

Life is either the result of cosmic accidents, or the result of a great intelligence with unlimited power. There’s no other choice.

3. Living Organisms Are Too Complex to Evolve

Now here is a third crack.

3. Life is complex beyond our comprehension.

When Charles Darwin formulated his theory and published it in 1859, he had no concept about the complexity of the cell, but with the advent of modern technologies that allow us to see inside the cell, we now know that the complexity of cells staggers the mind. As Michael Denton explains:

Between a living cell and the most highly ordered non-biological system, such as a crystal or a snowflake, there is a chasm as vast and absolute as it is possible to conceive…. Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small… each is in effect a veritable microminiaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery…far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton, pp. 249–250).

Denton goes on to explain:

The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that it is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable event. Such an occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle (p. 264).

In his 2019 book on the subject of the human body, Bill Bryson makes this thought-provoking admission:

You could call together all the brainiest people who are alive now or have ever lived and endow them with the complete sum of human knowledge, and they could not between them make a single living cell (The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Bill Bryson, p. 4).

Yet evolutionists want us to believe that something so complex happened by chance. The truth is that scientists cannot give a rational explanation how such a grand accident could occur.

Oh, they give just-so stories that sound good on the surface: This might have happened, then this may have come about, and it is not hard to imagine this change taking place, etc., etc., and etc.

All this leads us to the obvious conclusion: What is the most reasonable explanation for life?

Former Atheist Says DNA Had to Be Designed

Many scientists and philosophers are coming to the realization that evolution is found wanting and that the only rational explanation is that there is an intelligent Creator behind life. Perhaps the most striking example is that of the late Antony Flew, considered by many to be “the world’s most influential philosophical atheist.”

But early in 2004, at the age of eighty-one, he changed his mind. Flew announced his conversion to deism, launching seismic waves throughout the philosophic community.… He had become convinced that life would not be possible without the extreme fine-tuning of the universe, and this was only possible with a designer. In addition, he concluded that new discoveries about DNA made it impossible that life could be an accident. As he put it, “It now seems to me that the findings of more than fifty years of DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design” (Your Designed Body, Laufmann & Glicksman, p. 425).

When we consider how complex life truly is on every level, it brings us to another question: How could God do it? It should be obvious to anyone who knows even a little bit about the structure and operation of cells, that they cannot happen by chance. As Michael Denton rightfully stated:

The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that it is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable, event. Such an occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton, p. 264).

A 1961 hit song tells us that God made woman out of a hundred pounds of clay, an obvious reference to the biblical account of man being made of the dust of the ground. But much is left out of this picture. My guess is that many people envision God taking clay and molding it in the form of a man, then breathing into his nostrils, and the clay suddenly became a living man. But was it that simple? Was it magic?

How Complex Is the Human Brain?

How did the circulatory system, the digestive system, the respiratory system come to be? How were all the organs—heart, liver, spleen, and pancreas—formed?

And let us not forget our brain. As Bryson says:

The most extraordinary thing in the universe is inside your head. You could travel through every inch of outer space and very possibly nowhere find anything as marvelous and complex and high functioning as the three pounds of spongy mass between your ears (The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Bill Bryson, p. 48).

How did something so marvelous and complex as the brain come to be? How did the cells that make up the organs and systems, with all their amazing organelles and protein machines, suddenly appear?

The human body and all living creatures, whether great or small, are designed from the microscopic to cause the body to function as a whole. As explained in the previous portion of this program, the complexity of life is so great that scientists readily admit it is mathematically impossible to happen by chance. Yet they refuse to entertain any alternative to their materialistic religion.

But if there is no other alternative than God, how did He do it? How did he construct the cells, the organs, and all the intricate details, all at once before it began decomposition—something that happens almost immediately? Think about it dear friends. This is no small thing.

Bible Verses About Creation

How could God do it? Well, Psalm 33:6 tells us:

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

Yes, “by the word of the Lord” and “the breath of His mouth.” One could argue that this is poetic and not to be taken literally, but the idea that it was by God’s command that the universe and life on this planet came to be is found throughout the Bible. Notice that this is confirmed in the very first chapter of Genesis. I won’t read it all, but let’s begin with verse 24.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.… Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” …So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:24–27).

This account is severely abbreviated and leaves much out, but another passage confirms that it was the voice of God by which creation took place. Breaking into a thought in Psalm 148, we read:

Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created (Psalm 148:4–5).

And then there is Hebrews 1:2–3.

[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and [notice this] upholding all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:2-3).

The debate over how life began has huge implications. The late William Provine, a professor of biology at Cornell University, explains the evolutionists’ perspective.

Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either (“Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy?”, William B. Provine, Debate at Stanford University, April 30, 1994).

What a dark, hopeless, and purposeless state of mind, but it is one thing to believe something—quite another to prove it.

But in this last portion of our program, I want to explore one possibility of how God could bring about life on this planet. As we saw in the previous segment (Genesis 1:24):

God spoke and it was done.

And:

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth (Psalm 33:6).

And:

He upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).

Compare God’s Creation and Man’s Creation (A.I.)

But exactly how did God do it? Did kidneys and lungs, spleens and hearts, magically appear without God consciously designing them?

We have a technology that may at least help us imagine what this may have been like. While it has been in the background for several years, it’s only in recent times that we, the public, have become aware of the power of artificial intelligence. And while it is a terribly weak analogy, it may help us begin to have a sense of what it was like for God to create life.

Today’s A.I. platforms seem very powerful and creative. Ask an A.I. program for a picture of diving cats, and it will generate one on your computer screen. You see different species of cats doing somersaults off a diving board into the water. The cats are, of course, not real.

Computer programmers can describe new applications, and A.I. writes the code for them. Students use A.I. to write term papers. They type in guidelines regarding the subject, the style to be written in, the word count, etc., and A.I. generates the thesis—not always accurately, and sometimes not without bias.

Yet these A.I. platforms cannot truly create anything on their own. Instead, they have been trained using vast collections of mankind’s knowledge: art, literature, scientific publications and much more. A.I. is doing the work, but A.I. is powered by the sum of human knowledge and creativity.

God’s Ways Are Above Our Ways

Yet the mind of God is far greater than all of mankind’s combined knowledge. Let me remind you of the Bill Bryson quote given earlier in this program.

You could call together all the brainiest people who are alive now or have ever lived and endow them with the complete sum of human knowledge, and they could not between them make a single living cell (The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Bill Bryson, p. 4).

In our analogy—as imperfect as it is—the mind of God is a reservoir of knowledge far greater than man can amass. God could have thought through, planned, and designed every detail of life, from the intricacies of cellular structures to the complexities of life’s chemical processes. He had to design—as it were, write—the code of life—DNA. With all that planned out, He could then simply speak the instructions, and instead of an image on a computer screen appearing, real lifeforms appeared at His command, according to the very designs He had planned.

The point is that while A.I. may be a terribly flawed analogy, it can help us to see how every detail of life could be planned out in the mind of God prior to speaking the word. And when He did speak, the elements of the universe He created obeyed His instructions. God’s mind and power are vastly superior to ours.

Life did not happen by chance—it’s far too complicated for that, and scientists know it. Only the mind of God, along with His endless power, could create life.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Michael Behe in the context of modern discoveries revealing the incredible complexity of cellular life. He writes:

The result of these cumulative efforts to investigate the cell—to investigate life at the molecular level—is a loud, clear, piercing cry of “design!” The result is so unambiguous and so significant that it must be ranked as one of the greatest achievements in the history of science…. This triumph of science should evoke cries of “Eureka!” from ten thousand throats, should occasion much hand-slapping and high-fiving, and perhaps even be an excuse to take a day off.

But no bottles have been uncorked, no hands slapped. Instead, a curious, embarrassed silence surrounds the stark complexity of the cell. When the subject comes up in public, feet start to shuffle, and breathing gets a bit labored. In private people are a bit more relaxed; many explicitly admit the obvious but then stare at the ground, shake their heads, and let it go at that.

Why does the scientific community not greedily embrace its startling discovery? Why is the observation of design handled with intellectual gloves? The dilemma is that while one side of the elephant is labeled intelligent design, the other side might be labeled God (Darwin’s Black Box, Michael Behe, pp. 232–233).

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[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

How to Pray to God

Many people believe prayer is important—and they’re right. But for someone new to prayer, it can be hard to know how to start or what to say. And if we’re honest, even those of us who are more experienced can sometimes struggle.

But there is good news. Because the One Person throughout human history who’s had the closest and most intimate relationship with God offers to teach us how to pray. And if we’ll listen to Him, the door to a deeper and more personal relationship with God through prayer opens wide.

There are few things more important than regular communication with your Father in heaven. Yet prayer doesn’t exactly come naturally.

After all, we can’t see God. When we talk with Him, He generally doesn’t talk back. There might be times when we feel as though God is virtually in the room with us, but then other times when it feels as if no one is listening.

It doesn’t help that the cacophony of “Christianities” out there teach so many different things about prayer. Some recommend uttering memorized prayers. Some recommend praying to intermediaries, such as angels or supposed “saints.” Others suggest that the most powerful prayers are uttered in nonsensical “tongues” that no one understands.

Some of us have basic questions about prayer, but we’re too embarrassed to ask—even though we shouldn’t be. How do you start a prayer? What do you say? What should you ask about?

All of those are good questions. And if you’re beginning to ask those questions, God is delighted that you want to know.

“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”

In fact, Jesus’ own disciples also asked to know. Let’s read about it in Luke 11:1.

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

So He taught them and, because His answer to their question was recorded for us, that means Jesus’ instruction to them can become His instruction to us, as well. And there’s no greater teacher of prayer than Jesus Christ Himself.

We read more details about what He taught in Matthew’s account of the same teaching. We see it there in chapter 6, beginning in verse 5. There He says:

“When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward” (Matthew 6:5).

He’s not saying that public prayer under some circumstances is bad. The Bible has multiple examples of public prayers, including some from Jesus Himself. He is saying here, though, that we must guard against seeing our prayers as a means of impressing others. Instead, our regular, daily prayers are meant to be private, between ourselves and God.

He explains this in more detail, beginning in verse 6; “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).

Note, Jesus suggests finding a private place for your routine and regular prayer. That way, your prayer is a matter between you and God, alone. This doesn’t mean that prayer with a spouse or children is inappropriate. Not at all. In fact, praying with children is a wonderful way for them to learn how to do it themselves.

But again, prayer is not for show. It’s about intimate communication with your Creator. He adds another important element to this in the next verse.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

We don’t build an intimate relationship with anyone by repeating lines like a character in a play. Prayer is real communication with God, not some sort of routine “spell” we cast with the same words time after time.

This is a little ironic, because the passage that follows is often called “The Lord’s Prayer,” and is repeated by many as if that repetition of the exact words, like a script, is equivalent to prayer like Jesus taught. But such an approach violates the very instruction of the passage, not to mention the collected body of examples in Scripture.

Rather, what Jesus did for them in the verses that follow—and what He does for us—represents a model prayer—a prayer that we can learn from so we can know how to pray ourselves.

7 Things Jesus Taught Us to Pray

And in Jesus’ model prayer that He used to teach His disciples, we find seven helpful elements that we should employ in our own prayers, as well.

Jesus has already taught us about the best environment for prayer, as well as what not to do. Now let’s dive right into His model prayer to learn what we should do.

1. Pray to God Directly

First, notice how Jesus begins the prayer. Let’s continue reading in Matthew 6:9.

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven…”

Now let’s stop right there, because He’s already taught us something important.

Notice that Jesus addresses God directly and focuses His prayer on His Father in Heaven. He doesn’t begin with His own needs, wants, or desires. He focuses on God. And He calls Him “Father.” A prayer is an appeal to your Father in heaven, and it is rooted in a relationship with Him.

And notice, too, it is a prayer made directly to God. Those who teach a need to go through some sort of lower beings, praying to angels or imagined saints in heaven, are simply contradicting God’s word and Jesus’ own example and instruction.

In several passages, Jesus speaks of asking the Father directly (John 15:16, John 16:23). Later, the Apostle Paul tells us that we may “come boldly to [God’s] throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16)—the promise of direct access. Those who teach you to pray to lesser beings than God are deceiving you, however innocently, and they should be completely ignored.

Of course, Jesus is in heaven, and He, too, is God. And we do see the example of the martyr Stephen asking Jesus to receive His spirit right before His death. The Son of God is God, just as the Father is God—together, they are the Family of God.

Yet, there is a reason Stephen’s prayer is rare in Scripture. Our prayers should primarily be directed to God the Father, just as Jesus teaches.

And addressing God directly, our Creator and Life-Giver, at the very start of our prayer, putting our attention on Him, not ourselves, helps to set our mind in the right place in our prayer from the very beginning.

2. Praise God and Treat Him with Reverence

The next element of prayer Jesus teaches us helps to deepen that frame of mind. Let’s continue in Matthew 6:9.

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name.”

Here in the model prayer, Jesus teaches us the next element: Praise and honor God.

To hallow something is to consider it holy and treat it with great reverence. And God’s name represents His character, His goodness, and His majesty.

Jesus addresses His Father in heaven and, again, rather than launching into all He wants or needs, He begins by praising God. In our prayers, we should spend the earliest moments reflecting on just who it is we are addressing: Mentioning and thanking Him for His goodness and His mercy, for His power and glory—addressing Him in a manner that shows our understanding that He is holy, righteous, and perfect, ever-living, ever-loving, ever-wise, and ever-mindful of His creation.

As Isaiah 57 calls Him:

The High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy (Isaiah 57:15).

Beginning our prayer by praising God helps us to see all we are about to say and ask in perspective. It reminds us of just Who is listening to our prayers, so that we stay respectful and humble. It reminds us that He has the power to respond to our prayers—yet also reminds us that He is infinitely wiser than we are, and that we can trust Him with our burdens, knowing that He knows what is right to do with our requests, that He knows when to answer them with a “yes” or even with a “no.”

Beginning with praise, hallowing the name of God, helps to give us the right perspective and puts us in the right mindset for speaking with the Almighty Regent of Heaven and Earth.

3. Seek the Kingdom of God—and God’s Will

What does Jesus teach us next? Let’s continue to listen to Him. The next part of His model prayer continues in Matthew 6:10. After praising God, He says:

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So, He teaches us next to seek God’s Kingdom and will.

In this, Jesus pictures in His model prayer the same admonition He tells all of us later in verse 33 of the same chapter:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

And before He has made a single personal request of God, in His model prayer He does just that—expresses His desire for God’s Kingdom.

And truly, with all the tragedy, heartbreak, and turmoil that surrounds us these days, our hearts should be driven to want God’s Kingdom to come as soon as it possibly could.

Yet seeking the Kingdom of God is more than just seeking a paradise on earth. It is desiring God’s will in all things, over and above our own—hence the remainder of this verse.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus tells us that early in our prayer, we should assure God that we seek His will more than we seek our own. We want His Kingdom to reign, not the world around us—and we want His will to be followed and accomplished in this world, not our own.

This element of prayer can include praying for the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in this world, such as praying for this program and its success. And praying for the humility, strength, and courage to accomplish in our own lives what the Kingdom will help the entire world to do—prioritize God’s will, desires, and plans above our own.

Jesus Himself perfectly exemplified this attitude in the Garden of Gethsemane, before His crucifixion, when He said:

“Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Highlighting to God at the beginning of our prayer that His Kingdom matters more to us than what this world offers and that His will is more important to us than our own will helps our mindset tremendously, allowing us to make our personal requests known to Him in an atmosphere that tells Him we trust Him to make the calls—in our lives, and in the world.

4. “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

Continuing in His model prayer, He says in verse 11:

“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).

Here we see Jesus teaching us to depend on God for our daily needs.

Note: Almost half of the model prayer so far has been focused on God—His greatness and goodness, His Kingdom, and the importance of His will in all things, even more than our own. This provides the context for this request, a reflection that we need Him to provide our daily needs.

And of course, it isn’t just about bread. Our needs can vary widely. Our health, our finances, our work and family—we have needs on many levels. And “our” is plural: Our loved ones have needs, as well. Yet as a staple of life, the use of bread in the model prayer helps to symbolize all we physically need.

There are many things to notice in this element of prayer. It shows God that:

• We do not take our daily needs for granted. We look to Him to provide them, knowing that only He has the dependable power to do so.
• Also, there’s a humility in the request. It isn’t for a life of luxury, leisure, and extravagance. Instead, it is a request for the things we truly need to sustain us.
• And it is a daily request, recognizing that tomorrow we will come again before Him to ask for the needs of that day.

It is not that we cannot set before God larger hopes and dreams. God is a father, and any good father loves to hear his child’s wishes and desires. Yet the model prayer teaches us that, at the heart of such things, we should be content with God satisfying our needs, versus being obsessed with our wants. Our earlier focus on God’s graciousness and goodness helps us to trust that in making our requests, He hears them and will take them seriously. And in promises such as we read in Matthew 6:33, we can trust that, if we sincerely put His Kingdom first in our prayer, as Jesus taught us, then we can trust that all things we need shall be added to us.

And our needs are far more than physical, as we’ll see.

5. Ask Forgiveness—and Be Willing to Forgive

Let’s continue in verse 12. After asking for our daily bread, the prayer continues:

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Yes, we should not take our standing before God for granted. Jesus teaches us to ask God for forgiveness of our sins. And we need it.

Romans 3:23 tells us that:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And 1 John 1:8 says that:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Yet, if we’ve been baptized and had hands laid on us by a minister of Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, washes away the sins we’ve committed, as we seek God repentantly with a heart desiring to turn from those sins.

If you’re interested in understanding more about what it means to turn to God in true repentance, one of our representatives can get in touch with you. Just mention you’re interested when you request today’s free material about prayer. Or go to TomorrowsWorld.org to reach out online.

This element of the model prayer reminds us that we do not take God’s forgiveness for granted and requests that God continue to wash us clean through the sacrifice of Christ.

And note, too, that Jesus attaches our own forgiveness to our willingness to forgive others. Many ignore this fact to their spiritual peril. Christ explains it a little later in Matthew 6.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).

Jesus explains that if we truly want forgiveness for our sins and wrongdoings, we must forgive those who’ve wronged us. And if we find that hard—as it certainly can be—a request to our Father in heaven to help us forgive others is a fitting addition to our prayers. After all, when it comes to forgiveness, He’s the expert.

6. Ask God for Spiritual Protection

Next in the model prayer, Jesus teaches us another area in which we should seek God’s help. Let’s continue the prayer in verse 13 of Matthew 6.

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).

Now notice, Jesus isn’t just teaching us to ask for God’s protection from the dangerous elements of this world, though such requests are indeed daily physical needs that fit within the earlier area of prayer we discussed concerning “daily bread.” Rather, Jesus teaches us here to ask God for spiritual protection—to go directly to God and to ask Him to help us avoid temptations that may lead us astray into sins, taking us further from Him in our daily walk, instead of drawing us closer.

This does not mean that when trials come God has somehow failed. Many places in Scripture highlight the important role that trials play in our spiritual growth, testing our faith and helping us to grow in patience.

But just as any child would want his father to protect him from pitfalls and traps, we should directly ask God to preserve us spiritually from falling into temptation’s snares. Consider the Apostle Paul’s admonition in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:12–13).

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Paul encouraged the Corinthians not to take their spiritual safety for granted, but to desire God’s help with temptation.

And concerning the evil one, the Apostle Peter told his own readers (in 1 Peter 5:8):

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

These spiritual dangers are more important than even the physical dangers this world throws at us. And Jesus teaches us not to ignore them in our prayers, but to actively ask God for spiritual protection from these dangers.

7. Honor God Again When You End Your Prayer

And now we come to His conclusion to the prayer—and it may seem somewhat familiar. After asking for spiritual protection in the model prayer, we read His final element in Matthew 6:13.

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Recall how, in the earliest part of the model prayer, Jesus focused us on God, not ourselves, and on God’s Kingdom, not the world around us. And here at the conclusion, He teaches us to end our prayer as it began, magnifying God’s greatness and glory.

Such words provide vital perspective. When we enter prayer, our task is to set our minds on higher things—even in our seemingly mundane, physical requests, we seek to do so with a higher perspective.

And we conclude our prayer with this focus on God, His greatness, and His Kingdom, once again. It helps us to remember that this higher, greater perspective is not just for when we are on our knees before God. It is the perspective we take from His presence to carry throughout our lives—just as our Savior did 2,000 years ago.

And when we hold God in right perspective, in prayer and in life, all other things fall into right perspective as well.

There is nothing more important in this life than building a relationship with God. And Jesus Christ knew that. And He ensured that this model prayer would be recorded forever, not just to teach and guide His followers in the first century, but to teach and guide His followers in the 21st century, as well.

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