Martin Luthers Small Catechism | Page 5

request,
we pray that He will make it holy among us, too.
Q. How does this take place? A. When God's Word is taught clearly

and purely, and when we live holy lives as God's children based upon it.
Help us, Heavenly Father, to do this! But anyone who teaches and lives
by something other than God's Word defiles God's name among us.
Protect us from this, Heavenly Father!
III. The Second Request Your Kingdom come.
Q. What does this mean?
A. Truly God's Kingdom comes by itself, without our prayer. But we
pray in this request that it come to us as well.
Q. How does this happen? A. When the Heavenly Father gives us His
Holy Spirit, so that we believe His holy Word by His grace and live
godly lives here in this age and there in eternal life.
IV. The Third Request May Your will be accomplished, as it is Heaven,
so may it be on Earth.
Q. What does this mean? A. Truly, God's good and gracious will is
accomplished without our prayer. But we pray in this request that is be
accomplished among us as well.
Q. How does this happen? A. When God destroys and interferes with
every evil will and all evil advice, which will not allow God's Kingdom
to come, such as the Devil's will, the world's will and will of our bodily
desires. It also happens when God strengthens us by faith and by His
Word and keeps living by them faithfully until the end of our lives.
This is His will, good and full of grace.
V. The Fourth Request Give us our daily bread today.
Q. What does this mean? A. Truly, God gives daily bread to evil people,
even without our prayer. But we pray in this request that He will help
us realize this and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
Q. What does ``Daily Bread'' mean? A. Everything that nourishes our
body and meets its needs, such as: Food, drink, clothing, shoes, house,
yard, fields, cattle, money, possessions, a devout spouse, devout
children, devout employees, devout and faithful rulers, good
government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good
friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these.
VI. The Fifth Request And forgive our guilt, as we forgive those guilty
of sinning against us.
Q. What does this mean? A. We pray in this request that our Heavenly
Father will neither pay attention to our sins nor refuse requests such as
these because of our sins and because we are neither worthy nor

deserve the things for which we pray. Yet He wants to give them all to
us by His grace, because many times each day we sin and truly deserve
only punishment. Because God does this, we will, of course, want to
forgive from our hearts and willingly do good to those who sin against
us.
VII. The Sixth Request And lead us not into temptation.
Q. What does this mean? A. God tempts no one, of course, but we pray
in this request that God will protect us and save us, so that the Devil,
the world and our bodily desires will neither deceive us nor seduce us
into heresy, despair or other serious shame or vice, and so that we will
win and be victorious in the end, even if they attack us.
VIII. The Seventh Request But set us free from the Evil One.
Q. What does this mean? A. We pray in this request, as a summary, that
our Father in Heaven will save us from every kind of evil that threatens
body, soul, property and honor. We pray that when at last our final hour
has come, He will grant us a blessed death, and, in His grace, bring us
to Himself from this valley of tears.
IX. Amen. Q. What does this mean? A. That I should be certain that
such prayers are acceptable to the Father in Heaven and will be granted,
that He Himself has commanded us to pray in this way and that He
promises to answer us. Amen. Amen. This means: Yes, yes it will
happen this way.

Part Four: Holy Baptism
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism: The Simple Way a Father Should
Present it to His Household
I. Q. What is Baptism? A. Baptism is not just plain water, but it is
water contained within God's command and united with God's Word.
Q. Which Word of God is this? A. The one which our Lord Christ
spoke in the last chapter of Matthew: ``Go into all the world, teaching
all heathen nations, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the
Son and of the Holy Spirit.''
II.
Q. What does Baptism give? What good is it? A. It gives the
forgiveness of