A number of prominent scholars over the past 80 years have understood the LP as eschatological, that is referring to end times and judgment rather than concerning daily life and needs of Christians as it is popularly understood. Further many have recognized the intertexuality of Matthew with Exodus. The Moses stories are many times alluded to by parallel and contrast with Jesus, the 'Greater Moses' according to Matt's author. (note the wilderness and 40 day/year etc parallels) The question arises which version of the LP to use as a base for this discussion Luke 11 or Matt 6. It is widely felt that Luke is more original as it is shorter and Matt's an expansion. I'm not really convinced of this as the supposed expansion in Matt very well fits contemporary Jewish prayers. For example see: the Qaddish prayer compared to the Lord's prayer Also to be noted, the manuscript variants are many in Luke's version either through harmonization with Matt or through deliberate abbreviation to remove the overtly Jewish language of Matt. But this is not central to the point of this thread. I will use Matt's as we are most familiar with it's wording.
The LP opens with a standard Jewish opening "Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name, let your Kingdom come let your will be done on earth". This clearly in apocalypical Jewish context refers to a judgment day and eschatological theocracy.
The next line is most interesting, "give us this day our daily bread". This line has spawned many debates. Is it a prayer for god's provision of life's necessities or is it more allusion to the day of judgement? Many debates revolve around the word here translated "daily". Some translations have "necessary" or "tomorrow's". Some translations have the Greek word, epiousion, translated one way in Matt and another in Luke. Problem is the word appears to have been coined by the author of Matt (assuming Luke's use of Matt) leaving scholars both ancient (Origen, Tertullian) and modern divided as to the etymology and meaning of the word. There are many suggestions offered, each deriving the word from different roots hence leading to differing meanings. Interestingly Jerome quoting a now lost Gospel of the Nazarenes uses the Aramaic mahar meaning 'tomorrow' in the LP. If however the Greek author of Matt intended simply to say 'tomorrow' why did he not use the ususal word aurion meaning tomorrow? Perhaps he was intentionally using an obscure word or coining his own Greek to carry the thought of 'day to come' from Hebrew eschatological literature and usage. All this has led to wonder if this is not yet another allusion to Exodus, in this case the manna story. Remember the story had the Israelites gathering the 'bread from heaven' each day for the present day until the 6th when they were to gather bread for the 7th day, the 'next day'. Note that the wording is urgent, give us THIS DAY (ie now) this manna for tomorow (day to come). If this is correct and the bread for tomorrow was an allusion to the 6th and last day of the week in Exodus then what we have may simply be another prayer for the 'Kingdom to come' rather than simply a petition for foodstuffs. Intertestamental reference to manna as being provided upon the establishment of God's Kingdom seems to support this conclusion. For example 2 Baruch 29:8...."the treasury of manna will come down from on high and they will eat of it in those days because they are the ones who have arrived at the consummation of the time." Understood in this way the words could be read, "Give us today the blessings of the day to come" implying either the desire to see the Kingdom come immediately or receive a taste of the blessings reserved for the future.
The next line of the LP appears also to have a judgment context, "Forgive us our debts because we have forgiven our debtors". This would be very appropriate to ask if the LP was intended as a prayer focusing upon end times and judgement.
The LP continues "And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil". This always struck me as a strange request. God lead me into temptation? Now it is true that the OT does make comments consistant with this notion including Ex 16:4, where God is said to offer the manna as some sort of 'proof' test but maybe the author of Matt here meant something else. The word 'temptation' does not accurately reflect the Greek here. It came into english translations via the Latin form which did more closely parallel the Greek. The word does not mean the daily appeals to vice or sin but rather a 'trial' and 'testing' such as when in the OT God is said to be trying Israel by his judging them wicked. The first phrase 'lead us not into' is idiomatic of 'keep away from' "avoiding". Together then the sentence could mean, "Help us avoid the coming time of trying". This interpretation fits well the eschatological nature of the LP. The word translated 'evil' also means 'harm' and so in this context seems to mean delivery from God's slaying of unbelievers.
This is a sketchy summary of these suggestions and in no way is it certain. It is however quite interesting to see the words so often repeated by Christians being interpreted in a fashion quite foreign to modern Christians many of whom repell at the apocalyptic, cultish past of Christianity.