Over the past summer I’ve
been wrestling with this last post on prayer. I intended to finish it sooner,
but every time I sat down to write, the words just seemed so dry. The
excitement I’d felt when I first heard the series preached had given way to a
sort of resigned hopelessness. It seemed hypocritical to write about what God
was teaching me when everything I learned seemed to go in one ear and out the
other, and here I was at the same place I was before.
Call it trust issues or
introverted tendencies or fear if you want, but deep down the struggle has
always been because of “the gap”:
connecting doctrine to practical life. As I’ve learned about
prayer, I haven’t felt much peace. It has been difficult to understand why God
wants to hear me pray. He knows what
I need; He knows what I think, how I
feel, what I desire, what I struggle with. He knows I don’t enjoy verbalizing my deepest thoughts. It seems
redundant to pray.
In my first post, I
addressed the WHY behind true prayer and it was helpful for me to wrestle
through those connections. In my second post, I eliminated some of my
fears (and excuses!) by addressing HOW I should approach God in prayer. But when
faced with the third question, I hit a brick wall: “WHAT should I pray?”
Let me rephrase that. I
had the WHAT, as found in the basic outline of the Lord’s Prayer, but I’d never
actually applied it to my own prayers. The Lord’s Prayer is short, concise,
thorough, deep. It seemed too … glorious … for my mundane moments. And
so the cycle continued. I longed for a deeper relationship with God yet had no
clue how to apply what He’d provided.
That’s when I had an
epiphany.
One morning, I went for a
morning walk with my dog, Echo. The sunshine was invigorating, the morning
cool, and I heard birds singing everywhere from various bird-feeders and
telephone poles along the way. It was refreshing to leave the chaos of burnt
toast and pressing needs of the day behind before the day really got going.
As I walked, I was overwhelmed
with God’s faithfulness in my life. I was traveling safely through my neighborhood;
three beautiful children laughed and skipped ahead of me; the world entered my
consciousness through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. I was
alive another day!
But it didn’t stop there.
Little things continued to pop up, reminding me to pray. A car driving past and
a vehicle crisis some friends were going through; conviction over the way I’d
spoken to my husband before he left for work; a broken tree branch in a front
yard and a friend who’d forsaken the faith; one of my daughters handing me a
curling maple leaf turned red, the changing seasons of life. Needs and concerns
kept coming, so I made a mental note to write them down when I got home so I
wouldn’t forget to pray for them the next time I did my devotions.
That’s when it hit me: these mundane moments are the right time to
pray. This is where life happens. This is where God meets me. Not when I’ve
got my life together. Not after the house is clean and dishes are done and
children are playing nicely together. Not when I can set aside quiet time longer
than fifteen minutes (though He’s there too).
I almost laughed at how
blind I’d been. I’d been treating prayer as though it meant stopping normal life
and showing God hospitality as I sit in my armchair having polite conversation
from my carefully bulleted prayer journal.
But from the carefully
bulleted pattern of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus actually intended for me to
include God in all my mundane moments. As I walk the dog, I can praise Him in
that moment. If I’m washing the dishes, I can pray for the friend who pops into
my head without waiting until the dishes are done. I can pray about our
finances while I’m paying the bills rather than stress about tomorrow.
This probably seems really
obvious to you, but it finally clicked for me. I’m not saying that prayer is
suddenly a piece of cake. I still slip into the old habit of pushing prayer to
the side because I don’t have all my ducks in a row for the day. But something
has changed. It’s like I’ve been avoiding something because I never really did
it right. But now that I’ve got a taste of what it was intended to be, I keep
coming back for more.
It has been a difficult summer
in the blogging department, but spiritually huge. I’m learning the hard way
that spiritual connections come after stepping
out in faith. Initially, studying the Lord’s Prayer taught me more about God, but it wasn’t until I
experienced the power of God’s presence
within my mundane moments that I finally connected the dots to why prayer is
truly a means of grace.
For the rest of this post,
I want to go through the Lord’s Prayer and show how easy it is to connect this
gospel-centered foundation to our mundane moments, as Jesus intended.
Jesus says in Matthew 6:9-13,
“Pray, then, in this way:Our Father who is in heaven,Hallowed be Your name.Your kingdom come,Your will be done,On earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread,And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.[For Yours is the kingdom and power and glory forever. Amen.]”
OUR FATHER IN
HEAVEN,
HALLOWED BE
YOUR NAME
Jesus tells me to pray to
God as my Father. The Greek word He uses is a special word balancing specific,
personal affection with reverence for God’s position. Throughout the Bible, God
is compared to a compassionate Father who knows that I am only dust (Psa.
103:13-14) and has sent His only Son to do everything necessary for my adoption
as His child (2 Cor. 6:18). By referring to God in this way, I’m reminding myself
of my identity in Christ.
Jesus also reminds me that
God is no ordinary father. Rather, He is “our
Father in heaven”. He is unlike earthly fathers, and His attributes never
change which means I dare not come alone. Yes, God has given me access, but He is
still a holy and almighty God who deserves true reverence (Mal. 3:6). My
prayers must be offered through Jesus (Col. 3:17), and because of Jesus I can
be confident to approach the throne of grace (Heb. 10:19, 22). My prayers
should swell with both love and worship.
In this first petition, the
word “hallowed” simply means “holy”
or “set apart”. God’s name is unlike any other name. It is a powerful name that
not only protects (Prov. 18:10) but also connects me to His attributes in a
special way (Psa. 79:9). El Shaddai (“God
Almighty” – Gen. 17:1). El Roi (“the God who sees” – Gen.
16:13). Jehovah Jireh (“the Lord will provide – Gen. 22:14). Jehovah
Tsidkenu (“the Lord our Righteousness” – Jer. 23:6). The
LORD God of hosts (Psa. 89:8). Immanuel (“God with us” – Isa. 7:14).
I
AM/YHWH (Ex. 3:13-14). Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (“the coming
Messiah” – Isa. 9:6).
God’s name is holy, and
His holiness demands no compromise. We are unclean and cannot approach a holy God
because of our sin, but a holy God can approach us. He cannot be tainted by association with sinners. And so He comes to us through the story of the
incarnation. Jesus Christ connects God to sinners (John 4:26; 6:35, 48; 8:12,
58; 9:5; 10:7, 11, 30; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1; 18:5). Our first experience of the
powerful, holy name of God is in our salvation (Matt. 1:21). Through this name,
sinners are changed permanently (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Ever after, we have the seal
of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts and we cry a new name, “Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6;
Eph. 1:13) By praying “Hallowed be Your
name”, we ask God not only to help us exalt Him rightly as His name
deserves, but also that His name would be glorified in us as His transformed people
(1 Peter 1:14-16).
YOUR KINGDOM
COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE,
ON EARTH AS
IT IS IN HEAVEN
This next petition has a nice
poetic ring to it, but it’s really hard to pray. Ever since I was little, I’ve
had a “toughen up, buttercup” mentality. I rarely cried. Difficult
circumstances sparked creative improvisations. I was determined to succeed in
life, and my dreams – from becoming a veterinarian to living where there were
mountains – were carefully planned out. In my mind, it was simply A + B = C. Work
hard, make good choices, and my dreams would come true.
But my dreams kept
derailing. Things happened in spite of my choices and work output. A + B didn’t
always equal C.
For a while, I became
quite cynical about this petition in the Lord’s Prayer. I thought I was following God’s will by working hard
and making good choices. I served in church and prayed for missionaries. But in
reality, I saw it as a give and take thing. Look at what I was doing right, and
now God needed to follow through on His end.
But God doesn’t work that
way. He is truly sovereign over all. When things didn’t go my way, I was quick to assume that God doesn’t love me, He isn’t good,
He’s a tyrant, He’s forcing me to go where I don’t want to go, etc. I hated feeling
out of control. I knew what I wanted and didn’t want God to pick differently. I
wanted what I wanted but was powerless to attain it.
It took several long years
of soul tantrums for me to see that God’s will is so much vaster than my desires. I was like a horse bucking and fighting
against its new owner, raging and terrified because of experience with a
previous owner. All I could see and feel was pain and brokenness, but God “gentled”
me by showing me the goodness of His sovereignty over the details (Rom.
8:28-30). He had everything already arranged for my good, my “training” if you
will (Heb. 12:11); I was the one bucking against the One who was trying to draw
me closer to Himself in love.
Jesus is the ultimate
example of wrestling with God’s will yet submission to it. He knew what God
required – and it wasn’t easy, even for the Son of God. But it was His intimate
knowledge of the goodness of God in His sovereignty that motivated Jesus to
step forward in obedience, saying, “Father,
if you are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) Because of Jesus’s submission to the will of God,
salvation was accomplished for sinners!
I’ve learned the hard way that
God’s plan is always (always!) better
than mine. It’s a lifelong “gentling process” learning to trust the King of
kings and His will for my life. When I can’t see the way ahead, it’s hard to
let go – but isn’t that what faith does? This petition is important because it
reminds me that I am not in charge, and that’s okay because God is. Rather than looking at my tiny
sphere of existence, I’m called to look at the Master of the waves.
David articulates this in Psalm 31:9-10, 14-15a,
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength has failed because of my iniquity, and my body has wasted away. But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand.
It’s a daily battle that
demands this daily prayer. And it will continue to be so until the final day
when Jesus returns and my body and soul are set free to follow Him
completely (1 Cor. 15:42-58).
GIVE US THIS
DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
Since the beginning of creation,
bread has been a staple food. It’s part of every culture around the world in
various forms, and a daily part of nearly every meal. Over the years, there
were times when my family was barely scraping by. Yet we always had enough rolled
oats for oatmeal or flour for biscuits.
In those weeks and months,
I struggled with the fact that our diet was so basic. I would flip through my
cookbooks looking at glossy photographs of basil-sausage lasagna, Dutch apple
pie, grilled halibut, or buttery blueberry muffins and find myself grumbling as
I slammed the cookbook shut. As people, we’re naturally discontent and
impatient. We’re used to variety and options and sizes, and pronto!
This petition “Give us this day our daily bread” is
humbling because it narrows my expectations down to what God has promised to provide.
When I grumble about glossy cookbook photos, I’m no different than the
Israelites in the wilderness who grumbled about glossy memories of Egyptian
cucumbers, leeks, and watermelon as they gathered daily manna from heaven.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s
nothing necessarily wrong with blueberry muffins or cucumbers, but these are extra
blessings.
The problem is when we expect God to provide for our blessings in the same way He
provides for our needs. I’m too quick to grumble when there’s only bread, but
this is precisely what God has promised to provide. Any extra blessings are
exactly that. Instead of complaining about daily bread, I need to adjust my
expectations. God cares for me and has provided once again.
Before I move on to the
next petition, there’s an underlying message that’s too big to overlook. In
John 6, Jesus uses this petition as an object lesson to show something greater.
An enormous crowd had been listening to His teaching all day, and now they were
hungry. Rather than send them away to figure it out, He takes that physical daily need and provides for it by
miraculously multiplying a few loaves and fish. Then while the crowds eat and
feel their physical hunger satisfied, Jesus connects the bread to the
historical story of their ancestors who relied on God for daily manna.
But instead of drawing the
connection and closing in prayer, Jesus goes one step further:
John 6:48-51, 58, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” (emphasis added)
God has created people
with a physical need for bread in order to show them their greater spiritual need
for Christ. By securing my eternal life through the Bread of life, I can pray “give us this day our daily bread” even
when my cupboards are bare and my stomach is growling. The apostle Paul
describes it well in Philippians 4:11-13,
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (emphasis added)
FORGIVE US OUR
DEBTS,
AS WE FORGIVE
OUR DEBTORS
Relationships have never
been easy for me. It takes a long time for me to trust people, and even still,
misunderstandings happen, sin happens, and it hurts. Especially when I’m the
one who’s unintentionally caused pain to another. It’s humbling to apologize or
overlook offenses. It’s easier to retreat into my lonely little shell where
people won’t hurt me and I won’t hurt people, and everyone will be so much
happier. But this is not a biblical approach to relationships.
Jesus tells me to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors” because real life is messy. Real life hurts. Real life takes
humility and forgiveness, and He of all people knew that the most. If God
responded to relationships with sinners according to my natural inclinations, I would constantly be wondering when His
patience would run out, how far His forgiveness extends, would I lose my
salvation if I forgot to apologize for something, does God hear my prayers if I
intentionally sin, etc.
But thank the Lord, God
isn’t like me when it comes to relationships. God is a God of grace. The Bible
is very clear that God’s true sheep “will
never perish; and no one will snatch them out of [His] hand” (John 10:28). To those who love God and
are called according to His purpose, “neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Rom. 8:38-39). For those who
have put their faith in Jesus Christ alone, “there
is now no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1).
Jesus’ sacrifice not only sufficiently cancels my debt but also abundantly
fills my account and keeps me securely in communion with God (Col. 2:13-14).
So, why should my prayers
include, “Forgive us our debts”?
The simple answer is that
we are forgetful people. We need this daily reminder of the need for grace.
Battles, hurt feelings, broken relationships, real life problems – these tend
to quickly grow out of proportion. Bitterness and unforgiveness are a whole lot
easier than humility and forgiveness. I easily forget the enormous mountain of sin
and shame that God has dealt with already
in His relationship with me.
But this is not a daily
loss of salvation. It is a daily hardening, a daily grieving the Holy Spirit. I
can say through gritted teeth that everything is fine. But unless my heart is
motivated by the weight of forgiveness I receive regarding my own sin against
God, my heart will only grow more bitter and skilled at faking relationships. This
petition asks God for a heart that remembers His great love for me as the motivation for my response toward
others. It is a daily prayer for renewed gratefulness of God’s forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not
ignoring wrongs. Forgiveness is the payment of a debt (Col. 2:13-14). When we
forgive someone, we are treating them as though their debt is no longer against us. We’re placing the wrong done into
the hands of God the righteous Judge who avenges the plight of the innocent
(Rom. 12:17-21), and sometimes this also includes placing the wrong into the
hands of governing authorities which He has provided to protect us (Rom.
13:3-4).
This petition places the condition
of forgiveness not on whether or not the offender apologizes, but rather on
God’s forgiveness of our sins. If I
have been forgiven, I must forgive others. Forgiveness lets it go – into the
hands of God.
Ephesians 4:30-32, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (emphasis added)
LEAD US NOT
INTO TEMPTATION,
BUT DELIVER
US FROM EVIL
I’ve always thought of
temptation as a dragon waiting to pounce. If I just avoid places, people, or
situations where I might be tempted
to sin, I’ll be okay. I’ll make good choices and good friends. I’ll stay away
from the dark side and avoid an appearance of sin, just in case. But this is
actually legalism – following a rigid system of man-made boundaries
thinking this will safeguard me from sin. Temptation is much more complex and
personal than that. No matter how much I avoid this or choose that, I can’t get
away from the root of temptation.
People, places,
situations, and choices provide the setting
for my heart to be exposed. Yes, there is wisdom in avoiding things that cause
me to stumble. Proverbs 22:3 says, The prudent sees the evil and hides himself,
but the naive go on, and are punished for it. But two different people can
be in the same situation and respond to it two different ways. What is tempting
for me might not be an issue for someone else. As Christians, we also have the
attacks of Satan to contend with.
We must take the
tendencies of our heart seriously. I know how embarrassing it is to fight
against things that other people can’t always relate to. I know what it’s like
to feel alone and wonder if the fight is really worth it. As time goes on,
compromise starts small but quickly grows. My eyes don’t look away as quickly
as they used to; I can handle the fire a little longer.
But in the life of a
Christian, we have to look at the bigger picture. People, places,
circumstances, even the tendencies of our heart are sovereignly orchestrated by
God to be more than occasions for temptation. Circumstances are put into our
life to test the quality – or lack of – our faith (Jam. 1:13-15).
A good example of this is
seen in the lives of Joseph (Gen. 37, 39-50) and David (2 Sam. 11-12). Two
handsome men faced with circumstances, people, and places outside their
control. Both were faced with sexual temptation and a woman’s willingness to engage.
But Joseph saw the situation for what God intended for it to be: a test of his faith (Gen. 39:9; Psa.
105:19), while David failed the test, allowing the lust of his heart to grow
full-term, literally ending in adultery and murder (2 Sam. 12:9-10).
We are faced with unplanned
circumstances every day. Rather than being caught off guard, we should look at
them as God’s sovereign appointments to reveal what’s in our heart. By praying “lead us not into temptation,” we are
asking God to take our very real struggles – even pet sins that our flesh wants
to hold onto as long as possible – and expose them for the sake of aggressive faith
that utilizes the exit as Joseph did (1 Cor. 10:13-14).
But what happens when
temptation wins? What happens when we, like David, allow sinful desires to grow
in our hearts, and our faith proves weak, our flesh proving strong? What
happens when we find ourselves doing the very thing we don’t want to do?
This is where the second
half of this petition rings true: “But
deliver us from evil”. Ongoing failures and sins require an ongoing need
for deliverance. David fell into temptation, but when confronted by a faithful
friend, he saw his desperate situation (2 Sam. 12:1-23). We too can pray this
petition through the words of Psalm
51:10-12,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.
{DOXOLOGY}
In my Bible translation, the
doxology at the end of the Lord’s Prayer is in brackets: “[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]”
This means it aligns with the rest of
Scripture but isn’t found in later manuscripts. On its own, the Lord’s Prayer needs
no embellishment. But with the doxology added, our prayers end fittingly in the
triumphant applause of worship!
CONCLUSION
An enormous weight is lifted
when I avail myself of prayer whenever and wherever I am. Jesus has provided the
Lord’s Prayer because in every mundane
moment I need to be reminded that:
·
I am a child of
God and He has given me a new identity through Jesus Christ (Matt. 6:9);
·
God’s will is
always for my good and His glory (v. 10);
·
He will provide
for my needs, both physically and spiritually (v. 11);
·
He cares about my
relationships with others (v. 12);
·
He desires my
heart, both in fighting temptation and repentance when I fall (v. 13); and,
·
He deserves my
worship (v. 13).
There are no “opportune”
times to pray. I will never feel completely serene or grounded or separated
from the world enough to approach God, but that’s okay because that’s not how
He wants me to approach Him anyway. He wants me to come through Jesus just as I am (Matt. 11:28). As Charles
Spurgeon once said, "It is not a matter of time so much as a matter of
heart; if you have the heart to pray, you will find the time."
Prayer doesn’t always come
naturally because prayer isn’t about me; it’s about God. He has provided this means
of grace to draw me closer to Him. I’m learning to seek God in my mundane
moments because that’s where He continues to meet me.
FURTHER RESOURCES:
Bible study –
Read Philippians 4:4-13, 19-20. How do these verses fit into the basic
format of the Lord’s Prayer? How can you apply them to your prayers?
Books –
Bloom, Jon, Not By Sight: A Fresh Look at Old Stories of
Walking By Faith
Bloom, Jon, Things Not Seen: A Fresh Look at Old Stories
of Trusting God’s Promises
Borgman, Brian, Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly
Emotions in the Christian Life
Bounds, E.M., The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds on Prayer
Murray, Andrew, The Secret of Intercession
Piper, John, When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for
Joy
Spurgeon, Charles, The Power in Prayer
Previous posts on prayer:
These blog posts are based on a sermon series preached
by Pastor Tim Feathers. Though the recordings are several years old, you can listen to those sermons by clicking HERE.
Note: All Scripture
references from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.
Public Domain photo credits:
Autumn
Leaves at Sunset – Petr Kratochvil
Bench
and Autumn Leaves – George Hodan
Give
Bread 3 – Gustavo Di Nucci
African
Hanging Instruments – Paul Brennan
