By Mary Boling
Prayer Co-Coordinator
Indianapolis, IN
As a little girl I realized that Jesus was someone I wanted to know. I was not sure how to make that happen. I found that by reading His Word and praying to Him I began to know Him. I was amazed that God wants us to spend time with Him, talk with Him, and cry out to Him. I learned that when Moses, David, Isaiah, Mary, Ruth, Jesus, and so many more prayed, they found peace, direction, and forgiveness. I prayed to Jesus and knew I had just made a Friend for life, a Brother who would protect me, and a Savior who saved me.
Today, I have held on to that relationship with Jesus and have grown closer to Him. I know that interceding on behalf of others is something that Jesus does and wants us to do. When we think about our human relationships, we react mostly with our emotions. But Jesus reacts to our relationship with only love. He loves spending time, speaking to, and guiding us. May we joyfully know we have a Savior, Brother, and Protector who is always with us, waiting for us to pray to Him, spend time with Him, and rest in Him.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The Lord’s Prayer
By Doris
Thompson
Senior
Vice President of Field Ministry
The
Lord’s Prayer unites us,
though our churches and even theologies can sometimes separate us. Catholic or
Protestant, conservative or liberal, for a brief moment in worship, praying
the Lord’s Prayer together unites us.
One
theologian stated, “The Lord’s Prayer really is the creed that most connects
the world's Christians.”
However,
we all at one time or another utter
the Lord’s Prayer without thinking. We've memorized it, yet we don’t
fully understand the depths of its content. We prayed it publicly together, although how often do we pray behind closed doors alone?
Regimen
can reduce the Lord’s Prayer and we miss out what Jesus taught when His
disciples asked Him, “Teach us to Pray.”
Today,
I would like us to re-think anew the Lord’s Prayer. Reflect
upon its beauty and ask yourself why church leaders such Martin Luther and St. Augustine observed that
there was nothing more wonderful in the entire Bible
than the Lord’s Prayer.
Consider its influence for our lives and think through its poetic frame as
both Divinity and Humanity are interwoven.
First,
let’s look at its context found in
Matthew’s account of the Beatitudes. The disciples are experiencing Jesus'
description of the Kingdom of
God which compels their desire for further instruction on prayer. Their observation, “No one had
ever prayed like Jesus.”
The
disciples knew His prayers were different, intimate and personal,
humble, and the outcome produced supernatural results.
These
men had likely prayed all of their lives. Their Jewish heritage required them to
be discipled in the practice of prayer. Some historians say the average Jew, during the time of Jesus, prayed
between three and four hours a day.
Their
request to Jesus was not about scheduling
prayer or even the quantity
or quality of prayer. They craved to experience the intimate communion
Jesus had with the Father that they witnessed first hand.
So what
is it about the Lord’s Prayer that compelled
His disciples to write it down, cause it to be modeled for generations,
and, in its unique simplicity,
tie us together and bind us united
with Him?
Charles
Spurgeon described it like this:
“Jesus
designed it in such a way that it would pass safely through the ages without
being tampered with. He arranged it with consummate skill, so that it could not
be twisted or distorted. Nor, adapted to any man made system, that in fact it would carry the whole Christ Message.”
There
are five petitions included in the Lord’s Prayer.
First: Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
The
first word Father, in the Lords
Prayer is “Abba” which is the Aramaic name used by Jewish child
for his or her father. Literally, “Abba” means “Daddy”.
No one
before Jesus dared to think or teach
that we could approach God in such an intimate way. That’s one of the reasons the disciples were stunned by the way Jesus prayed.
Rabbis
spoke of God as the Father of the people. But Jesus was teaching them to address God as their own personal Father. In Jesus’ day,
“Father” included the concepts of Love, Care, Responsibility, Discipline, the
Hopes and Dreams of one’s children, Respect and Blessing.
Today,
in the west, our fatherhood concept is but a shell of the powerful concept that Jesus communicated through this
simple word. “Our Father, Abba, Daddy”
We can
talk to Our Father with great intimacy, love and devotion, Jesus not only
prayed this way, He taught His
disciples to pray this way, too.
Second:
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Ushering
in God’s Kingdom is part of His perfect
will in our individual lives. The Lord’s Prayer informs us that it’s the Father’s
desire to bring heaven’s glory to His created order.
I've
recently read, “We should not look like we're going to heaven, instead we
should look like we are coming from heaven.”
We long to see His kingdom. We want the chaos we live in to
cease and to be replaced by Godly
order. We want God’s intervention, yet, when we look at scripture, God desires a partnership.
Scripture
reminds us that we belong to God’s kingdom.
We find it’s here, yet its full reign is still to come. Our
Father desires us to be participators—for us to live and work with Him to establish it.
A synergistic
work between God and man takes place in
prayer. It is interactive, reciprocal, and collaborative.
This
places us on the cutting edge of kingdom living. Wherever we go, every
person we see has kingdom implications. If our desire is to see His kingdom come we will be aware
of the kingdom before us, ushered in
through our love and obedience and
through the power of His prayer.
As we
pray for His kingdom, we are submitting our lives. We exclaim “Give us what we need to do our
part, to make this present day kingdom
come.”
Third:
Give us this day our daily bread
From
the Gospel of John, we are reminded
that Jesus himself is the Bread
of Life; “He who comes to Me will
not hunger and He who believes
in Me will never thirst.”
That simple word “bread” carries with it the shared meals with Jesus during His life, before His death and
after His resurrection.
It
contains the multiplication meal,
the Emmaus meal, the Lakeside meal, and the Eucharist meal. The bread of Christ
has both spiritual and physical significance. Throughout
the gospels, we see this Divine
engagement of Christ as He took, blessed, broke, and gave to the
masses.
It is
the daily bread of justice, yet we must not forget it is also the daily challenge of
the injustice of the hungry. Could it be that God’s Kingdom Come involves a fair distribution of
God’s nourishment for all Gods people?
This
prayer represents the literal hope for
enough bread today, which has been ancient dream of the Earth’s “have
not's.” Jesus, in this prayer, teaches us that we are dependent upon
Him for our daily bread.
Fourth:
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Sin is
a sense of separateness from God and is the major tragedy of the Human
experience.
In the
Lord’s Prayer, we see a sequence of
Divine forgiveness and then human forgiveness.
This is
the invariable rule by which God
dispenses pardon.
Forgiveness
is another synergistic work of the
Trinity in our lives. It enables
us to not only be forgiven, but to be forgivers.
When we
come before Him unwilling
to forgive, harboring dark and
revengeful thoughts, how can we expect
God to show us mercy, when we are unwilling to show it to others?
An overbearing spirit should not
be used to oppress a
debtor, especially if it greatly
distresses a wife, child, widow or orphan.
For all
the things which we need to find
forgiveness, might our greatest sin be our lack
of human forgiveness?
Jesus,
as He was crucified prayed
“Father forgive them for they know
NOT what they do.” Jesus demonstrated not to seek retribution or
revenge, but offered a better way.
Jesus
teaches us to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us,
so that we may be sons of “Our Father in Heaven.”
Fifth:
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
In the previous
petition, “Forgive us
our Debts” the request is made
that our past sins would be forgiven. Now, a plea is made that we would not be “led into temptation” thus avoiding
evil.
God is
not the prime-mover behind all
temptations nor does He lead us into a life that is free of it. Rather, He teaches us to depend on Him for necessary strength.
New and
powerful temptations await us
on our path, ever ready to throw us down if we are not prepared. Temptations come to serve for self-glory and
self-gratification instead of
for loving God.
It is
interesting that the petitions of
the Lord’s Prayer end in this
way. Knowing God can deliver us
from the Evil One and bring redemption is a powerful reminder of the Gospel that changes
lives.
God’s
power to bring His goodness to a
desperate world gives us tremendous Hope.
You and
I can be “Hope Bearers” to those who experience the dark, oppressed existence that seems impossible to overcome.
As we conclude the Lord’s Prayer, we are
reminded again who sits on the
throne. The Kingdom is His, the Power is
His, and the Glory is His forever.
Charles
Spurgeon said, “The entire Christ message is carried in this prayer.”
You see Jesus knew the Disciples
needed this prayer, the church
needed it, and the truth is—we all need it. May we live it out.
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