The Lord’s Prayer

Teach me

/ EllieJ

Once upon a time, The Lord’s Prayer was prayed in schools across North America. Children learned it and recited it with regularity. And, while there is surely much argument surrounding such a practice, it certainly made our schools and our nation a better place for it.

Because it was something many of us learned as children, we are often wont to think of the words as childish. Something simple, for kids. We lump it into the category of milk rather than meat. But that was not at all Jesus’ intent.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:1 (NIV)

Jesus responded to this request with what we have termed, The Lord’s Prayer. There is nothing immature or childish about the method Jesus gave to his disciples. These men were no longer new and immature followers. They had already been sent out on missionary journeys and had been healing and casting out demons in Jesus’ name.

“Lord, teach us to pray,” is a good prayer, and a very needful one, for Jesus Christ only can teach us, by his word and Spirit, how to pray. Lord, teach me what it is to pray; Lord, stir up and quicken me to the duty; Lord, direct me what to pray for; teach me what I should say.

Matthew Henry

I can’t begin to count the number of times I have heard believers (not even new ones) say that they don’t know how to pray or they don’t know what to pray. And I can probably count on one hand the number of times someone has offered them the prayer that Jesus offered to his disciples.

Childish as it may seem to us, The Lord’s Prayer encompasses all we need as believers: a reminder of God as our Father and His holiness, the will for His kingdom to come to earth, the request that our daily needs be provided for, the forgiveness of our own sins along with the aid needed to forgive others, and a way out of the temptation we will surely find ourselves in.

Perhaps if we stopped trying to act like we think mature believers should act and start acting as the children of God we are, we as the Church, might find ourselves in a more advantageous position.

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

Luke 18:17 (NIV)

There is no shame in asking for help when we think we need it (and even when we don’t). When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, they were not rebuked, but given words for life. My grandfather, a great minister of the Gospel until the day he moved to heaven, once said in a message that the one word God loves to hear from us is a four-letter word.

H-E-L-P!

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but one of strength. It takes courage to admit when we are not capable of doing something on our own. And God, in His love and mercy, will always be faithful to come to our aid.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Romans 8:26 (NIV)

So today, if you don’t know what to pray (or even if you do), start with Jesus’ example. Pray the prayer he gave us. Don’t just say it by rote, really pray it. Think about the words and the power within them. Ask Jesus to teach you what it is to pray.

Read: Judges 20-21, Luke 11:1-28

Faith and forgiveness

/ EllieJ

Read: Deuteronomy 3-4, Mark 11:20-33

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins.

Mark 11:22-26 (NIV)

In Mark 11, we can’t wait to get to the good part about telling a mountain to throw itself into the sea, and then we quickly skip over that uncomfortable part about forgiveness and move on to the next parable.

Who doesn’t want to see a miracle? We should long to see the miraculous. Signs and wonders should be following every believer. But what if the miracle God wants to perform has to do with you forgiving your brother? What if the sign He wants to show someone has you asking for forgiveness from your neighbour?

Not every miracle, sign or wonder has to do with healing or provision. Sometimes they seem so insignificant to us that we wouldn’t even deem to call the event worthwhile. But to the person who’s been forgiven, it can be life-changing.

If grace does not produce joyful obedience it has been abused. Forgiving is the very essence of grace.

The Weston Study Bible

Forgiveness isn’t something we should look at that we need to get out of the way so we can see the mountain move. Forgiveness may be the mountain itself.

When Jesus took the time to explain to his disciples how they should pray, he didn’t include the miraculous, but he did include forgiveness.

This, then, is how you should pray,

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name;
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'”

Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)

Jesus then went on to say that when we forgive those who sin against us, God will forgive us, but if we withhold our forgiveness, God will not forgive us.

It would seem to me, then, that as much as it is impossible to please God without faith, it is also impossible to please him without forgiveness.

Teach us

/ EllieJ / Leave a comment

As someone who has spent their entire life in and around the church, I have heard it said many times, “I don’t know how to pray.” I’ve found that those who claim to not know how to pray tend not to pray at all. This action, or lack thereof, is baffling. If a kid doesn’t know how to do something, we teach him.

I have a nephew who, at the ripe old age of twelve, just started his first job as a little league umpire. He didn’t show up for his first shift completely unprepared. He had already been through training. He’d read the rule books. He bought the uniform and extra equipment required of his position. When he showed up on his first day, he already had an idea of what would be expected of him. He didn’t know exactly how everything was going to go, but he and his co-worker addressed the coaches and let them know this was their first go. They went to work and figured it out as they went along. They made a few mistakes, but since the coaches were aware that they were newbies, there was a certain level of grace allowed. At the end of the game, he went home having had a successful first day on the job.

So why, then, if we don’t know how to pray, do we avoid it? In Luke 11:1, Jesus’ own disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Jesus offered what we now refer to as The Lord’s Prayer. Most of us can rattle that one off in our sleep – so don’t say that you don’t know how to pray because you already have a start.

And I tell you, ‘ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who ask receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 11: 9-10 (ESV)

How do you knock on a door? Is there only one specific way that you can knock in order for someone to open the door? Of course not! All you have to do is make a noise loud enough to be heard on the inside. That’s all God is asking when you pray.

  • Hallowed be your name
    • Acknowledge the holiness and greatness of God.
  • Your kingdom come
    • Request God’s will for your life
  • Give us each day our daily bread
    • Go ahead and ask for provision – Jesus said you could!
  • Forgive us our sins
    • Mark 11:25 says, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
  • Lead us not into temptation
    • It is perfectly okay to ask God to help you to avoid the things that would draw you away from Him. Remember that He is strong in your weakness.

The next time you think you don’t know how to pray, remember Jesus’ words. Start with the basics and expand from there. There is always grace to be found when we go to God in humility. Tell God that you don’t know what you’re doing and ask Him to teach you.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 11:13 (ESV)

Daily Bible reading: Judges 20-21; Luke 11:1-28