While there's not a lot of verses here, Jesus says much about prayer here, and this could even be argued to be one of the central passages of the entire Sermon on the Mount.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Let's start with this part of Jesus' teaching on prayer. Jesus contrasts prayer that will be heard by the Father with prayer that will not be heard, and it sounds very similar to our passage that was on giving--what is the motive behind it, who does it glorify, and is it acceptable worship for the God that we serve? God is the one in charge and He gets to set the rules about who can come before Him, in what way they can approach Him, and what types of requests they should come before Him with. We must approach Him by faith believing that He will hear us and that He is ready and willing to answer any request that we need to make. We don't need to make a lot of noise or recite the "magic words" in order for our prayers to be heard or babbling in some nonsensical way. Jesus identifies these types of activities as coming from pagan worship that should not be mixed with true worship of the true God of the universe. It seems that Jesus then anticipates (or maybe even hears the thoughts of the people) asking, "How then should we pray?" He then gives His disciples a model prayer which many have come to call The Lord's Prayer. Unfortunately many misuse this prayer by ignoring the teachings that occurred right before it. The purpose of the prayer is as a model to teach the disciples about prayer and how to pray. There is nothing magic about it, nor is it something that should be recited over and over again with vain repetition, nor does praying these words or even with this model negate what was said in the first eight verses about making sure that our prayer puts God at the center and glorifies and honors Him in how we pray, why we pray, and how we expect Him to answer our prayers. 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ There is so much to say here. I've heard some pastors preach for months on just these verses, so I'll do my best just to hit the highlights. First, we must know who we are praying to and His position of authority over us and all the universe. Next, we are to pray for Gods name to be holy (that means to be uncommon and distinct from everything else). Hallowed is not a word we use that much anymore, but it has the idea of reverence and respect. It is interesting that this was Jesus' primary concern in His prayer....that God be known and that His name be exalted and unlike any other name (remember that "name" and "reputation" are often synonymous). Is this our primary focus when we pray? Next Jesus, still speaking to and of God the Father says, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We spent some time in the first blog of this series talking about The King and the Kingdom and speaking about the duel nature of the kingdom as a spiritual kingdom that exists here and now wherever God reigns in His people, but a "not yet" kingdom that is to come where Jesus actually defeats all of His enemies and sets up His eternal throne in the New Jerusalem (see Revelation 21 and 22). I believe it is appropriate to have both ideas in mind here...."God, may you change the hearts and minds of people so that your will is done here and now as it will be one day when we live with you in heaven." and to also pray, "God, I await the day when we will be freed from the very presence of sin and evil and that wicked men will no longer appear to escape judgment, and people will not be able to tarnish your great name as one who is incapable or unwilling to do anything because of the mercy you currently show us. I long for your perfect justice to be done, for everything to be set right, and for everything to be at peace once again as it originally was when you created everything and called it "very good."" Jesus then transitions towards us, but in doing so, God is still the center of the prayer. "Give us this day our daily bread." This phrase recognizes that God is our provider to meet each and every need. This puts us in the right frame of mind before we make any requests from God because we recall all that God has already given us simply to keep us alive from day to day, and how we depend solely on Him. Now for the part that makes us feel a little uneasy--so much so that this is the only part of the prayer that Jesus is going to come back to and explain after He is finished. "Forgive us our debts/trespasses/sins as we forgive those our debtors or those who trespass/sin against us (different versions translate this word differently, but it has all these meanings). A debt is something that you owe and needs to be repaid. To trespass is to cross a boundary line that you are not to cross and to sin is to "miss the mark." Jesus will tell a parable later of "The Unmerciful Servant" that reteaches this exact lesson because it seemed to be something that people needed to hear multiple times, but let's just say that God expects us to have the same kind of grace and mercy for each other that we want Him to have with us. We should be quick to forgive and to do so unconditionally, even before others ask for forgiveness because this is the way that we were forgiven by Him. To refuse to forgive others is a sign that we do not really belong to Christ and that we don't trust in God's justice and believe we need to find justice for ourselves. Jesus says that such people should not expect to have their own sins forgiven. Jesus wraps up the prayer with a request to not be lead into temptation but to be delivered from evil or the evil one (depending on your translation). This again recognizes God's sovereignty and that nothing gets past Him or happens without His permission--not even the temptations and tests that come our way (see the book of Job in the Old Testament...it's right before the book of Psalms). It also acknowledges that there is evil at work in our world today, and that we are many times unaware of what is going on around us and that we need God's help to avoid and escape the traps set by the evil one and that He needs to be our defense. Finally, Jesus returns to the part on forgiveness. It was like the people wondered if they heard Him right and could He really mean what He said. Jesus made it abundantly clear they did not hear wrong and He meant what He said and He would be unambiguous when He said, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Are we a praying people? Do we pray with the right motives and in a way that is honoring to God? Are we a people that makes God's name holy and exalted and makes sure that it is not something that is "commonplace" or profaned? Do we seek for God to rule in people's hearts and minds here and now, but also desire for His eternal kingdom to be established at the end of days? Do we trust God to provide all of our needs? Do we forgive others the way we want to be forgiven by them and by God? Do we pray for God's direction to lead us in the right path so that we will not fall into temptation and be delivered from any trap that has been set for us that is meant to ruin and discredit us (but ultimately is meant to ruin and discredit the name of God)?
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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