Consider What You're Praying For
When asked to pray, many are uncomfortable.
Often this is because they aren’t sure how, or what, to pray.
This frequently leads to a recitation of a familiar prayer they’ve heard or read.
One such prayer is what we call the Lord’s Prayer.
But do we really realize what we are asking when we pray this prayer?
Has familiarity inoculated us to its depths and, even, horrors?
Let’s take a quick look and see what we find buried within the word’s of this, oft apathetically, recited prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13.
Our Father who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
We will break this down and see how much we have missed.
And still, there will be depths we have yet to uncover.
First, look at the intro:
Our Father, who art in Heaven
We have already begun the prayer by approaching in the name of Jesus.
“How?”, you ask.
Who is it that has given us this prayer and told us to approach His Father as “our Father?”
It is Christ.
Even to pray “Our Father” is to recognize that we are heirs with Christ and have His Father as our own.
Secondly, do we find His name to be hallowed, or set apart, or separated from other names, in our language, speech and actions?
Does your language reflect that the One who created words, owns all of our speech?
Or do your text messages contain a plethora of “OMG’s?”
Thirdly, we will ask what it means for us to pray for His kingdom to come; for His will to be done, here on Earth, as He has it in Heaven.
Are you truly ready for His kingdom to come here?
Do you actually want His will to be done here? Because that often involves “trials of many kinds” to test your faith for endurance sake (and for you to learn to count it joy).
Then fourthly (and this one caught me off guard when I saw it), do you see that to request our daily bread this day, is not so much a request for provision as it is a request to withhold any excess that might keep us from depending on our Creator, Sustainer, and Provider?
That’s right.
We are asking for just enough bread for today.
We are not asking for our yearly bread, monthly bread, or even weekly bread.
We are asking that God would give us just enough for today.
Why?
Because our Father who loves us dearly knows that it is best for us to need Him and depend on Him.
Because He wants us to come to Him for all of our needs. Be it food, strength, or any other struggle we encounter.
Fifthly, we pray for forgiveness, but there is a qualifier to it.
We ask that God would forgive us as we forgive others.
Do you really want that kind of accountability?
Consider before you haphazardly pray for it.
Do you forgive in a way that you would want God to forgive you?
Do you withhold forgiveness in the way you would want God to withhold it from you?
Know this, if you do not forgive others, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you (Matthew 6:15).
The reason for this is because forgiveness is a promise of the gospel. Therefore, to not forgive is to not believe the gospel.
It is to say, “God, You may have forgiven, but I don’t!”
Who are you to forgive sins anyway?
We are to rest in the forgiveness of God, that He has poured out.
And then finally, we have a petition to God for something fairly comical, not at the expense of its gravity though.
We are asking God to do two things:
1. Keep us out of trouble and away from stumbling (lead us not into temptation)
2. Get us out of the places that we already stumbled into! (deliver us from evil)
I find it appropriate and funny that I would, in the same breath, ask God to keep me from stumbling, and then ask Him to get me out of my current stumbling!
So you see, it is important for us to consider our prayers and our words to God.
Do you really wan’t all that you are asking?
To be clear, I am not suggesting you stop praying the Lord’s Prayer!
Jesus actually said for us to pray this way.
While I do believe we should regularly come to God with ALL of these requests, we should not tread lightly and flippantly with these words.
Consider the condition of your heart so that when God answers, and withholds the extra bread from you, you do not become bitter, since He answered YOUR prayer.
Before you ask for His kingdom to come, prepare your heart for His return.
Before you ask for forgiveness, consider how you’ve forgiven all others.
For to God be the kingdom, and the power, and the glory FOREVER. Amen!