Prayer

In the early days of American history, during the winter of 1777-1778, the Continental Army faced a desperate situation at Valley Forge during the American Revolutionary War. The soldiers were enduring harsh conditions, hunger, and illness, and their morale was at an all-time low.

As spring time returned and the fighting of the war resumed, on May 2, 1778, General George Washington issued an order to the entire army, calling for a day of fasting and prayer. He asked his troops to set aside their weapons and engage in solemn contemplation and prayer to seek divine guidance and strength.

In response, thousands of soldiers gathered in the camp, laying down their weapons and kneeling in prayer. It was a moment of realizing that they could not depend solely on their own strength.

This story reminds us of just how often it seems people only turn to God in a moment of complete desperation when all other efforts fall short. How often it seems that we can be people who only surrender to God in prayer when we have exhausted all other means to handle the challenges of life on our own.

As we continue through this series of faith practices, let’s consider how we might take hold of a regular habit of prayer, not as an act of desperation, but as a routine which strengthens and builds us as better disciples of Jesus.

Matthew 6:5–14 (NIV)

Matthew 6:5–14 NIV

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. 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.’ 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

the Lord’s Prayer comes from Matthew and Luke

This passage contains what is widely known as the Lord’s Prayer. Perhaps it is a prayer that you know from memory. Perhaps some of you have it memorized using old English language words we don’t use anymore coming from the King James Version of the Bible (“thy” and “thine” and that sort of thing). Many of us probably have it memorized with a doxology at the end (“for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever…”). Those are words added to the prayer that show up in historical discoveries of documents and liturgies used by the early church as they adapted the prayer for use in worship.

doxology in the last line added later (still exists in the KJV english Bible)

There are later manuscripts of the gospels that add these words of doxology right into the text of the Bible. The earliest and most reliable manuscripts of the gospels do not include the doxology at the end of the Lord’s Prayer; it was most certainly added later on and not part of what Jesus taught as the Lord’s Prayer. If you look at this passage from Matthew in a King James Version of the Bible, you will notice that verse 13 adds the doxology ending to the Lord’s Prayer. Most English translations—including the NIV which we use—omit those final phrases since later discoveries of older gospel manuscripts confirm that ending to the prayer was added later on.

Please understand, there is nothing wrong with our tradition of using the doxology ending of the Lord’s Prayer that many of us were taught. It was most certainly used that way in early church gatherings and has remained consistently used throughout the history of the New Testament church even up to this day. However, since today we are looking at the scripture passage in which Jesus teaches the words of this prayer, we are going to limit our consideration only to the words which Jesus taught as recorded in the gospels.

context of Lord’s Prayer in Matthew is Sermon on the Mount

There is one other item of context to consider. Matthew chooses to include this teaching from Jesus within a section of his gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount. That means it sits within a larger context of teachings which begin at Matthew 5:1 and extends until Matthew 7:29. Some of these same teachings from the Sermon on the Mount show up scattered in various other places in Luke’s gospel—including this teaching on prayer which includes the Lord’s Prayer. Even though Matthew and Luke have conflicting accounts about when Jesus spoke these words, we shouldn’t get stuck in details about when and where Jesus actually gave this teaching. I don’t think that discrepancy in the details changes anything about what the prayer means or why Jesus gives it as a model of what prayer should be like.

section of Sermon on the Mount addressing the tendency for hypocrisy among religious people

Let’s first take a walk through the phrases of this prayer, looking at each thought on its own. But then we need to tie them all together to see the overarching theme woven throughout this prayer. This will help us see the reason and purpose for prayer as a part of our Christian life in the first place. By identifying why it is that Christians pray, we can find a better understanding of the way in which prayer is a faith practice which helps build us into being better disciples of Jesus.

Presence

verse 9 — access to the presence of God, address God with both intimacy and reverence

First is the address of the prayer. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” What would have been absolutely striking about this line to those who heard Jesus say it is the personal nature of the address. There are plenty of occasions in the gospels in which Jesus refers to the first person of the Trinity as the Father. Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. He is not only giving clues about the nature of the Trinity, he is using language that shows close relationship. And now here in this prayer, that close relationship is extended to us. This prayer is addressed to God as our Father.

direct access to God is available because of Jesus

For all the generations of Israel before, God could only be approached through the priests. It was the priests who served as the mediators between God and the people. Even though there are certainly examples of personal prayer in the Old Testament—just look at the Psalms—it becomes a different relationship of prayer here by indicating God as our Father. In other words, God is family to whom we have continual access. You don’t need to make an appointment and get on the schedule. The Father is always there and is always available.

hollowed — from the same Greek word as holy

Hallowed be your name. We don’t use language like that anymore. Hallowed comes from the same Greek word in which we get the word holy. There seems to be a balance here between the close intimate family access we have have to God as our Father, and the reverent awe of God’s holiness which also remains. We also remember that this is the God who created the universe and holds all things in his hand. At the same time God is above and beyond us, as well as intimately close to us. He holds that stars and galaxies in his hand, and at the same time knows each one of us by name. This is the God to whom we are praying.

Place

verse 10 — place ourselves in submission to God’s authority and control

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Since we no longer live in a time of kings and monarchs, we no longer use terms like kingdom. Think for a moment about what the idea of kingdom meant back in the time of the Bible. Kingdom has to do with the placement of authority and control. A king is someone who possesses ultimate authority and control over a particular place—that is what is meant by kingdom. In the time of the Bible, the king had preeminent right over everything. Even though we don’t organize and arrange geographic spaces anymore as kingdoms, I think we can pull forward and understand something about the place of authority and control which still exists in our world today.

In a constitutional democracy like we have in the United States, we do not place authority in the rule of a king (or any person for that matter). We place authority in the rule of law. We say that it is the ideas expressed in our agreed upon constitution which holds authority for the way we live in community among one another as citizens of this place. That authority and control works its way down to some everyday patterns to which we adhere—things like having posted speed limits on our roads. There are just certain things to which we understand we submit to an authority beyond ourselves—we don’t all get to just make up whatever speed limit we want for ourselves.

first sin in Genesis 3 is a rejection of God’s authority and control

This phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is a statement of submission. It is a statement which declares that God is the one who ultimately holds authority and control in our lives. The very first sin that we read about in the Bible back in Genesis 3 is about a rejection of God’s authority and control. God said to Adam and Eve at the creation they could eat of any tree in the Garden of Eden except for one. But Adam and Eve did not submit to God’s authority. Instead they wanted their own authority to do whatever they desired. They did not want to stay within God’s control, but rather they desired to control their own world by ignoring the authority and command of God in the Garden.

prayer to realign myself with the authority of God

The Lord’s Prayer opens a desire for us as God’s people to realign ourselves with authority and control of God. It is not so much a matter of absolutes (do I desire my own authority and control or do I submit to God’s authority and control?) as it is a matter of degree (to what extent am I placing more and more authority and control with God rather than myself?). This is a prayer that reorients our desires to be in line with God’s desires.

Position

verse 11 — position to receive from God what I need, not a position to take whatever I want

“Give us today our daily bread.” This phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is a check on our appetites. But it has to do with more than only food. It is a prayer that first of all acknowledges that our daily provisions come from the hand of God, that God is the one who gives what we need. Beyond that it is a prayer of intentional restraint. It is a prayer that God would provide what we need for today.

trust God to provide even as we plan for the future

We should not interpret this as a prohibition against things like financial planning and retirement savings. Of course we plan ahead for tomorrow while also praying for our daily bread today. It has more to do with understanding the limits of our desires so that we share with others from our abundance rather than hoard for ourselves more than we need. This phrase of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us that all we have comes from God in the first place. And it is a prayer which places us in a position of continued trust in God to provide for the daily needs of his people.

Posture

verse 12 — posture of forgiveness echoes God’s forgiveness

debts | an obligation which is owed

“Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.” This phrase is different in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer compared to what we see here in Matthew. Luke uses the Greek word for sin, Matthew uses a Greek word that refers to a financial obligation that is owed. The understanding between the two seems to indicate sin in which a particular wrong has been committed against someone else requiring forgiveness. Forgiveness is a posture that is held. God chooses a posture of forgiveness towards us even though we cannot ever pay for the extent of our sins on our own.

comparative statement, not a conditional statement

The Greek language of this phrase gets a bit messy to translate clearly into English. It is a comparative statement, not a conditional statement. What that means is this: just as we are people who are forgiven by God, so we too should be people who extend that same forgiveness to others. That’s a comparative statement. If you read it as a conditional statement, then the only way to receive God’s forgiveness is to forgive others. But this is not written as a conditional statement. It is not a prayer seeking God’s forgiveness, but rather it is a prayer affirming God’s forgiveness. The request of the prayer is that God would mold our hearts to be able to forgive others in a way that echoes the forgiveness of God. It is a request that we may live in a posture of forgiveness towards others just as God holds a posture of forgiveness towards us.

Process

verse 13 — process of being conformed into the image of Christ

God does not cause temptation | it is God who delivers from temptation

when we experience temptation in this world to stray from God and from the ways of God, we pray that God would restrain the grip of sin

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The Greek literally reads “deliver us from the evil.” It is difficult to know what is being referred to here—evil itself in general, or the one who is evil (the devil). It is probably best to leave it a bit ambiguous and not get too caught up in one exclusive understanding over another. This phrase is not meant to be some extensive comment on the nature of spiritual warfare. Neither is it meant to be some kind of theological explanation on the existence and nature of evil. Let’s keep it at face value; when we experience temptation in this world to stray from God and from the ways of God, we pray that God would restrain the grip of sin. It is not God who causes temptation to happen; I know the wording of this phrase in the prayer makes it sound that way. It is more of an emphatic statement of fact than a request. It is a prayer which declares, God you are not the one who leads us into temptation (implied subtext: we do that part of falling into temptation on our own), Rather God is the one who rescues (delivers) us when we do fall into temptation.

Again, it is not so much a request and plea for God’s deliverance than it is a statement of assurance and confidence in the deliverance of God. Yet, we do read this phrase of the prayer as a request, and there is one here to be noted. The request of this phrase is that we would be transformed more and more into the image of Christ such that our fall to temptation might be less and less. It is a prayer that God would keep working the Holy Spirit in my heart to change me so that the grip of temptation and sin may be less evident in my life.

Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for personal sanctification

In other words, it is a prayer that acknowledges that the life of discipleship is a process (we call it sanctification). Take all the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer together and we see a petition before God that we would be formed and shaped more and more into the people we are called and redeemed by God to be. This is a process that never ends as long as we live here in this life. God is always at work in us by the Holy Spirit forming and shaping who we are as disciples of Jesus.

And our connector to that transforming power and work of the Holy Spirit is the faith practice of prayer.

Maybe we often think of prayer as the way we come before God with our list of needs. It is a direct line to God in which we can lay before him all that we desire him to do for us. This is certainly true. We bring our needs before God because we confess and believe that God is the one with authority and control.

it is not the primary task and goal of prayer to change God’s heart and mind to bend towards what I want God to do — the primary task and goal of prayer is for God to change my heart and mind to bend towards what God wants me to do

At the same time, it is not the primary task and goal of prayer to change God’s heart and mind to bend towards what we want God to do. It is just the opposite. The primary task and goal of prayer is for God to change our hearts and minds to bend towards what God wants us to do. Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes us—the ones doing the praying. That is what makes prayer a faith practice.

You have been claimed by God as his very own. You have been forgiven by God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. You have been redeemed by God in the perfect righteousness of Christ given to you. And you are being transformed by God through the gift of the Holy Spirit at work in your life. Let the faith practice of prayer open you up to a better awareness of God’s guiding hand in your path of discipleship.