Teach Us To Pray

Longing for Change - Revolution

The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution Introduction

Some historians have gone so far as to identify our modern epoch as “The Age of Revolution.” Is it? Perhaps it is more accurate to refer to our times as “The Age of Failed Revolution.” Looking across the landscape, it becomes clear that very few revolutions produce what they promise. Arguably, most revolutions lead to a worse set of conditions than they replaced.

And yet, we still yearn for radical change, for things to be made right. We rightly long to see righteousness and truth and justice prevail. We are actually desperate for what no earthly revolution can produce. We long for the kingdom of God and for Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. We are looking for a kingdom that will never end and a King whose rule is perfect.

This is why Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Why the Lord’s Prayer?

Do I Pray?

Failure to pray is weakness

Maybe you don’t pray because you don’t know how - that is where the Lord’s prayer can be incredibly helpful for you. It’s actually called the disciples prayer or the model prayer because Jesus taught this form to his disciples when they asked him how they should pray. ()

Failure to pray is disobedience11:1)

Failure to pray is weakness

Failure to pray is disobedience

One of the shortest prayers in the Bible, but it teaches us how to pray and why to pray.

Teaches us how to pray and why to pray

The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution Introduction

The Lord’s Prayer takes less than twenty seconds to read aloud, but it takes a lifetime to learn.

Have you ever prayed without praying?

We must be careful to avoid mindless praying and empty praying that really doesn’t differ from the rote tendencies of Muslims, Catholics, or Buddhists.

Failure to pray is weakness

Failure to pray is disobedience

Prayer is a barometer for what we believe about God - So in order to pray well, we must know God well.

As we pray, so we believe

As we pray, so we believe.

As we request, so we desire

As we request,

Prayer is part of what it means to be made in the image of God (imago dei) - so it is through prayer that we converse with our Creator.

Prayer is not:

Creative self-expression

An act of therapy

Manipulation or persuasion

A news report to God

An act of bargaining

The Lord’s Prayer

The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution Chapter 1: The Lord’s Prayer: An Overview

Before Jesus gives instructions on praying, he spends a significant amount of time criticizing the prayer practices of the Pharisees, particularly their use of many words and empty phrases. By implication, he may not think much of today’s routine Christian prayer either.

In Luke: a response to the disciples’ request ()

In Matthew: sits at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount ()

English Standard Version Chapter 6

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Don’t pray to impress

Pray humbly and with a contrite heart

English Standard Version Chapter 18

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Prayer That Turns the World Upside down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2018).

R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Prayer That Turns the World Upside down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2018).