Lord, Teach Us to Pray: The Lord's Prayer

A Radical and Revolutionary Prayer

Prayer is likely the most common of all Christian spiritual disciplines. Prayer is often viewed as a way for people to connect with God.

We pray for healing, provision, forgiveness, divine intervention, etc.

But for Jesus, prayer was not just a tool to talk with a Heavenly Father (God) beyond this world....Prayer was an invitation to bring the Father into the World!

*Jesus is the PROTOTYPE of humanity (Col 1:15)…Christ is another word for God’s incarnate reality (the perfect union of divinity and creation).

*Illustration: When my children were little we would always practice praying before every meal…as they got older I would sometimes not stop to pray…they would point and say, “Ohhhh Dad you didn’t pray first” Because I wanted them to understand the deeper meanings of prayer I would often say, “My life is a prayer.”

Three Kinds of Prayers

Talking to God (concerned primarily with Getting)

Listening for God (concerned primarily with Doing)

Being with God (concerned primarily with Seeing/Becoming)

“All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Principle: The goal of prayer is that we become like God so that we can be an avenue to bring God into the earth!

The Lord’s Prayer

So, when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray he teaches them a revolutionary prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for radical justice to be distributed on EARTH just like it is in HEAVEN....

Matthew 16:19 “I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.””

The Greek verb for binding is in the future perfect tense, meaning that whatever is true (bound) in heaven, will also be true (bound) in the earth…[here’s the key]…WHEN YOU PRAY IT!!

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you.”

Let’s briefly touch on each line of the prayer in Matthew 6:9-13

Matthew 6:9-13 “[When you pray…] Pray like this:

Our Father who is in heaven, uphold the holiness of your name. Bring in your kingdom so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven. Give us the bread we need for today. Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you, just as we also forgive those who have wronged us. And don’t lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”

Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name.

This is an echo of the most important Jewish prayer called the “Shema” (repeated every morning and evening)

From Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

When we pray “Our Father in heaven” we are saying that all the distractions and powers and empires of this world are like shadows…only through Jesus can we know what is good and light!

Radical Prayer: “Jesus is Lord, everything else is False.”

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is a prayer for JUSTICE.

Two kinds of justice:

retributive justice where people get the punishment they deserve

distributive justice where goodness is given out in equal portion, sufficient so that no one goes without.

God is a God of DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE!

The miracle of the Loaves and Fish (Jn 6:1-14)

God is a God of ABUNDANCE, not a God of SCARCITY!

Radical Prayer: “Jesus, bring your captivity-breaking salvation to all creation, no matter what.”

Give us this day our daily bread.

Jesus is alluding to the story of Israel in the desert…God provided manna there.

Exodus 16:11-18 “The Lord spoke to Moses, “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” They didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’ The Israelites did as Moses said, some collecting more, some less. But when they measured it out by the omer, the ones who had collected more had nothing left over, and the ones who had collected less had no…”

Some Christians like to say “God is more than enough!” But this passage tells us that God is actually “Just enough” for this day.

In other words, all I have need of is this day’s portion…no more.

Jesus is also pointing to his own body: Matt 26:26 “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take and eat. This is my body.””

Radical Prayer: “Jesus, I receive today’s portion with thanksgiving. In it there is enough for my day AND enough to give away.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

There is power when we forgive ourselves and when we forgive others.

Jn 20:23 “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.””

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.”

There is a power that comes when we use our words to set ourselves free from guilt and performance…there is power when we use our words to set others free from their offenses!

Radical Prayer: “Jesus, your cross made provision for all of us…I freely receive it and freely give it to others.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For 1st century Israelites, violence from their oppressors was always a threat. Roman rule gave the Roman soldiers the right to punish, beat, and abuse any Jew should they not conform to Roman law and Roman power.

The disciples believed that Jesus had come to set Israel free by over-throwing the Roman powers.

Acts 1:4-8 “While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me:” John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.” Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

What the disciples failed to see (and still the church often fails to see) was that God’s power to deliver does not come through violence of military force, threat, or coercion…it comes through divine love.

The temptation we need Jesus to lead us away from is the temptation to try to bring God’s kingdom to the earth, our way!

Jesus points this out in Matt 12:26 “If Satan throws out Satan, he is at war with himself. How then can his kingdom endure?”

Translation: If we use satanic (evil) means to cast out Satan, then we are left with Satan by any other name.

Radical Prayer: “Jesus, bring your peace and justice your way, through your Divine Love.”