The Lord’s Prayer (He
Intends Us to Pray)
“Lord, teach us to pray,” Jesus’ disciple requested,
mentioning the late John the Baptist taught followers of his to pray. Why was it that prior to this request coming
in, Jesus had not presented his “how to” pray?
Had this request forced this issue upon him, and he must answer with instruction
on gaining the advantage of prayer? Certainly today our prayer is, “Show us your ways, O
Lord. Thy will be done Christ’s Temptation
and Exemplary Life of Prayer
Yet Heb. Was Jesus’ ministering always unidirectional, that (Mt. It is our effective practice to early-on
recognize and then align ourselves
with God’s effort to lead away from temptation and commingled evil which
attends it. We, as newborn, as Christ’s new
creatures, are delivered from “the old man of sin” state. Paul amply describes it in Rom. 6:6 and
elsewhere (2 Cor. 5:17, Eph. 4:22, Col 3:19), Peter
in 2 Pet. 1:9; Adam’s fallen nature which each inherits will give way as we are
saved and born again. The sinful nature is removed; all that now
pulls us down is failure to resist the temptation until the tempter flees (James 4:7):
“Resist the devil and he will flee from you." It is said of this satan and accuser that he “goes about seeking whom he
may devour (I Pet. 5:8)." I like to think, he flees from
one then seeks out another. But some
he trips up. So our assignment from God
is to resist steadfastly in the faith, suffer through temptation for a little
while, and thereby allow the Almighty to perfect us, establish us, strengthen
us and cause us to be settled. (The Almighty is the name for God in our
wartime.) That to follow Peter’s Resist exhortation above is praise—“To Him be
glory and the dominion forever and ever” (verse 11)—found similar to speech ending
the Lord’s Prayer. Christ in his life was fortified and receiving of explicit
instruction through his prayers. That
night in Jesus Christ had his early on, principal temptations from
the devil right after baptism by John—they were in those forty days and nights
we all know about. But there followed
subtler temptations:1) Isaiah 50:7 “set
my face like a flint, I will not be disgraced or ashamed,” with the N.T. manifestation
in Luke 9:51-53, in a Samaritan village, “they did not receive Him, because His
face was set for the journey to Jerusalem”; 2) the invitation of worshipping
Greeks at the Passover feast preliminaries (Jn.
12:20-26):again Philip was involved!
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus." He replied
“The hour has come”—something different—“if anyone serves Me,
let him follow Me”; and 3) lastly, the blatant Pharisees’ blasphemous
taunt: Mr. 15:30-32 “save yourself, and
come down from the cross… Let the Christ, the ‘King of Israel,’ descend now
from the cross, that we may see (a sign) and believe." This occasioned Christ not coming down from
the cross in life, but in death (Philippians 2:8).And those ministering unto him in death
certainly performed their wonderful service—Jn. 12:7
and subsequent anointing of Mt. 26:12; followed by actual burial spice
applications of Jn. Prayer for Provision
and Our Forgiveness
So then for us, what does this prayer say concerning God and His kingdom, both heavenly and terrestrial? And, too, what of temptation as well as evil? Matthew First, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." I can relate my sin to the debt I owe God of asking Him to forgive me. We,
as children of God, sin. Is that a
secret? I don’t think so! It is common to all; none lives a life guilt-free. But in our asking the forgiveness from God, there
is such importance and relatedness in our then forgiving others. We sin against God; others simultaneously sin
against us and sin against God. (See the
cryptic Mt. 18:18—does it apply?) For us
to be allowed forgiveness of God’s, we must allow our forgiveness to go to those who’ve wronged us. Follow the manner of God: he forgives and forgets. Note: Jesus’ teaching of Mt. 18: 33-35 is dire. Prayer for Thy Kingdom
to Come
The Father is in heaven, but his kingdom is coming here, Jesus tells. He sees it paramount to address for us the Father’s
Holy Name (Jn. 17: 6, 26); how the setting for this differs from Old Testament
commandment to never utter the Father’s name lightly or in vain—Exodus 20:7!Jesus proclaims the kingdom shall come—and he
longs for the situation where and when God’s will is to be executed on the earth
as it is heaven. “Give us this day our
daily bread”—he is repeating this shortly in events of Matthew 6:31-32.You see,
What he prays is also his teaching. This is significant; it answers the opening
questions asked in this essay. Then follows
the last in the request portion of
prayer—forgiveness of sin, and resisting all temptation. Catholics end here at deliverance from evil, but Protestants
and others go further in choosing glorified speech to praise that will, in
effect, confidently signal God that He is capable and can do all requested: “for
(because), thine is the kingdom and the power and
the glory for ever." This was noted above
to have similarity to Peter’s “glory” wording in I Peter 5:11. The cause of conflict in our lives is the result of sin—we need, therefore, to be daily aware
of it. True, God forgives when we act;
however, don’t forget: we must forgive
those who wronged us all along. God
ministers so that we can resist sin, yet it is our decision whether we align
with Him in obedience or opt for disobeying.
The tempting comes first, then the sin. We are
not of our old nature (as having the ‘old man’ sin life), but we have
existence as the newly-created. Nevertheless,
we obey or we disobey—based on character
predominating in us. If “lacking,”
we don’t heed God’s empowering suggestions that will resist sin. Temptation is graded—read I Cor. 10:13—but always temptation is our setting where sin
occurs. God delivers from evil with an appeal
to our desires to remain obedient and not sin. But if we’d rather choose to select our
sinful pathway, well then, it is only God’s forgiveness
to be bringing us back. Being “unforgiven” and
obedient are not same-time compatible. The failure to ask forgiveness can be seen in
the verse of James 4:2, “You have not because you ask not." We petition His forgiving us; that delivers
us effectively next time we face this “sin or remain-obedient” dilemma according
to the Strength of God (Micah 5:4, actually 1-5a).Time and again, and over and over, such happenstance
occurs. It is how we spend our lives: eschewing the evil, resisting numerous temptations,
early on recognizing temptation for that
which it is; and it wears many faces:
pride, power, excessive money, authority, sensuality, envious nature,
being “short” with others, irritable, sarcastic and demeaning, insulting, a
destroyer of another’s tender faith, your own having fear… this list easily is as long as your arm! But all harshness is sin—kindness is love,
and ends with a victory that is ours and God’s when we allow Him to strengthen us
for resisting during those times of temptation.
Thinking of God’s name is empowering.
I like to say out loud the name of my Savior “Jesus Christ” several
times daily. For Christ—who none can know of his exact thinking; he always was without sin—had strength which came from purposed prayer he gave himself unto. And Christ allowed some from the group to spent time in prayer with him, basically to watch. Yet he encourages daily prayer for them—“Give us this day our daily bread." He gave special credit to those who stood by him through his temptation times and trials. And so we, today, should likewise stand close in united prayer with the brethren who undergo their temptation, those who are endeavoring with God’s help to fight evil. We who are strong—and even not so strong—should grab hold of the altar’s horns and offer co-prayer with Jesus for these individuals. Be one who seeks closeness with God’s name. Help to advance this kingdom of victors who are not losing spiritual ground by giving up the temptation struggle. Add to their peace; help and assist them to hear God’s direct encouraging. And then the day comes—the final day—when we all unite in glorious, large praise to our loving Lord. |
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(accomplished)." Would these words, however, have been appropriate
in the time of Christ two millennia ago?
