Review

This week is the last week of our interview ofprayer.  We have spent the last 7 weeks "interviewing" the Bible askingquestions about prayer.  We have asked Who, What, Where, When, andWhy.  Last week, we started asking the question, "How do we pray?" andwe looked at the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 as our model ofprayer.

Matthew 6:9b-13 KJV  Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  (10)  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  (11)  Give us this day our daily bread.  (12)  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  (13)  Andlead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is thekingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Weonly looked at the first two verses last week.  What we found when welooked at them is that the prayer Jesus gave us as a model starts witha declaration and praise of the One we are praying to, God.  It doesnot start with us, but by acknowledging to Whom we are praying, why wewe are praying to Him (indicated by the praise of His name), and anadmission that we are submitting ourselves to His will hear on earth asHis will is done in heaven.  I find it very telling that before we evenbegin to bring our own requests to Him, that Jesus taught His disciples(and us through the Bible) that prayer is first and foremost about Godwhom we are praying to, not us.  There is a song I like where thechorus of the song says, "I'm coming back to the Heart of Worship, Andit's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus.  I'm sorry Lord for thething I made it, And it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus." 

Weneed to remember that in our prayer time.  This is first and foremosttime for God and what He wants to do in our lives.  Yes, it is time forus to bring our needs to Him, but remember, He already knows our needs,sometimes better than we know them ourselves.  We need to understandthat when we go to God in prayer it's serious business with God.  Sure,we can enjoy the time in prayer, we can dance and sing praises to Him. Serious does not have to mean solemn, but it should not be treatedlightly.

My daughter likes to pray over themeals.  She even gets upset when I pray instead of letting her do it. Her prayers are always the same.  "Lord thank you for this food,amen."  Short and sweet.  I have to wonder though, are those just wordsto her?  Are sometimes our prayers just words to us?  Not just the onesover our meals, but our "private times" of prayers?  Are your prayersnothing more than recited words?  If so, then make a tape of them andjust pay it every night as you go to sleep.

Focus on "Who" first

Itis important that we remember Who we are praying to.  So let's reviewthe first two verses of the Lord's Prayer before we get into the lastthree.

"Our Father"

Rememberwe looked last week that God is our Father, our Abba, Father, or Daddyin heaven.  He a father to those who don't have a father (or who had abad father); He is also the a father to those who had a good father. He loved us before the creation of the world, and created a universefor us so we could know His love.  Jesus even gave up his position asGod and came to earth to live as one of us so that He could be our sinoffering, our way to be forgiven.  He loved us enough to suffer and dieso that we could have eternal life!  Would you willing sacrifice yourchild for the world?  That's that "Our Father in heaven" to whom wepray.

"Hallowed be thy name"

We looked at the many names of God, but the one thing I did not point out was that many of these names were related to God's demostration of His love for His people.  Just look at the names and how they describe a God who loves His children.

• Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord will Provide (Genesis 22:14 NIV  So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.")
  
• Jehovah-Rophe: The Lord who heals (Exodus 15:22-26 NIV  Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.  (23)  When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.)  (24)  So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"  (25)  Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them.  (26)  He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.", Jeremiah 30:17 NIV  But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the LORD, 'because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.', Jeremiah 3:22 NIV  "Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding." "Yes, we will come to you, for you are the LORD our God.)
  
• Jehovah-M'Kaddesh: The Lord who Sanctifies (Leviticus 20:8 NIV  Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.)
  
• Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord our Peace (Judges 6:24 NIV  So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.)
  
• Jehovah-Tsidkunu: The Lord our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5-6 NIV  "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.  (6)  In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.)
  
• Jehovah-Rohi: The Lord our Shepherd (Psalms 23:1 NIV  A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.)
  

"Thy kingdom come..."

And of course, the prayer demonstrates that we need to willing submit to God's will here on earth.  We looked in Romans for verse about submission.

Romans 12:1-2 NIV  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God'smercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing toGod--this is your spiritual act of worship.  (2)  Do not conform anylonger to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewingof your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's willis--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Submissionis hard though!  We want our way, and our rights, but Jesus came totake our wrongs.  He gave up His rights as God to take all our wrongsto the cross for us.  Romans 12:1 in the NKJV reads:

Romans12:1 NKJV  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable toGod, which is your reasonable service.

The word that is translated "reasonable" in the Greek is logikos (λογικός). What does that sound like?  Logical.  It means rational.  The onlyrational thing we can do, given the mercies God has shown us, is topresent our bodies as a living sacrifice that is acceptable to God.

Only after, bring your requests

Solet's move on the the remaining three verses.  As we looked at lastweek, verses 9 and 10 focus on God while verses 11, 12 and 13 focus onus.  I think it is important to note that we are to pray for our needs,but that our needs are secondary to God's will.  The model prayer Jesusgave us seems to indicate this in how the focus stats with God thenmoves to us.  So let's look at the next verse.

Give us this day...

Matthew 6:11 NIV  Give us today our daily bread.

Whenyou look at the original Greek here, this verse translates very cleanlyinto English.  The verse is actually saying bread as in a loaf ofbread.  I believe though that we are safe to look at this verse notjust as an indication of "bread" or food but also as all things that weneed to live.  Notice in the verse that the request is for today'sbread.  Not tomorrows or next weeks, but just today.  This reminds meof the Manna God feed theIsrealites with in the dessert.  They wereinstructed to only gather what they needed for the day (excluding daybefore the Sabbath).  Anything extra they gathered was rotten in themorning.  We'll come back to this in a minute.

Let's talk about whether my statement that this is not just about bread is accurate.  Is this verse only about our physical sustenanceneeds?  Why?  If we look back in Matthew a couple of chapters, we finda time when Jesus was hungry.  He had been fasting for 40 days when Hewas tempted to satisfy that physical need.  His response gives us ananswer to the prior question.

Matthew 4:4 NIV  Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Sois Jesus saying we can live only on the words that come from God'smouth?  Of course not.  Our flesh needs to be feed, but what He issaying is that it is more important to feed the Spirit than it is theflesh.  God's word is our spiritual bread that we are suppose toconsume.  Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy when He said this.

Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and thenfeeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known,to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every wordthat comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Notice it says here that God humbled them through theirhunger.  Why did God do that?  To teach them that they also need God'sword to live.  When we take the time in our prayers, we need toremember that our spiritual needs should come before our physicalneeds.  God knows what we need for living.  He knows that we need food,clothing, shelter, a job, etc., but He also knows that living withoutlife in the spirit isn't really living.  It's an empty life withoutpurpose, direction or a future.  So when we pray for our needs, prayfor what you need for true life along with the needs for life in thisworld.

Forgive us as we Forgive

So we now come to every one'sfavorite verse, right?  We all love this verse.  Have you ever hadsomeone through this verse back into your face?  You know, they justkeep doing the same things over and over again, and they know you're aChristian, so anytime you try to deal with the problem, they throughthis verse back at you.  "You'll just have to deal with it and forgiveme.  Your God says you have to."  Anyone?  Does that make it easier orharder to forgive them?  So what do you do in those cases?  What aboutif they are not "throwing" this in your face, they just don't care thatthey are doing something wrong to you?  What do you do?

Ifind the Greek word for "debts" here interesting.  It means somethingowed?  It made me think of another word, wages, which are somethingowed for the work you have done.  It made me think, God, forgive us thewages we have earned by our choices....  That's really what we areasking when we ask for forgiveness.  Lord, please don't give me what Ideserve.  How many parents here have had (or currently have ) drivingage children?  Have you eve told them that driving is a privilege not aright?  People, adults also, seem to forget that driving is not a rightwe are granted, but a privilege.  If you don't live up to yourresponsibilities as a driver, you can loose your privilege to drive. 

Wehave a responsibility here, it is to represent Jesus Christ to everyonearound us.  Even those that make our lives miserable.  If we refuse tolive up to that responsibility, we loose the privilege of having ourown debts forgiven.  How many people want that?  If you think I ambeing harsh about how I am saying this, look at how Jesus said it.

Matthew 6:14-15 NIV  For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  (15)  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

How about these verses.

Matthew18:21-35 NIV  Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many timesshall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seventimes?"  (22)  Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.  (23)  "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  (24)  As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.  (25)  Sincehe was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and hischildren and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.  (26)  "Theservant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged,'and I will pay back everything.'  (27)  The servant's master took pityon him, canceled the debt and let him go.  (28)  "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.  (29)  "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'  (30)  "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  (31)  Whenthe other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressedand went and told their master everything that had happened.  (32)  "Thenthe master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'Icanceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  (33)  Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'  (34)  In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  (35)  "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Seems pretty clear to me.  Anyone doubt what is said here?  If you were asked, deal or no-deal for this, what would you say? 

Lead us not into temptation

Haveyou ever been confused by this verse?  "Lead us not intotemptation..."  All major translation say "temptation," so who believesGod leads us into temptation?  Isn't that what is implied here?  Itappears to be so, but James 1:13 says "When tempted, no one should say,"God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does hetempt anyone;", so that can't be the full meaning of this verse.  So asI always do when in doubt, I go to the original language first.  Inthis case, Strong's concordance was not very helpful, so I looked inanother source,Thayer's Greek Definitions.  What I found was this word, peirasmos ( πειρασμός),can also be translated as trials or to be tested.  That changes themeaning a bit there.  If we render the translation using this it says,"Lead me not into trials."  That makes more sense to me.  We sawdemostrated in the book of Job that God controls all the trials thatcome our way.  We also see this in the New Testament.

1Corinthians 10:13 NIV  (13)  No temptation has seized you except whatis common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will alsoprovide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Doesthat make sense to you?  It is clear that God is not the tempter, nordoes He lead us to temptation.  But it is also clear that thetemptation we face, God does allow to happen.  We also need to rememberthough, that Satan is not behind every temptation you face.  In fact, Iwould dare say it is rare that he is involved directly.  Would youagree?  Let me show you why I say this.

James 1:14 NIV  but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

So,when and why does this verse say we are tempted?  When he is draggedaway and enticed, by his own evil desire.  Whose evil desire?  Mine andyours.  Satan's not even around in this.  That's not to say he doesn'tentice once in a while.  We can look to Genesis to see this.

Genesis3:1-7 NIV  Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animalsthe LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'Youmust not eat from any tree in the garden'?"  (2)  The woman said to theserpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  (3)  but Goddid say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle ofthe garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"  (4)  "Youwill not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.  (5)  "For Godknows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will belike God, knowing good and evil."  (6)  When the woman saw that thefruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and alsodesirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gavesome to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  (7)  Then theeyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; sothey sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.


Hereis a clear case where Satan is directly involved in tempting Eve todisobey God, but let me ask a question, who reached out and plucked thefruit from the Tree?  Eve.  Why?  She saw it was pleasing to the eye,desirable for gaining wisdom, and good for food, all of which weretrue.  What did she forget?  God said don't eat from this tree.  Sinlooks and feels fun, and let's be honest, we enjoy it.  There ispleasure in sin.  If sin was painful, we wouldn't want to do it.  Eventhe Bible says so.

Proverbs 9:17 NIV  "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!"

Ina way, we are asking God to protect us from ourselves!  Let's be honestwith ourselves, think about that one (or maybe it is more than one)thing you know you struggle with?  Is it lying?  Is it gossip?  Is itselfishness?  Is it some addictive behavior?  Something that you knowyou will never overcome on your own.  That is what we are praying abouthere.  "Lord, protect me from myself, from my own evil desires. Deliver me and give me a way out when they come."  That requires alsothat when the way out is revealed that you actually take that escaperoute.  An escape route is not very useful if you never take it.

Wrap up

Sowhere does that leave us?  For me, I like to put things in order, solet's do that with the Lord's Prayer.  Let's break it down, verse byverse, to build a model of prayer.

• Matthew 6:9 NIV  "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
  • Acknowledge God, to whom you are praying, in whatever words help you focus on Him.
  • Take some time to praise, worship and I will add thank Him in your prayers.
    

• Matthew 6:10 NIV  your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
  • Renew your commitment to submit your will to His.  It is a good reminder for you and good practice.
    

• Matthew 6:11 NIV  Give us today our daily bread.
  • Let God know what your needs are, but remember to include not just the physical things you need but the spiritual things also.
    

• Matthew 6:12 NIV  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
  • Confess your sins and ask for forgiveness,
  • Ask for help forgiving others, by name if needed.
    

• Matthew 6:13 NIV  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'
  • Now that you've confessed your sins, ask for help, a plan of action for the next time your flesh rises up with it's own will.

• Matthew 6:13 KJV For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
  • End with more praise and worship.  We were created to worship God after all.
  • Affirm your prayer at the end.  Amen means, truly, or surely.  For those Star Trek fans, you could think of the line, "Make it so!"