THE PRIVILEGE OF PRAYER
Matthew 6:9a This is how your should pray:
The Lord’s prayer is one of the most well known passages in the Bible. It is not because of doctrinal stance, but rather something that we have to help us fellowship with the Heavenly Father. We see in Luke 11:1 after Jesus had finished praying his disciples asked him to teach them to pray as John the Baptist had taught his disciples. John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples were common hard working men. The only training they had was what they had heard from the Pharisees when they attended the synagogue. John was different, but Jesus was really different! Jesus had authority and he had power in his ministry. His disciples knew that Jesus prayed often, and they knew that they should too.
Like many people today they wanted to know the secret. They wanted three easy steps for miracle working prayer results, maybe five at the most. Isn't that the way we do it today? We want something simple, but powerful with impressive results. Have you ever notice the best selling books and how they are titled? Things like “Three Steps to a Spirit Filled Life”, or “Keys to Great Prosperity”. In reality we miss the whole point of prayer. Prayer is a time of intimate fellowship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. More often than not we make it a hurry up wish list. It is almost like God is our Sugar Daddy in the sky that we see as just eagerly waiting to hear us ask him for something so he will have something to do. We would like to deny this, but isn’t this much like a lot of our prayer time is like? Well, please don’t think I am being judgmental or looking down on you, because it can be easy for me and other mature Christians to do the same thing. We easily lose track of the intimacy, and for the sake of our busy schedule we rattle something off real quick. I am sure that you have heard people say the Lord’s Prayer so fast it seemed like a race, and we were auctioneers instead of Children of God coming to sit on Papa's lap. What precious time we let so frivolously cast aside when holy angels yearn for such intimacy. Praise the Lord he is so patient with us. So often he is like the father or mother that gets a quick wave and out the door the kids go, but would have enjoyed a hug and kiss. But if it was a canned prayer the disciples wanted that’s what Jesus would give them, but at least it would be a good one.
For the most part the the record of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew and Luke are very similar. Matthew has let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and Luke does not. Matthew uses debts and Luke uses sins. Matthew has delivered us from the evil one. The differences are very little, and for the most part most Christians say it the same way until in a group you may hear a bit of hesitation at the part of debts or sins. The only real problem as I see it is that for some it can be so habit forming that the real appreciation and meaning is overlooked by a rapid ritual on Sunday morning.
Jesus gave the prayer, and it should not be looked down on or underestimated just because it has become a ritual for many people, churches and denominations. Just to say a prayer that Jesus taught should be considered a great honor. But we shouldn't be satisfied in saying only this prayer. Our prayer time with the Lord should be cherished. It is a great honor to have the Lord’s attention. We should always have in our mind's eye as being his little child that is invited up into his lap for hugs and kisses, only to have him look down at us and ask how he can bless us. If we do this we will have a feeling of joy and love flooding over us. I am sure that he always hates to see us get back to our busy schedule. In some ways it can be much like the song, “Cat’s in the Cradle.” If you are interested you can always google it.
Jesus tells us that we can pray to his Heavenly Father and call him our Father as well. We can pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit as well. Jesus even tells us in Matthew 18:19,20 that, “if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for , it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” And also in Romans 8:34 that he will intercede to the Father for us. We can expect God to hear us, and respond to us every time we pray. We must remember that God will always do what's right even if we pray wrong. This should give us confidence in our prayers, and help us to see even his no as a loving answer to us. While we are welcome to approach our Heavenly Father as Abba or Papa, we must always remember that he is Almighty God and never be flippant in our approach to him. It is a great honor to come before the Lord God Almighty. While we don’t have to always say, “Let your will be done,” we must always want this in our heart. The Lord always will do what is best for us, so why shouldn’t we want his will?
God is our provider as well. We can never thank or praise him too much. He deserves it and much, much more! It is a good thing to ask for our forgiveness even though we live in a covenant relationship of our past, present and future sins being forgiven. The reason for this is that confession is good for our soul. We should never get to the place that we take our forgiveness for granted. Jesus paid a great price for it!
We should also pray that the Lord will keep us from temptation, and Satan and the powers of darkness as well a the evil of this world. The Lord is Almighty God and has all power, but even for Christians he still respects our free will. If we think we can fight it out with Satan and the powers of darkness on our own, he will let us. But as you know it will not be fun at all. It is so much nicer to have Jesus intercede for us. Just remember the demons in Matthew 8:29 that were so afraid of Jesus and his authority over them.
For the most part everyone probably prays a little different to the Lord, and why not since we are all different. The most important thing is that we talk to the Lord, and do it often. I like to talk to the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit throughout my day. God is so good! Amen?
Prayer: Lord please help us to have intimate fellowship with you. You are such a wonderful God, and we love you so much. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
