Saturday, September 03, 2005

God-pleasing prayer

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: `Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:1-4)

Have you ever prayed a prayer like this: “Lord, please, please, please let me have that new bike!” Or, have you ever prayed a prayer something along these lines: “God, my boss is impossible! Please make him lose his job.” Or, “Jesus, if you just let me get this promotion, I promise I’ll put more in the plate every Sunday!”

Have you ever wondered if your prayers were appropriate, if you were asking for the right things the right way? Jesus’ disciples wondered, and so they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. In response, Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer. Let's look at these words, and see what it tells us about God-pleasing prayer.

Father. Every prayer is addressed to someone. We pray to the God who created us, who sent His Son to redeem us, and who will judge the world at the end of time. We can call this mighty being Father, not just because He created each and every one of us personally in the womb, but because we are His children in spirit. God did not create us to be His servants, but to be heirs of the heavenly kingdom. Servants cannot inherit, but children can. We are God’s children because of Jesus; His sacrificial death on our behalf diverted God’s wrath at sins away from us to our Savior. With God’s wrath taken away from us, we no longer have to cringe in fear of Him, but can approach Him with a purified, child-like love made possible by the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul tells us, If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). By addressing God as “Father” we acknowledge the very personal relationship we have with Him.

Hallowed be Your Name. As Martin Luther notes in the Small Catechism, God’s Name is Holy, in and of itself. By our acknowledging that God is holy, we are telling others that God is worthy of both our praise and theirs. When we say “Holy be Your Name” we are praising God for being who He is, thanking Him for what He’s done, and witnessing to others that God is the center of our lives. Saying that God is worthy of our thanks and praise is important, because God calls to sinners through our mouths. What we say about God is usually the first step in how an unbeliever comes to faith in Christ. If we don’t talk about God, if we don’t say out loud how important He is to us, we need to be reminded of Jesus’ words: You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).

Your Kingdom come. In a kingdom, there is only one person in charge—the king. In a democracy, everybody has a say in how things are done, but that isn’t how the Kingdom of God works. God the Father has made His Son Jesus King over all, as was revealed to John by revelation: I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True...The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean...On His robe and on His thigh He has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11, 14, 16). Jesus is King because He is perfect in power and perfect in wisdom. No human being can rival Him, no one can question His judgments. Because we have a perfect King, when we ask for His kingdom to come we are asking God to take charge of our lives. Our thinking is faulty, distorted by sin. When we try to live our lives without God’s leadership, we always make a mess of things. But Jesus is the perfect king, who rescues His subjects from slavery to sin and Satan; when we ask Jesus to be our king, to govern our lives, we have a security no army in the world can give.

Give us each day our daily bread. Jesus shows us that it is appropriate to ask for the things that we need to live: food, drink, clothing and shelter. Notice the emphasis on “each day” and “daily.” To find out more, let’s look at Matthew 6, verses 25 to 34: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Jesus’ message is plain: material things are important, but must always take second place to God. On the way to the Promised Land with Moses, God gave the Israelites bread from heaven to eat every day, but if they tried to hoard it, it quickly spoiled. By trying to hoard food, the Israelites showed that they didn’t trust God to see to their needs on a daily basis. When we pray for material things, then, our prayers should be that God does not let us live in need. To pray for more than we need suggests that, like the Israelites, we don’t trust God to take care of us every day. And if God chooses to bless us with more than we need to meet our daily needs, we are to share it with those who are in need—it is through our sharing that God most often answers the prayers of the poor and the suffering.

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Our single greatest need is a right relationship with God; if we die without such a relationship, we will be doomed to an eternity of being alone in the dark, without anyone to love us or care about us. Sin separates us from God. Sin is the enemy of love and happiness and peace. To return to a right relationship with God, we must humble ourselves and admit that we’ve done wrong, that we don’t have all the answers. The Father is ready to forgive every sin we’ve committed, because of Jesus’ blood poured out on the cross. We need only admit to our sins and sincerely ask for forgiveness, and we are welcome in Heaven once more. But God does expect something of us. Let’s consider a parable of Jesus found in Matthew chapter 18: Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. `Be patient with me,' he begged, `and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 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. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, `Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. `You wicked servant,' he said, `I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. These are harsh words, but consider this: we who belong to Jesus are His ambassadors. People get their first impression of Christ from us—from what we say and how we act. If we do not show forgiveness to others in our daily lives, strangers will not expect to find forgiveness in the Church that we call home. So when we pray for forgiveness, we also pray for the ability to forgive others.

And lead us not into temptation. When we belong to Christ, we accept Him as leader in our lives. Where He walks, we follow. But while Jesus is perfect and has resisted every temptation, we are weak and easily distracted. As we follow Jesus along the road of life, Satan sets up distractions in the ditches. Our eyes might be caught by a beautiful woman or handsome man who is married to someone else. We might stop for a bit to check out an expensive new sports car or walk up a driveway to tour a fabulous house with the fireplace and swimming pool we’ve always wanted. We might wander over to a fence to exchange gossip with a neighbor or to finish an argument with an old enemy. If Satan has his way, we are soon far from Jesus and the road to Heaven, and we can’t find our way back. Thankfully, Jesus knows our weaknesses and He comes to find us, like a shepherd looking for lost sheep. Saint Peter tells us: you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:25). But since there is danger in wandering away from Jesus, we beg Him in prayer to lead us along a path where temptations are few and more easily resisted. We ask this that we may reach the end of the road of life with Jesus, so that we may enter Paradise with Him.

The Lord’s Prayer is given to us an example of how to pray to God. In it, Jesus shows us that the most important reasons to pray are to praise and thank God for His goodness to us, and to ask for help when the troubles of life leave us weak and lonely, lost and afraid. God is not a cosmic vending machine, where we put in prayers and get from Him money, popularity and influence over others. Neither is God a supernatural bean counter who adds up all the good works we’ve done and gives us material blessings and peace in proportion to our piety. God is our heavenly Father; He has a personal interest in each of our lives and wants to be involved in all the decisions that we make. He has promised to listen to our every prayer and to answer according to our needs. Since we are sinful, we do not always ask for things that are good for us or that will benefit others; when we ask for things that will come between us and God, He tells us “no.” But we can count on God to give us whatever we need to strengthen our faith in Him, and to help us carry out our earthly duties as servants to those who suffer from hunger, cold, disease, guilt, and despair.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (Luke 11:9). Jesus tells us to pray; Saint Paul tells us to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Ephesians 6:18). I encourage you to take time to pray to God every day. Remember to thank Him for your food and the health of your loved ones. When making a decision, ask Him to help you to make the best possible choice. When you are troubled or worn down, ask Him to ease your burden and give you strength. When you are afraid, pray to God for confidence in His promises of grace and deliverance. And because God’s wisdom is greater than our wisdom, remember to pray not my will, but Yours be done (Luke 22:42). God will answer your prayers—God will always give you what you truly need.

Blog Top Sites
Blog Directory & Search engine
Blog Directory