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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion January 22, 2005 The Pattern of Prayer |
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Frontline Devotion for Saturday, January 22, 2005 By Don
Kress
Matthew
6:9-15
Today’s text may be the passage of scripture that is said and read more often
than any other. It is one of the first passages many of us learned, and I
suspect that most of us memorized it as a child. If you’re of my
generation, you probably remember reciting it every morning in school, along
with the Pledge of Allegiance. Many Christian congregations say it aloud
in church every Sunday. This passage is that which is commonly referred to
as the Lord’s Prayer. It has been said that “The Lord’s Prayer sets
the standard for all praying. Everything every person ever needs to understand
about prayer is concealed in the choice disclosure of these words.”
Entire books have been written about the Lord’s Prayer, dissecting it word by
word. If you’ve never read such a book or attended a Sunday school
series on this topic, I encourage you to do so. Unfortunately, one
Frontline devotion will only let us scratch the surface of this wonderful lesson
from Jesus.
To understand what Jesus gave us in the Lord’s Prayer, I believe you have to
go back to verse 7, in which Jesus says to His disciples, “But when you
pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think they
will be heard for their many words.” Then in verse 9, He introduces the
Lord’s Prayer by saying, “In this manner, therefore pray.” If Jesus
advised His disciples to avoid “repetitions,” would He then immediately
follow by giving them a prayer to simply recite? I don’t mean to imply
that there’s no value in reciting the Lord’s Prayer, but I encourage you to
view it as a departure point rather than an arrival platform. I believe
that, in order to obtain the greatest value from the Lord’s Prayer, we must
view it as a skeleton on which we have to put flesh. It’s not merely
something to recite, but, as Jesus said, it’s a “manner” in which to pray
– an outline through which we must work our way when praying, no matter what
we are praying about.
Jesus teaches us to begin our prayers by focusing on God before we begin to
focus on ourselves and our requests and petitions. Too often, I think we
tend to think of prayer as merely the means by which we can obtain things from
God. Jesus teaches us that prayer must begin by giving God a preeminent
place in our hearts and minds; our prayer must first and foremost be a
recognition of God’s character and our willingness to submit to it. The
manner of praying that Jesus teaches us in today’s passage puts God’s
character first and our claims second. It seeks to honor and glorify
God’s name, and is characterized by a desire for God’s will more than our
own.
In closing, I share with you something I came across a couple years ago by an
unknown author: “I cannot say ‘our’ if I live only for myself.
I cannot say ‘Father’ if I do not try to act like His child. I cannot
say ‘who art in heaven’ if I am laying up no treasure there. I cannot
say ‘hallowed be thy name’ if I am not striving for holiness. I cannot
say ‘Thy kingdom come’ if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that
event. I cannot say ‘give us this day our daily bread’ if I am seeking
something for nothing. I cannot say ‘forgive us our trespasses’ if I
bear a grudge against another. I cannot say ‘lead us not into
temptation’ if I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say
‘deliver us from evil’ if I do not put on the armor of God. I cannot
say ‘thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory’ if I do not give the
King the loyalty due to Him from a faithful subject. And I cannot say
‘forever’ if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by time.”
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus has shown us the pattern in which to pray.
Follow the pattern and you will find the power!
Prayer: O God, in a world torn and fragmented, I need to know how to tap into the power of Your resources. In this model of prayer, You have shown me. Help me follow the pattern, Lord, that I may discover the power that lies in prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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