Good morning,
After yesterday's exhaustive post, we are going to change gears a bit. I'm reading (for pleasure) a book by a man named Derek Prince, a saint who has gone on to be with Jesus.
In his early years, Dr. Prince was a professor of philosophy at Oxford University, in England. Then, he got conscripted into the British military service. A scholar of Plato, he had read all of Plato's works, in the original Greek. Dr. Prince was a very learned man. He had been meaning to read the Bible, simply because so much of philosophy made little sense intellectually, in answering the big questions of life, such as "Where did I come from?" "Where am I going?" "Why am I here?" So, when he packed up his battle gear, he took a copy of the Bible along.
"Through reading the Bible, however, I met the Author. And once I met the Author the book made the most wonderful sense to me. I found there the answers that I had not found in philosophy. I found a description of the beginning of things that explained me to myself. When I read the story of the creation of man in Genesis 1-3, I understood what was going on inside of me."
Hallelujah! Derek Prince went on to become a great prayer warrior. He wrote a book, the one I'm now reading, called
Secrets of a Prayer Warrior. I began to read this book a few years ago, but never finished it, for some reason. It is easy to read, but hard to digest. Do you know what I mean? There are things about prayer that I don't think I'll ever truly understand, no matter how well explained.
At any rate, in chapter 5, Dr. Prince shares his thoughts on The Lord's Prayer, one of my most favorites. So, we are going to deconstruct it here. Some of these thoughts are his and some are from other sources. First, the passage itself - -
Matthew 6:5-15 (NKJV)
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place;and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On 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 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Verses 5 and 6 remind me of the prayer habits of the women in the movie War Room, which I've mentioned here recently. Of course, we can pray anywhere, but going to a special place repeatedly to pray and doing so diligently with faithfulness is often helpful in order to maintain a consistent, effective prayer life. Whether we clean out a closet and literally pray inside of it or not, it is absolutely vital that we pray consistently and fervently. (
1 Thess. 5:16-18)
The main point Jesus was making in those two verses in
Matthew 6, though, was not to pray in order to "show-off" in front of others. On the other hand, I've been in small groups as well as large groups of Christians who, when given the opportunity to pray out loud, decline to do so. That is not what the Lord wants either. Some of us are so timid about the very important function of corporate prayer (several believers praying together) that they simply will not do it aloud. Dr. Prince makes the following comment about persistent prayer, using as an example the church of Jerusalem who prayed for Peter's release from prison in
Acts 12.
"Sometimes God will not work merely through the prayer of an individual. It takes the corporate prayer of a group of committed believers praying together." Most Christians instinctively know this through the Holy Spirit, and that is why we ask other believers to pray for us about various things.
There is an important principle in
verse 8. What do we usually do when we pray? We go straight to "Gimme, gimme, gimme", don't we? It is as if we think that God somehow does not know what we need or that we think he is some sort of magic genie! Some have described this as "vending machine prayer". Jesus, in His example of how we should pray, points out that this is clearly "not cool". It's not that we should not lay our needs at God's feet. It is just that it is irreverent and disrespectful to ignore the praise, thanksgiving and worship aspects of prayer.
Jesus began, "Our Father, who is in Heaven, Your name is hallowed." That is adoration, a statement of faith, an exclamation of praise, an attitude of submission and worship. You might find it helpful to begin your time of prayer with a psalm or with a collection of praise verses. Beth Moore has written a book called,
Praying God's Word. The subtitle is, "Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds". Wow! Her assertion, a biblical one, is that when we pray back to God the promises and truths of His written Word, we are breaking Satan's strong chains that have attached themselves to various aspects of our lives. Amen to that! Back on point, however, this book contains many compilations of scripture on various topics. One such chapter concerns overcoming idolatry. The scriptures compiled in that chapter are scriptures that exalt the name and glory and various attributes of God. These are wonderful to pray back to our Father, in worship, to exalt His magnificent, matchless name. There are other, such as Baillie's
A Diary of Private Prayer. I was bemused to see that, when I took a break and went to read aloud the morning prayers for Day Eight (I did this after having started to blog about The Lord's Prayer) that very prayer was featured. God makes no "coincidences".
Have you ever been confused about which Person of the Trinity to pray to? Sometimes I am. On the one hand, I think you can pray to any of the Three or to all at one time. Perhaps it is a moot point. Usually, I pray to the Father, as Jesus did. It is only through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that God becomes our true Father. I only mention this because it is a matter I find a little confusing...
"Hallowed" - - what does that mean? It means "holy". When we pray this, we are acknowledging the utter perfectness, the holiness of our Father. That realization and acknowledgement should bring us to our spiritual "knees" in reverence. His name is completely holy. Matthew Henry has this to say about that:
1. Hallowed be thy name. It is the same word that in other places is translated sanctified. But here the old word hallowed is retained, only because people were used to it in the Lord's prayer. In these words, (1.) We give glory to God; it may be taken not as a petition, but as an adoration; as that, the Lord be magnified, or glorified, for God's holiness is the greatness and glory of all his perfections. We must begin our prayers with praising God, and it is very fit he should be first served, and that we should give glory to God, before we expect to receive mercy and grace from him. Let him have praise of his perfections, and then let us have the benefit of them.
We'll continue our study of prayer tomorrow.
O Lord, my God, You re very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty. You wrap Yourself in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heaves like a tent and lay the beams of Your upper chambers on their waters. You make the clouds Your chariot and ride on the wings of the wind. You make winds Your messengers, flames of fire Your servants. (Psalm 104:1-4)
Sources:
http://www.lords-prayer-words.com/meaning_commentary_matthew_henry_2.html#ixzz3l9ynPJC5
Moore, Beth. Praying God's Word. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2009. Print.
Prince, Derek. Secrets of a Prayer Warrior. Grand Rapids: Chosen, 2009. Print.
Bailie, John. A Diary of Private Prayer. N.p.: Charles Scribners & Sons, 1949. Print.
