More Thoughts on Prayer According to Jesus: I have been thinking about prayer quite a bit lately and wanted to share some thoughts on prayer and look at the issue from Jesus’ perspective. What did He say and teach about prayer? The passage I am looking at in Luke gives us some insight into the way Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. (If interested, my introductory thoughts can be found at the link below). https://facebook/wascojimw/posts/10202949961531043?notif_t=like 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 3 ‘Give us each day our [c]daily bread. 4 ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’ As we look at this pattern prayer that Jesus gives to His disciples, we will see that this prayer itself can be divided into 6 phrases. Each of these phrases emphasizes a crucial aspect of prayer. • “Father” emphasizes that prayer is an Intimate Relationship with our Heavenly Father. • “Hallowed be Your name” emphasizes that prayer is a Reverent Response to the Character of God • “Your Kingdom come” emphasizes that prayer is a Submissive Recognition of the Kingship of God • “Give us day by day our daily bread” emphasizes that prayer is a Humble Reliance on the Provision of God • “And forgive us our sins...” emphasizes that prayer should contain a Penitent Request for the Forgiveness of God • “And do not lead us into temptation” emphasizes that prayer is a Needy Realization for the Protection of God. In this post we will look at the first aspect of prayer...Prayer is a relationship. PRAYER INVOLVES AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER - v.2a – “Father” That God should be personally addressed as “Father” in prayer seems quite obvious to us today. But it was really, truly revolutionary teaching by Jesus and a major departure from the teaching of the day. This is why the teaching of Jesus on prayer is so unique. According to Robert H Stein: “As a title for God, “Father” is found only 15 times in the entire Old Testament and in none of those instances is God being addressed in prayer.” In those 15 times the title was used of God only in a distant rather impersonal sense. The Jews tended to so focus on the sovereignty and transcendence of God that they lost any sense of real intimacy with God. God was spoken of as Israel’s Father, but Abraham for example, never addressed God as “my Father.” In other words, the term was used mostly in a national sense, not in a personal individual sense. So in the Old Testament the term “Father” was used primarily to speak of “God’s overall care of the nation of Israel.” But when Jesus came onto the scene, He addressed God only as Father in prayer. In fact, the Gospels record Jesus addressing God as Father more than 60 times. The only exception is while He was on the cross when He cried “My God, My God” (Matthew. 27:46). No address of God captures the distinction between the Old and New Testaments more than that of Father. The word translated “Father” here is the Greek word pater, from which we get our English words paternal and paternity. This is the word that Luke chose to use when he wrote his gospel because it was written in koine Greek, the commercial language of the day (like English is now). However, most scholars agree that when Jesus instructed His disciples He probably spoke in Aramaic the common language of Palestine. The Aramaic word for father is “abba” which has the meaning of “daddy” or “papa” or “father dearest.” It carries more of an intimate connotation than pater. That Jesus would use such an intimate word to address God in prayer, probably shocked the disciples. Yet it was the perfect word to describe the intimate relationship that we could have with God. Now we must understand that God is the spiritual Father of those who come into His family through His Son, Jesus Christ. “The Fatherhood of God” and “the Brotherhood of man” is true only in the sense of creation. All men are created by God (Malachi 2:10; Acts 17:22-29), but in the sense of relationship, God is not the Father of all men. The Bible clearly teaches that we have a relationship problem when we are born into this world. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Ephesians 2:1-3 cf. Romans 3:9-18 What we are born with is called a sin nature, we all have it and you can thank Adam for it! “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12 That sin nature separates us from God and prevents us from having the relationship with God that He wants from us. What we need is to be saved from that sin nature and to become a child of God. How do we become a child of God? Jesus said, you must be “born again.” John 3:3-8 When we acknowledge our sin and seek His forgiveness, and trust in Christ alone for the redemption that we need, because of His work on the cross, we can be born again and become a true child of God. “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 The Apostle John put it this way: “But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name.” John 1:12 For some, this concept seems tough to grasp, but Jesus Himself made it very clear that no one can come to the Father but through Him. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 Now here is a wonderful truth…when we trust in Christ alone for our eternal life, we are adopted into God’s family and become His children. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:15-17 “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying ‘Abba, Father.’” Galatians 4:6 So those who have been born again, born into God’s family can truly call God abba, Father. It is His children who can enjoy the privilege of praying abba – Father. It is His children who can enjoy the intimate relationship of prayer with Him. The Disciples prayer then, is for those who can call Him “Father.” By teaching them to pray “Father,” Jesus was encouraging the disciples to draw close to God in their prayers since they were a part of His family! My friends we need to allow this awareness of God as Father to inspire and fuel our prayer lives. When we pray we need to sense and appreciate the intimate relationship that we have as His Children. We need to draw close and cry out to Him in every situation “Abba, Father.” What happens when we do that? What happens when we recognize that God is our Father and we enjoy intimate prayer with Him? I think it does three things for us. First, it Changes Our Approach to God Yes, we must still approach God with a sense of respect, but we know we can approach Him without being rebuffed. “5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5 One of my favorite things about being a Father is the response of my children when they are upset and need my care and love. They approach me without fear of being rebuffed. When they were younger they would crawl up into my arms and tell me about what was hurting them. (O.K. maybe they couldn’t do that when the Huskies or Seahawks were on. But they knew that I was there for them the rest of the time!). I still love to hear my girls call me daddy. There is just something sweet and meaningful about that. How much more open to our problems and hurts is our heavenly Father, Abba/Daddy for us. How much more does He want to listen to us and help us in our time of need? The realization that God is our Father ought to cause us to crawl into His arms daily and seek His consolation. That’s what prayer is. Not only does the concept of God as our Father change our approach to God, but… Second, It Changes our Attitude about Prayer Prayer is not a work of necessity but an opportunity to enjoy intimate fellowship with God. It is a privilege beyond compare. It is a relationship, not a conversation. Any two people can have a conversation, but prayer is so much more than that. Prayer is a Father and His child in an intimate, life-long growing, loving bond. Not only does the concept of God as our Father change our approach to God, and our attitude about prayer, but… Third, It Changes our Awareness of Others He is “our Father” and we belong to His family! I am not His only child. When I pray I need to remember that there are fellow children in the household of God. There are others who need His daily bread. There are others who need His forgiveness. There are others who need to be delivered from temptation. Therefore I am not to be the sole focus of my prayers, but WE are! William Hendricksen wrote about the “Lord’s Prayer”… “What gives this prayer its power? It ne’er says mine but our. Why does it grip me thus? It ne’er says me but us. What may its beauty be? It ne’er says I but we. It humbles me, but why? It ne’er says my but Thy.” Are you His child? Do you belong to His family? Is your heart broken? Do you have a serious need? Are you confused? Go to the “Father,” He wants to hear from you.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 16:00:50 +0000