BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Essential Tools for Christian Growth

Lesson Eleven:  Prayer Principles as Taught by Jesus 

The Lord’s Prayer is not a mantra to be repeated over and over.  Reciting the Lord’s Prayer will not confer spirituality.  It will not give good luck, prevent temptation, or deliver anyone from evil.  I have heard of people in the grip of a bad or dangerous situation desperately repeating the Lord’s Prayer in an attempt to forestall disaster.  Probably 95 times out of a hundred it did not bring about the desired result.  And undoubtedly the five times they did get the desired result it wasn’t due to the fact that they were praying the Lord’s Prayer.  … this is a model for prayer to be followed, not a magic incantation to ward off evil.  Sadly, for many folks the only prayer they have ever offered in their lives is the Lord’s Prayer quoted verbatim.

 

 

 BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Essential Tools for Christian Growth

Lesson Eleven: 

Prayer Principles as Taught by Jesus 

by John McReynolds

If you have been with us during these studies in Basic Bible Doctrine, and especially for the last three lessons on prayer, then you understand that prayer to restore yourself to fellowship if you have unconfessed sin in your life is critical to being able to have any spiritual benefit from Bible study.  God is spirit and He must be worshipped in Spirit and truth.  So take a moment to examine your life and confess any known sins and to otherwise prepare yourself mentally for the study of God’s word—let us pray:

We thank You, Father, that You hear us when we approach You on Your throne of grace in the manner that You have prescribed.  We know that this is not due to any merit on our part.  You do not hear us because of who we are—sinners all, but because of Who and What You are—almighty, infinitely righteous, eternal God.  We know that You are no respecter of persons.  So by Your grace we come to You in obedience to Your word, asking that You will take the truths we are about to learn and make them alive and powerful and by them cause us to be conformed more closely to the image of Your dear Son, in whose Name we ask it—amen.

This is the fourth and final installment of our study on the subject of prayer.  As we stated at the beginning of this series, few Biblical subjects are as important to the believer as prayer, yet few subjects are as poorly understood as prayer.  We have looked at several principles related to prayer, including what prayer is, things for which prayer is used, the proper protocol and procedures for prayer, the agenda for prayer, legitimate and illegitimate reasons for prayer, how to apply the principle of legitimate need, how to pray in the will of God, why God often does not answer prayer, and the different ways in which God does answer prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer

No study of prayer would be complete without an analysis of what is undoubtedly the most famous prayer in the Bible—the so-called Lord’s Prayer.  Personally, I do not particularly like to call it the Lord’s Prayer, because even though He originally uttered the words it was not an actual prayer offered by Him, but rather a model of prayer for us to follow.  If anything, I would prefer to call it the Believer’s Prayer, but that’s just my own opinion.  So for the sake of convention I will continue to call it the Lord’s Prayer. 

This model for prayer contains all the basic elements of prayer that we should emulate when we approach the Father in His throne of grace.  The Lord’s Prayer is found in two passages of scripture, Matt. 6:9-13, and a shorter, summary version given in Luke 11:2-4.  We will focus our attention on the passage in Matthew, which reads like this in the New American Standard Bible:

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matt. 6:9-13.

In some English versions including the King James Version the phrase “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen …” appears.  That is because they are translated from the Greek manuscript known as the Textus Receptus, which has that phrase included in Matt. 6:13.  But since the KJV was written several Greek source manuscripts that are much older have been found, and these more reliable Greek manuscripts do not have this phrase.  It is likely that this was added sometime in the Middle Ages by a well-meaning but overzealous copyist. Although the truth that the phrase conveys is certainly true, it is not a part of the original text, so we will not include it in our study.

What the Lord’s Prayer Is—and What It Isn’t

The Lord’s Prayer is not a mantra to be repeated over and over.  Reciting the Lord’s Prayer will not confer spirituality.  It will not give good luck, prevent temptation, or deliver anyone from evil.  I have heard of people in the grip of a bad or dangerous situation desperately repeating the Lord’s Prayer in an attempt to forestall disaster.  Probably 95 times out of a 100 it did not bring about the desired result.  And undoubtedly the five times they did get the desired result it wasn’t due to the fact that they were praying the Lord’s Prayer.  

There is nowhere in scripture that commands us to repeat the Lord’s Prayer, yet many mainstream churches repeat the prayer as a part of their worship services.  Some might argue that the phrase “in this way” or “this is how you should pray” as it is translated in the NIV would mean repeat the Lord’s prayer word for word, but the Greek word translated “in this way”, houtos (οὕτως – pronounced “HOO-tas”) means “in like manner”, or “after this fashion”.  It clearly indicates that this is a model for prayer to be followed, not a magic incantation to ward off evil.  Sadly, for many folks the only prayer they have ever offered in their lives is the Lord’s Prayer quoted verbatim.

Our Father Who Is in Heaven …

This first part of the prayer does three things.  First it establishes the protocol by which prayer is submitted to God—we pray to God the Father.  We studied this in the first lesson on prayer (Lesson 8 in the Basic Bible Doctrine series).  Secondly, it sheds light on the profound relationship that we have with God the Father.  He is not the Father just because of his relationship with Jesus Christ the Son—although it was His relationship with the Son that gave rise to His relationship with us.  He is our heavenly Father because He has adopted us believers as sons—Eph. 1:5 – “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will …”  1st John 3:1 – “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are …”  Other verses on the Father-son relationship between God and believers include Gal. 4:6 and Heb. 12:5-7.

Third, it also acknowledges the Father as He who dwells in heaven—Isa. 33:5 – “The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high …”  Matt. 5:45 – “… so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven …”  So why is this a big deal—everybody knows God lives in heaven, right?  Well, maybe so, but there is a counterfeit father—a god (little “g”) that presently rules this world who would like to be the god who lives in heaven.  He is the profound enemy of God and every person that names the Name of Christ.  Many people have been blinded by him.  When they think they are praying to God they are actually praying to him.  2 Cor. 4:4 – “… the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 

Jesus, in no uncertain terms, identifies this counterfeit father.  In John 8:44 Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees, told them, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  The Pharisees thought they were worshipping God by following the false, works-based religious system they had developed, but Jesus made it plain who they were really worshipping.

God specifically names this pretender to His heavenly throne through the prophet Isaiah: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.’” – Isa. 14:12-14 (KJV). 

Lucifer, whose name means “Light Bearer”, was the mightiest of God’s angelic creation until he fell from grace through the sin of pride, and desired to take God’s place on the throne.  After his fall he was called Satan, meaning “Adversary”.  There is much more that can be said about him, but this is a lesson on prayer, not angelology, which is a subject we will revisit at a future time.

Hallowed Be Your Name …

Probably the only time modern English speakers ever hear the word “hallowed” is when they hear the Lord’s prayer.  What on earth does “hallowed” mean?  The Greek verb is hagiazo (ἁγιάζω – pronounced hahg-ee-ADZ-oh).  It means to make pure or holy, or to consecrate.  It comes from a noun, hagios (ἅγιος – pronounced HAHG-ee-ahs), which means sacred, pure, blameless.  In this context the word hagiazo means to ascribe these qualities to God—that’s the meaning of “hallowed be Your name.” We could say “… holy is Your name” and be accurate.

This is a phrase of praise.  It shows us that one of the purposes of prayer should be to praise and glorify God.  We have looked at prayer as a vehicle for praise in lesson nine of the Basic Bible Doctrine series (the second lesson in this short series on prayer).  Basically this portion of the prayer template that is the Lord’s Prayer, enjoins us to praise God for His marvelous, matchless, perfect, and infinite attributes.  God has many attributes—in fact we will be entering into a study of them soon.  By way of a preview of coming attractions here is a summary of ten attributes that theologians have compiled in an attempt to encapsulate the essence of God:

• God is complete sovereignty.  He rules all aspects of the universe.  Nothing comes to us that does not first pass through Him.  
  
• God is perfect righteousness.  His standards are perfection itself.  He is not the author or source of sin.  
  
• God is perfect justice.  His judgments are perfectly fair.  When we stand before God in judgment—as we all eventually will—nobody will be judged wrongly or unfairly.
  
• God is total and perfect love.  God’s love is perfect and infinite and extends to His whole creation—including you and me.  
  
• God is eternal life.  God does not possess eternal life, He is eternal life.  God imputed eternal life—a part of Himself—to mankind.  This means as humans we will all exist somewhere forever—either in heaven or in hell. 
  
• God is omniscience.  This means that He knows everything that is knowable—including everything about you and me. 
  
• God is omnipotence. God is all power.  He can do anything.  But just because God can do all things, that does not mean that He will do all things.  God will never go against His own nature or plan. 
  
• God is omnipresence. This means that God is everywhere present—all at the same time.  There is no issue or circumstance in your life that God is not literally right on top of. 
  
• God is immutability.  That means that He is unchangeable.  He is not fickle.  Nothing we do can make Him change toward us.  He can appear to change as we will see in a later lesson, but that is not a change of attitude toward us, but rather a change in policy. 
  
• God is veracity.  This simply means that He is completely and perfectly truthful.  God is not a liar, nor can He be a sponsor of lies.  That means we can accept what He says with complete confidence.  God may choose to not reveal certain things to us, but He will never deceive us.
  

This little summary is meant to show just a little bit of God’s marvelous attributes.  God is the holy, loving, eternal, all-knowing, all powerful, unchanging, God of all truth, Ruler of the universe.  He is certainly worthy of all praise.  The more you study the Word of God, the more you will learn about Him.  The more you know about Him, the more you want to praise Him.  And praise should be a part of every Christian’s prayer.  This is what is meant by the little phrase, “hallowed be Your name.”

Your Kingdom Come …

The subject of God’s future kingdom here on earth is one of the most extensively documented in Scriptures.  Many of God’s dealings with mankind have already occurred, but a lot remains to be fulfilled.  The study of these future things is a whole subject of theology called eschatology—the study of last things.

“Come” is the Greek word erchomai (ἔρχομαι – pronounced ER-kahm-my). It is in the imperative mood, but this is not used as a command the way the imperative is normally used in the Greek—rather this is an imperative of strong entreaty.  After all, when we pray we’re talking to the sovereign Lord of the universe—we ask Him, we don’t command Him.  The meaning here is an expression of a deep visceral yearning for the return of Christ to set up His Kingdom on earth.  As we mature in the Word we see all the more clearly the depths of depravity to which the world we live in has sunk.  We see the arrogance and stupidity of our political leaders as they try to apply human solutions to spiritual problems.  We see greed and covetousness and hate and the theft and murder they spawn.  We see the misery and suffering of millions upon millions around the world, and we know that if the Lord Jesus reigned here none of this this would be.  Our souls desperately long for our King to come and rule this planet in righteousness, justice, mercy and love.  This is the meaning of “Your kingdom come.”  So we are to pray for the return of our Lord to set up His kingdom of righteousness.

Your Will Be Done On Earth as It Is in Heaven …

As we have learned in the second lesson on our series on prayer, God answers prayer that is aligned with His will.  This phrase is a reflection of that.  It is an expression of our desire that God’s will prevail on the earth.  It reminds us, as we have seen in the earlier lesson, that prayers we offer that are not in line with His will are futile.

It also illustrates a truth that is expressed a little more fully in Matthew 16:19 – “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  We do not have the space here to fully explore this passage, but Jesus has been talking with Simon, whom He has renamed Peter.  Essentially, Jesus has just explained to Peter that in the coming age, God’s will is going to be accomplished through the agency of the Church—which is not a specific denomination or organization, but rather a spiritual organism made up of every born again believer, which we refer to as the Universal Church.  That age Jesus referred to we call the Church Age—it is the time in which we live today.  So when we pray we should pray for the will of God to be accomplished here on earth, recognizing that it is through the Church—through us born-again believers—that God will work out His will during the Church age.

And what is God’s will on earth during the Church Age?  Many specific things are said in Scripture to be God’s will.  But God has one overarching goal for this planet.  It is to introduce this lost and dying world to Jesus Christ.  He desires for all men to be saved, but He recognizes that many will not accept His free offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”—2 Peter 3:9.  And God has chosen to work through us born-again believers to accomplish His goal of world evangelism.  So we are to witness to the world about Jesus with our lips as we spread the Gospel, and we are to show the world what Jesus looks like by the witness of our lives.

Recently the Christians in the country of Pakistan have undergone a wave of persecution by extremist Muslims.  I saw a video just the other day taken during the riots in Gojira, Pakistan last August, 2009.  One scene showed a group of Christians huddled together that had just been burned out of their homes.  I was particularly moved by one young Pakistani woman—just a little slip of a girl, really—and she stood there swaying with her eyes closed, praying or singing a hymn—I couldn’t tell which.  She was clutching close to her the most precious thing she had which she had managed to salvage from her burning home—her Bible. 

That was a very dangerous thing to do in the streets of Gojira just then, swarming with hundreds of extremists whose emotions had been fanned to hatred and violence by radical clerics ranting in their mosques about the “blasphemers” in their midst.  Dangerous and courageous.  She was witnessing steadfast courage and poise in a situation where she was literally in danger of her life—and who is to say that she might not be called to give her life later.  What a witness to us, who have never know the circumstances that could lead to a martyr’s crown!

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  So I ask again, what is God’s will for us born again believers?  And again I answer, it is to witness the truth of Jesus Christ by our lips and our lives to a world drunk with greed, lust, and hate, reeling toward the pit of hell.  God has given us the responsibility to witness for Christ so that those who God is drawing to Himself may hear the Gospel and be saved by faith alone in Christ alone, and so that those who will reject Jesus Christ no matter what, will have no excuse when on the Day of Judgment they stand before the great Judge—the Lord Jesus Christ—on the brink of eternity.

Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread …

This is simply asking God for our regular needs.  Now someone may be asking, “why in the world should I do that?  After all, didn’t the Lord say not to worry about our daily needs?”  That is true—in Luke 12:22-24 He said, “… I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!”

God promises us that He will supply all of our needs.  Philippians 4:19—“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  So why ask God for something He has already promised?  Remember earlier we learned that our prayers are to be aligned with God’s will.  I believe that this is an extension of that principle. 

Here in America especially we are accustomed to having everything we need to live at our fingertips, and so we tend to take these things for granted.  We have every expectation of having water to drink, food on our table, clothes on our backs, transportation to where we need to go, medical care, safety from predators, etc. God has promised these things to His children.  But we are never to take these things for granted.  The Christians in Pakistan take nothing for granted, I assure you!  They take very seriously what God is telling us in Luke 11:3—“give us this day our daily bread.”  In the United States we have a well established logistical infrastructure in place as the means of giving us our daily bread—at least so far.  But God’s sovereign will trumps all, and if He chose, all of this would vanish in the twinkling of an eye.

So we are to ask God to supply our regular needs.  When we do this we are acknowledging the fact that He is the true source of our sustenance.  And when we do this it brings praise and glory to Him.  Remember that the Lord’s Prayer is a model of prayer for us to follow in our communication with Him.  How often in prayer do we ask God to continue providing our needs?  I suspect not all that often—I know I have been guilty of that omission. 

And Forgive Us Our Debts, as We Also Have Forgiven Our Debtors…

The subject of forgiveness is one that deserves a whole study unto itself.  There are many character studies in the Bible that illustrate various truths related to forgiveness—including one of the most notable, the life of Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob.  We don’t have the space to read his story here, but you should take the time to read Genesis chapter 37 and 39 to get the story of Joseph.

Basically the principle at work here is that in order to receive forgiveness from God you must forgive those who have wronged you.  I promise you, if you try to pray while you are holding a grudge against someone, your prayer will not rise any higher than the ceiling!  Our Lord taught us this truth in several passages, notably Matthew 6:14-15 – “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  Other passages include Matthew 18:21-35; Mark 11:25-26 (a parallel passage to Matt. 6:14-15); Luke 17:3-4; Eph. 4:32; and Col. 3:13.

And Do Not Lead Us into Temptation, But Deliver Us from Evil…

Here again, the subjects of temptation and evil are both concepts that deserve studies unto themselves, but which we cannot pursue in any detail here.  But we do need to examine them to the extent that they touch on the subject of the Lord’s Prayer.  At first reading this is a puzzling verse—it implies that God might lead us into temptation, and that He might not deliver us from evil.  If He a good, loving, and merciful God why would these bad things even be a possibility?

The answer ultimately lies in a subject that we will undertake at some point in the future (like so many other subjects I have referred to in these studies, Lord willing we will get around to them).  That subject is the Angelic Conflict, or the War of the Ages, or the Unseen Conflict, or any number of other terms by which theologians have referred to it.  Briefly, it is an unseen war that rages in the spiritual realm all around us.  It profoundly affects our lives, yet it is not comprehended or even detected by the vast majority of people on this earth.  It began in the eternal ages past when Lucifer—the highest of the angels created by God—rebelled against God.  As a result war began to rage in the spiritual realm.  Man was created by God to resolve the Angelic Conflict, and so the battleground has shifted from war in the heavens to a struggle between Satan (Lucifer) and God for the souls of men. 

Here then is the answer to our question:  Because our souls are now the battleground of the Angelic Conflict, the function of our free will has become the central issue.  Every day we live we are presented with choices between God’s agenda, and the agenda of Satan, who is the one who currently rules the world we live in.  So the question becomes, how will we choose when we are faced with temptation?

Please understand that God is not the author of either temptation or evil—James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”.  Temptation and evil are devices used by Satan to try to ensnare men and lure them away from God.  But because the central issue of the Angelic Conflict is the will of men, God does allow temptation in our lives, and He does allow evil to flourish—temporarily at least.

So let’s look at what temptation is.  In the Greek the word is peirasmos (πειρασμός – pronounced pi-ras-MAS).  It comes from a verb peirazo (πειράζω – pronounced pi-RADZ-oh) which means “to put to a test”.  Essentially what is in view here is that God allows Satan to devise tests to see whether man will choose his agenda or God’s agenda.  But Satan, being the low-life character he is, does not design the test objectively—he designs it as a trap intended to ensnare men.  He baits it with something enticing and then when someone get close enough, he springs the trap!

Folks who know my wife Linda and me, know that for many years we have loved animals and do what we can to rescue and help those that have fallen on hard times.  Part of that effort has been trapping and neutering or spaying wild or feral cats in order to help control the population.  Trapping a feral cat is not as easy as it sounds.  Essentially what you do is get what is called a “kindness” trap, which is basically a cage with a weight activated trap door.  You put something yummy in the back of the cage to entice the cat and then set the catch to the trap door.  When the cat goes to the back of the cage its weight trips the catch and the door slams shut before the cat can react. 

The problem is that cats are very wary animals by nature and spook easily, even if they trust you.  Feral cats trust no one and the ones who are descended many generations from other ferals are very suspicious of anything that is new.  They don’t like to go into anything that doesn’t look or smell right to them.  And if they even once see another cat get trapped in one of these cages, you can forget ever getting the feral to go inside of one, even if it is starving.  Of course the cat has no way to know that we’re trying to trap it in order to free it from the cycle of pregnancies leading to overpopulation and suffering from starvation and abuse and violence of various kinds.

Satan sets spiritual traps for us and baits them with things that tempt us.  And of course his motives are evil and he wishes to do us harm—as much as he can.  He designs the bait he uses to look like the one thing that will give us joy, happiness, fulfillment.  Then he just waits for someone gullible to come along and snap up the bait—and BAM!  The trap is sprung.  He traps some poor soul into a lifestyle of sin with its cycles of addiction to the temporary pleasures of illicit sex, alcohol and drug abuse, anger, gossip, gluttony, materialism, misplaced priorities—in short every conceivable form of sin!  And in this lifestyle he blinds his victim to the grace that is freely available to all men through Jesus Christ.  And believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are just as vulnerable to Satan’s schemes and wiles as any unbeliever—especially when they are new believers or have not matured in the faith.

But the believer who gets into God’s word and grows in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, develops an awareness of Satan’s schemes.  Like the feral cat he becomes sensitive to situations that pose a threat to his spiritual well being.  He develops a spiritual instinct that helps him avoid the bait—that allows him to walk away from temptation instead of sniffing around it and letting it influence him into making wrong decisions. 

But like all things involving spiritual growth this does not happen overnight.  Even the most mature spiritual giant can fall when exposed to enough temptation.  God knows just how much temptation we can resist and He does not allow us to be exposed to more temptation than we can handle.  He always gives us a way to avoid the temptation.  First Corinthians 10:13 tells us, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”  Of course, if we choose not to avoid the trap and we fall into sin, it is not the Lord’s fault—it’s our own fault.  And therein is the test.  Will we take advantage of God’s grace, recognize the trap for what it is and turn around and walk away, or will we sniff around the bait and savor it and ultimately take it and fall into sin? 

So when we pray we should ask our Father to lead us in paths that avoid temptation and entrapment in Satan’s strategies of evil.  This is what is meant by “… do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil.”  And, as we saw earlier, asking God for what He has already promised us is a very valid and important part of prayer.

Well, we have finally come to the end of our little study on prayer.  Much more could be taught on the subject, but we need to move on to other things.  Lord willing, we will begin a study on the attributes, nature, and character of God.  That will undoubtedly take several lessons at least, but hopefully it will provide some insights into God that will help us to understand Him a little better.

We praise You Father for the wonderful communication method of prayer by which we can be immediately connected to You in Your Throne Room. We thank You that You have given us the information we need to properly pray to You.  We thank You that Your Son was willing to die in order that we might have the privilege of communicating with You, and that we have the incomparable ministry of the Holy Spirit providing the power to speed our message instantaneously across this vast universe directly to You.  Now Father we ask that the Holy Spirit will take this message and with it teach us to pray more effectively that we might be able to reflect greater glory on our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is in His name we ask it, amen.

 

To the reader:  If you have read this lesson, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, questions, or comments you have.  Getting feedback from my readers is very helpful and encouraging to me.  I promise to respond to all legitimate questions or comments as appropriate.  But please, do keep your questions and comments appropriate and constructive.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

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