You've made it to Day 4! Thank you for sticking with me and making it this far. I am very excited about this lesson Speak to us O God today for your servants are listening!
The Lord's Prayer is one that most of us are likely very familiar with. Growing up Presbyterian this was one of the only prayers we ever really memorized. (We did the Doxology too but sang that one!) My mom was raised Catholic and converted after getting married and having kids. She went to 8 years of parochial school and had a very devout father (his sister was a nun) and recited prayers at home also on a daily basis. So I have been to many Catholic weddings and funerals in my lifetime. I figured out the debts/debtors difference to trespass/as we forgive those who trespass against us pretty young and always loved the part of the mass when we said this prayer because I felt like I was part of the congregation and maybe people around me would think I was Catholic like the rest of my family. Too bad they all figured out I was a Protestant when they announced that you had to be Catholic to go up and take communion. I really wanted to lie to myself and God and just go and taste the wafer and wine but couldn't bring myself to do it, that is unless the priest just offered communion and didn't happen to announce you had to be Catholic. I have to admit I have had Catholic communion and never got to wear the pretty bride dress and make my first communion. Confession, I was always so jealous of my girlfriends who did that.
But there is a beauty and reverence in reciting a prayer together in unison. As we dig into this portion of scripture I think you all will find Jesus's motive behind these words intriguing.
Matthew 6: 5 And when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be heard by others. Truly I say to you they have earned their reward.
Yesterday we studied Daniel and touched on the fact that he prayed 3 times a day. When the times came to pray, one was expected to do so...the Pharisees motive behind going to the synagogue or on the street corners wasn't because it was more convenient or that they were over-taken by prayer hour when in the street, but their innate love of display made them choose these places that they may be seen of men.
I know most you you ladies will really struggle with this urge to pray out loud...
And standing on the street corners of downriver....
(I just pictured a few of you with the dancing Little Caesar pizza girl uttering your petitions upward, come on you know you want to!)
I'm laughing so hard right now!!
Honestly, our little group does not struggle with this type of pious behavior. And I would venture to say most Christians don't yearn to be in the spotlight showing how Holy and prayerful they are. Back in the early New Testament times Pharisees were upper-class religious politicians who were wealthy and highly esteemed by the masses. Their pride and egos were stroked plenty and they probably fed off of the attention.
So we may not long for that type of recognition...We may not yearn to be placed on a holy pedestal...but
What approval or attention are you seeking from the crowd in your own life?
Maybe you want everyone to think you are a great wife or mother....Maybe you want to look like a hipster instead of a mother....Maybe you are trying to create a Utopian looking life on Facebook or Instagram when really it's pretty ugly. I struggle in all of these areas. In a way I tend to live like a modern day Pharisee longing for people to think I have it all together when really I'm a broken mess underneath. Just open up a kitchen cabinet or a closet door...my covered up life will come busting down...probably on your head!
If we were being honest, most of us struggle with wanting to look good. We hope for people to think we've got it handled when deep down inside we are struggling. But hopefully our hearts aren't hard like the Pharisees. God has softened us with Jesus!
I thank God so much for the grace and forgiveness He bestows upon us in all of our struggles and shortcomings. Maybe if we would start tearing off our masks of perfection a little more we wouldn't feel the need to please the crowds in our lives so much. And on a side note: thank goodness for the Valencia and Lo-Fi filters because they really do make life much more beautiful!
So here is the good news girls,
"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:6)
I think some of you just did the happy dance in your head!
Now don't get too excited because'Jesus didn't condemn all public prayer as indicated by his own prayers in public (Matthew 14:19 and 15:36) One's internal motivation is his central concern."
What Jesus is rebuking, here are two revolting faults in prayer,
1. Ambition
and as we see in the next verse
2. Vain Babbling
(Geneva Study Bible)
v.7 continues, "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they thinkg that they will be heard for their many words."
"Pagans repeated the names of their gods or the same words over and over without thinking (Kings 18:26, Acts 19:34) Jesus prohibits mindless repetition, not the earnest repetition that flows from a worshiping heart (Psalm 136, Mark 14:39)" (ESV study bible commentary)
"Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (v.8)
How great that God knows in advance what our prayers will be. Keep in mind we are not told to refrain from asking though. Jesus keeps referring to the heart and our motives. So even though we are told to go into our private rooms to pray this, the first word of the prayer is "Our"
"Our Father in heaven" (v.9)
So obviously it is intended to be communal. All seven pronouns of the prayer are communal. Our, Us, We...
On a quick side not, "Our Father in heaven is translated 'Abba' in Aramaic, the everyday language spoken by Jesus. It was the word used by Jewish children for their earthly fathers. However, since the term in both Aramaic and Greek was also used by adults to address their fathers, the claim that "Abba" meant Daddy is misleading..." However, this was a paternal reference Jesus was making.
"hallowed be your name." (v. 9)
Saying this next part of the prayer as a child always made me feel like God's name had something to do with Halloween...The words were so similar and still I tend to think of the hollowing out of a freshly carved pumpkin when reciting this part. But I couldn't be more wrong.
Hallowed is to be set apart as holy and treated with the highest honor. Our God is most holy, most honorable...
"Your kingdom come, your will be done on, on earth as it is in heaven" (v.10)
*What do you think this part of the prayer means?
Jesus is continually praying for God's will, not our will to be done...
"Give us this day our daily bread" (v.11)
We rely on our Father in heaven to meet our daily physical needs. Jesus could have been making a reference to the Israelites who had to trust in God to provide daily manna from heaven each day when they were wandering in the wilderness. (Exodus 6:14) Nowadays sometimes we refer to money as "dough" or "bread" We are to trust in His provision over our lives in every way.
"...and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (v.12)
When asking forgiveness make sure you have a forgiving heart. God forgave us and showered His grace upon us. He expects us to let Christ's forgiveness pour out into those who have offended us. Just a couple of days ago, Ayla confessed a sin to me. She started to cry and proceeded to tell me that she snuck and wore one of my rings to school. The teacher asked her if she had permission and she lied and said she did. For some reason later that evening when we were getting ready to go to bed she saw the ring she felt horrible and poured out her heart. She was so upset and when I finally got her to calm down we prayed to Jesus to wash away her sin. She was still so sad and guilty feeling. I explained that now she needed to forgive herself.
*Is there an area of past sin in your life that you have a hard time forgiving yourself of?
Remember like I told Ayla, He forgives us our sins as far as the east is from the west. The next day we heard the Casting Crowns song on the radio...I winked at her and she smiled as we sang the words out loud! We have to be able to forgive ourselves before we can even think about forgiving those around us.
"And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." (v.13)
Temptation here can also indicate testing. God never tempts us, we are reminded in James 1:13 that God cannot be tempted with evil , and he himself tempts no one. Rather he uses circumstances to shape and test our faith. A few verses before in James we are asked to, (v.2) "Count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (perseverance)" The delivering from evil can be referring to Satan or the evil one or even our own fleshly desires...James 1:14 continues "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."
As we finish up today
*Recite the Lord's Prayer
Hopefully we've gained some new understanding and meaning of these familiar words!
What a glorious hope we have knowing that God has saved and redeemed us from our sins. He is holy, set apart, His Kingdom is coming and His will is being done, He provides for our every need, He forgives and gives us strength to forgive (ourselves and others) He delivers us from evil, the dark forces around us and of our flesh....
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