Scary Prayers – Part 1

I’ve been thinking a lot about my prayer life lately. I’ve been challenged to look hard at how I pray to see if it lines up with scripture. I wonder if I am “doing it right” or if my prayers are effective. I want to be casual when I pray. I want to take my laundry list of needs to God and tell Him how to fix them for me. I really want Him to do it quickly because I took the time to tell Him. But what I want more than all of this, I want to honor God even in my prayer time.

Even if no one else sees me pray or hears my words or none of my prayers get answered the way I like, I want my prayer time to reflect my Jesus in me. This is no easy task. Like I mentioned, I am a lot more like a whinny child when I pray, than I am a mature believer. I am overly demanding with God. Reminding Him why I need it done my way. I get angry and frustrated when He doesn’t respond quickly. I question His goodness when He says no or wait. Yep. I am basically a toddler when I pray. I hope some of you can relate and I am not alone in this.

When I have taken a time out and I look back at my behavior, I can see that it’s not God that is acting up, it’s me. And when I look at my prayer or quiet times, I can see that I set myself up for failure when I pray that way. God does not move based on my demands. I have followed a model of my own making. It’s a broken model. I need a model that works, so I look to Jesus to see how He prayed.

Both Matthew and Luke record this teaching on how to pray. Both nearly identical but not exactly. This lets us know that the words aren’t a formula to be followed or prayed exactly, but rather a model to be used.

Luke 11:2-4 NIV ² He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. ³ Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴ Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

Matthew 6:9-13 NIV “‘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 today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

First part of this prayer is Father. I am humbled by that. Of all words Jesus could have told us to address God, father is the most intimate. He could have told us to address God as Creator, or Rock or All powerful One, or Leader. All of these are part of God’s character but they each convey something utterly different than father. Jesus teaches us that first, come with boldness as a child does a father. Now, not all of us have that daddy relationship that feels comfortable here. But we need to lay that aside to see the bigger picture. Jesus wants us to come into God’s presence, boldly and confidently, that God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. The Bible communicates this truth over and over.

Next Jesus says, “hallowed be your name“. Hallowed is another word for Holy. The way we explain holy to our kids in kids church is – set apart – utterly different than us. The stuff that God is made of and the way that He thinks/acts/feels is completely different from us. And His name isn’t how He introduces Himself to His friends, it’s His character and personality. It’s a reminder to us. Yes, we walk confidently into God’s presence all the while understanding that He is wholly different from us. He’s not a super human version of me. He’s something outside of my realm of thinking. He’s saying that when we begin a conversation with God… the first thing we need to do is get in the right mind/heart position: 
-You’re not talking to someone who is just another human with twisted and broken ways of being
-You’re not talking to someone you can manipulate or talk into things.
-You are talking to someone who is knows everything, loves perfectly, can do anything, never fails, and is perfectly good.

Next part of the prayer is, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven“. If you’re tracking with me so far and all of this up to this point is easy, this part gets more difficult. First, understanding God’s kingdom. He rules and reigns supreme. In Heaven, He is isn’t limited by anything. On earth, God limits His power only to give us choice. He will not force me to do what is best for me or force my obedience. Then, there is the part of “your will be done”. Praying for Earth to be more like Heaven sounds pleasant but when I pray God’s will be done here on Earth like it is in Heaven, I have to recognize that it’s His way or our way. We can’t have it both ways. I am praying that His will will be done in my personal life. Suddenly, I am praying with a little bit more timidity. What is God’s will that I am praying for? God keeps nothing hidden when it comes to His will. His will is that all would come to know Him as Father. He wants all to enter into relationship with Him.

In the next phrase, “give us our daily bread“, Jesus first reminds us that it’s God who provides for our needs. We ask because He alone can meet our needs. And isn’t it interesting that it’s specific to today’s needs. Each day we need God to provide. Each day we ask for that provision trusting that God will provide for tomorrow and I don’t need to worry about that today.

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors“. This is not a statement that IF we forgive then God will forgive us but rather when we have been given grace when God forgave us. In response to that grace we extend grace to those who have sinned against us. When we see our sin, this unending gap that separated us from God, has been made clean by Christ’s sacrifice we can begin to understand that we deserved death and have been given life. We can then extend that grace to others.

Lastly, “lead us not into temptation”. And I love that Matthew includes being delivered from the evil one. It might be easy to get confused on this one, thinking that God leads us into a place where we might sin but based on James 1:13-15 we know that isn’t true. So how do we understand this part of the prayer? Temptation and trial is the same word in Greek. Understanding that, we have trials and in those trials we can fall into sin. This prayer really becomes a request for protection. Keep us from situations where I am likely to fall into sin. And understanding that we deal with our own flesh in addition to the enemy who seeks to destroy us, we ask for protection and provision in both of those areas.

So if I put all that together in my own words; Daddy God, I come humbly understanding that you love me and welcome me. I am your daughter and you delight me spending time with me. I also understand that you are not like me. You are set apart and not someone I can limit by my own thinking. Remind me of that when I demand You do what I want You to do. I want Your kingdom here on Earth as it is in Heaven. I want You to rule and reign in me in Your unlimitedness. I choose Your will over my own. Provide for my needs today. Let me not worry about tomorrows needs or what I had yesterday but let me see that You know what my needs are and You know best how to meet them. Forgive my sins; dictating to You, thinking You are just like me only stronger. Thank you that Your forgiveness is not limited to my small mindedness. Let me see others how You see me. Let me love them and extend grace when I am hurt by their words or actions. When I am unloving, gently remind me that I am loved by You and Your grace is big enough to heal my broken heart. Protect me, Father. I know I am prone to sin. I often forget to ask You for guidance in my daily life. Keep me from falling into sin and tarnishing Your name. I know You are strong enough to protect me from anything and nothing can remove me from Your love. (Rom 8:38-39) Remind me this when I forget.

Ok, so what’s so scary about that prayer? The fact that I am not dictating anything to God. The part in asking God to have His will over mine. It’s hard to trust others to provide for us. Even more so when we think of God because it’s hard to grasp the depth of His character. Throughout this prayer we are reminded of our need and then in praying reminded that He provides. We can trust Him to meet our needs perfectly. We can pray hard, scary prayers knowing that like a good father, He will love us and take care of us so much better than we could ourselves. I challenge you to take a close look at how you pray too. I hope we can together draw closer to our Father and pray scary prayers, trusting Him to do things we couldn’t possibly have imagined.

Paul sums it up beautifully in Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.