Tuesday’s Column: Dale Mail
According to Jesus there’s an appropriate way to talk to our Father and by doing so, we are to believe that there’s a wrong way to address Him. In Matthew 6.9-13 Jesus will give what has become known as “the Lord’s prayer.” It’s a template, but not to be repeated word for word. Instead, it’s a recipe with the key ingredients we should include when we go before God.
When we pray we should…
Acknowledge
- Our Father In Heaven
The use of “our” binds together a praying community. More specifically, a praying family. Jesus describes God as “Father” and in doing so we are affirming our humanity and acknowledging His divinity.
To pray properly is to recognize that God is different from us. God is “in heaven” above, whereas the praying person is on earth below.
When we pray we must…
Submit
- Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
To pray that God’s kingdom will come is to ask that God’s power to create will prevail over all earthly and spiritual forces that destroy. As long as sin and death are active, people are moved to pray that God’s life-giving purposes may be carried out on earth with the same authority that rules in heaven. Earth can only be more heaven-like if God’s work is being done. Of course, earth will never be heaven but meaningful change can only come through the One who changes us from the inside out.
When we pray we must…
Express Dependents
- Give us this day our daily bread
We ask God to sustain “us” because we all need to eat. He is the provider. In the wilderness God provided the mana to teach the Israelites that they need Him. They could gather the mana, but the couldn’t summon the mana. We are living on His creation. Just like the spoils of Canaan, we are eating food grown on a planet we didn’t make. We drink the water which the Spirit hovered over before earth was formed.
When we pray we must…
Confess
- Forgive our debts…
“As long as wrongs from our past define the present, the wrongs also close off the future.” — Unknown
The term “forgive” literally means “release.” To forgive is not to say that what has happened doesn’t matter. But, it is to say that the wrongs that have occurred no longer define the relationship. Forgiveness or “release” means that there can be a different future, which is not defined by the past. We are to see ourselves as recipients of release.
When we pray we must…
Look Ahead
- Lead us not into temptation
We’re asking God to save us from the time of trial. It’s coming! James 1:13 indicates that temptation ascribed to Satan and internal battles. Our minds must constantly be on the alert because we’re vulnerable and inclined to stumble when our guard is down.
When we pray we must…
Believe
- Deliver us from the evil one
The evil that’s in the world today is not all-powerful. When we don’t believe that God can help us to overcome this evil, we’ve primed our minds for failure. In other words, the Son of God says, “if you’d like to be victorious over evil, you’ll need to ask God for help.”
Putting It Into Practice
Acknowledging God’s holiness and our humanity might sound different when we personalize it and put it into our own words. Submission to His will and the way we express our dependence will vary. What we need to confess to God will change depending on our own personal sins against Him. The temptation of one may not phase another. Believing that God can overcome evil is just admitting to Him and to ourselves that we are grounded in reality.
Whether we believe He’ll overcome evil or not, that’s the reality. We need to activate that belief now. The future will be filled with lost people who find themselves believing in a God they don’t believe in today.
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