Thoughts and Prayers

 

Luke 11:1-13    Pentecost VII

 

Jesus teaches us HOW to pray.

It is concise.

It is focused.

It is supplicative.

It is relevant to daily life with God and Neighbor.

 When we address God, we recognize that God is Holy, set apart, even wholly other than are we.  We come humbly before God, recognizing who God is and that we ain't God.

We pray to God in supplication, humbling ourselves in communication with God.  We come to the source of life, of love, of joy, of peace and we ask.  We do not demand of God.  We ask God.

We recognize God’s Sovereignty, authority in our lives, even as we ask God to usher in God’s Kin-dom (on earth as it is in heaven), that we may live as God Wills it, completely obedient to God, as does the heavenly host.  We are praying that God’s Justice will prevail in this part of God’s Kin-dom, here and now, as it is in that part of God’s Kin-dom forever.  We are praying for justice to be done here, too, and that we will be people of justice, God’s justice on earth as in heaven, an equal justice for all people because God loves all people.  We are asking that we will submit to God's will so completely that we are living in alignment with God's Kin-dom here, as it is completely lived in heaven.  We recognize that God's Way is a better way for us and for all people, so we submit our lives to God's Will.  We are compelled to ACT on behalf of others in this part of the Kin-dom out of a sense of God's Justice.

We ask for our daily needs to be met, for enough.  It is daily bread, like the manna from heaven and like that sustenance which daily laborers rely upon for their families’ needs every day.  We are asking for enough upon which to live and thrive.  We are not asking for more than we need, for we trust the Lord in providing us with enough and we trust in “enough.”  We are asking to be satisfied also with enough so that we do not sin against others because we take more than we could ever need while they go without.  We are asking for the kind of faith in God that knows we will have enough because ALL have enough in the world around us, the kind of faith in God that drives us to live God's generosity with others, for the prayer is about giving US our daily needs and not ME only, all my desires.

We ask God to forgive our sins as we forgive everyone indebted to us.  Please God, if we do not forgive the debts of others, please do not forgive us.  As I want to be forgiven, please make me forgiving.  As you forgive my debts, please make me forgiving of others, and if I refuse to do so, then please do not forgive me.  Help me to value forgiveness itself as an act of Agape Love, both being forgiven and being forgiving.  For if I do not value both, I do not value my Lord and His forgiveness fully.  

We ask God not to bring us to the time of trial, or to be tempted (but to deliver us from evil).  We get ourselves into temptations quite adequately enough, and to be tested might mean that we are not ready.  We ask God that we be spared from that, and that God would act to preserve us from evil, not just evil done to us, but evil that we might do when we are tempted or tested.  Keep us from failing to keep from being evil in the world.  Help us to choose what is good and right, what is faithful to God with our Neighbors, Jesus, as you define our neighbors.  

It is, throughout, an US prayer for supplication.  It is not about ME alone with Jesus.  It is meant to be a prayer for the sake of ALL people and not just for some or for ME.  It is meant to change US, each of us and all of us together.  Prayer is meant to change US and how we live in this world.

And, of course, added later by the church – “For Thine is the Kin-dom and the Power and the Glory, forever.”  It is God’s.  God is sovereign.  We are good to remember that this is not OUR Kin-dom, but that God is Sovereign and it is God’s Will that matters.  We are good to remember that it is not about US having Power, but all about God’s Power to do good, because God is all about the good.  We are good to remember that this is not about OUR Glory, but God’s Glory, lived out it in how God’s children are edified in the world by those who claim to be faithful to God.

Jesus went on to teach about being persistent in our supplications before God.  That God will (eventually) listen and that we will get what we need when we need it.

Jesus then taught about how we should Ask, trusting that we will be given what we need, that we should seek answers and they will be found, and that we should knock and the door will be opened to us.

Jesus ended this lesson on pointing out that good earthly parents provide and protect their children, that earthly parents are imperfect but God is perfect and gives the Holy Spirit to guide us to what we need in Christ Jesus our Lord, the one who points to how to live faithfully in God’s Kin-dom.

 I believe that prayer changes things.  I do believe in that power of prayer.  I believe that God listens, and that we are changed in the communication, the recognition of Who God is and God’s Will, and in our agreement with God in how to live faithfully what Jesus has taught us to live in the world.  I believe in this prayer as a model for all other prayers.

Let us pray…