A Prescription For PrayerA Fresh Perspective on the Lord’s Prayer

is a special publication by International Cooperating Ministries

606 Aberdeen RoadHampton, Virginia 23661

A Fresh Perspective on the Lord’s Prayer

By Dick Woodward

First EditionFebruary 2008

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A PRESCRIPTION FOR PRAYER

T he city of Hanoi in North Vietnamis still in the nightmares of someAmerican men who were pilots during

the Vietnam War. What they called the "HanoiHilton" was a notorious prison in Hanoi whereour pilots, who had been shot down overVietnam, were imprisoned for the duration ofthat war. Some of these men spent as much asseven years in solitary confinement while theywere incarcerated in that infamous prison.

Most of them were not especially religiousmen when they were captured. Many were"top gun pilots" with egos to match. Inaddition to solitary confinement, in the earlymonths of their imprisonment, they wereinterrogated and tortured almost every day. Intheir intense loneliness, they had a need andthey found a way to communicate with eachother by tapping out messages in Morse codeon the walls of their cells. Since they wereexperiencing the greatest trial of their lives,they also had a need, and they found a way,to pray.

Some of them tapped out a prayer theymemorized when they were children. Whatthey remembered as "The Lord’s Prayer," or"The Our Father" was, and still is, the greatestprayer and the greatest prescription for prayerthis world has ever heard. That prayer/

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prescription of Jesus proved to be just as

profound and filled with meaning for those

pilots in their solitary confinement as it was

when Jesus taught it on a hill in Galilee two

thousand years ago.

In the silence of that foul-smelling place,

lonely, desperate, hurting men tapped out

these words to God: "Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your

will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this

day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as

we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into

temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is

the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen" (Matthew 6:9-13).

This prayer, taught by Jesus, is essentially

three providential petitions and four personal

petitions. A providential petition is a prayer

request that has what matters most to God at

the center of the request. A personal petition is

a prayer request that has what we need at the

heart of the petition. The three providential

petitions are: "Hallowed be Your name, Your

kingdom come," and "Your will be done." The

four personal petitions are: "Give us this day our

daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our

debtors, lead us not into temptation," and "deliver

us from evil."

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WHAT IS PRAYER, ANYWAY?The verb form of the word "to pray"

literally means, "to ask." A prayer is usuallymore than just asking, but asking God forsomething is the heart of a prayer. In theeighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesustaught a parable about the prayers of aPharisee and a tax collector. In that parable, thePharisee didn’t ask God for anything when heprayed. Jesus was being satirical when He toldus the Pharisee prayed "with himself." ThatPharisee’s prayer began with himself. It was allabout himself and it never went beyondhimself.

The Pharisee had "I" trouble. In his verybrief prayer of just a few short sentences, heused the personal pronoun "I" five times. Hewas not actually talking to God at all. He wasjust making a little speech about himself. Hewas simply telling God and the people in thetemple what a good man he was.

In contrast to the Pharisee, the tax collectordid ask God for something. He beat upon hisbreast, which was a sign of humility andcontrition, which means to be exceedinglysorry for sin, and prayed, "God, be merciful tome, a sinner" (Luke 18:1-13).

The short, simple, yet profound prayertapped out by those imprisoned pilots iscomposed of a salutation, seven petitions, anda benediction. That prayer was designed by

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our Lord to teach us how to pray if we are anew believer, and how to deepen our prayerlife if we have been a believer for many years.In this booklet, I plan to do a close-up focus ofeach part of the prayer Jesus prescribed,especially the seven petitions Jesus taught usto pray. Before I do that, here are four generalobservations that will introduce you to thegreatest prayer/teaching this world has everheard. Those four observations are that thisprayer Jesus taught us is a disciple’s prayer, acorporate prayer, an index prayer and ateaching prayer.

A DISCIPLE’S PRAYER

This prayer of Jesus should not be called"The Lord’s Prayer" because it was not aprayer that was prayed by our Lord. When Heprescribed this prayer, Jesus said to Hisdisciples, "When you pray, you say… " It shouldmore accurately be called "The DisciplesPrayer," because this is a prayer, and aprescription for prayer Jesus taught to guideHis disciples as they pray and as they learnhow to pray. This prayer teaching of Jesus hasimpacted my personal prayer life and taughtme so much about how to pray as I havefollowed Jesus.

A CORPORATE PRAYER

We know this prayer was designed by

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Jesus to be prayed by His disciples in a groupsetting because the relative pronouns areplural. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Giveus this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts aswe forgive our debtors. Lead us… deliver us…" Asa pastor, I have found this prayer to be filledwith meaning when I have prayed it in unisonwith a large congregation or with a smallgroup. The more I grew in my understandingof the profound meaning of this prayer ofJesus that teaches us how to pray, the more itmeant to me, as a pastor, in the context ofworship services, elder’s meetings, and smallgroups.

AN INDEX PRAYER

The old rabbis taught people to pray bygiving them what they called "index prayers."These were example prayers that showedpeople how to pray. Those who were learningto pray were told by the rabbis to "pray likethis," and then they were given an indexprayer. When we hear Jesus say, "Pray after thismanner," as He gives His disciples this exampleprayer, He is following the pattern of the oldrabbis. This prayer of Jesus is an inspired indexprayer that is designed to guide new disciplesof Jesus as they pray and as they learn how topray. It is also designed to deepen, heightenand broaden the prayer perspective of amature disciple.

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A TEACHING PRAYER

There are two places in the New Testamentwhere Jesus teaches this prayer. According toMatthew, He gave His disciples thisprayer/teaching at the heart of His greatestdiscourse, "The Sermon on the Mount"(Matthew 6:9-13). According to Matthew, Jesuswas teaching His disciples that they wouldnever be the salt of the earth and the light ofthe world until they learned how to pray.

Luke writes that Jesus taught Hisprayer/prescription in response to this requestof His disciples — "Lord, teach us to pray"(Luke 11:1-4). According to Luke, the discipleswere impressed with the priority of prayer inthe life of Jesus. In addition to asking Jesus toteach them the how-to of prayer, they wereasking Jesus to teach them to value prayer asHe valued prayer. In this brief booklet, myperspective on this great prayer/prescriptionof Jesus is based on the way Matthew recordsthis teaching.

When we consider the context in whichJesus taught this prayer, we should realize thatHis purpose was not just to give us a prayer topray, but to teach us how to pray. The sevenpetitions at the heart of thisprayer/prescription should outline, impact,and determine the way we express ourprovidential and personal petitions when wepray. When we pray, we should begin our time

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of prayer with expressions of worship andfollow the pattern of the three providentialpetitions in this prayer that teach us how toworship when we pray. As we bring ourpersonal needs to God, we are to follow thepattern of the four personal petitions of theprayer Jesus taught His disciples.

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THE SALUTATION

"OUR FATHER"Something that is often overlooked when

we pray privately, and especially corporately,is that the essence of prayer is talking with God.Jesus begins this prayer/prescription byinstructing us to make sure we address ourprayer(s) to God.

Many years ago, a famous bishopconvened a large religious conference in NewEngland with a prayer. The next day, theBoston Globe named the bishop and reportedthat his prayer was "… the most eloquentprayer ever addressed to a Boston audience!"Have you made the observation that manypublic prayers are addressed to audiences onearth rather than our Father Who is in heaven?

A woman was praying in a church prayermeeting. When she made reference to verses ofScripture in her prayer, she gave all the specificchapters and verses where those Scriptureswere located in the Bible. After the prayermeeting, her pastor asked, "Eleanor, don’t youthink God knows where those verses are foundin the Bible?" Eleanor responded, "Yes, pastor,but the people don’t!"

Jesus begins His prescription for prayer bytelling us to be sure to address our prayers toGod and not (like the Pharisee in the parable ofJesus I referenced above) to those who may be

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joining with us in corporate prayer. In His teaching, both preceding and

following this disciple’s prayer, Jesus clearlyvalues private, or what He called "closet"prayers, over public prayers. Jesus is notliterally telling us to pray in a broom closet. Heis telling us to pray in private. This could be inour automobiles because that is one of the fewplaces we are alone today. He teaches thatwhen we pray in our prayer "closets," we areto "pray to our Father Who (really) is in secret,"or in the secret, private place. The point He ismaking is that there is nobody in our prayer"closets" to address, or impress, but God.Therefore, we are more likely to truly addressGod in our solitary, secret prayers, than we arein our corporate prayers.

"MY DADDY"Jesus not only exhorts us to address our

prayers to God, Jesus also instructs us toaddress God as "Our Father." The OldTestament people of God were not invited toenter into the presence of God and conversewith God on intimate terms. A priestapproached God for the people on a regularbasis, but even the priest did not enter into thepresence of God as he interceded for thepeople. Once every year, with all the peoplegathered around the Tabernacle in theWilderness or the Temple of Solomon, the

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High Priest entered into the presence of Godfor all the people of God.

As His disciples, Jesus is instructing ushere to enter directly into the presence of God andaddress God as "Our Father!" That was a radicalconcept to the disciples who heard Jesus givethis teaching, because they were all Jews whohad been taught all their lives to perceive andapproach God in the manner I have justdescribed.

If they had known the Psalms of Davidbetter, they would have remembered thatDavid also believed we should think of Godas a heavenly Father Who loves us compas-sionately, the way a father pities his children(Psalm 103:13). Paul writes that when God fills,or controls our hearts with the Holy Spirit, wewill cry "Abba, Father." (Galatians 4:6) Theword "Abba" in that verse is actually Arabic for"my Daddy." In the Word of God, David andPaul precede and follow the prayer Jesustaught us with the revelation that our God isintensely personal and should be perceivedand addressed intimately, as a loving heavenlyFather.

If we add His instructions about prayer inthe Upper Room Discourse to this prayer/instruction of Jesus, we can summarize theapproach to prayer He taught by saying thatJesus taught us to address our prayers to God,as our heavenly Father, and in the name of

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Jesus Christ (John 16:23, 24). Many parishioners have said to me over

the years, "Pastor, when I pray ‘Our Father,’ Ifeel as if a circuit breaker has been tripped andI have absolutely no sense of the presence ofGod." Without exception, I have discoveredthat when a parishioner has that problem, theyhave had, or they have a notorious earthlyFather. We must observe that Jesus teaches ushere to pray to "Our Father in heaven." OurFather in heaven is a perfect Father. We knowthat because Jesus challenges us to be perfect,"even as our Father in heaven is perfect"(Matthew 5:48).

Jesus teaches that God is personal (as in"my Daddy"). He teaches that God knows andcares about the number of hairs on our headsand, as a loving Shepherd, holds us in Hishand (Matthew 10:30; John 10:28, 29).

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THE THREE PROVIDENTIAL PETITIONS

"HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME"The names of God represent the essence of

Who and What God really is. The namesattributed to God in the Bible tell us that ourGod is, was, and always will be (Jehovah). Heis the God Who heals (Jehovah-Rapha), theGod Who provides (Jehovah-Jireh), and thealmighty, powerful God (El Shaddai). He is theGod Who sees (El Roi), Who sanctifies(Jehovah-M’Haddesh), and the God Who isour Shepherd (Jehovah-Ra-ah). All theseconcepts, and many, many more like them, arerepresented by the names of God in the Bible.

When Jesus instructs us to pray "Hallowedbe Your name," He is instructing us to begin ourprayer, (once we are sure we are addressingour prayers to our heavenly Father God), byasking that the essence of Who and What Godreally is might be known, respected andreverenced through our lives, because this isthe God to Whom we are offering ourprayer(s).

GOD FIRST

The message of the Bible frequently siftsdown to just two words. Those two words aresimply, "God first." In the Bible, from Genesisto Revelation, the bottom-line interpretationand application of the commandments, the

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character studies, allegories, parables, psalms,sermons, gospels, epistles and teachings issimply "God first." The prayer Jesus taught usbegins with that "God-first" emphasis when Heinstructs us to begin our petitions by askingGod that His name, the essence of Who andWhat He is, might be honored and reverencedbecause we are offering our prayer(s) to ourperfect heavenly Father God.

"YOUR KINGDOM COME"The names of God in the Bible also tell us

God is a King and that God has a kingdom. Inthe second providential petition of the prayerJesus taught us, the God-first emphasiscontinues by telling us we are to identifyourselves as subjects in the great kingdom ofGod — before we get to our personal petitions.

One of the many ways the Bible makes theclaim that Jesus Christ was God is when Jesusis described as the "King of kings" and the"Lord of lords." In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesusis a King and He is seeking subjects for Hiskingdom. When we pray, we are not to bebuilding any kingdoms of our own. Thisprayer of Jesus clearly teaches us that when wepray, before we pray "give us," we are to affirmour allegiance to the kingdom of God, and tothe King of kings and the Lord of lords bypraying, "Your kingdom come."

As we pray according to this inspired

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index prayer of Jesus, we are not onlyinstructed to begin our prayers praying, "Yourkingdom come", we are also instructed toconclude our prayers by pledging to ourheavenly Father, "Yours is the kingdom." In thisway, we are beginning and ending our prayerswith that God-first emphasis. Jesus teachesthat we are to begin our prayers by telling Godwe are not building any kingdoms of our own,and we are to conclude our prayers by tellingGod that the results of all our answers toprayer will belong to our King — and to Hiskingdom.

"YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS INHEAVEN"The third providential petition is actually a

paraphrase of the second. When we pray "Yourkingdom come," we are expressing the essenceof the third providential petition — "Your willbe done." When God is our King, and we live asHis loyal subjects, the purpose of our existencewill be to do His will. Those of us who havealways enjoyed the freedoms of democraticforms of government do not grasp thesekingdom metaphors as quickly or as well asthose who know what it means to have atotalitarian dictator, a king, or a queen rulingover them.

This third God-first petition has beencalled, "The prayer that never fails." We don’t

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have to know God’s will to pray this petition.James writes that we don’t have, because wedon’t ask, by which he means we don’t havebecause we don’t pray (James 4:2). The ApostleJohn assures us that we will receive what weask God for in our prayers if we ask accordingto the will of God (1 John 5:14, l5). Challengedby James and believing the promise of theApostle John, when we come before God inour closet or corporate prayers, our problem isthat we don’t know the will of God — and sowe don’t pray.

In another profound passage about prayer,the Apostle Paul writes that we should not letthe fact that we don’t know the will of Godkeep us from praying. According to Paul, if ourhearts are right when we pray, even if we askGod for the wrong thing, the Holy Spirit, Whodoes know the will of God, will makeintercession for us according to the will ofGod. Essentially, Paul is telling us that whenwe pray, even if we ask God for the wrongthing, God will give us the right thing, if ourwills are aligned with the will of God (Romans8:26-28). You can see why our Lord wouldteach us that we should always precede ourpersonal petitions with this third God-firstpetition — "Your will be done."

THE REAL LORD’S PRAYER

This disciple’s prayer could be called, "The

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Prayer the Lord Never Prayed." However,there is a prayer the Lord did pray that couldproperly be called "The Lord’s Prayer." In thethree Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark andLuke), when He is about to be arrested andcrucified, Jesus sweats blood as He prays, "OMy Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass fromMe; Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will"(Matthew 26:39). Jesus not only taught that weshould pray after the manner of this thirdprovidential petition, He modeled this thirdGod-first petition when He prayed whilefacing the greatest trial of His own earthly life.

The third verse in the fourth chapter ofJames is translated in the King James Versionto inform us that there are times when ourprayers are not answered because wesometimes "ask amiss." (One day a little boyasked me if praying amiss was the opposite ofpraying a hit!) When James wrote that we askamiss, he was essentially telling us that wesometimes forget to precede our personalpetitions with these three providentialpetitions – "Hallowed be Your name, Yourkingdom come," and "Your will be done in earth asit is in heaven." Most of our so-calledunanswered prayers can be traced to oneutilitarian cause. We pray more "misses" than"hits" because we fail to prioritize theseprovidential petitions before we pray ourpersonal petitions.

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The Apostle Paul gave us a wonderfuldescription of the essence of prayer when heshared this inspired metaphor with theCorinthians and with us — "co-operators withGod… " (2 Corinthians 6:1 J. B. Phillips)

The King James Version uses thepreposition "in" as it translates this petition.One of my favorite authors, Philip Keller, in hisbook on this prayer/prescription of Jesus,called, A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer,relates this petition to a concept found in thewritings of the Apostle Paul. Paul informs usthat we have the Treasure of the risen Christliving in our earthen vessels (our bodies), thatit might be obvious to everybody that thepower source of our lives is coming from Godand not from us. Philip Keller believes, that inthis third providential petition, Jesus wasteaching that we should ask our heavenlyFather to do His will in our earthen vessels justas His will is done in heaven. Obviously, if thewill of the Father is done in us, then the will ofthe Father will be done on earth through us.

According to Paul, God delights in placingHis risen, living Son in weak earthen vessels sothat it will be obvious to everyone whoobserves our lives and ministries that nothingis coming from us, but everything is comingfrom the great Treasure Who lives in us (2Corinthians 3:5 RSV).

When I had the opportunity to hear Dr. A.

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W. Tozer preach, I remember that he said, "TheBible says, ‘We have this Treasure in earthenvessels.’" After an eloquent pause, he added,"And some of those vessels are a bit cracked!"He then went on to preach that sometimes thelight of the Treasure shines out even morethrough the cracks in those cracked earthenvessels. His application and the apostle’sapplication was that there are times when thecracks in the earthen vessels magnify thegreatness of the Treasure, and bring onlygreater glory to God (2 Corinthians 3 and 4).

One of the greatest truths in the NewTestament is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."(Colossians 1:27) The Living Bible paraphrasesthis prayer petition of Paul for one of hischurches to read, "That they might learn thisspiritual secret, that Christ in your hearts is youronly hope of glorifying God…"

When I compare this third providentialprayer petition with the essence of the truthabout prayer Jesus shared with the apostles inthe Upper Room Discourse, I am persuaded toagree with Philip Keller when he writes thatJesus was telling us to ask our heavenly Fatherto do His will in our earthen vessels, just asHis will is done in heaven (John 14:22, 23).

IN SUMMARY

When Jesus mandated that these threeprovidential petitions must precede our

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personal petitions when we pray, He wasteaching that prayer is not a matter of uspersuading God to do our will. The veryessence of prayer is an alignment between ourwill and the will of God. Prayer is not a matterof us making God our partner and taking Godinto our plans. Prayer is a matter of Godmaking us His partners and taking us into Hisplans.

These three providential petitionsprescribed in the prayer Jesus taught shouldsend a message to every disciple of Jesus whenwe pray. That message is that we are not tocome into our prayer closets, or into ourcorporate worship prayers, with a "shoppinglist" and send God on errands for us. When wepray, we should come into the presence of Godwith a blank sheet of paper and ask God tosend us on errands for Him. When we pray weshould be like soldiers reporting for duty totheir Commander in Chief.

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THE FOUR PERSONAL PETITIONS

"GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD"We must continue to look through the

priority grid of God-first as we get to the"gimmie" part of this prayer Jesus taught. Thethree "God-first" petitions should focus ourmotivation as we come before our heavenlyFather with our personal petitions. Why do wewant our heavenly Father God to give us ourdaily bread, one day at a time? We should askour perfect heavenly Father to provide ourdaily bread because we earnestly desire to seethe essence of Who and What God is, honoredand reverenced on earth in and through us.

Most people don’t even know they werecreated in the image and likeness of all that thenames of God represent. We should want ourheavenly Father to provide our daily needsbecause we want to see our Father’s kingdomcome in our earthen vessels, and on earththrough us. We should want our needs metbecause we want to be earthen vessels in andthrough whom God’s will is done in earth andon earth, just as it is willed and done inheaven. In this way, the three providentialpetitions are designed to control the motivesthat determine and drive all our personalpetitions. These three God-first petitionsshould be the grid we always look through aswe ask God to give us each day all that we

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need personally. The Lord is using the symbol of bread here

in this first personal petition to represent allour physical, emotional and spiritual creaturecomfort needs. We are a veritable "Internet" ofcreature needs. Our needs are physical,emotional, mental and spiritual. This firstpersonal petition should not be limited to ourneed for food but for all the needs we have asphysical, emotional, mental and spiritualcreatures of God.

Observe that the concept of "one day at atime" is repeated twice in this petition of justseven words. Alcoholics and drug addicts withmany years of sobriety tell me that when theytook their first step toward sobriety, they couldnot even entertain the thought of being soberor straight for more than just one day. Thisprayer of Jesus prescribes that we are to pray"this day" and "daily" when we present ourcreature needs to our heavenly Father. Thisprinciple of one day at a time has proven to bethe therapy that has been the differencebetween life and death for some of my closestfriends who are celebrating many years ofsobriety. Observe how Jesus concludes Hisgreat teaching about values in the sixth chapterof Matthew with this same emphasis: "So don’tbe anxious about tomorrow. God will take care ofyour tomorrow too. Live one day at a time."(Matthew 6:34 Living Bible)

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We read in the book of Numbers that whenGod miraculously provided bread from heaven(manna) in the wilderness for the children ofIsrael, they were only permitted to collectenough manna for one day. That story,recorded in the eleventh chapter of the book ofNumbers, is obviously an allegory of this one-day-at-a-time principle Jesus is prescribing inthe prayer/prescription He taught.

When we apply the story of that greatmiracle to our daily devotions, we shouldmake the application that we cannot hoard ourexperience of a word from God, or theblessings of a time in the presence of God. Wemust have our souls and spirits nourishedwith heavenly manna every day, one day at atime, just as we must have our daily breadevery day, one day at a time.

"FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR

DEBTORS"The next three personal petitions are

obviously petitions for the spiritual needs wehave every day. This second personal petitionis for forgiveness. The next two petitions arefor guidance and deliverance. Forgiveness,guidance and deliverance are spiritual needswe have every day. The principle of that firstpersonal petition for daily bread, one day at atime, should be applied to these petitions forour spiritual needs. The spirit of these four

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personal petitions could be, "Give us this dayour daily bread, including our need forforgiveness, guidance and deliverance, everyday, one day at a time."

When we pray this prayer in an ecumenicalworship service, we must tell the worshiperswhether we are going to pray "debts" or"trespasses." This is necessary because thePresbyterians pray "debts," while mostcongregations pray "trespasses." Matthew usesthe words "debts" and "debtors" as he recordsthis second personal prayer petition of Jesus.Luke writes, "…and forgive us our sins; for wealso forgive every one who is indebted to us."(Luke 11:4 NKJV) The commentary of Jesus,after He teaches this prayer/prescription,makes it obvious that He is speaking here ofsins or trespasses. That is why many peoplewho pray this prayer, pray, "Forgive us ourtrespasses as we forgive those who trespass againstus."

The concept of debts and debtors, as Jesusused those terms here, is illustrated in twoparables Jesus taught about the forgiveness ofsins. In the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel ofMatthew, Jesus taught a parable that illustrateswhat He meant when He prescribed thispetition about our forgiving our debtors, justas our debts have been forgiven. In the seventhchapter of his Gospel, Luke describes theunusual setting in which Jesus taught another

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parable in which He compared the forgivenessof sins to the concept of debts, and theforgiveness of debts.

Many people are disturbed by thecommentary of Jesus on this second personalpetition when He had finished teaching thisprayer. This petition for forgiveness is the onlypart of this prayer upon which Jesus commentswhen He has finished the teaching. Accordingto Matthew, He supplements this secondpersonal petition with the awesomecommentary that if we do not forgive thosewho trespass against us, our heavenly Fatherwill not forgive our trespasses.

The only people who have no questionsabout the Bible are the people who never readthe Bible. People who read the Bible havemany questions about the Bible. Thiscommentary of Jesus troubles many devoutsouls because it appears as if Jesus is teachingthat God forgives us because we forgive others.This is a legitimate question that deserves ananswer. That’s why Jesus gave us His clear andprofound answer to this question in these twoparables.

In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesustold the story of a man who owed a very greatdebt. In those days, if you owed a large debtyou couldn’t pay, you were sent to prison andyour wife and children were sold into slaveryuntil your debt was paid in full. Since you

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certainly couldn’t generate any income fromprison, you would more than likely die in thatprison and your family would be slaves for therest of their lives. Those who heard thisparable of Jesus were very much aware of thatpractice in their culture. (There was no suchthing as "chapter eleven" or "chapter seven"bankruptcy in that culture.)

Relative to our currency, the debt in thestory of Jesus was a multi-million dollar debt.When the man who owed this great debt wassummoned to court, he begged for mercybecause he could not bear the thought ofprison and of his wife and family being soldinto slavery. Miraculously, the one to whom hewas indebted, out of compassion for him andhis family, completely forgave the debt!

On the way home from his extraordinaryday in court, this man, who had just beenforgiven such a great debt, met a man whoowed him twenty dollars and could not pay.He grabbed this poor man by the throat andshouted, "You pay me every cent you owe meor I will slam you in prison and sell yourfamily into slavery!"

People who observed both thesehappenings reported what they witnessed tothe merciful man who had forgiven themultimillion dollar debt. When that man heardtheir story, he summoned the ungrateful,forgiven man to another court hearing and

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reversed his compassionate decision. He hadthe man sent to prison and sold his family intoslavery.

Having told that story, Jesus pronounced,"Even so my heavenly Father also will do to you ifeach of you, from his heart, does not forgive hisbrother his trespasses" (Matthew 18:35).

The essence of the truth Jesus was teachingis not that God forgives us because we forgivethose who sin against us. The essential truthJesus was teaching here is that if we see oursalvation and forgiveness as the cancellation ofa multi-million dollar debt, we will be forgivingbecause we have been forgiven so very much. Ifwe are not forgiving, then we do not reallybelieve that we have been forgiven a largedebt. Our lack of faith in the forgiveness that isat the heart of our salvation means we do nothave the caliber of faith that can be called"saving faith." If our faith is flawed because itfalls far short of saving faith, our sins, in fact,are not forgiven!

We will never truly understand the secondpersonal petition of this prayer/prescriptionJesus taught us, especially His soberingcommentary on that petition, withoutunderstanding His profound parable in theeighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew— and another parable just like it.

Jesus taught this same truth in a similar,though very short, parable which is recorded

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for us in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7:36-50).Jesus was dining with a Pharisee who hadapparently invited Jesus into his home toentrap and discredit Him.

A woman who was obviously a sinner andhad experienced salvation through Jesus,began washing the feet of Jesus with her tearsand drying them with her hair. The womandid this spontaneously when she observed thatthe Pharisee had not washed the feet of Jesus.In that culture, not washing the feet of aninvited guest was like refusing to shake handswith someone you had invited to dinner. Tothis woman, who had likely been saved from alife of prostitution, this meant that the Phariseehad not even extended common hospitality toher Lord and Savior, whom she loved so verymuch.

While the Pharisee was thinking luridthoughts about this gesture on the part of thewoman, Jesus told him a parable. It was thestory of two men who owed debts to the samewealthy lord. As the Living Bible paraphrasesthe story, one owed him five hundred dollarsand the other owed him five thousand dollars.The wealthy man forgave both debts. Aftertelling this story, Jesus asked the Phariseewhich man would have loved their benefactorthe most? The Pharisee answered, "The onewho owed him the greater debt."

Jesus agreed with the Pharisee. Then He

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asked the Pharisee, "Do you see this woman?"The question was actually, "How do you seethis woman?" Jesus was challenging thePharisee to think about how he saw the sin ofthat woman relative to how he saw his ownsin. He obviously saw her sin as the great debt,and he saw his own sin as the small debt in theparable Jesus had told him. Jesus theninterpreted and applied His parable for thePharisee by announcing, "Her sins, which aremany, are forgiven, for she loved much. But the onewho is forgiven little, the same loves little."

Jesus then said to the woman, "Your faithhas saved you." Those words of Jesus clearlyaffirmed the Gospel reality that she was notsaved because she loved much. She lovedmuch because she had saving faith. The realsinner at the luncheon in that Pharisee’s housewas not that forgiven sinner who loved much.It was a self-righteous Pharisee named Simon.

The parable Jesus told Simon the Phariseefocused the reality that we cannot isolate ourown forgiveness of sin from our attitudetoward the sins of others. That is why Jesuswrapped His petition for the forgiveness of oursins in the same package with our forgivenessof those who have sinned against us.

These two parables, that compare theforgiveness of our sins to debts that have beenforgiven, show us why Jesus taught us to praythe forgiveness petition of His profound prayer

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this way: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive ourdebtors." The scholars tell us the Greek inwhich this petition is written should betranslated, "Forgive us our debts as we havealready forgiven our debtors."

"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION"Disciples who read the New Testament all

the way through have a problem when theyread the third personal petition of thisprayer/prescription Jesus taught. Theirproblem is that the earthly brother of Jesuswrites, in the first chapter of his inspired NewTestament letter, that when we are tempted tosin we should never say we are tempted ofGod. According to James, God is not temptedwith evil and He never tempts any man (James1:13). In light of that teaching, why would ourLord teach us to pray to our perfect, loving,heavenly Father God, Who never tempts anyman, "Lead us not into temptation?"

I am persuaded that the spirit of thispetition is based on the collective teaching ofScripture that we are not pillars of strengthwhen it comes to temptation. Jesus evaluatedour human condition when He said, "The spiritis willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).According to biblical scholar William Barkley,when the Bible refers to our flesh, it oftenmeans "human nature, unaided by God."

One night, Jesus was having an all-night

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session of prayer. He had asked the apostles topray with Him. He was grieved that theycouldn’t stay awake. Have you ever attendedan all-night prayer meeting? If you have, didyou find it hard to stay awake? The Lord saidto the apostles on this occasion, "You should bepraying that you enter not into temptation" (Luke22:46).

His meaning seemed to be something like,"If you only knew the power of the evil oneand the weakness of your flesh, you would beawake and praying that you enter not intotemptation." When the Lord prescribed thisthird personal petition, "Lead us not intotemptation," He was being consistent with Hisevaluation of our human condition, our flesh,or our "human nature unaided by God."

I believe it would be a legitimateparaphrase of this third personal petition topray it this way: "Lead us, and we will not findourselves facing the confrontations of thetemptation to commit sin." Do you believe thesteps of a good man are ordered by the Lord(Psalm 37:23)? If you do, then answer thisquestion: If you were following the leading ofthe Lord, step by step, do you think you wouldfind yourself confronting the temptations tosin?

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus usedsome awesome metaphors. He essentiallytaught that "If our eye, even if it is our best

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eye, is leading us into sin, we should pluck itout; if our hand, even if it is our right hand, iscausing us to sin, we should cut it off." Inanother place in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesusincluded the foot in these metaphors (Matthew5:29, 30; 18:8 Living Bible).

Jesus was obviously addressing sexual sinas He used these metaphors. Throughout thehistory of the Church, devout men haveactually had themselves made eunuchsbecause they took this teaching of Jesusliterally. The spirit of the truth Jesus wasteaching through these awesome metaphorssends a strong message to those who areaddicted to pornography today because it wasactually something like this: If what you arelooking at with your eye is causing you to sin,stop looking. If what you are doing with yourhand is causing you to sin, stop doing it. Ifwhere your feet are taking you is causing youto sin, don’t go there. Although it is a shame toread that men so sadly misapplied thisteaching of Jesus, should we not marvel thatGod-passionate men were that determined tolive holy lives?

All this teaching, which is based on ourLord’s assessment of our human nature,unaided by God, comes down to this: Sinceour flesh is so very weak, we must put rigiddisciplines and structures in place to the endthat we may not face the confrontations of the

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temptations that can lead us to commit sexualsin. The third personal petition in this prayerprescription is intensely realistic. Since we arenot pillars of strength when it comes to thetemptations to sin, we should, therefore, ineffect, pray every day to our loving heavenlyFather, "If You lead us, step by step, we willnot have to face the confrontations of thetemptations to commit sexual sin."

The Apostle Paul echoes the spirit of ourLord’s prescription regarding the temptationsin the life of a believer to commit sin. Paulwrites that our God will never let us betempted beyond our ability to resist tempt-ation, but will always provide a way of escapewhen we are tempted to sin (1 Corinthians10:13). Many people memorize that verse, butthey overlook the verses that precede andfollow this great promise. The verse thatprecedes this promise warns us that the manwho thinks he will continuously stand, andnever fall, should take heed lest he fall. Thevery next verse tells us precisely what that wayof escape from temptation is — that God willalways provide for us. That verse begins withthe words: "Therefore, flee!"

In this third personal petition, Jesus teachesthat even though our spirit may be verywilling to do the will of God, we are so veryweak in our flesh that we must pray every day,"Lord, lead us so that we will not face the crises oftemptation."

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"BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE"

Martin Luther warned us:

"For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe.His craft and power are great, And armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God’s own choosing.

You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He! Lord Sabaoth His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the battle!

Martin Luther understood that we have anenemy who does not wish us well — and Hispower is so great we must be delivered fromhim. Jesus obviously understood that reality.He began His public ministry with a mara-thon confrontation with the evil one in thewilderness. Jesus was more than a Conquerorin that wilderness where He was victoriousover all the temptation strategies of the devil.

The Good News in this last personal

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petition in the prayer/prescription the Lordtaught is that we, also, can be delivered fromthe temptations of the evil one. The disciplinesand structures against temptation I referencedabove are part of the answer to our prayers fordeliverance from the evil one. If we knew thepower, craft and cruelty of our ancient foe, wewould fervently pray these last two personalpetitions together every single day, "Lead us notinto temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

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THE GOD-FIRST BENEDICTION

"YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND

THE GLORY FOREVER, AMEN"In this prayer/prescription of Jesus, He

teaches us to conclude our prayers the sameway He taught us to begin our prayers. Jesustaught us to begin our prayers by prayingthree providential petitions before we pray ourpersonal petitions. We are to conclude ourprayers by praying this profound providentialbenediction.

Our Lord teaches us to begin our prayerswith a God-first mind-set and He instructs usto conclude our prayers with that same focuson God first. We are to begin our prayerslooking through the grid of "Your name bereverenced, Your kingdom come," and "Your willbe done (in earth and) on earth, just as it is willedand done in heaven." We are then instructed toconclude our prayers the same way.

YOURS IS THE KINGDOM

Jesus wants us to conclude our prayers bymaking this commitment to our heavenlyFather: "Yours is the kingdom." By thisconfession, He means for us to pledge to Godthat the results of our heavenly Father’scontinuously answering our prayers willalways belong to Him.

I experienced the meaning of this

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providential, kingdom benediction in a special

way twice in my more than fifty years as a

pastor. I served two churches as a pastor, and I

was involved in the founding of both churches.

After serving each church for more than

twenty years, my health forced me to give up

those churches after they had become large

churches. To start a church with about twenty

people and watch that church grow into a

large church is a marvelous experience.

However, it is very difficult to step back and

surrender that ministry to others when that

church has become large, fruitful and a very

exciting church to pastor.

While serving those two churches, this

prayer/prescription Jesus taught His disciples

continuously guided my prayers. Therefore,

when I was forced to give up those ministries,

I said to the Lord, "I called on You over the

years for the grace to pastor this church. Since I

was only able to pastor this church because

You answered those prayers, the result (the

church) belongs to You." It was in that context,

on those two occasions, separated by twenty

years, that I more fully learned the meaning of

these words. As I turned those churches over

to others, I did so saying to the Lord, "Yours is

the kingdom."

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YOURS IS THE POWER

As we face the challenges of life every day,we should be poor in spirit enough to confessthat we need the power of God. When I haveentered into a challenging day, I haveconfessed, thousands of times in my journey offaith and ministry, "I can’t, but He can." Jesusalso includes, with the kingdom part of thebenediction He prescribes for our prayers, themandate that we are to confess to God that theresults of our answered prayers are only inplace because the power of God has workedin answer to our prayers. When God hadobviously blessed the churches I had shep-herded, I practiced the power part of thisbenediction prescribed in this prayer/prescription by confessing, "I didn’t, but Hedid."

YOURS IS THE GLORY

Finally, we are to conclude our prayers byessentially confessing, "Yours is the glory."When we apply this third providentialbenediction to our prayers, we are simplyconfessing, "Because I didn’t but He did, all theglory goes to Him." Along with our confessionsabout the kingdom and the power of God inthe benediction with which we are to concludeour prayers, Jesus prescribes that we concludeour prayers every time we pray by making thissolemn commitment to God: "The glory for

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everything that happens in my life becauseYou have answered my prayer(s), will alwaysgo to You."

The essence of the spirit of this benedictionis: "Because the power will always come from You,the result will always belong to You, and the glorywill always go to You."

"Amen" simply means, "So be it!" or "Mayit be so!"

CAPSULE SUMMARY

This prayer/prescription Jesus taughtchallenges us to be sure to address our prayersto God. We are instructed to address Godintimately as our perfect, loving heavenlyFather. We are then to begin our prayers withthree providential, or God-first, petitions,which are: Your name, Your kingdom and Yourwill. Those three providential petitions are tobe followed by four personal petitions: Give us,forgive us, lead us, and deliver us. Finally, we areinstructed to conclude our prayer(s) byconfessing, "Because the power to answer myprayer(s) will always come from You, the result willalways belong to You, and the glory will always goto You."