November 15, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“Believe this, our Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Abba, our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” (Matthew 6.8b-13)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

While I certainly do not want to offend anyone who prays, I most certainly promote that if we pray according to the manner and form of Jesus the Teacher of Righteousness, we would not pray as we do but as we ought. Now, I think you may have a discerning ear for prayer. This discernment is not about judging or criticizing the prayers we offer or the prayers of others. It is about focusing on what is most important to “think, say and do” as witnessed by our prayers. Yes, I hope you see that the focus here is on the verbs of our prayers. How often are our ears, minds and souls reaching out to capture the nouns, adjectives and adverbs of prayer? Have we actually achieved a level of belief which says “If I say it in the right way, then God will hear my prayer and answer it?” How often have we looked at the life over which we have prayed and not seeing “our requested results” believe that somehow we have failed to please God. Today’s culture promotes pleasure over truth by filling the eyes, ears and consciousness of people with “nouns, adjectives and adverbs.” If you don’t think so, then you are blinded to the incursion of those words as advertisers present them. The thrust is to be better, be stronger, be prettier, be richer, be affluent, be comfortable, be happy, be content, be successful, etc. Add a definite article to those descriptors then you will begin to hear the competitive nature which sin loves to cultivate in the world. For example, it is not about “being better.” Instead, it is about being “the best.” Try it out with the aforementioned descriptors and see what you come up with. Did you start adding verbs or adjectives and adverbs to empower what you were attempting to say? It is all about power, isn’t it. The power to do all of that and the belief that the right words give you that power becomes the drive of our energies to achieve and accomplish for us what we desire.

Now, go back and reread verse 8b and let those words soak into the context I just described. Jesus said, “…for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Presumptuous, isn’t it, that so many prayers are instructing and directing God. How does it sound when we say “do this, do that, give this, give that” thinking God does not know what we really need. The bulk of it is determined by “what we ask for, what we want and who we want to be.” The verbs aren’t wrong that we use. They may well be misdirected and misguided by the nouns and intents which we express our requests. In all of the words which Jesus used to model “the prayer of a righteous person which will avail much,” we find the simplicity of aligning with what God knows we need and what will serve us in serving others best. In fact, we do hear “do and give” in Jesus’ model of effective and powerful prayer. We do well to remember the request of the disciples for such a prayer. Luke (chapter 11) shares the teaching of such a prayer in response to the disciples desire to have a powerful prayer like that of John the Baptizer and his disciples. Remember that two of Jesus’ disciples were, at one time, disciples of John. They knew of his prayer. They knew of the impact of his ministry on the culture and climate of Israel. They also knew that John deferred to Jesus saying, “I must decrease in order that He increase.” It wasn’t that Jesus was lacking because John was present. John was speaking of the visibility of Jesus and the priority of His ministry. Jesus’ ministry was to restore the climate and culture of righteousness for the sake of His Father’s name. It was to restore and reconcile the family of God, Father with children and children with their Father. It was to set the captive free from sin and to promote eternal life blessed with the favor of God…who knows what we need before we ask it. The disciples were wanting that “more powerful, more effective, more provisional, more influential” prayer that would move mountains, part seas and rivers, heal the blind, make the lame walk, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear and the outcast to be redeemed. And Jesus gave them that prayer.

In its simplicity, authenticity, humility and faithfulness it was the prayer they asked for. Was it the prayer they expected? Is it the prayer we expect? How often do we pray the “Lord’s Prayer”? How often do we hear it in our worship services, Bible studies, prayer groups and accountability team sessions? And if we use it as the model for “evaluating,” I say discerning which means to know the truth, our prayer and prayer-life, what do we discover? Sometimes, I must remind myself with the old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I know the age old fret of “doing it so often reduces it to rote and repetition.” The fear is making it mundane, ordinary and thoughtless provoking. Is that why we do not pause when we are in a time of worship communing with “bread and cup” and remember with our mouths, hearts and minds as well as with the elements the command of Jesus to “do this and remember me; remember me as often as you do this until I return to do this with you new in the Kingdom of Heaven.” He said, as well, “As often as you do this, whenever you gather for the breaking of bread….” That does not sound like a sometime thing to me. I would dare say the same is implied in our prayer life. The vitality of the words and their meaning is not lost by repetition. The vitality is maintained by the remembrance of their meaning, content and intent. The call is one of action. We are commissioned to be a people of the verb! Yes, we are people of God. But, even God’s name is verb-age and verb-al. The name of God is YHWH, I AM and I AM; I AM and will ALWAYS BE.

And so He intends for us “to be” that as well in spirit and in truth, in worship and service, in prayer and in meditation. Be careful, mighty ones of God, what you ask for. God who knows what you need may well deliver it to you. Selah and Shalom.

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.