students of jesus

Just because I can cite the Lord’s Prayer from memory doesn’t mean I understand it. But still I pray. And sometimes, after years of repetition, a small bulb sparks to life with new light. It’s slow, but it’s progress; and I have a very patient teacher. Apparently some lessons are so deep they take years to sink in.

As I understand it, Jesus gave us a pattern: our prayers should be adoration followed by four requests: the in-breaking of God’s kingdom; daily provision; the grace to forgive; and guidance that keeps us from evil. (You may see it differently—in fact, I must confess that I’m no expert on prayer, merely a fellow-traveler.)

Here are a few notes from my (admittedly inadequate) prayer life:

Hallowed be your name: we start with praise and adoration because it’s important to understand who’s God and who’s not. Does the Father need our counsel or direction? Do we know our circumstances better than he? Yet, when I dive straight into my requests it’s easy to engage in a subtle role-reversal. One side effect of prayer is sanity, and the beginning of sanity is to recognize that he is God and I am not. We hallow his name not because he needs the praise but because we need to see him for who he is.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done: just because we take a breath between phrases doesn’t mean there are two requests. His kingdom is made real whenever his will is done, whether up there or down here. I need to be reminded that his kingdom is breaking into the here-and now, and that I am the agent of this in-breaking. These words are not a passive recognition that God will do whatever he wants, they are my way of joining him fresh each day; it is a commitment to seek out and join the Divine plan. It is not in any sense surrender, it is the highest form of volunteering. When we pray the pattern Jesus gave us, we should consider: who will hallow his name or who will do his will?

Our daily bread: “Don’t worry about this, God—I’ve got it covered” Who in their right mind would say this? But honestly, now: if you live in North America, when’s the last time you asked God for today’s food? If I’m brutally honest, I usually don’t worry about my next meal. (Now, money I worry about—but is that what Jesus is telling us to ask for?)

Forgive us our debts: I dunno. Jesus is pretty sneaky: what if our daily bread is actually the grace to forgive each and every day? Can you imagine how your world would change if you were supernaturally assisted in daily forgiveness? Your spouse, your kids, your co-workers, and even that jerk who “deserves” everything he gets: we could change the world one forgiving act at a time.

Lead us not into temptation: I’ll be honest, if I’m praying hard I usually get tired before I get to this one. In fact: I’m exhausted just writing this post, so I’ll let the Calvinists and Arminians duke this one out on their own.

For Thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory . . . You realize, of course, this was added to the prayer later on, don’t you? How would your prayer life change if you simply told God what you tell your friends: “I’ll see you later.”

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