"When you pray, say..." - Luke 11:1-13
"Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation."
That's how the gospel of Luke has the Lord's Prayer. Matthew's account has a bit more to it, it's the one I'm familiar with:
"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. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
Prayer is incredibly important and insanely powerful. Think about it - we aren't just mumbling jumbled words in our head, we are talking to God. How awesome is that? There are billions of human beings on this planet, and God takes the time to listen to each and every single one of us. We are given the privilege of a personal, close, direct connection with our Lord and King. That's incredible. Not many other religions can say the same. We're that important to God. He's high, mighty, powerful, and awe-inspiring, yet He is also personal, caring, and cares for each of us individually. Wow.
It's easy to get caught up in prayer becoming routine, just throwing a few words upwards and hoping they make it through pollution and clouds to that faraway place we sometimes vaguely refer to as "heaven." That sort of prayer is powerless. But that is not how we are to pray.
Prayer is to be passionate, wholehearted, full of praising God, listening to His words, repenting of our sins, thanking Him - for all He has done for our lives, for His love, His grace, His provision, and asking Him to bless, heal, and continue to provide. Prayer is not a passive thought, it's an action of body, heart, and soul.
Q&A ...
-What attributes of the Father lead your thoughts to an attitude of reverence, awe, and wonder?
Primarily just the realization that the omnipotent, omniscient God-of-the-universe loves me. That's beyond incredible. I am so unworthy, yet still He loves me! I have done nothing, will do nothing, and can do nothing to deserve His love, His forgiveness, His grace. And not only does He love me...but He sent His son to die for me. My sins were on Jesus' shoulders, and yet He still looks at me, me who contributed to His unimaginable pain and suffering, and says, "I love you, I want you."
Holy cow.
It's just amazing. I don't even have words to describe how amazing, how awesome, how just unbelievable cool and crazy and wonderful it is that someone could, and would, love me that much.
It gets me excited every time.
But also, God is just so powerful. Sometimes I think it is easy to skip over that part, that God is the all-powerful God of everything. Isaiah really showed me that last time I read it. How powerful God is, how He can do anything, and has the right to do anything because this is His world, and out of everything, He chose us.
- How could the kingdom come through you as a group of friends? How has the kingdom of heaven already come?
I'm not entirely sure. But I believe groups like Cru, Younglife, and Passage all play a role in sharing Jesus with DU. And mostly I think just loving people like Jesus loves them is super important. Sacrificing our lives, putting others' interests first.
-What do you need to eat today? What might be some other things besides food that you need (not want, but really need)?
I have every physical need provided for, and more. And I know I am so blessed for that. God has provided so much for me, I live far more comfortably than so many in the rest of the world.
Today I needed Jesus, though. I got to a point where I realized I wasn't giving Him my day or my cares and troubles, I was letting Satan tell me lies that I wasn't good enough or necessary to people's lives. And I needed to sit down and take time with Jesus to hash that out. I really needed His comfort, and I really needed His truths spoken into my life. And He provided that :)
-What temptations are present that would draw you away from God?
Kinda what I said above. Satan has been feeding my fears of not making a difference and not being needed. It's tempting to give and feel sorry for myself, or just think about myself way too much instead of focusing on how I can be serving others and being a friend to them. I need to stop thinking about people being my friend and focus on how I can be their friend. That's what I am supposed to do. It's tempting to think about own feelings and put those first, but that's not what God wants me to do.
-What things can you see coming down the road where you may be tempted to sin or cause others to sin?
I think just kinda the same as I wrote above, and my own tendency to be prideful. Gossiping, too. That's a hard one, and definitely one where I can get sucked in by other people, and bring other people in with my own gossiping. God is working on that in me a lot, it's definitely a hard process. Sometimes, too many sometimes, I ignore His voice in my head telling me not to talk about or say something, and I say it anyways, because I want to, I justify it in my mind. That's wrong. And I know that, and I know that tendency. Slowly, God is shaping and changing me to stop, to not say those things, to love everyone and treat everyone as a child of God.
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