Our

This Is Not About Me

Right from the opening word He rips your heart out and says: this is not about you. If you understand that before you even get started, then you will be far beyond the millions who have uttered these words in hopes of some special dispensation from God, those who have made this prayer all about them. They take this as some personal prayer that will somehow grab the ear of God specifically for them, to bless them and their works.

A lot of the phrases in this prayer are plural, or better yet, communal. From the very first word He takes our eyes off of ourselves. In the Sermon on the Mount, as demanding as it is, we are actually being released by Christ. He is freeing us from the burden of making everything revolve around us. We can go an ‘extra mile’ because we don’t have to worry about how it affects us. We can give the ‘outer coat’ because we don’t have to worry about their motivations. We can “love our enemies” because we don’t have to bear the weight of their imperfections and even their hatred. We can forgive as Christ forgives, because their burden is not on us, it’s on Him.

Intruder Alert!

One of the things that wear us out is when we feel that we have to take on the burdens of other people. It’s not the person that wearies us; it’s all the things that go along with them. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ releases us from these thoughts. Their baggage is on Him – we can leave it there with our own. I’m not saying we are no longer concerned about them, just the opposite. Our concern deepens because we can see through all the ‘stuff’ that they bring with them – the things that we usually focus on. Their imperfections. Their failures. We can see them the way He sees them, and love them the way that He loves them.

We can allow the lives of others to interfere with our own lives. The intrusions that exhaust us, the people that weary us, the failures that weigh us down – they’re not on us anymore – they’re on Him. We can bear them because we are released from the burden of having to figure everything out. We are free to love without questions, forgive without restrictions, and witness without feeling the burden of judgment.

The burdens of the standard are upon Him. We are free to be messengers of grace and reconciliation. We can simply help them without having to judge them. That’s on Him. We can hand over the extra coat (or dollar). We can walk the extra mile (or phone call) with them.

Why? Because of that opening word “Our.” Right from the start, we declare that this is not just about us. That’s the biggest release that He gives – released from the weight of always making everything about us. There is an incredible lightness that comes when we take our eyes off of ourselves and fix them on Jesus.

The “Our” of Intercession.

The other thing about “our” is that it brings in the intercessory aspect of prayer. When I first began studying this prayer, it bothered me that it seemed somewhat self-centered. Not completely, of course, but there seemed to be no intercession – which I have always considered to be one of the most important parts of prayer.

Then it struck me – it’s imbedded in the entire prayer. The word ‘our’ is all over the place. We are to be lifting others up as well as ourselves. In everything: identification (“Our father”), needs (“our daily bread”), forgiveness (“our sins”), group responsibility (“as we forgive”), deliverance (“deliver us from evil”), etc. It permeates the entire prayer.

Intercession seems to be one of the things that God honors. He Himself interceded on our own behalf when He sent His Son to die in our place. He always seems to be looking for someone to stand in the breach. In Psalm 106 we read that “He said He would destroy them – had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him” (v. 23) and that “Phineas stood up and intervened and the plague was checked (v. 30). He honors those who stand up for the weak, for those who cannot stand up for themselves. He even does it for us.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26). When we are at our own end, so distressed that we can’t even come up with the words to pray, He Himself stands in the gap for us. He picks up the baton and says, “I’ll take it from here.”

Intercession is a holy calling, and it permeates the Lord’s Prayer. We are to be lifting up our brothers and sisters every time we pray. Every hour of prayer should be an ‘our’ of prayer. Psalm 41:1-3 says “Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble. The Lord will protect him and preserve his life; He will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes. The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.” When we intercede for those who are weak, the Lord will honor that and watch over us.

In other words, if all we do is lift up prayers of intercession for others, if our prayers are loaded with “our” and “us” – then He Himself will take care of our needs, He will be our protection and He will be our deliverance. The things that we need will be added unto us as we put the needs of others first.