Matthew 6: 9 – 13
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed by 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.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from the evil one.
Warning This prayer contains an underlying power that will expose you completely – revealing exactly who you are – down to the dirtiest detail, exposing the true motivation of your heart, the unrestrained desires of your soul. It is not some magic formula for success, to be repeated until He blesses you. It is a prayer of death and life. Emptiness and power. Slavery and release.
Be very careful when considering this model. Christ doesn’t simply throw out a soft prayer to the heavens when He teaches us how to pray. He never does anything soft. As He does throughout the entire Sermon on the Mount, He turns everything upside-down and inside-out. He knows the importance of prayer, it was His very lifeblood - and when He tells us how to pray, we better listen carefully. This is a radical prayer that’s been unfortunately mainstreamed to the point that it’s become diluted of its life-changing power.
In reality, this is a prayer that disconnects us from the world, pulls us completely into God, takes our own will from us, cleans us out, dusts us off, then re-engages us into the world as sanctified, forgiven, released, protected and powerful disciples of Christ. Men and women who truly love the people of this world – enough to forgive without any conditions, but have no desire for the things of this world. Men and women who are truly satisfied with God – with this moment with Him – and do not look beyond it for their own gain or personal security. Men and women who are willing to be released from the things that they love in their own flesh and blood, including their own flesh and blood, to find true deliverance in God.
An Inconvenient Truth
In Acts 24, Paul was brought before some officials who wanted to hear him speak. He proceeded to talk about ‘righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come’ - not very popular topics those days, or any days. Felix, the governor, spoke for countless generations when he said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”
I have news for Felix – it’s never convenient. So be careful with this prayer. It will rip you open and reveal who you really are, and as I said, there is never a convenient time for that. This removes the irrelevant and the irreverent from your life and places you right into the heart of God.
Be very careful about entering into this prayer, because with the very first word, He rips your heart out. But don’t worry – the donor heart is a pretty good replacement. This donor actually offered up His heart for you.
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