Thine...not mine | Our Father in heaven

Last time…

Why pray?  Why prayer?

Because “Everything is Thine (God’s), and nothing is mine.”

That’s our answer, but as well, it’s our starting point.

Here’s the prayer:

1  Our Father in heaven,

        hallowed be your name.

2  Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

3  Give us this day our daily bread,

4  and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

5  And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

6  For yours is the kingdom

and the power

and the glory, forever.

7  Amen.  (Don’t mind the numbers…yet!)

Pretty familiar, huh?  So familiar perhaps that it’s lost some punch.  Maybe it feels a bit like a memory verse when you recite it.  Maybe it drags old liturgical remembrances out of the attic of your mind.  Maybe it means less in its familiarity than if it were brand new.  Let’s see if we can tip that over.  Let’s see if we can add meaning and purpose to this prayer again.

To begin, three things from the very first line here. 

Thing one…  

Look back at the prayer above.  Notice anything about the first person pronouns there? 

OUR Father…Give US…OUR daily bread…forgive US…OUR debts…WE forgive OUR debtors…lead US…deliver US… 

See all that!  They’re all PLURAL!  Ever notice that before?  Imagine this, that this prayer was never meant to be an exclusive individual prayer that’s all about me and my world!

We are in there when we pray it.  We as individuals saying the prayer are part of the “our” and the “us” and the “we”.  But the plural pronouns push us to view this prayer – indeed prayer as a whole, not just this one – as bigger than me…than you.

So I guess we can only use this prayer in groups?  Not the point.  Point is who’s on your mind when you pray?  Who are you bringing with you when you go before the throne of grace to pray…this prayer or any prayer?  The principle might sound like this: 

When we come before God in prayer, don’t come alone!

Pull people in with you who you love, or are trying to love.  There are people in your life who are needy, just like you.  People who need provision, forgiveness, deliverance, etc…just like you.  Have them in mind as you pray through this prayer in the plural.  It’ll force you to do the hard work of slowing down a bit and thinking about what you’re saying and who you’re including. 

And if we catch this, really, we’re joining a chorus of countless voices around the country and world in prayer before God.  Isn’t this rad?!

Pause a moment and imagine how this may change the way you pray this prayer now.  What could be the implications for the local church if we prayed in this manner; in the plural?  How do words like “corporate” or “intercessory” or “inclusive” fit with praying the Lord’s Prayer in the plural?

 Thing two…  

Jesus says use, “Father” when you pray.  Why do you suppose he said that…above all the other possible titles for God in the Bible?  “Father?”

Idea:  Because when we pray, we come to One who is in close relational proximity to us and is a characteristically steady paternal presence.

Jesus uses “Father” more than any other title when referring to God.  In the book of John alone he uses it over 100 times.  In John 17, when Jesus prays a rather lengthy prayer, he uses “Father” over and again. 

“Father” makes us think.  We get a picture in our mind when we say “Father.”  For better or worse, “Father” indicates a unique relationship and a particular character.  Imagine for a minute the ideal father right now.  That may be your father, or it may not.  It may sound very opposite of your father.

Consider these verses that speak to God as “Father.”  This is who we are praying to…

The Father is one who knows our needs even before we ask Him.

The Father is one who does give good gifts to those who ask.  He’s a good Father.

The Father is one who is mindful of even the seemingly “little” things.  He’s a caring Father.

The Father is one who loves deeply.

The Father is one who gives or provides the way of Life.  He’s a saving Father.

The Father is one who gives us eternal security.  “Ain’t no one gonna steal His kids from Him.”

The Father is one who listens. 

Let this one sink in deep. 

It is huge. 

He listens to His children…

Children?  But how?  I mean, what right do I have to address God as Father?  Take several minutes to read these verses over and over…

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…” ~ Romans 8:15-16 

“…God sent forth his Son (Jesus)…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’  So you are no longer a slave, but a son or daughter…” ~ Galatians 4:4-7

Do you see it there?  It’s truth.  Jesus made us God’s children.  One more…

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Beloved, we are God’s children now…” ~ 1 John 3:1-2

Read them again…and again and again.  Settle into them.  Because if we miss this truth – that we are children of God because of what Jesus did at the cross and in the resurrection to redeem us – if we miss this truth, we’ll miss the fullness of what this prayer could be.  We don’t come to God, detached and unknowing.  We come to God, relationally and characteristically, our Father.

Thing three…  

Here is Our Father’s residence, the direction of our prayer.  Not up.  But out…there, somewhere on the other side of this curtain of time and space. 

The Bible doesn’t open the door on heaven too often.  There are only a few places where we get to sneak a peek into this wholly other locale.  Of them, you might look up Isaiah 6:1ff, Revelation 4 and 19:1-10. 

All these are scenes of celestial power.  Each of these depicts a realm of purity and holiness and worship unlike anything we’ve ever experienced around these earthly parts.  Heaven is a mysterious place where life and love and incorruptibility are really real; where the virtues of goodness, beauty, and truth eternally remain.  Heaven is where all things are made new.  And the mention of “heaven” right after “Father,” particularly as His dwelling, ought to steady us in a healthy tension. 

See, we have the humble joy of addressing the God of all things, who made all things and owns all things and doles out all things on His accord, as our Father.  Yet, to guard us from assuming upon Him any casualness we’ve come to know with earthly Fathers, we are reminded that He is in heaven.  He dwells at a distance from us measured not so much with miles or meters as with majesty and might.

God is our Father…but he is in heaven! 

This tension is worth living into.  God is wholly approachable, relationally and characteristically we can come to Him.  But we remember as we come that He resides in a realm that is not hospitable to casual or flippant encounters.

Now try this:  At the top of this post is the Lord’s Prayer with the numbers one through seven next to the various lives.  Let’s let those numbers correspond with the days of the week.  Each day read the corresponding line slowly and with purpose. 

I realize we are only half of the first line into the prayer at this point.  But why not begin here?  Why not begin today as day 1.  Read through the whole prayer and then drop back to the first line and read it with all we’ve thought through here in mind…

Read it in the plural.  Who are you taking with you into the presence of God?

Address God as “Father.”  Recall the passages above that indicate the truth and permission to do this.

Remember He is in heaven.  Take care in coming to the Father; be humble and honest with whom you are in light of who He is and where He dwells eternally.