Thine...not mine | Give us, Forgive us, Lead us, Deliver us

The Lord’s Prayer…or rather the prayer our Lord gave to us…turns a corner after the kingdom and will part.  There is a shift that happens in the verbiage; the language.  Here’s the text.  See if you can catch it.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day 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 evil.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.

Amen.

Did you notice it?  The aim of the prayer is the same; still God-ward.  We’re still landing the prayer in the presence of Our Father.  But see how the emphasis seems to swing from God to us?  The pronouns switched from your to us and our!  Now, instead of declaring to the Father something about Him…

Hallowed be your name…

Your kingdom come…

Your will be done…

…we are declaring to the Father something about us; or more appropriately, something for us!

Give us our bread…

Forgive us our debts…

Lead us…

Deliver us…

See it now?  And what’s more is they all seem to have some push behind them.  Doesn’t the tone feel like we are telling our Father to do something, more than we are asking Him?  Can we do that? 

So not:  “And Father, I just pray, would you please give us our daily bread (question mark)?” 

But rather:  “Give us our daily bread (period).”

Well, truth is, we are…telling Him, not asking, that is.  Similar to the last couple lines we’ve considered of this prayer, the verbs here are still imperatives (with one exception).  So they have some emboldened command behind them to be sure.   

But, equally as similar to the last couple lines we’ve considered, the emboldened command is nothing like a foot stomping request from a child to his Father.  If we’ve handled the last couple lines rightly, these will have nary an ounce of arrogance or self-centeredness to them.  Rather, they will be bravely declared with utter humility.  

In a real sense, the opening lines of our prayer bring our hearts into alignment with the Father’s heart by compelling us to worship Him.  We declare to God what is true about Him – all who He has revealed himself to essentially be; His name or fame as it were, be lifted up and set apart, His kingdom come, His will be done, both on earth as they are in heaven.  At the end of these lines we humbly stand in agreement with all whom God most fully is and all which God will most fully do. 

The following lines – give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us – with hearts aligned to the Father’s, these lines are still worship and declaration to God, but now they declare that He be who He most fully is…TO US!  We are not declaring to the Father to do or be anything that He is not by nature already poised and ready to do and be. 

Think about it…

Our Father is generous…so give us this day our daily bread.

He is gracious and forgiving…so forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

He is good and wise and our help…so lead us not into temptation.

He is the deliverer…so deliver us from evil.

Arriving at these lines in our prayer, we must proceed in understanding that these do not frame requests for the Father to attend to our every whim and want.  Here is not a sullen apology when we’re caught doing wrong, nor is it an appeal to blind us from the cosmopolitan allure of the world so we don’t have to apologize so frequently.  These lines do not include a “get out of evil free” card.  Honestly, that’s all too low-minded; too “me-first-please.” 

Higher than that, we must proceed through these lines in understanding that they frame an invitation, or maybe stronger yet, an invocation to the Father to be to us all that is essentially true about Him and carry out for us all which is in harmony with His greater purposes! 

Can you even believe that!  You and I appealing to the God of the universe on such a high plane as this?!  I reckon we ought not to go forward in fearful timidity or shy approach.  After all… 

“God gave us a spirit not of [fearful timidity] but of power and love and self-control.”  - 2 Timothy 1:7

“[So] let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace – because God is merciful and gracious by nature – to help in our time of need.”  - Hebrews 4:16

Imagine this all!  What if we boldly, with confidence, draw near and declare to the Father; request of Him in a sense, for that which is so in line with His essential nature that He must answer affirmatively – like daily provision, forgiveness, guidance, deliverance?  He must, in accord with who He perfectly is, say yes.  What might the fallout be?

Now try this:  Pray through each of these four lines in our prayer, N I C E  A N D  S L O W. 

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation.

Deliver us from evil.

Take time to stop at the end of each line and think about how it just felt to pray with boldness for God to be who He most fully is…to you (and those you may have in mind, as this is plural; intercession, right?).  Take time to write down what’s on your mind.  Perhaps even monument the moment and pay careful attention to how our Father may reveal His purpose to you through these bold declarations to Him.