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Tawonashe Mukumbira
My Perspective
THE prayer that is commonly referred to as “the Lord’s prayer” is in reality not one that the Lord prayed Himself, but rather one that he taught his disciples to pray.
Why Pray
Three reasons that drive man to bow down in prayer:
1. Need – When man fully realises his utter dependence upon God for everything he always has the urge to pray more.
2. Faith in God – We can measure man’s faith pretty much by his prayers. Men who have much faith in God tend to pray much; whereas men who have little faith in God tend to pray very little, while men who have no faith in God, seem to hardly pray at all.
3. Sorrow – Man prays when overcome by the calamities of this world.
Praying culture
When Jesus walked on Earth, he spent a considerable amount of his time in prayer, and as such he taught his disciples to do likewise. The same prayer culture has been adopted by the most influential Christians. They do as Jesus teaches in Luke 18:1. The inspired Paul once said: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17)
Vain prayers
In Matthew it is highlighted that as much as praying publicly is good, it is not right to pray to just be seen and heard by men. (Matthew 6:5)
Of course when we do things to be seen and heard by men, when men see us we have received our reward and do not need to look to the Father for any further reward. In the same vein, Jesus also warned his disciples against praying in vain. (Matthew 6:7)
The prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray is short. Jesus prayed a short prayer in the garden in the face of the cross, and hence I am fully convinced that our public prayers should be short as well.
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus teaches of two men and their prayers, one was short and the other was long. The man with the longer prayer took so long because he was telling God how good he was!
On the other hand, the man with the short prayer was brief and to the point. Jesus remarked that this short prayer was the more efficacious of the two because the man who parades his own virtues will bear watching.
However, after the short prayer with his disciples Jesus continued on to private prayer and spent the whole night in private prayer. It would be good for some of us to do likewise.
The Lord’s Prayer
The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples was not only short, but it was simple. The prayer is so simple such that even the uneducated man can easily comprehend it.
It goes:
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name”. Here we have superb adoration. When Moses approached the burning bush, God called to him, saying: “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (Exo 3:5) When we approach God in prayer, we are on holy ground. The only time we have the word “reverend” in the Bible is in connection with God’s name. (Psalm. 111:9)
“Thy kingdom come”. Of course we cannot pray for the kingdom to come, this kingdom has been for more than 19 centuries now. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” that was about three years before its coming. Even Paul said he was in the kingdom. (Colossians 1:13)
Of course the kingdom was then in existence, or Paul and others could not have been translated into it. This was written about 30 years after the establishment of the kingdom. John also said he was in the kingdom. (Revelations 1:9) This was 60 or more years after the establishment of the kingdom. However, what we can pray for is the spread and advancement of the kingdom.
“Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven”. As soon as people come into the kingdom of Christ wars will definitely come to an end. What an awesome transformation this would make in the business and social world if all would do the will of the Lord! Yes, and what a triumph in the religious world!
“Give us this day our daily bread”. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, God gave them their daily bread. When we work in cooperation with divine laws, we will receive our daily bread. (Psalm 37:25)
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” That is a precarious situation for most of us, especially if the Lord is to answer accordingly. The point here is that too many of us want God to forgive their sins, but are not willing to forgive those who may sin against them.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. We should learn to continually ask for guidance from the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, guidance to be steered away from our temptations.
Also in the same vein, we should not allow ourselves to be led into temptation. Wise is the individual who knows his weakest point. Watch those weak points. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. As such, a Christian is no stronger than his weakest point.
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