“And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray…”
In Luke Chapter 11 the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. They want to be like Jesus. They want to think like him, love like him, act like him. They want to be discipled by him. So they ask him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” To pray “Our Father” is to be open to learning the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus takes boldness. Jesus asks his disciples to say this prayer. To speak it out loud. It is a prayer that marks us as Jesus’ disciples.
The ancient church has a saying, Lex orandi, lex credendi. This latin phrase means that what we pray is what we believe. In other words, prayer has a way of transforming us. It changes how we think and feel but also how others see and hear us. The Lord’s prayer points our thoughts towards God’s thoughts. It helps us to see the world the way that He does. Once that happens we are never the same.
Praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” takes boldness and courage. We are asking God to be himself. We are giving Him permission to take all the authority and power over our lives and use it however He would like. We relinquish all the vision, hopes and dreams that we have for ourselves and begin to align them with God’s vision for His kingdom. This prayer is like letting a lion of its cage to unleash its power on your life. It can be unpredictable, scary and difficult but it is always worth it.
It also takes boldness to pray with an understanding of just how small and powerless we are compared to God. He is the living root of all life. Without God’s active support and care we have nothing and are nothing. We ask Him to give us sustenance, to forgive us, to lead us not into paths that take us from him, and to deliver us from the evil of sin and death! We can do nothing without God.
It is only because we can call God “Our Father” that we can speak these words with any confidence or boldness.
In Luke Chapter 11 the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. They want to be like Jesus. They want to think like him, love like him, act like him. They want to be discipled by him. So they ask him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” To pray “Our Father” is to be open to learning the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus takes boldness. Jesus asks his disciples to say this prayer. To speak it out loud. It is a prayer that marks us as Jesus’ disciples.
The ancient church has a saying, Lex orandi, lex credendi. This latin phrase means that what we pray is what we believe. In other words, prayer has a way of transforming us. It changes how we think and feel but also how others see and hear us. The Lord’s prayer points our thoughts towards God’s thoughts. It helps us to see the world the way that He does. Once that happens we are never the same.
Praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” takes boldness and courage. We are asking God to be himself. We are giving Him permission to take all the authority and power over our lives and use it however He would like. We relinquish all the vision, hopes and dreams that we have for ourselves and begin to align them with God’s vision for His kingdom. This prayer is like letting a lion of its cage to unleash its power on your life. It can be unpredictable, scary and difficult but it is always worth it.
It also takes boldness to pray with an understanding of just how small and powerless we are compared to God. He is the living root of all life. Without God’s active support and care we have nothing and are nothing. We ask Him to give us sustenance, to forgive us, to lead us not into paths that take us from him, and to deliver us from the evil of sin and death! We can do nothing without God.
It is only because we can call God “Our Father” that we can speak these words with any confidence or boldness.
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