Sep
20
by Mark Peters
It happened again...it's 5:30 a.m and I'm wide awake. "Please God, I need at least another hour if I'm going to function today." It was no good...I know God heard my prayer but He didn't budge; He was calling me to prayer. Like many of you, I've been praying my way through the Lord's Prayer this Fall: one segment at a time, one for each day of the week.Sunday: Our Father in heavenFather in heaven, Father all around us, help us to know you as our true father. Thank you for your limitless love. Draw us into a deeper experience of your strength and character.Monday: Hallowed be Your NameFather, may Your Name be honoured on the earth as it is in heaven. And may we honour You in thought and deed, remembering You are holy.Tuesday: Your kingdom comeFather, establish Your reign in my life, in our church, and bring Your loving and perfect rule to our city.Wednesday: Your will be doneFather, we look to You, and we embrace your good plans and purposes for our lives. We must decrease for You to increase.Thursday: Give us today our daily breadFather, we look to you for all our needs: for bread, for love, for healing, for peace. Father give us eyes to see the needs around us and willing hands to serve.Friday: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive...Father, forgive us the many debts we owe to you, as well as the debts we owe to others, as we forgive those who are in debt to us.Saturday: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evilFather, in the time of testing, keep me strong to resist temptation. Deliver us from the evil one.The funny thing is, the more I pray this prayer I'm not sure if I am making my way through this prayer or whether this prayer is making it's way through me. I'm waking up most mornings and my first thought is of Jesus, of living a prayed life and keeping in step with Him throughout my day.As I pray through His prayer I am all too aware of how often I end up praying against myself. I cannot pray for God's name to be hallowed and then spend my day trying to make a name for myself. I cannot pray for His kingdom to come unless I am first willing to bow my knee, to humble my heart, and to embrace my calling as a follower.For too many years, I was content to limit prayer to a sacred segment of my day; it's a hard habit to break. These days I'm really trying to live a prayed life...to be attentive to God throughout my day, listening for His Voice, paying attention to His promptings, and offering to Him my thoughts, my work, and my relationships. I've given up striving for the perfect prayer life and I am thoroughly enjoying keeping company with God and following where He leads.Apart from the fact that Jesus taught us to pray this prayer, there is no mention of Him in it. And yet, each line reminds me of Him, it centers my attention on Him, it increases my dependance on Him. It is because of Jesus that I can call God my Father. And this prayer is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. In Jesus, the Father's name is hallowed, His kingdom is coming and His will is being done. In Jesus we find the bread we need for sustenance. In Jesus we find forgiveness for our sins and a love that enables us to forgive those who wrong us. When we turn to Jesus, not only do we find a shelter from evil, we find a Warrior who has defeated the evil one.So let me call you to prayer...to a kind of living that feels a lot like praying, to a kind of praying that feels a lot like living. Let's continue to keep company with God and enjoy His presence, like small children reveling in their parents' affection. Let's continue to pray the Lord's Prayer with Jesus, asking for the life of heaven to break out upon the earth.