Chapter 7b --
Jesus looks outward to the cosmos and to the sweep of human history before and after. He tells us we have no need to be anxious, for there is a divine life, the true home of the soul, that we can enter simply by placing our confidence in him: becoming his friend, and conspiring with him to subvert evil with good. He also shows us how we can be renewed in the depths of our soul, stepping ³beyond the goodness of the scribes and Pharisees² to become the kinds of persons who are genuinely at home in Godıs world.
Notice how Jesus dealt with disappointment with Peter, his big fisherman.
It is deeply instructive of the nature of human life and its redemption that, when Jesus knew Peter would deny him, he did not just ³fix him² so that he wouldnıt do the terrible thing. Surely he could have done that. But it would not have advanced Peter toward being the person he needed to become. So Jesus said to Peter, with sadness perhaps, but with great confidence in the Father, ³I have requested, concerning you, that your faith might not die. And when you have straightened up, uphold your brothers² (Luke 22:32).
He used no condemnation, no shame, no ³pearls of wisdom² on him. It corresponds perfectly to Matt. 7:1-11. It is Jesusı pattern for us to practice in our relationships to those close to us.
Prayer is self-validating to all who will simply pray as he says and not give up. Always, we are simply children walking and talking with our Father at hand. Prayer dies from efforts to pray about things that honestly donıt matter to us. Start praying for what we are truly interested in. The circle of our interests will inevitably grow in the largeness of Godıs love.
Prayer that Jesus teaches is always personal. It is ³talking to God about what we are doing together.² Requests will naturally be made in the course of this conversational walk. Prayer is a matter of explicitly sharing with God my concerns about what he too is concerned about in my life.
Phillp. 4:6-7
Prayer is dead ritual unless we believe that somehow God is pleased to be moved to respond on the basis of our relationship with him. This is a staggering statement to make, as simple as it may sound. For it to be true, there must be some additional dimension (aka, heaven) which is not part of the physical world, yet interacts with the physical world without violating it. Hmm, same character as weıve talked about being that of the kingdom of God.
Seeking and asking presuppose personal relationships.
Manipulation and control denigrate personal relationships.
Prayer is never a mechanism, it is always a personal negotiation.
For kingdom praying, personalities are ultimate and distinct. They interact through explicit, purposeful communication, listening and speaking, not through a mere ³sense of unity.²
Willard describes prayer as the exercise that trains us to reign. It is the arena where spiritual work is done. It is a means of forming the character in us that matters to God, that of being free and powerful in the creation and governance of what is good.
Always, we should expect prayer to proceed in the manner of a relationship between persons.
Prayer and the mount of transfiguration
Willard offers that ³the ³transfiguration² of Jesus must be regarded as the highest revelation of the nature of matter recorded in human history.² (Luke 9:29; 2 Pet. 1²16-19) We live in a Trinitarian universe, one where infinite energy of a personal nature is the ultimate reality. When we pray we enter the real world, the substance of the kingdom, and our bodies and souls begin to function for the first time as they were created to function. (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2)
The Lordıs Prayer
Prayer must be personal, so God must be addressed personally.
When we pray we must take time to fix our minds upon God and orient our world around him. Whatever we need to do to that end should be done, whether it is timing, posture, environment, whatever enables us to address ³our Father, the one in the heavens.²
Recognize the plural ³heavens.² Its meaning is easily lost on us today. Jesus intended it in the sense of ³Our Father always near us² not ³Our Father who is far, far away.²
Five requests
a. That the name ³God² would be regarded with the utmost possible respect and endearment.
b. That his kingdom would fully come on earth.
c. That our needs for today be met today.
d. That our sins be forgiven, not held against us.
e. That we not be permitted to come under trial or to have bad things happen to us.
a. Human life is not about human life; it is ultimately about God. May that truth be expressed by everything.
b. The kingdom of God is the domain where what he prefers is actually what happens. We pray, seek, and ask that Godıs way happen.
Individually
· We are asking that, by means beyond our knowledge and the scope of our will, we be assisted to act within the flow of Godıs actions.
Corporately
· Culture is the framework of expectations that define what a group of people do unthinkingly, what is ³natural² to them. Culture is then the medium for corporate wickedness, a higher-level pattern of evil beyond the individual.
c. Godıs reign is the Eternal Now, so we ask for what we need at present and shall ask the same in tomorrowıs present.
· If we place our trust and confidence for today and tomorrow in the provisions that we have in hand, then we are out from under Godıs reign, thus the eye of the needle.
The issue is where we find our security.
d. I need more than a ³break;² I need pity because of who I am. (Ps 103:10-14; James 5:11; 1 Peter 3:8)) The kingdom and its God is great enough that ³mercy and truth can meet together² (Ps. 85:7-10).
· If my pride is untouched when I pray for forgiveness, I have not prayed for forgiveness. I donıt even understand it. People who are merciless, unable to pity others and receive pity, simply have a hard life full of unsolvable problems.
· It is not psychologically possible for us really to know Godıs pity for us and at the same time be hardhearted toward others.
e. Please spare us from trials, troubles, because we are weak and easily knocked down and swept away.
· When trials yet come, it only means that he has something better in mind for use than freedom from trials.
· Sometimes, of course, we bring the troubles on ourselves by our own choice and desires. Then the troubles are only the natural consequences that are designed to provide us feedback that there is a better way.