The Everyday Prayer

Sometimes, we hear of people who find themselves in crushing debt and gather their creditors together and say, “If you will just give me time, I will repay everything.”  Occasionally, we hear of honorable men who keep such a promise, even if it takes a lifetime.  Can we make such a promise to God?  No.  God’s command is that we love Him with all of our heart!  Even if we do so today there is no margin to apply to yesterday’s deficit. “We have only done what was required”.  Even at 90% obedience, the crushing debt continues to grow.  The ONLY thing that can ever be done with our debt is to ask God to forgive it.  The wonder of the world is that the God whom we have sinned against is the One who will release us from the burden.  God does not sell, He gives.  Ask! and it shall be given to you.

The second mistake was worse than the first.  Yesterday we studied Numbers 13.  (We missed you if you were out of town–hope you worshipped the Lord wherever you were)  First, the children of Israel disbelieved God’s promise and power.   Second, they were arrogant re. his discipline.   Tragic both times–same heart expressed two ways.  We are to learn from their mistake when God disciplines us.   We are to come with broken hearts before Him.  We are to wait on His solution for the mess we have made.  I wonder if many of us accurately see how our sins have marred and disfigured our years.  I wonder how broken hearted we are at the debt to God we cannot pay.  The ink on God’s book never fades by itself.  Years do not remove the insult before a holy and eternal God.   “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17) is our only hope.  What a great hope it is!

When Matthew writes the Lord’s prayer, he use the word “debt” to describe our sins.  He sees every failure (whether we do what God forbids, or resist what He commands) as something that God legally, rightfully deserves from us.  It is a debt.  It is an unpaid bill.  “Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned” said David in Psalm 51:4.  Sin is a spiritual and eternal debt that we can NEVER pay.  Even if we repented and walked perfectly from this day forward, we could never get back the days or opportunities of the past.  Which brings us to a point of faith–to ask God to forgive us!  Who could ever make such a request apart from the revelation of God’s heart of love?  “He will abundantly pardon!”  (Isaiah 55:7)  Today, friend, as you prepare for worship (we will study Numbers 14) will you consider God’s great gift–His willingness to forgive?

When we pray for bread, we pray for physical life.  When we pray for forgiveness, we pray for life worth living.  On Sunday we will study Numbers 14.  Joshua says that God’s “protection” has been taken away from the Caananites.  Sounds almost like Paul in Romans 1.  “He gave them over”.  Life is not worth living in the absence of God’s smile.  It is not worth having if God’s face is turned away. “Man does not live by bread alone”.  His friendship is what we truly need, His instruction.  So, after we pray for bread, we pray for something we need more than bread, for pardon, for the sweet assurance that our sins have been taken away.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Two things are true, this morning as we come before God–we need forgiveness, and God is willing to give it.  Hallelujah!

It is no small prayer.  When a Christian asks God to “give daily bread”she is calling on the One who manages a thousand systems that operate in the background.  She is speaking to the one who brings spring and summer, who brings rain and harvest.  Without even realizing it, she is calling on the One who strengthens the will of the farmer, and the work of the grocer, and the wisdom of the banker.  The end result may seem small (a piece of bread) but it is isn’t.  When we speak of providence, we refer to the great goodness of God.  Part of God’s providence is to manage a world in which our needs can be met.   I wonder if this morning, you will not call on this great God to meet your needs according to His vast capability?  Even small gifts are signals of His large love.

The highest privilege of  human life is to do the will of God. “The world passes away, but those who do the will of God endure forever.”  Nothing else lasts and so nothing else matters as much.   Jesus teaches us to pray this prayer (thy will be done) before we ask for daily bread.  Note the order.  Most of our prayers are distressingly selfish and disastrously unwise.  If we understood our opportunity this would be our first and most passionate prayer.  It is a prayer of resignation.  Lord, I accept your will when it is different than my own.  It is a prayer of cooperation.  Lord, I dedicate my time and energy to the accomplishment of your purposes.  There are only two centers for life–self or God.  What great wisdom it is to pray this daily prayer.  “Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.  Thou art the potter, I am the clay.”

Can you imagine what the world would be like if the whole Church were united in the dream of doing the will of God?  If every congregation, every Christian believed it possible and desirable?  If we believed that good religion is never bad business?  If we were aware of His power more than our own flaws.   We would become a mighty army!  Not shuffling along, discouraged and wondering what to do next, we would wait on the Lord together and then march forward with invincible strength.  Like a symphony of coordinated action, we would cooperate with his mighty plans.  We would inspire the young, comfort the old.  What challenging and exhiliaring work He would give us!   Perhaps we don’t pray because we no longer believe it possible–not now, not us.  We feel like grasshoppers in the face of our challenges.  (Are you reading Numbers 13 and 14?)  May the Lord restore our confidence.  May He teach us to pray.

To pray for God’s will on earth is to embrace His will in my life.  No prayer can be sincere for the whole if it omits or ignores the power of an individual.  “If you think that one person can’t make a difference, try spending the night with a mosquito.”  Part of the illness of this present age is cynicism.  Many openly deny that it is possible to know and do the will of God.  We see ourselves as flawed.   We have lost our dream.  Prayer is a call for the power of God to fill us for this glorious possibility.  Friend, how convinced are you that, with His supernatural help,  you can know and do His will?  How certain are you that you have been “created unto good works that God prepared beforehand” (Ephesians 2:10)  Our reading this week is Numbers 13 and 14.  Interesting reflection on the subject of doing what God calls us to do.  More tomorrow.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.”  (John :38)  What is life like in heaven?  What are the habits and values of that glorious community?  It is a question that must be answered before we can pray the Lord’s prayer with understanding.  Only best clue is the life of Christ.  Having come from Heaven, He is representative of that powerful assembly and how they respond to the will of God.  Consider His commitment to God’s will, the priority He placed on hearing the voice of the Father, his courage in carrying it out.   To pray for God’s will to be done on earth in the manner that it is done in heaven is to pray for Christ-likeness.  Our priority and passion and privilege will be the will of God.

“Thy will be done.”  People who pray this prayer often know only one side of it, the resignation.  Jesus in Gethsemane is our template.  He accepts pain.  He submits to loss.  He prays, “not my will but thine be done”.  But the will of God isn’t always  something burdensome to bear.  It is something glorious to do!  We are not mourners only.  We are soldiers also, accepting a commission, grateful for the grand purpose we have for life.  To pray, “Thy will be done” is to dream and desire a glorious world and to ask God’s power for achieving it.  Today in worship at FBCSA we will study Exodus 32.  Moses will be a different example.  He will perceive the “higher purpose” of the Lord  (ie mercy) and seek it through prayer.  May all of us learn this lesson.  Sometimes prayer is resignation.  Sometimes it is courageous intercession for the higher purposes of God.