The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life: Where is Our Joy?

(Continued from page 2)

Jesus’s disciples found this hard to accept. Nothing could persuade them from seeing their teacher in any way other than Israel’s earthly Messiah.¹ Or dissuade the gospel writers from retelling stories about Jesus that are completely out of character: such as when he is said to initially refuse help to a woman with a sick child because of her race,² or when he is quoted as saying that carnival acts like speaking in tongues and juggling snakes³ are signs of Christ in action.

Fortunately, such passages are easily rendered false by juxtaposing them against Jesus’s true gospel: that Christ, the Son of God, is not the son of David;⁴ that none who seek the Son are ever turned away;⁵ and that those who seek physical “signs” of the Christ are woefully misguided.⁶

That we must take a critical eye to what appears in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John should come as no surprise, considering how Jesus’s closest confidants rarely could make heads or tails of what he said.⁷ In their confusion, the 12 apostles (like everyone else) filtered their master’s words through the spectacles of old prophecy, making absurd suggestions to Jesus like: Hey, you want us to burn down that village because its people didn’t welcome you?⁸ We can almost see Jesus rolling his eyes and hear his sigh, as he is forced to rebuke his disciples once again.

By the time of the Last Supper, we hope for Jesus’s sake that his hand-picked students have finally learned something. But instead we find the apostles petty and ego-driven, arguing over who among them will be greatest in the coming kingdom.((And a dispute arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded the greatest. – Luke 22:24)) After dinner, they can’t even stay awake for a few hours while Jesus prays in the garden.⁹ Then, when soldiers arrive and Jesus is seized, one apostle turns violent and cuts off somebody’s ear.¹⁰ It couldn’t get much worse, but Peter gives it a shot. Even after witnessing his Lord’s miracles first hand, this trusty disciple (the so called “rock”¹¹ on which the Roman Catholic Church is built) can’t even bring himself to mumble, “Yeah, I know that guy.”¹²

The idea that these twelve men held the keys to the “mysteries” of God’s kingdom…

]The idea that these twelve men held the keys to the “mysteries” of God’s kingdom¹³ is as believable as Jesus’s alleged racism or the idea that the Nazarene rose from the dead so that he could tell this ragtag bunch to conquer the world as missionaries.¹⁴ The gospel book that ends on the most realistic note is Luke, where we find the risen Christ telling the now 11 apostles (minus Judas) that they better stay home and hang out in Jerusalem until they are worthy of the power from on high.¹⁵ This band of players clearly was not yet ready for prime time.

Which leads us to the subject of this book: how to work with Christ in prime time; how to prepare ourselves for God’s kingdom. For far too long, we have turned solely to church leaders for these answers. But as children of God, each one of us is called by the Holy Spirit to interpret the gospel for ourselves,¹⁶ not hand that football off to the clergy. Christ is revealed through our personal relationship with the Father, not through middle–men in colorful robes or public hallelujas.¹⁷ Jesus didn’t pray in temples but in secret,¹⁸ retiring to “lonely” places¹⁹ like deserts, gardens, or mountaintops to commune with God.

It is through the power of prayer that we prepare our seat at the Father’s table. And no prayer is more powerful than The Lord’s Prayer: the Rosetta stone of the gospel of Jesus Christ. With it we can transform our lives, and the lives of those around us. With it we can turn the lock on the doors to the kingdom of heaven and a life more abundant.²⁰ With it we can grow closer to God and our true selves. But before we begin, we must first understand the prayer’s meaning. So that when we do pray, our hearts, minds, and souls are united, making a welcome home for the Holy Spirit.

In the coming pages, we will walk together through The Lord’s Prayer: word by word, thought by thought, and line by line. We will take the prayer off the page and into the living hour. We will walk together to the water’s edge and let you decide what’s next.

Read Chapter 1 of The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life: Our Father Who Art in Heaven (Understanding Our Relationship to God)

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1. At that moment she came up, and began publicly to thank God, and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the deliverance of Jerusalem. – Matthew 2:38 [↩]
2. Take pity on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is grievously possessed by a demon.” 23 But Jesus did not answer her a word; and his disciples came up and begged him to send her away. – Matthew 15:22 [↩]
3. In my name they shall drive out demons; they shall speak with ‘tongues’; 18 They shall take up serpents in their hands; and, if they drink any poison, it shall not hurt them. – Mark 16:17-18 [↩]
4. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “David’s,” they said. 43 “How is it, then,” Jesus replied, “that David, speaking under inspiration, calls him ‘lord,’ in the passage: 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I put thy enemies beneath thy feet”‘? 45 Since, then, David calls him ‘lord,’ how is he David’s son?” – Matthew 22:42-45 [↩]
5. No one who comes to me will I ever turn away. – John 6:37 [↩]
6. A wicked and unfaithful generation is asking for a sign, but no sign shall be given it except the sign of Jonah. – Matthew 16:4 [↩]
7. The apostles did not comprehend any of this; his meaning was lost to them, they did not understand what he was saying. – Luke 18:34 [↩]
8. Master, do you wish us to call for fire to come down from the heavens and consume them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. – Luke 9:54 [↩]
9. Then he came and found the three apostles asleep. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could not you watch for one hour?” – Mark 14:37 [↩]
10. One of those who were standing by drew his sword and struck at the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear. – Mark 14:47 [↩]
11. Yes, and I say to you that your name is Peter and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of the place of death shall not prevail over it. – Matthew 16:18 [↩]
12. “Why, you were with Jesus, the Nazarene!” 68 But Peter denied it. “I do not know or understand what you mean,” he replied. – Mark 14:67-68 [↩]
13. “To you,” answered Jesus, “the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given, but not to them.” – Matthew 13:11 [↩]
14. “All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the faith of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:18–19 [↩]
15. You must remain in the city of Jerusalem until you have been invested with power from above. – Luke 24:49 [↩]
16. “Blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah,” Jesus replied. “For no human being has revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 16:17 [↩]
17. Take care not to perform your religious duties in public in order to be seen by others; if you do, your Father who is in heaven has no reward for you. – Matthew 6:1 [↩]
18. When you pray, go into your own room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who dwells in secret; and your Father, who sees what is secret, will recompense you. – Matthew 6:6 [↩]
19. Jesus used to withdraw to lonely places and pray. – Luke 5:16 [↩]
20. I have come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. – John 10:10 [↩]