This morning, I sat with a brother and again realized the beauty of the Lord's prayer. Though there was a ton of daily bread to ask for, we started by praying that God's name would be hallowed, that His Kingdom would come, that His will would be done -- that He would bring heaven to earth. We called to mind our own sin and brokenness and asked that God would bring his Kingdom into our lives. We then began to pray that God would bring the peace and blessing of heaven to all the unheavenly places and situations in our world -- to the young ladies who are in forced prostitution, to the families who have no food, to the children who have no parents, to the people who are on the wrong end of a gun, to the people who directly oppress and exploit fellow human beings.
We were also praying for our families. We prayed that our young children would be delivered from evil -- reminding ourselves that there is a deeper, unseen power that can watch over their hearts, minds and souls, though we fret over our lack of control of the culture. We asked forgiveness for the ways that we Christians continue to hate people through our words, our attitudes and our lack of good deeds.
The time in prayer this morning again reminded me of the power and relevance of the Lord's prayer. It is not only the prayer Jesus taught us to prayer. It's the prayer that the circumstances of our lives and our world beg us to pray.
Posted on
Wed, November 26, 2008
by Jason Brown