TALKS  ABOUT  PRAYER -
               by Helmut Schultz

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...

 

 

"Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors...

 

 

 

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil...

 

 

 

"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
                         Amen."

 

 ASK THE MASTER TEACHER

I am struck by the concise way Jesus answered one of the most searching requests ever made by the disciples; "Lord, teach us to pray."  He surprisingly did not mention the most auspicious time, the favored position, or the correct prayer tone.  Could it be that He would censure much of our teaching about prayer as being too preoccupied with external mechanics and lacking the spontaneity suggested in the biblical injunction, "Pray without ceasing'"?

Jesus gave four revolutionary truths: First, that we should take a "family-like" approach to God, calling Him "Our Father".  The Jews mistakenly attached such sacredness to God's name that they didn't dare say it out loud.  To pray aright, our Lord taught that we must cut through the sense of God's remoteness and inaccessibility.

The Apostle Paul further stated that one evidence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer is that inner compulsion to address God as Jesus did, saying "Abba Father."  It is noteworthy that while Islam has over 90 titles for God, the word "Father" is not among them.

Jesus' second radical truth is that we must rid ourselves of all unbiblical images of God that discourage and ultimately become barriers to prayer.  Ever since Satan's encounter with Eve, Satan has planted distorted images of God in men's minds.  To correct false concepts our Lord insisted that God is a better father than any human father would ever be, giving only good gifts to His children.
.....And the greatest gift God wants to give to all who ask, is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the Divine Pray-er.

One wrong concept of God is that of the reluctant neighbor who does not want to be bothered.  Jesus portrays for us a Father who never sleeps.  When we pray to Him, we knock on an already open door.  God always has an "open-door policy."

Thirdly, while we are to have a "family-like' approach to God we must avoid the "buddy-buddy" or sentimental mode.  Rather, we are to be filled with awe and reverence, for God is divine.  Contrary to our earthly father, God does not draw His resources from earth but heaven itself.  In fact, the whole heavenly supernatural domain is at His disposal.

In His fourth point Jesus assures us that while God is our transcendent Father in heaven, we can still pray to Him about our daily concerns.

Unlike us, God makes no division between the secular and the sacred.  He is concerned about  (1.)our daily bread - whatever we need to get through the day:  (2.) forgiveness - so we will become forgivers: and  (3.) that we be overcomers in life's trials as well as partners with Him in extending His kingdom on earth.

                     - Helmut Schultz, OMS OUTREACH

         Go Back to Index       Top of Page

"Father, the time has come, Glorify your Son, that your Son my glorify you..."

 

 

 

 

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world... I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them... Protect them from the evil one... Sanctify them by the truth..."

 

 

"I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.   May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me."

 

 

 

 

 

 THE PRAYER THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Have you ever thought, "If only I had heard Jesus pray, how different my prayer life would be?"  For some awesome reason we can hear Jesus pray in John 17, the longest continuing prayer recorded verbatim in the gospels.

"He who least needs to pray for himself prays most effectively for others."   If this quotation is true, Jesus is certainly the master prayer Person.  Even though He was still in the incarnate body facing the greatest test of humanity, Jesus made only one request for Himself: "O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (17:5).  All five of His major requests were related to the world.

He prayed both for His disciples and for those who will believe because of their testimony: "That they may be one" (17:11) - a means to world evangelization. He prayed that the "world may believe that You have sent Me" (17:21).  Christian unity and effective witnessing are inseparably connected.   Only as the church manifests the oneness that transcends the diversity of culture and race will the message of Christ be credible.

"That they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves" (17:13) - the joy of Christ was really surrendered "heavenly bliss."  He was able to triumph over death by faith that lived in the future.  He actively overcame by looking right through the cross to the coming joy, that of bringing salvation to those He loved.  He wants us, too, to look by faith beyond the present sacrifice to those who will believe on Him and live eternally.

Don't "take them out of the world, . . . keep them from the evil one" (17:15) - Christ does not pray for our translation to heaven, but for our preservation in the world.  He always has the world in mind. "How shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom. 10:14).  He prayed for the preacher (each of us) not to be removed from the world but to be fortified to resist the evil of the world.

"Sanctify them ... As You have sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (17:17-18) - Christ's desire for our purity is linked to our relationship to the world.  He does not want us to adopt a Pharisee-like holiness to withdraw from the world, but rather to evidence a redemptive holiness moving us into the world to transform it for Him.  To make the miracle of transformation possible, Christ consecrated Himself to go unswervingly to the cross.

"That they may behold My glory" (17:24) - Christ's final request indicated He wanted His followers to share with Him everything possible for human beings to share with divinity, even to behold His glory.  The ultimate longing of every believer to see Christ is more than some future hope.  The pure in heart shall see God - now.

We have listened to Jesus praying for us, but He did not just pray and have it recorded in John 17.  He is constantly at the right hand of God praying now. "He ever lives to make intercession" for us (Hebrews 7:25).  What could happen in the world if we joined Him in prayer?

- Helmut Schultz

         Go Back to Index       Top of Page

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...

 

 

"Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors...

 

 

 

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil...

 

 

 

"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
                         Amen."

 

 

 

 

 JESUS' PRAYER PRIORITIES

"Am I praying according to God's will?" This Question expresses a major concern for many Christians - "Is what I am praying for right?" The model prayer Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 6.9-13 should be our guide. Prayed verbatim or used as a "handrail," the Lord's Prayer brings our requests in closer conformity to God's will.

Between the first and last sentences of His prayer, Jesus lists six petitions relating to everything important in our lives. The first three refer to God the father using the "thy" or "your." These God-centered requests remind us there are some things only God can do. Yet by our praying we are somehow freeing God to move in His world. The plural pronouns "our" and "us" in the last three petitions remind us to always include others when we come to God in prayer.

"Hallowed be thy name:" God is not to be left on the periphery but to be central in our lives. God - as He really is - must be preeminent in our lives, our church, and our world.

"Thy kingdom come:" In the Greek aorist tense this coming is once and for all, a completed act coincidental with Christ's second coming. Why should we pray for an act bringing an end to world evangelism? Only those who carry the hope of the imminence of the Lord's return will take the Great Commission seriously.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven:" Based on God's power, not man's faithfulness, this prayer reflects understanding of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the Church. He and the immense heavenly host wait obediently to carry out God's commands to act.

"Give us this day our daily bread:" The term "bread" covers all our physical needs for which we are encouraged to pray. Jesus recognizes that the supply depends on provision of resources through jobs and sound economy, all of which are legitimate focuses of prayer.

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors:" Man needs not only bread for his physical sustenance but also constant renewal of his soul, mind, and emotions. Releasing others from hurts done to us brings the mutual blessing of acceptance of us all under the fatherhood of God and the family wholeness our personalities crave.

"And lead us not into temptation:" Many mine fields wait to trap God's people. We should not expect to be spared temptation, for we are strengthened by our resistance. Yet we can boldly ask to be rescued from those trials meant to hurt us spiritually.

Since this prayer brings the whole of God to our lives and enables us to bring our whole lives to Him, then why not use it as a guide to ask God for those things we know He wants to give us?

- Helmut Schultz

         Go Back to Index       Top of Page