Though this blog series on prayer could go on a lot longer, this will be the last part in the series.

“lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”

Though last, this is certainly not least in my prayer life. I like to call this my prayer for a “hedge of protection.” It hearkens back to an interesting comment Satan made to God about Job. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land,” Job 1:10.

What an awesome passage. Though, to serve a greater purpose, God did ultimately remove this hedge from around Job for a season, this is a phenomenal picture of what it means for God to be our “refuge” and “fortress” as is so often talked about in Psalms.

Though, at times, God’s greater purpose for us and His Kingdom may call for this hedge to be removed from our lives as well, this is a very important part of my prayer life. I guess for me this particular prayer boils down to claiming Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Though I certainly want His constant protection for myself and others, I need to trust that He’s still in control and working during times of deep trouble and sorrow.  It was true for Job, and I need to fully believe that it will be true for me and those I love.

Finally, once I’ve prayed through the Lord’s Prayer in order to make sure that my relationship with God is where it ought to be, I then begin praying the same way for the valuable people and aspects of my life, ministry, and world.

For Example: I will pray through each aspect of the Lord’s Prayer, as I’ve outlined it in this blog series, for…

• Every member of my family
• NorthRidge Church…vision, purpose, values & strategic intitiatives; staff, elders, volunteers, & people; ministries, needs, etc.
• Friends…personal and professional (which includes other ministries, etc.)
• Our community, State, Nation, and World

It goes something like this…(with all the detail that I care about in relation to each person and area)

“Father…Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in their lives; give them this day their daily bread; forgive them for their sins (here I ask God to reveal their failures to them and move them to get right with Him) and help them to be forgiving of others; and lead them not into temptation but deliver them from the evil one.”

And, this is my prayer for you as well.

If you’re hitting this post first, make sure you go back to the beginning for context.

For me, the flawed person that I am, this is a very important and voluminous part of my prayer life. Note: if you don’t relate to me in this area, you may want to become a wee bit more introspective and/or honest. (Said with a smile…and seriousness.) Here’s the reality: according to James 5:16b, the prayer that is powerful and effective requires righteousness. This is only possible for us when we’re living in our forgiveness. For this to happen, Jesus us taught us to pray this way…

“Forgive us our debts”

As an example of how I approach this part of my time with God, I’ve included some of the category areas that I list for attention in my Prayer Journal…obviously there is some overlap.

• Forgive me for my sins.

• Forgive me for seeking and desiring other things before You.

• Forgive me for seeking significance in “success.”  Help me to find my significance in you.  (e.g. Paul: I count all but loss so I can know Christ.)

• Forgive me for living for such small things as success, security, stuff, etc.  (The only thing big enough to live for is God and His glory… God’s word lasts forever; God’s church lasts forever; leading people to faith lasts forever, etc.)

• Forgive me for living in such a small way.  (e.g. Living in my power is small.  Whatever I do in natural effort achieves only natural results.  The only way that I can live large is to be enabled by the Holy Spirit.  Supernatural results stem from supernatural effort.  What I do in my own ability is imperfect.  What I do in Your ability can be perfect.  [e.g.  Men wrote the Word of God as they were carried by the Holy Spirit, 1Pet.1:21; Eph.3:20])

• Forgive me for not allowing you to own and control every part of me.  (e.g. As I examine the fruit of my life, it doesn’t fully reflect only the Spirit’s work.  I still see me.  Help me to allow You to have all of me.)

Here’s the great news…our failures and flaws don’t have to be final or fatal because we can by fully forgiven, (1 John 1:9). Make sure that you experience the freedom and fullness that comes from praying this way…”forgive us our debts.” But, don’t forget that, with forgiveness, comes the responsibility to forgive,..”as we also have forgiven others.”

In this blog series, I’m sharing the outline for my personal Prayer Journal which is based on the Lord’s Prayer.  If you want to catch up, check out part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
“Give us this day our daily bread”
With this, Jesus encourages us to approach God about our daily needs. The way I’ve integrated this into my prayer life is according to the priority of my needs. Though I have many needs and certainly include them in my prayer life, my greatest and most pressing needs are spiritual. The following is a very synthesized look at my prayer for “daily bread.”

SPIRITUAL NEEDS and DESIRES:

• To love God with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mk.12:30)

• God’s hand on my life, marriage, parenting, friendships, thinking, leadership, preaching, writing, etc. (Lk.1:66)

• For God to expand my heart, soul, thinking, faith, vision, and passion for Himself, the Church, and lost people.

• To be personally led by the Holy Spirit, hear His voice and follow His promptings. [1 Chronicles 28:12, 19]

• To remember that I am a weak man with a great God. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

• To see and experience God’s glory (Ex.33:18) [God: reveal yourself in new ways to me today]

• To be “great”; “pleasing” in God’s eyes. (Luke 1:15)  [Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what people think of me.  It matters what God thinks of me.  Lord, help me to care more about what you think than what people think.]

• God’s Wisdom (James 1:5-7), Direction (Jn.16:13), Help (Ps.121:1-2; Jer.33:3), and Strength (Phil.4:13) [e.g. In my relationships, ministry, leadership, personal choices, finances, etc.]

Of course, as I have pressing concerns and issues confronting me, those become priorities in my daily (sometime hourly) prayer life. This enables me to follow the advice of Paul in Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

And remember, no issue that is causing you concern or challenging you is too small to take to the Father. 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done”

Here Jesus leads us to begin laying out our “requests” to God. But, what He teaches us to ask for is very different from what we want by nature. We’re to ask for God’s kingdom and will rather than ours. In that we by nature seek to build our own kingdoms and do our own thing, this is a vital “ask” for believers to make…daily. It will change our lives.

“Your kingdom come” – I want You to reign in and control my life…NOT ME!

“Your will be done” – I want Your plans and desires for my life to be done…NOT MINE!

This is a big deal. If we genuinely prayed this way, our daily choices and lives would be significantly different. As Romans 14:17 tell us, righteousness, peace, and joy reign in God’s kingdom. Therefore, if He is genuinely reigning in our hearts, minds, and lives, these characteristics will define us. (In light of this, it’s not tough for me to figure out whether God’s kingdom or my own is reigning in my life at any given moment. Sadly, though I wish I could tell you differently, the characteristics of my kingdom are often more evident than those of His,)

In my Prayer Journal, I have broken down this request by priority.  For example…“Your kingdom come, Your will be done”…

#1 Priority: In my relationship with You, God. [Everything in my life is designed to flow from this relationship, (Mt.6:33). If it’s not in order, then everything else in my life will be misfiring.] (see: Psalm 42:1; Jeremiah 9:23-24)

#2 Priority: In my relationship with Roxann, my kids, and my grandkids. [Help me to be the husband, father, and grandfather I should be. My definition of success is "to have the love and respect of those closest to me." So, my ultimate success literally hinges upon this prayer because, if I'm reigning in my life, I won't have their love and respect for long.]

#3 Priority: In my God-given ministry.
But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – Acts 20:24

#4 Priority: In my personal health, friendships, finances, and recreation.

Of course, I have all kinds of personal and specific things I pray for under each of these priority areas. But, the key is for me to be genuinely submitting and surrendering to Him my natural desire to be “King of the hill” and get what I want.

How are you doing in this area? [Rate the extent to which righteousness, peace and joy define your life, and you'll have your answer.]

This is Part 3 of this series. To catch up, check out Part 1 & Part 2. (As well, I hope you’ll share it with others.)

Once we relationally approach the Father in prayer, then Jesus teaches us to Recognize the Father for Who He is.

“hallowed be Your name”

This is so important in prayer. Since most of our lives we get lost in ourselves and our own little universe, we tend to begin seeing ourselves as in control, able, and solely responsible for what we make of our lives. This is a significant obstacle for maintaining a vital relationship with God.  Therefore, in order to genuinely connect with the Father, we have to begin by remembering that He’s God and we’re NOT!

Jesus gives us a means for doing this. He teaches us to begin by acknowledging and praising God for who He is…“hallowed be Your name.” This is how I go about doing this in my, far from perfect, prayer life.

• I acknowledge and praise you for being in control. (1 Chron.29:11-12)

• I acknowledge and praise you for being able.

(e.g. As I focus on this issue, I love to remind myself of Ephesians 3:20 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. [A typical response I'll have to this is a simple prayer..."Lord, help me not to limit Your power in my life like the people of Jesus’ hometown, (Mt.13:58)]

• I acknowledge and praise you for providing when you guide (e.g. Dt.2:7)

• I acknowledge and praise you because your timing is perfect. (e.g. Lk.1:20)

• I acknowledge and praise you because I cannot out give You. (e.g. Malachi 3:10)

(Here’s the reality of Scripture and my experience. No matter how much I give God…it all comes back gain to me.  e.g. Everything I’ve given in serving God through NorthRidge Church, in time, treasure, and talent, has all come back as gain.  My desire is to give more than I get…but in truth it’s impossible. Note: this is not a health/wealth prosperity. It is a prosperity of the soul…He has expanded me and my life in ways that I could never repay. Giving to God is never loss but always gain. Of course, as a very flawed human, no matter how much I experience this, I desperately need to continue relearning it, and that’s not always easy.)

• I acknowledge and praise you because your plan for me is unique and perfect. (e.g. Jer.29:11)

• I acknowledge and praise you because you see everything. (e.g. Job 28:24)

“Pray, after this manner…”

For year’s now, I have taken seriously the words of Jesus that introduce the Lord’s Prayer…“Pray, after this manner…” Though many simply repeat this prayer over and over, we know this isn’t what Jesus was intending when He gave us these words. After all, it was a lesson on prayer, not a special prayer to repeat. For verification of this, you don’t have to go far. Look at Matthew 6:7 (NKJV). He makes it clear that He doesn’t want us using “vain repetitions as the heathen do.” On the contrary, He was giving us a principled guideline for prayer.

The result: I use Matthew 6:9-15 as the outline for my Prayer Journal.

The rest of this series on prayer will be a summary of how I use the Lord’s Prayer to guide my prayer life.

[Note: Though I am guided by the structure that I'm sharing with you, I'm not imprisoned by it. I maintain a lot of freedom and flexibility in my prayer life. Remember, at its core, prayer is relational communication with the Father. If we are too devoted to a structure, we will miss the point.]

“Our Father in heaven”

In my prayer journal, these are some opening comments that I’ve made to myself that flow from “Our Father in Heaven.”

• I am coming to God in prayer relationally…He is my Father.
• Beginning prayer with this focus should motivate me to remember what a privilege it is to call God… “Father.”  1 John 3:1 – How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
• Jesus set the paradigm of prayer to begin with a reminder of our worldview…God is in heaven…life is eternal and must be lived in light of the eternal.  There is more to this life than what we see and feel.  God is in heaven.  A great benefit of beginning prayer here is that it helps to keep our values strong…since our values are determined by our worldview.  God isn’t limited by time and space as we are.  He’s in heaven. He transcends time and space as we know it. All of our choices should be made in light of the reality of this truth.
• If God is in heaven…then heaven is as real as God.  We can’t question heaven unless we question God.  If we have no doubts about God, then we should have no doubts about heaven. (Of course, this is a big one for me. After all, we live our life in the best way when we live for that which is eternal. This requires faith [absolute confidence] in the reality of the eternal. “Our Father in heaven”…certainly seals that deal.)

I’m wondering where you stand on these thoughts on “Pray after this manner” and “Our Father in heaven?” How do the things that I’ve shared relate to your approach to these aspects of what Jesus taught?

Be on the lookout for Part 3!

Given my mission, as expressed in my first blog entry, I can’t think of a better conversation to begin than one on prayer. After all, it is certainly the characteristic that most defined Christ’s life. Therefore, it should, at a minimum, be a significant part of His followers lives. Right?

As well, if the Bible is to be taken seriously, (which I highly recommend), we have to believe that prayer is essential to inviting God into and experiencing God in our lives.

This will be a several part series.

I need to begin with the reality that, more often than not, my prayer life is messed up before I start. The reason…my heart is messed up. By nature, I tend to pray for very selfish based motivations. I’m looking for God to be my genie in the bottle. Because He never obliges, my prayer life often stinks.. So, I lose motivation.

For my prayer life to be effective, I need to consistently remember some very key things God tells us about prayer and some very clear realities about myself.

My Prayer Journal

In order to remember these things, I put them at the very beginning of my Prayer Journal.

Here’s what it looks like.

The Lord is disgusted by gifts from the wicked, but it makes him happy when his people pray. Proverbs 15:8
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

Following these two verses, I have written the following to myself…

[Sadly, I tend to seek God’s help and blessing on me more than I seek God Himself.  I believe my heart is more committed to seeking what I want from God than seeking God Himself.  Lord, forgive me and help me to change my pursuit…from substitutes like success to You.]

Because of my seriously flawed and selfish tendencies, this little reminder helps me to get my focus right. And, if I genuinely want to pray, it’s essential. Do you relate to any of this?

More Next Time!