What Jesus taught is that prayer is WAREFARE. It is the way the kingdom of righteousness prevails over the kingdom of evil. It is the men of today’s church who need to heed this call to arms. It is the men who need to reclaim prayer as the way to fight for our loved ones against the triumvirate, Satan, sin, and death who (though ultimately defeated), if unopposed in this world will bring enormous devastation into their lives.
Today, we continue the series, Winning Spiritual Battles Because We Use Our Spiritual Weapons. Every guy who gets this blog would stand at the door of his house with a shotgun to protect his family physically. But most Christian men feel inept and inadequate at fighting to protect them, spiritually. As we saw last week, Jesus told his disciples the ultimate weapon for defeating Satan is prayer. But if we are going to use this weapon effectively in spiritual battle, we need to understand it. This episode continues our study of what Jesus taught are the six basic parts of effective prayer, in Matt 6:9-13.
As we seek to follow Jesus’ mission for our individual lives, advancing the righteous reign of King Jesus over our heart loyalties and attitudes, as well as implementing his agenda in our role as husband, father, employee/employer, neighbor, church member, steward of resources, and ambassador of the kingdom, we must displace the kingdom of darkness. Just as a military invasion begins with cruise missiles and bombing runs, our efforts to advance the kingdom on the ground must begin with prayer, the only weapon capable of dislodging the enemy from its strongholds. Prayer is such a potent offensive weapon for advancing the kingdom of Christ over earth, that in Psalm 2 we hear God the Father identify prayer as the way Christ’s kingdom spreads. The Father promises the Anointed One, “ASK of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” As Christ-followers join Christ in ASKING that his kingdom would advance, the Father promises to act.
Jesus teaches the same six principles of prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and in Luke 11:2-4. The only difference is that in Matthew, Jesus gives an explanation of three of the principles. He explains, may your kingdom come, (Matt 6:10a & Luke 11:2) when he continues may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10b). He explains lead us not into temptation (Matt 6:13a, Luke 11:4) when he continues, but deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13b). Jesus amplifies forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors (Matt 6:12 & Luke 11:4) two verses later in Matthew 6:14-15 when he says, For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Last week we saw how radically different prayer for Christ-followers is from the religious repetition of holy sayings regimented for certain prayer times in other world religions. These times in Judaism were 9 AM, 12 PM, and 3 PM. The two rote Jewish prayers to be recited were the Shema, Deut 6:4-9, and the Shemoneh ‘esreh, which means eighteen, because if consisted of 18 rote prayers to be recited. Jesus’ teaching about prayer was entirely different; it was not formal, structured, external, regimented words spoken to God as ritual, but an intimate, heart-driven conversation originating from a living, dynamic relationship with The Father. Let’s review the first three prayer principles, which we examined last week, before digging into the final three. So, by way of summary:
1. The principle of ADOPTION: Matt 6:9 Our Father in heaven, which gives us the ENVIRONEMNT for prayer. His help, and spiritual power don’t have to be pried out of his tight-fisted hands. Through Christ we are God’s adopted children and, as it happens, our particular father LOVES TO GIVE GOOD GIFTS TO HIS CHILDREN, especially spiritual power through the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Lk 11:11-13)! It is noteworthy that Jesus had used nearly identical words in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt 7:9-11), but in the Luke account, Jesus substitutes Holy Spirit for good gifts. Both are true. God loves to give good gifts to his children. But the best gift is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
I believe that Jesus viewed prayer much more as reporting to our forward battle station and launching a prayer assault against the kingdom of darkness for the advance of Christ’s kingdom of righteousness than he does, than emailing headquarters with a list of our needed provisions. It IS emailing that list, which we will get to in a moment. But prayer, as God designed it, is relentlessly fighting the enemy who wants to destroy you and your family and besmirch the reputation of God. It is being the man, the protector, that God designed Adam to be. “Your sonship,” says Jesus, “means being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who is the producer of spiritual fruit in our lives.” The first prayer principle to remember, is ADOPTION, the environment of prayer. We come to God as his beloved child, calling him Father, a father who loves to give good gifts and especially the power of the Holy Spirt to those who ask.
2. The second prayer principle is ADORATION: vs 9 continues, Hallowed be your name. Here is the MOTIVATION for prayer. May your name be honored. May you be glorified. May your name be held in high esteem by the whole world. Jesus modeled this aspect of praying at the beginning of his prayer in John 17, When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son THAT THE SON MAY GLORIFY YOU.” A few verses later, Jesus reveals that this desire for The Father to be glorified was the focus of his life, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. (Jn 17:4). At the heart of the request, “May your name be hallowed” is “a burning desire that the whole world may bow before God in adoration, in reverence, in praise, in worship, in honor, and in thanksgiving” (The Sermon on the Mount). The more our prayers are rooted in ADORATION—our desire to see the name and reputation of God honored, the more power they possess.
3. The third prayer principle and one which very often is neglected in our prayers is ADVANCING the kingdom: vs 10 May your kingdom come. Here we see the PURPOSE of prayer. “The focus of your praying,” says Jesus, “should be the advance of my kingdom of righteousness over earth.” Praying “May your kingdom come (i.e. may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven)” is the primary purpose of PRAYER because seeking Christ’s kingdom of righteousness is the primary purpose of Christians’ LIVES. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness in human hearts and in the culture all over the earth, every square inch of which, King Jesus claims as his own.
In the book of Acts, Peter and John were arrested, warned not to proclaim the gospel, and released. In response, the church gathered to battle for the advance of the kingdom through prayer. In this prayer, they quoted Psalm 2. The opening verses of Psalm 2 speak of the cosmic rebellion against Yahweh, Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS ANOINTED. Psalm 2 continues, telling us that Yahweh laughs at their supposed power. Why? Because his answer to the rebellion of the kingdom of darkness is to send Christ, the Anointed One, to recover Adam’s lost kingdom. Palm 2:6 records God saying, As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill. (vs 6) Psalm 2 then describes the words of Yahweh to His Son recorded from the point of view of Jesus.