"Thy Kingdom Come...": 7/17-18/2010
When you and God talk, what do you talk about? Is it a routine conversation like the kind you have when you pass a co-worker in the hallway? Is it a one-sided conversation where you say everything you need to say and then walk away? Or is it an intimate conversation like the kind you might have over coffee with someone who knows what you’re going to say before you say it?
Tim Sutherland challenged us this week to think of prayer differently. Instead of treating prayer as a means to get what we want, prayer is a chance for us to surrender ourselves to what God wants.
While we are invited to tell God about our concerns, our worries, our desires, prayer is so much more than laying out our laundry list of needs. It is about connecting ourselves to the Most High God who bends down to hear and respond to our praises, our cries, our confessions.
Tim focused on the Lord’s prayer, or the “Our Father” found in Matthew 6.9-13:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Would you fit this prayer into the rhythm of your life this week? Would you let God form you and talk to you through praying like Jesus said we should pray?
When you first wake up, say, “God, your name is holy. Rule today.”
When you eat your meals, say “God, thank you for today’s bread.” Don’t just say it because of some superstition about choking. Say it because ultimately everything that keeps us going comes from the hand of God.
When you sin, say the wrong thing, make the wrong choice, say “God, forgive me. And help me to forgive.”
When you are tempted, ask God to move you away from the temptation. Ask God to rescue you from the pull of evil.
And when you pray this week, ask God to show you ways you might also be an answer to prayer. Maybe your own, or your neighbors, or your child’s. How can you make the reign of God a reality in your life and home?
This was a tough message this week but an important one. Just to make the medicine go down a little easier, here’s some sugar…
