Short articles of the, "Yes Jesus" Book on prayer. # 72.

 

Repeat after Jesus

“The Unique Language of the Lord’s Prayer”

“Hallowed be your name.”

So, in obedience we repeat after Jesus: “Hallowed be your name.”

What have we thus uttered?

●    A wish?

●    A command?

●    A statement of fact?

●    A petition?

●    A proposition?

●    An initiative?

●    A suggestion?

●    An instruction to self?

●    A lesson to our children?

●    A message?

●    A conviction?

●    An insight?

●    Just a thing to say?

●    A plea to God?

●    A spiritual exercise?

●    A lesson in prayer?

●    A bending on the knees three times per day on a mat looking toward Jerusalem?

●    A reminder to God of who he is?

None of the answers to the question above can be fully or even in part be accepted as enough about the language and nature of the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Lord’s Prayer has a language of its own. It is not a conversation between you and God. Remember that the thoughts and words are of Jesus who is God. It is not a mechanical repetition without meaning.

It is a frame of mind, a way of thinking that belongs to God and where men, through prayer, join with God in holy predisposition as if together with God thinking the same thoughts in agreement and oneness of will. It is not like the Ten Commandments in the imperative form of the Law, but it is a statement of facts of a reality that is graciously ours in Christ.

 

This is the teaching elder on duty in matters of Prayer.

 

Gerry Gutierrez.