Reading 6. Kingdom Prayer. Learning to Talk to God

by on January 3, 2017
➡ Average Reading Time: 8 minutes

Read Me First | Read Me Second | Read Me Third

Kingdom Introduction
Observing the Text!

The Kingdom and Prayer
Prayer is an important discipline for a community of faith and for individual Jesus followers. It is important to see prayer in the context of the kingdom of God. There are times to pray and there is a model of prayer that the Gospel writers provide for us. First, we will look at the model of when to pray and then the model of how we should pray.

Interpreting the Text!

A Model for When to Pray (Luke’s Gospel)

Jesus found prayer a necessity. It was a meaningful part of his life and ministry.

Jesus found prayer a necessity. It was a meaningful part of his life and ministry. Luke recorded ten occasions when Jesus prayed. Seven of these passages do not record the actual prayer, but the context says he prayed. In addition to these ten times, Luke recorded two parables that only appear in his Gospel, which are about prayer (Luke 11.5-10; 18.1-8). The prayers in the life of Jesus are all associated with important events in the ministry of Jesus.

Luke shows Jesus praying on the following ten occasions. We might find in this list sometimes to pray that we have not thought of before. They are:

  1. at his baptism (Luke 3.21-22);
  2. after a day of ministry (Luke 5.15-16);
  3. before choosing the disciples (Luke 6.12);
  4. before instructing (Luke 9.18-20);
  5. at the transfiguration (Luke 9.28-29);
  6. on the return of the seventy-two (Luke 10.21-22);
  7. before teaching the disciples how to pray (Luke 11.1);
  8. for Peter and the disciples (Luke 22.31-32);
  9. at the point of suffering (Luke 22.39-46);
  10. and on the cross (Luke 23.34, 46)

From the beginning to the close of the ministry of Jesus, from his baptism to the cross, prayer was a central part of the life of Jesus. I believe that it is true that each of us can improve our communication with God. We can learn to pray in the power of the kingdom just like Jesus prayed.

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6.1-13)
Remember, the basic background of the teaching of Jesus is that of the conflict of God’s rule and the kingdom of Satan. This provides an adequate key to understanding what Jesus is teaching.

the basic background of the teaching of Jesus is that of the conflict of God's rule and the kingdom of Satan. Click To Tweet

Jesus begins by teaching his disciples about acts of righteousness and the place they should be accomplished (Matthew 6.1-4). The place for doing acts of righteousness is in secret, not in public. The pattern for prayer is the same. Jesus said, “Do not be like the play actors when you pray…this is how you should pray…” (Matthew 6. 5-9). This address is not a put down of prayer, but a put down of the showboating style of prayer which would call attention to the one praying! In my growing up experience in a small Pentecostal church in the South, there were many folks who prayed in the public services with loud and boisterous, and with repetitive terms all in an effort to be seen by the congregants as being spiritual.

There are two sets of petitions in what is often called the Lord’s Prayer. Actually, it is a model for the disciples to use in their prayers. The first set, petitions one and two, are concerned with the establishment of God’s purpose on a cosmic scale. The second set, composed of the last three petitions, regards the personal needs of the disciples. All five petitions are imperatives. They are commands given to God. Yep, that’s correct: a command is given to God, but not a demand of God.

Let your name be hallowed
The first petition is the hallowing of God’s name, which means not only reverence and honor given to God, but also to glorify him by obeying his commands. We can speak to God about allowing us to act in such a manner that his reputation is not slandered.

Let your kingdom come, your will be done
The second petition is that God’s kingdom would come and be practiced on earth as it is in heaven. At some point in past time, Satan was cast out of heaven along with a host of beings. The war, which arose in heaven, had been cast down to earth. Jesus was teaching his disciples and us to ask the Father: “Just as you have expelled Satan from heaven, establishing your rule there that you continue to bring about that same rule on earth.” Everything was now all right in heaven. Satan was cast out—now he is to be pursued on earth. Pray for God’s rule in our life, work, children, family, recreation.

Give us today the bread of tomorrow

…Give us today the bread of tomorrow….

The third petition comes in verse 11. “Give us today our daily bread…” This translation is, unfortunately, an inadequate translation. It could better read, “…Give us today the bread of tomorrow…” Hunger is a work of Satan. Jesus took the work of Satan seriously. He requested the Father to bring to his people today some of the abundance of God’s rule from tomorrow. We can pray for the specifics that we need in our lives. We can pray for spiritual, emotional, physical, financial and social needs of our community of faith and our personal lives. Maybe we should try that order for prayers, i.e., first for the community of faith and only then for ourselves.

Forgive us our sins
The fourth petition is “…forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.” This is a prayer for the forgiveness of sins. This petition has a condition attached to it. Matthew 6.14-15 makes this petition clear. These verses do not mean that our forgiveness of others earns us the right to be forgiven. They mean that God forgives only the penitent and one of the chief evidence of penitence is a forgiving spirit. This is the arena to pray for forgiveness of our sins and the sins of our community of faith.

Do not let us succumb to the attack of the evil one.
The fifth petition is “…And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Here again a better translation could be: “Do not let us succumb to the attack of the evil one, but deliver us from the evil one and his attacks.” Jesus was giving instruction to his disciples on how to pray when Satan comes to attack. Satan was surely going to attack them in their own community of faith and their personal ministry. Stand against the attack of the evil one.

The entire prayer of Jesus is based on his conviction that this present world is under the control of the evil one. The praying of the disciples in this fashion was one more tool in their arsenal.The Lord's Prayer is based on his conviction that this present world is under the control of the evil one. Click To Tweet

Praying in the Spirit

“Do all speak in tongues?”

One more piece of armament that believers have is another kind of prayer. A part of one’s prayer life can be praying in the Spirit or praying in tongues. To pray in tongues is foreign to many people. Speaking in tongues has received a lot of bad press and much abuse. However, throwing out the baby with the bath wash is never a suitable alternative to abuse. I believe that every believer has the right to speak in tongues as part of her/his Christian experience. There are may fillings in the Spirit, one of them may have the manifestation of tongues. Those who have been taught that this is no longer available today and use passages like “Do all speak in tongues?” as a way of saying that even if it was for today, not all could do it, have missed the meaning of the passage quoted from 1 Corinthians. This passage (1 Corinthians 12.27-31,) is in the middle of a longer contextual passage about “when the Church comes together.” The answer to the question: “Do all speak in tongues?” is “No! All do not speak in tongues.” The context, however, provides us the answer where this No! applies. It applies when the church comes together. When the church comes together, if everyone spoke in tongues it would be mass confusion. So Paul says that when the church does come together that all do not speak in tongues. He is not speaking to the issue that all are qualified to speak in tongues by virtue of being a believer, only that all should not speak in tongues when the Church comes together.

Think About It!
If you are a non-charismatic Jesus follower, reflect on the information above. Ask God to cut through all the abusive things that you may have been taught about tongues. Risk asking him for the language of his choice to come through you. Remember, if you ask him for something good, he will not give you something evil.

If you are a Charismatic believer who has spoken in tongues, reflect on the perception that you may feel somewhat superior because of this operation of the Spirit in your life. Pray and ask God to help you put tongues in its rightful theological place. It is not “the” end-all gift.Do all speak in tongues? Click To Tweet

During our stay between the already and yet-to-come kingdom of God, there will be occasions that God calls us to attack the lines of the enemy. When we do, we can be assured that there will be some counterattacks. On both occasions, God has given us armament to guard ourselves and advance his rule.

If you would like to read more about the operation of the Spirit, read my book Gracelets.

Living into the Text!

It is always important to apply what you have learned. Pause at this point and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to meditate on and put into practice some or all of the following.

  • Spend a few minutes with God and do not ask for anything. Give him verbal honor and reverence.
  • Make a list of items in your day-to-day life where you and your community of faith need the rule of God to invade, so that in those areas his will is done just like it is in heaven.
  • Ask God to give your community of faith and you some of his future blessings now.
  • Ask God to forgive your community of faith and you of all the specific sins you can think of.
  • Pray that God will help your community of faith and you with his kingdom rule to stand strong against the attacks of the enemy.
BibleInfoResources!

The articles below come from various Bible Dictionaries and other sources. The posting of these brief articles are to introduce some readers to the vast amount of information that is provided to enhance your reading of the text of the Bible with a hope that it will lead to a better understanding of the text and will lead the reader to an improved praxis in his or her community of faith and personal life. You might read the articles offline in a number of different Bible Dictionaries. If you do not own a Bible Dictionary, I would recommend New Bible Dictionary 3rd Edition. If you like lots of color pictures, try Revell Bible Dictionary. Revell Bible Dictionary is no longer in print but is available from Amazon. One of these should suit your personal needs.

  • Prayer
  • Read more about Prayer in an article by N. T. Wright, entitled: “The Lord’s Prayer as a Paradigm of Christian Prayer”

 

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Read Me First

 

Throughout these sessions, I have used the word ecclesia (singular) for the usual word church and ecclesiae (plural) to indicate a church in a particular geographic place, i.e., the ecclesiae at Corinth, meaning the whole of the many smaller ecclesia that met in homes in Corinth. This is to distinguish between the Institutional Church model (IC) and ecclesia that meet in cities and towns around the world. The ecclesiae written about by the authors of the Second Testament were not the same as what the “church” has become over the years of its existence. Usually, but not always, folks think of a church as a place where they go to a building and set in rows of pews and listen to music and sometimes sing and listen to sermons by a pastor or senior pastor. The ecclesiae of the Second Testament time did not invoke this model.

 

I have discovered over the years that if you want to try and change minds about something special, you have to venture out and reword it in order to grasp a foothold for a new refreshed understanding of the idea presented by the word. Such is the case between "church" and "ecclesia."

 

Happy Reading!

Read Me Second

 

Referenced verses in the text of this study are not used to prove some point of view. They are merely markers where the subject matter is referenced by other books and authors. To gain a larger view of each quote, a serious student of the Holy Writ would take the time to view the reference and see what the background is. The background provides tracks on which the meaning of a text rides. So knowing the context of a referenced passage would help the reader to gain a more thorough understanding of an author than just the words quoted and marked by a verse number that was not a part of the original author's text, which as you might remember was performed on the text in a random fashion many years later.

 

Happy Reading!

Read Me Third

 

The verses that are referenced in these sessions are not meant to prove a point. They are simply pointers to where the idea being written about may have a correlation. In order to see if they accomplish the thesis presented by the original author, a student should read, at a minimum, the chapter in which the verse is found as well as trying to ascertain what the original author may have meant to say to the original audience.

 

Of course, this is a lot of work but it is beneficial work. If one does not understand what the author meant when it was written and the audience could not have understood by what was written, then the words on the page can mean anything that a present reader may assign as a meaning, thus distorting what God was inspiring for the original writer to write to the original audience to hear.

A great and recent book by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird entitled The New Testament in Its World would be a wonderful addition to your reading helps.

 

Happy Reading!

 

 

Guide Yourself into a Kingdom of God Mindset in 13 Readings, which covers a matrix through which you can view the writings of the New Testament about the subject matter of the kingdom of God. You can enjoy this material completely in just 13 readings. Of course, you can take all the time you want, say 13 Days or 13 Weeks. It's up to you. To get the most from your reading, it is important that you read the biblical text along with it. The New International Version (NIV: Electronic Version 2011) is the text on which the studies are built.

The first section of each reading is called Observing the Text, which is an introduction to the section that is being read. Next, you will encounter Interpreting the Text, which suggests an interpretation of the section your are reading. Then, there is Living into the Text, which suggests questions, which may help you live into the text. This final section BibleInfoResources!, provides you with some articles that may interest you. After all, the text of Scripture was originally written for a community of Yahweh or Jesus followers to help them in their pursuit of God. The text was never meant to be for the accumulation of personal knowledge. Of course, the Holy Spirit is the final word for living your life and for the life of a community of Jesus followers. Listen to what he may be saying to your community of faith and personally about what you are reading. But, on a personal level, don’t get a personal application for you mixed up with the meaning of the text in Scripture. Remember this easy rule of thumb: one meaning, many applications. NOTE: Throughout the text, you will see words that have a thin dashed underline. When you place your cursor over the word(s) a small tooltip box will appear with more information about the word(s).

Each reading may include some of the following icons and sections:

Observing the Text! What does the text say? Provides you with a quick overview of the passage.
Interpreting the Text! What does the text mean? Helps you gain an understanding of the meaning of the text as those who first heard or read it may have understood it.
Living into the Text! What does the text mean to my community of faith and to me? Some reflections to help assist your community of faith and you to live into the Story of God.
WordTreasures: Defining the Text! Definitions of key words and phrases.
Behind the Scenes: Historical Background of the Text! A look at the historical background of the text
BibleInfoResources! Helpful resources for further readings. The Resource Information appears at the end of each of the studies. Reading this material in the noted reference popup will enrich your comprehension of the material under consideration.

 

 

 

Prayer

Prayer is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal. It is a "beseeching the Lord" (Ex. 32:11); "pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15); "praying and crying to heaven" (2 Chr. 32:20); "seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5); "drawing near to God" (Ps. 73:28); "bowing the knees" (Eph. 3:14).

Prayer presupposes a belief in the personality of God, his ability and willingness to hold intercourse with us, his personal control of all things and of all his creatures and all their actions.

Acceptable prayer must be sincere (Heb. 10:22), offered with reverence and godly fear, with a humble sense of our own insignificance as creatures and of our own unworthiness as sinners, with earnest importunity, and with unhesitating submission to the divine will. Prayer must also be offered in the faith that God is, and is the hearer and answerer of prayer, and that he will fulfil his word, "Ask, and ye shall receive" (Matt. 7:7, 8; 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13, 14), and in the name of Christ (16:23, 24; 15:16; Eph. 2:18; 5:20; Col. 3:17; 1 Pet. 2:5).

Prayer is of different kinds, secret (Matt. 6:6); social, as family prayers, and in social worship; and public, in the service of the sanctuary.

Intercessory prayer is enjoined (Num. 6:23; Job 42:8; Isa. 62:6; Ps. 122:6; 1 Tim. 2:1; James 5:14), and there are many instances on record of answers having been given to such prayers, e.g., of Abraham (Gen. 17:18, 20; 18:23-32; 20:7, 17, 18), of Moses for Pharaoh (Ex. 8:12, 13, 30, 31; Ex. 9:33), for the Israelites (Ex. 17:11, 13; 32:11-14, 31-34; Num. 21:7, 8; Deut. 9:18, 19, 25), for Miriam (Num. 12:13), for Aaron (Deut. 9:20), of Samuel (1 Sam. 7:5-12), of Solomon (1 Kings 8; 2 Chr. 6), Elijah (1 Kings 17:20-23), Elisha (2 Kings 4:33-36), Isaiah (2 Kings 19), Jeremiah (42:2-10), Peter (Acts 9:40), the church (12:5-12), Paul (28:8).

No rules are anywhere in Scripture laid down for the manner of prayer or the attitude to be assumed by the suppliant. There is mention made of kneeling in prayer (1 Kings 8:54; 2 Chr. 6:13; Ps. 95:6; Isa. 45:23; Luke 22:41; Acts 7:60; 9:40; Eph. 3:14, etc.); of bowing and falling prostrate (Gen. 24:26, 52; Ex. 4:31; 12:27; Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:35, etc.); of spreading out the hands (1 Kings 8:22, 38, 54; Ps. 28:2; 63:4; 88:9; 1 Tim. 2:8, etc.); and of standing (1 Sam. 1:26; 1 Kings 8:14, 55; 2 Chr. 20:9; Mark 11:25; Luke 18:11, 13).

If we except the "Lord's Prayer" (Matt. 6:9-13), which is, however, rather a model or pattern of prayer than a set prayer to be offered up, we have no special form of prayer for general use given us in Scripture.

Prayer is frequently enjoined in Scripture (Ex. 22:23, 27; 1 Kings 3:5; 2 Chr. 7:14; Ps. 37:4; Isa. 55:6; Joel 2:32; Ezek. 36:37, etc.), and we have very many testimonies that it has been answered (Ps. 3:4; 4:1; 6:8; 18:6; 28:6; 30:2; 34:4; 118:5; James 5:16-18, etc.).

"Abraham's servant prayed to God, and God directed him to the person who should be wife to his master's son and heir (Gen. 24:10-20).

"Jacob prayed to God, and God inclined the heart of his irritated brother, so that they met in peace and friendship (Gen. 32:24-30; 33:1-4).

"Samson prayed to God, and God showed him a well where he quenched his burning thirst, and so lived to judge Israel (Judg. 15:18-20).

"David prayed, and God defeated the counsel of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15:31; 16:20-23; 17:14-23).

"Daniel prayed, and God enabled him both to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream and to give the interpretation of it (Dan. 2: 16-23).

"Nehemiah prayed, and God inclined the heart of the king of Persia to grant him leave of absence to visit and rebuild Jerusalem (Neh. 1:11; 2:1-6).

"Esther and Mordecai prayed, and God defeated the purpose of Haman, and saved the Jews from destruction (Esther 4:15-17; 6:7, 8).

"The believers in Jerusalem prayed, and God opened the prison doors and set Peter at liberty, when Herod had resolved upon his death (Acts 12:1-12).

"Paul prayed that the thorn in the flesh might be removed, and his prayer brought a large increase of spiritual strength, while the thorn perhaps remained (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

"Prayer is like the dove that Noah sent forth, which blessed him not only when it returned with an olive-leaf in its mouth, but when it never returned at all."

Easton's Bible Dictionary: Prayer

 

Jesus Followers

 

There are many synonyms to use for the word believer, which is the most common word for a person who has "converted" to follow Jesus. I have chosen "Jesus follower(s) or follower(s) of Jesus instead of the word believer in these presentations to allow the reader an opportunity to move away from the idea of believer which conjures up the possible thought of "ascent" to a set of doctrines that have been assembled by different groups over the centuries and show up in this day and age as a set of statements posted on web sites and other written material. These sets of beliefs are suggested by many as the ones that one should ascent to so that upon death the one who assents can go to heaven, i.e., just believe and you are good to go. Jesus followers/followers of Jesus suggest an action that one should take. Remember, Jesus told his disciples to follow him. Yes, belief is important, but one must move beyond belief to action.

 

(See "Discipleship" Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. 182-188.)