Sunday July 28th 2019
17th Sunday Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Prayer: Being in a Relationship
The tie in between
today’s readings: prayer principles
Everybody prays, or more exactly, recites the Our Father. While
there is surely nothing wrong with that, there is a greater value for us.
Today, I want to take it apart and use it as a framework on which we can build
our prayer life. We find the Lord’s Prayer today in Luke 11:2-4.
OUR FATHER: This shows a special relationship. Contrary to
popular thinking and consistent with Biblical teachings, God is NOT everybody’s
father. You must be born again into God’s family to call Him Father. Our
reading in Colossians gives a good illustration of how this occurs: having
been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through
your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When
you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
you alive with Christ (Col 2:12-13a).
Notice the ideas of buried vs. raised and dead vs. alive. Baptism is the
key. It’s the willful spiritual submersion
by faith of your life into Christ’s
sacrifice on the cross and rising to a new life with Him at the resurrection.
This is crucial, because if God is not your Father then He will be your judge
and baptism was just the sacrament that got you wet when you were a baby.
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME: God is holy, totally separate, and not
like anything else. He is to be revered. He is awesome and anything done in His
name better match His character.
YOUR KINGDOM COME: We look forward to the day when God enforces
His absolute rule over the earth as it is in heaven. Your goal now is, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, to become more like Jesus in order to take your place
as a heavenly citizen here on the earth.
GIVE US EACH DAY OUR DAILY BREAD: Bagels, baguettes,
brioche...God provides differently for each person according to His purposes
and grace. Be satisfied and thankful for YOUR daily bread. Godliness with
contentment is great gain (1Timothy 6:6).
FORGIVE US OUR SINS: Back to Colossians: He forgave us all our sins, having
canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and
condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross (Col 2:13b-14).
Enough said.
FOR WE
OURSELVES ALSO FORGIVE EVERYONE WHO IS INDEBTED TO US: This is so important! If
you have unresolved issues with someone DON’T EVEN COME to church before you
deal with it! He forgave us everything and we must forgive everyone also. God
will give you the grace to do this. It’s tough. It’s necessary. Its kingdom
living!
LEAD US NOT
INTO TEMPTATION: Trials are the tests that God uses to mature you in your
Christian life. Sometimes you win and you grow. Sometimes you fail. When you
fail, the trial can be an avenue for you to fall into temptation, sin, and big
trouble. We are praying for God’s hand to keep us out of temptation’s
devastation. Rejoice in the trials, though (James 1:2-4).
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In our
reading in Genesis 18, Abraham’s intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah shows the
Our Father in action.
Verses 16-19
establish God as Abraham’s Father.
“I will go
down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached
me. If not, I will know.” verse 21...Thy
will be done.
Then Abraham
approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Verse
23...Hallowed be thy name.
From verse
24 to 32 Abraham bargains for the lives of the people, interceding to save the
cities...Forgive us our trespasses.
Not finding
ten righteous people, God provided His angels...Our daily bread.
And rescued
Lot and his daughters from the destruction....Deliver us from evil. Mom
stayed behind and became a pillar of the community (Gen 19:26).
Now that we’ve
seen an example of how to pray: what about the answer? Prayers are answered in
three different ways: yes, no, and wait. Luke 11:9-13 by a comparison and
contrast the Lord demonstrates his love, wisdom, and eagerness to give a yes
answer to prayer. A key is the last verse where the Father gives His Holy
Spirit to those who ask. The Holy Ghost guides us in our requests because
sometimes instead of asking for an egg as it says in verse 12 we ask for the
scorpion! So of course that’s a NO. What about the wait?
The wait
answer leads us into persistence in prayer, as we read in Luke 11:5-8. There
are any number of reasons why God delays an answer. It makes us reevaluate the
request; it could be a no answer after all. From His vantage point, the
circumstances may not be right at the moment or He has something better in
mind. It could be that you’re not really serious; what you want may be more
like a wish than a prayer. If you are serious, then the Lord may want you to
become active in answering your own prayer. Waiting builds faith, shows dependence,
gives God the glory, and makes the answer that much sweeter. No matter what,
keep knocking, don’t give up, God is trustworthy and you will be rewarded. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person is powerful (James 5:16).
Lastly, when
you talk about a person whose life has been a rollercoaster from gutter to
glory, King David, our psalmist, is your man and, because of that, nobody prays
better than he does. Psalm 138 is his testimony of praise and thanksgiving of
prayer’s power and God’s faithfulness. So get on your knees. Those that go to
the Lord will never be cast out. Pray like you’ve got nowhere else to go,
because you don’t. Expect an answer. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands.
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