I finally got to finishing Mark Driscoll's second sermon for his Pray Like Jesus series. It could not of come at a better time. Had such an intense time of worship this morning! My heart is in such a fragile state right now and I was in tears in no time. Man, I was a wreck, but it felt so so so good. I wrote the entire first entry five minutes into the sermon. What might of not been said last time is that part two (this part) is on the Lord’s Prayer and this will make sense more now.
“Our Father…”
Mark starts off with just the significance and importance of actually what you’re doing when you speak to God and refer to Him as Father. Mark cannot emphasize that enough. Mark then goes on with how God has no gender, but how when Jesus walked the earth he told us to refer to God as Father, and that he himself did that, like in the Lord’s Prayer itself. Some people have trouble with referring to God as a father figure, having bad past experiences with their fathers and such. Mark threw out some stat like 40% of children do not have fathers. I never had trouble calling God father or dad, why? Probably because I had a great dad myself, but I must say, I use to hesitate while praying, ‘cause I thought I sounded foolish... NOT ANYMORE! I truly think that is the key to a good prayer life, just the acknowledging of God being a Dad, and just you speaking to him like one; you’ll know how to pray.
Mark then goes on a tangent, telling a story of his daughter seeing him take his wife on a date and wanting to have a date with him as well. Mark had a lot of work to do, preparing for a sermon and whatnot, but he took the time to spend time with his daughter. Mark initially failed to see that this time that he spent with his kids, meant the world to them, and the same old story happens with God and us, but the other way around of course. God would love to take us on dates, and spend time with us, but we tend to not make time for him (story of my life!).
A good father is what I strive to be, and I love how Mark emphasizes it because it is so important to me.
1. Prayer of Adoration “…in heaven, hallowed be your name…”
Mark lists five different prayers, or five things you have to remember while praying, and the first one is adoration. Just to think of Him in heaven, just blows my mind. His sovereignty is no too farfetched and that line, or lines, illustrates that so well. Mark was talking about how a lot of people wonder what the point of praying is, God being so sovereign and all, but that’s the point of it, He is sovereign! So a time of just taking in accord, God’s power and just His magnitude.
2. Prayer of Worship “…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”
God’s kingdom coming is such a pleasant though. When I think of that, I think of community and what a sweet thought that is. Like I said earlier, I’ve been struggling with some stuff that I usually struggle with, but entering worship always, always, always humbles me up, and brings me to my knees, in a good way! I find that worshipping even when you’re not in the mood, really cheers you up in the end. I love it! A prayer of worship is a given, just thanking Him for everything under the sun. Prayer is all about aligning our will with Gods, having his will be done; so in other words, praying for the right thing, and asking God the right thing.
3. Prayer of Provision “Give us today our daily bread…”
If you’re thinking this means thanking God for food and such, you would be correct, no pun intended of course. We had a little conversation in English awhile ago about consumerism and advertisement today, and how people are always looking for things that they don’t have, more and more and more! An ever going cycle of buying, keeping them in debt for eternity! We tend to do that with our prayer, overlooking small things and praying for luxuries. Something like our food comes in heaps which makes it easy to forget. Notice how it’s “give us our daily bread…” so praying for more is the point, but pray for something you need rather than your greed. Pray for healing and such; God is a giver, and maybe you should just even acknowledge that.
4. Prayer of Confession “…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgave our debtors”
Notice how Jesus used the word debt, and not sin, but he really meant sin. Mark thinks that people find it easier to relate to debt, with most people being in financial debt themselves. Once again, we go back to the whole consumerism thing above… We’re all in debt with the banks, and at the same time we’re all in debt with God. Jesus was our ransom to pay God’s debt. That quite frankly does not sit with me well, makes God seem like some big mobster, but I know it’s true. Mark says that this prayer is one of repentance, and when we’re sinned against, we forgive! Forgiveness is something I’ve always understood. I remember when I was a kid and I use to get into these fights with my sister and I was always the one to make it up with her because I always would forget about it right after, but she would hold a grudge a little longer. She’s not like that anymore, don’t worry. There’s nothing but good things that come out of forgiveness and I’m sure I don’t need to go on. God takes our sin and we become righteous through him.
5. Prayer of Protection “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”
The world is full of darkness, no denying, so asking God for protection is not surprising. There’s a lot of debate with this line of the Lord’s Prayer. Does God lead us into temptation? No, it’s more of agreeing and recognizing it; stating the obvious. Pray for the safety of you and your loved ones day to day is a must.
Mark ends with a story of temptation in his own life. He was just going on about being faithful with his wife while alone traveling, preaching and such. It was really encouraging, because that is what I’m going through. It’s something a lot of men go through including a lot of the other guys on my DTS even, and frigging Mark Driscoll for crying out loud!
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