The Prayer of the Lord

In our world of "instant" everything, I have found the discipline of prayer to be extremely difficult. Even at times I wondered what was ultimately the purpose since God is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful. However, Jesus had commanded us as his followers to pray and even assured us that He is ever interceding for us. Yet, more often than not prayer seemed like a thing people used to tell God what they wanted or what He ought to do for them. So as I looked through Reformation Trust, I came across The Prayer of the Lord by R.C. Sproul. This book analyzes the Lord's prayer found in the Gospels.
As the author points out, it is interesting that out of the many questions the disciples could have asked Jesus, the one question that was most important to them was, "Teach us to pray." For me that is comforting to know that even the disciples who spent time walking and being taught by Jesus needed to know how to pray. Even before Jesus begins to teach them how to pray, He tells them not to pray as hypocrites or with vain repetition. Also contained in the first chapter is the answer to the question, why pray since God is all-knowing?

At that point, I have to remind them that, as I mentioned above, prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. (pg.14)

In the Lord's prayer the first thing we don't see- is ourselves. Jesus speaks of "Your name, Your kingdom, and Your will". The last thing that we see is ourselves which combats our self-worshiping generation. When one has grown so accustomed to looking out for himself before anyone else it is difficult to focus your attention on someone else. Yet, this exactly what Jesus is teaching us, to focus our eyes on the Father. There is nothing easy about taking up your cross and following, but this is what He has called us to. Why? because God is the ultimate treasure of our souls and only in Him can we find our greatest joy.
The second chapter envelops "Our Father in Heaven" and what fascinated me was the study done on the use of the word "Father" to refer to God in the Old Testament. There is not a single instance of any Old Testament writer referring to God as Father. Yet, just as shocking is the fact that Jesus referred to God as Father every time he prayed except once. He was issuing in a change in the way we can pray as adopted children.
If you are struggling with the discipline of prayer or are concerned with your own questions about "why pray?" then I would strongly encourage you to study the Lord's prayer and also to use this book as a guide to help you enjoy the sweetness of communion with "Our Father".

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