The divine design: The Father to trust (Part 6)

“In calling Him ‘Father,’ we express a relationship we have all known and felt surrounding us even from our infancy; but, in calling Him our Father ‘who art in heaven’ we contrast Him with the fathers we all have here below, and so raise our souls to that ‘heaven’ where He dwells, and that Majesty and Glory which are there as in their proper home. The first words of the Lord’s Prayer-this Invocation with which it opens-what a brightness and warmth does it throw over the whole prayer, and into what a serene region does it introduce the praying believer, the child of God, as he thus approaches Him!”[i]

This is why I said earlier, this prayer given by Jesus to assist His disciples is a masterpiece of His divine brilliance. For it is both the outline for an easy access on ramp for the novice or beginning prayer student, while simultaneously providing steerage for the most seasoned prayer veteran into an intense vigil.

It is a spiritual road map for a successful prayer time, be it three minutes, three hours, or three days.

Our entry point in prayer is to recognize, honor, and worship the Father we have in heaven. He is the head of His family; He alone is worthy and deserving of our admiration and undivided attention before we venture into any other area of prayer proclamation or petition, regardless of its importance.

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[i] Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary Critical, Experimental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments (Originally published by S.S. SCRANTON, HARTFORD, 1877Reprinted Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1993)

The divine design: The Father to trust (Part 5)

Where earthly failures have caused doubt and cynicism, there is life and hope waiting in the faithfulness of the Heavenly Father.  Displacement and the feeling of being orphaned need not continue unless one foolishly decides to remain in that condition. Where this condition exists, the Father in heaven can and will alter the flawed paled image and transition it to one of triumph for the human soul as the redemptive work of Jesus is applied to the repentant heart. When our intent is to allow His influence to rule our lives, we can rest in His unfailing love, unrivaled qualities, pure intentions, and unlimited abilities.

One of my favorite quotes attempting to define God’s character and qualities comes from writer Adam Clarke.

Our Father is:

“the eternal, independent, and self-existing Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence; he who is absolute in dominion; the most simple, the spiritual of all essences; infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made; illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only by himself, because an infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived, and from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, and right, and kind.”[i]

So, as with all things pertaining to God we discover ourselves facing the wonder of complexity and simultaneously the essence of simplicity, they emanate from a singular source, inseparable, and mysterious, but always delivering comfort and peace when we belong to Him. Since we know that God is perfect in every way, the mystery and expanse of His vastness should deliver great comfort to our hearts. This huge God who is love’s essence, who eludes adequate human definition, is our heavenly Father.

When we see and feel seemingly insurmountable inconsistencies, unfolding disappointments, and gross injustices growing in the world, and recognize the huge lack of mental and material resources needed from men and nations to construct bridges to remedy these complex situations, let us not be robbed of peace!  A resting place exists, a safe harbor from the storm, within the storm.  True sanctuary waits in the care, in the presence, and in trusting Our Father in heaven.

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[i] Adam Clark,John M’clintock and James Strong, eds., Clclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 3 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1894), pp. 903-904.

The divine design: The Father to trust (Part4 )

I attended a function once where a table was decorated with a center piece containing a large clear glass container filled with water, long stemmed flowers, and several Goldfish. The display was attractive and interesting to look at, but after a while the fish began to gather at the water’s surface for air because of the decline of oxygen in the water. Without attention the fish would have eventually suffocated.

Humanity has one spiritual oxygen source, and that is God the Father. Without His oversight, left to fend for ourselves, we are deprived of the necessary life-breath for which we were designed and face dismal prospects.  His fatherly influences bring unprejudiced justice, firm honesty, unshakable security, and love’s unconditional qualities. He is without fear and contains all power to stave-off any level of attack from those things lurking in the shadows attempting to tamper with our minds to generate fear and insecurity in us. With God as our Father we remain in an impenetrable field of refuge and sanctuary. His role of perfect fatherhood in the life of humanity, defines His intention toward humanity, which has always and will forever continue to be pure, honorable, and advantageous for those who place themselves under His care.

 

The divine design: The Father to trust (Part 3)

Our Father in heaven

Those first four words of Jesus in this prayer reveal the possibility of deep, genuine, intimate, and multi-dimensional relationship.  It is an incomprehensible offering, far too wonderful to be true we think, but nevertheless it is true. The offer upon acceptance remains intact forever, and He will never abandon those who have placed themselves under His protection, nor will He ever change the rules along the way or fall out of love with those who are His.

Four words produced security and resolve for satisfying the chamber within the heart specially designed to be filled by His unique qualities.

Four words provided the definition for real trust, definitive expectation and availability of an authentic holistic family unit; the family of God, “a chosen people.”[i]

Four words exposed the One who is the designer and initiator of all life and His heart intent toward humanity. “Father”, from the Greek word Pater means the one who nourishes, protects, and supports.

The current deficiency of those filling a truly godly role of fatherhood has ushered in one of the worst tragedies in modern times; unleashing instability, emotional imbalance, and a problematic entanglement to which only God can bring help.

God is the father the heart deeply yearns for. He is the only one who can inject wholeness and stability into fragmented, imbalanced, and, nonsensical lives. He is the only one who can bring hope to our solution anemic situations. His love and care can usher in the life-breath for which we so desperately and urgently gasp.

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[i] 1 Peter 2:9 New International Version

The divine design: The Father to trust (part 2)

Our heavenly Father loves and deeply cares about the lives of people. He is perfect in every way, and thus a perfect Father. He never wanted humanity to suffer the darkness of the evil one. God’s plan has always been for humanity’s good and to be enriched by life in His Kingdom. Satan’s design for humanity on the other hand has always been to harm.

Our Father in heaven though provided escape from the enemy’s plan, and extended a way to freedom, reconciliation, continued communion, protective covering, and eternal fatherhood, through belief in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus introduced the words “Our Father in heaven” in the beginning of His prayer tutelage for His disciples in Matthew 6:9, he introduced a new dimension of God’s character and personality for all who would believe in Him.

“It was Jesus who taught men the reality and nature of the Fatherhood of God, and made it the foundation and essence of religious life. This is the very first time that the words are addressed to God in prayer, so far as the Bible is concerned.”[i]

With the words Our Father in heaven, Jesus confirmed and illuminated these truths:

• There is only one who is Creator of all things.
• He is the Father of all life.
• He requires worship, and desires sincere warm loving relationship and personal interaction with humanity.
• He requires respect and honor in this relationship, yet clearly wants to protect, provide, and guide those under His care.
• Those who embrace Him will never be fatherless, and will enter into the most loving, privileged, deeply committed, functional family in existence.

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[i] James G. S.S. Thomson, The Praying Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1959), p. 86

The divine design: The Father to trust (part 1)

There is an order to the spiritual life which when properly followed leads through the threshold of right relationship with the God of all Creation producing unparalleled fulfillment in the human heart which He designed for His good pleasure. This order begins first in acknowledgment, honor, and worship of Him. Yet in the obedience of honoring Him first, we discover our greatest need and comfort; perfect fatherhood. In the divine design for prayer, we find the Father to trust.

Most of us have childhood memories of our fathers, varying from good to not so good. There are those who do not have memories at all because they have never known their fathers, but without exception, each of us has been affected in some way or another by our dads.

Except for my rebellious teen years, I have always loved and admired my Dad. However my respect and appreciation for him increased substantially after committing my life to Jesus in the fall of 1972, because I began to see my Dad from a different perspective, a non-selfish one. During my defiant years, he represented the primary presence attempting to prevent me from living the kind of life I thought would make me happy, but after becoming a Christian I began to think differently, and develop new goals and purposes for my life. With a changed heart, new values, and a desire to live for God, I also saw my dad through a different lens. He was no longer the haunting militant voice of reason and challenge regarding my choices and the motives generating them, instead he became a valuable friend, trusted ally, and source of wisdom and affirmation.

I finally realized that during the years when our relationship was so strained, my Dad was being motivated by love, concern, and was merely trying to prevent me from harm and possibly permanently ruining my life. I have wonderful parents and I have missed not being able to see them more than once or twice a year since the early 1970’s.

There is a certain indescribable peace and security to be enjoyed when right relationship exists between a father and son, or father and daughter, but it is disappearing from our cultural landscape because of the rapidly diminishing of the traditional family unit.

One of the primary aims of satan the past several decades has been to systematically reduce and hopefully ultimately destroy the appropriate role God intended for fatherhood. Why? Because as that role becomes confused, skewed, and weakened, it increases the damage to humanity on several fronts. Without the presence of earthly fathers functioning in their proper God designed roles, the enemy causes distortions in how we see, understand, and relate to our Father in heaven. God’s intention for His earthly counter parts was to provide a reflection of His fatherly characteristics toward His children. Earthly fathers are to be a mirror image of His love, provision, security, faithfulness and presence.

Distort and devalue the earthly role of fatherhood, and it will have widespread negative impact on how we view the role of our heavenly Father. When earthly father’s are self-centered, unfaithful, uncaring, and absent, it introduces suspicion, doubt, and insecurity into the children. Those negative characteristics then spill over into our perception of God the Father, causing suspicion about His faithfulness and questioning His genuine concern for us. Satan’s ultimate motive in destroying proper earthly fatherhood is to cause humanity to deny trust in God, and a heart without trust in God is a heart with a vacuum of hope. And, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”[i]

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[i] Proverbs 13:20, New International Version

The Archetype

Living in the divine design for prayer and life

The Archetype

“The Lord’s Prayer is a letter sent from earth to heaven.”1

For those of us who embrace Christianity, one of the most challenging areas of our faith seems to be the establishment and maintenance of a growing meaningful prayer life. We understand that it is vital to our spiritual health, growth, and the accomplishment of God’s plans. We acknowledge it is His design for our communication with Him. We recognize the principle and privilege of mere humans to be granted access to the Creator of the heavens and earth through prayer. And, we identify prayer as the power source for the forward motion of His church.

Likewise, we see prayer presented in multifaceted forms and for varying purposes throughout the Scriptures. We know it can be a simple heart felt conversation on one hand, and a deep mystical power encounter on the other. Furthermore we are instructed in the Bible to pray without ceasing, pray in the Spirit, fast and pray, watch and pray, pray in the evening, pray in the morning, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The Bible reveals prayer as having taken place in temples, on the street, in kneeling positions, on the roof, in a boat, on the beach, and on mountainsides.  It is mentioned throughout Scripture, and God requires it if we intend to have a wholesome, vigorous, fulfilling relationship with Him.

Having said that, why do you suppose so many of Jesus’ followers find prayer somewhat challenging?  For some of us the answer could be as straightforward as it was for the first disciples of Jesus, maybe all we need to do is ask Him for help. When they did, He responded with an effective outline to follow, and this model will still guide any willing and sincere apprentice today.

The entire discourse in Matthew 6:9 – 13 reveals the availability of a system of prayer which glorifies the Father in heaven, and provides an easily followed pattern to acquire all things necessary for the accomplishment of His will during our earth lives. And after all, isn’t it His will that we should be seeking while we are on this earth?

One of the primary things prayer accomplishes is to correctly adjust our lives and desires, and rightfully place our focus on the one who deserves our complete attention, the God of all creation, the Father of life!

The method of prayer and locations to pray come in numerous styles, with differing purposes, and even varied positions, but it is always about Him. I have enjoyed the practice and privilege of praying alone while walking along wooded paths, sharing a few simple grateful words and thoughts with God, thanking Him for the marvel, variety, and beauty of His creation. Other times it has been while isolated in a cabin or small cottage in some remote area in the cold of winter, or in the comfort of our home by the warm wood-stove.

There have been times of deep intercession when I have prayed for mercy and guidance during crisis or asking to grow more intense in His love and knowledge. Times when I have worshiped Him for who He is and what He has done for me through His unfailing love and most extravagant grace, prayers of gratefulness for His Word as the light to my path, as well as other prayers begging him to show me the way and wondering how I had so easily missed it.

Loud prayers, soft prayers, silent prayers in waiting, prayers in solitude, praying with multi-thousands, writing prayers in journals, and singing prayers in songs. Prayer is multifaceted and worthy of exploring the many books already written as well as filling the pages of future books, but of all that can be said about prayer perhaps the most important statement is to simply say, just do it!

The prayer in Matthew 6:9-15 is a simple outline, spoken from the mouth of our Savior and intended for all His disciples. Some authors have suggested Jesus gave it as a beginning point for his disciples, knowing that as they matured spiritually, so would their prayer lives and the need for an outline would one day no longer be a necessity. Others use it as a formality of ceremony and do so sincerely. While I agree it stands alone as a prayer of great strength, beauty, and covers the whole of prayer topically with no additional words needed. I think potentially it is like every other creation of God, while it may appear simple and certainly accessible for easy entry by anyone seeking conversation with God, it also contains a depth and breadth far more than the natural eye can see upon first glance.

If you stand in the field south of our home and look to the north, there are several wooded acres on the hill behind us. From the field you enjoy a view of a hillside of trees. Enter the woods though and you discover a vast wonderland of varied hardwoods, cedars, vines, stones, rocks, and boulders of different colors, shapes, sizes, not to mention the many and multiple scents. Be still and look upward long enough and suddenly movement can be detected by the presence of squirrels jumping from limb to limb in the trees. Also present are Downey Woodpeckers, Robins, Cardinals, and a dozen other types of birds.

On the ground if you are patient and still, you might catch a glimpse of a tiny field mouse or White-tailed deer standing motionless hoping to avoid exposure. Almost totally concealed among some larger stones in the place we simply call the ravine, in the former home of a gray fox, there are sometimes opossum, raccoons, and yes even skunks, or at least the evidence of their presence.

That’s just the beginning, roll over enough rocks and fallen rotting logs and you’ll eventually observe several assortments of snakes large and small, and if you really are on a zoological expedition, there are more insect varieties than you will desire to count.

My point is this, there is the beauty of the wooded hillside looking from the distance, but there are also countless details of life and beauty upon entering the wooded hillside. God, His creation, and His Word are the same, this is just who He is and how He thinks and operates. Present is simplicity coexisting with unsolvable and complex mystery. He is wonderful! Creator of all that exists, He holds it all together, and one word from him will signal the end of the world as we know it. However, He also desires intimate and personal relationship with humankind and provides a way for it to happen; mind blowing isn’t it?  Why would anyone not want to be a Christian?

The word archetype is defined as the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based. The prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6: 9-13, described as The Lord’s Prayer is our archetype, the original pattern or model for prayer. It is not only our on ramp to beginning a consistent and productive prayer life, covering the primary points for a healthy growing relationship with God, but also our map for the unfathomable places of deep intercession. Like the myriad of things visibly existing in the woods behind my home, so it is with this prayer of prominence delivered by Jesus, there are multi-layers to be explored, exposed, and experienced. Read the words of Sinclair Ferguson concerning this prayer.

“The Lord’s Prayer serves two purposes. First, it provides a model prayer, an easily memorized outline that serves as a guide in how we are to approach God as Father and how we are to speak to Him. Second, it serves as an outline of the whole Christian life by providing certain ‘fixed points’ of concern for the family of God. It underlines life’s priorities and helps us to get them into focus.” 2

And so, the embarkation for our journey has arrived; we move now from introductions to invitation and application. A few verses earlier in the Sermon on the Mount just before giving His disciples this prayer, Jesus began with these introductory remarks, “When you pray…” These are key words for all who would call themselves Christian. For He did not say, “If you pray” No need for a theological speculation here, Jesus obviously intended for every Christian to maintain a life of prayer.

As you begin to pray using His model, prepare to be encouraged, challenged, have your boundaries of understanding expanded, and grow in your appreciation of His divinely crafted masterpiece which He uniquely constructed for the health and welfare of your redeemed heart.

The Lord’s Prayer provides entrance into a realm most only dream of because attainability requires action, and unfortunately many have succumbed to idle indifference, thus allowing the greatest adventure in the human experience to escape them, it is the invitation for verbal intercourse between the finite and the God of all creation.  This prayer is most worthy of our attention and pursuance, it is filled with eloquence and the pensive art of divine simplicity, while simultaneously plunging into unfathomable spiritual depths, it is the ultimate experience waiting for those who will rise and step through its gateway.

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1 Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the New Testament.

2 John Piper, A Hunger for God (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1997), p.2

Living the divine design for prayer and life!

Perhaps not since the waning of the Great Awakening in mid-1700 has the western church found itself in such shallow waters and drifting toward treacherous reefs. Though abundant in media visibility, genuine Christian influence upon the culture seems in rapid decline. Perhaps it is because we no longer look to the archetype for design at least with intentions of application, but have instead fallen prey to the scheme of self-serving and self-gratification, yet cloaked it in a form of godliness.

However, I am not a fatalist, as long as there are those who will seek God, and encourage those who slumber to awaken and rise, there is hope. The Bible repeatedly reveals God as the one changing the impossible into the possible. He is our hope, our only hope, but then that is what He has always been; the God of hope and within His possession is the map to navigate western Christianity back into sailing seas.

A good map contains information that will ensure a successful arrival to a desired destination. When that map is declared a treasure map, our imaginations rapidly unfold with intrigue at the possibility of some obtainable richness at the conclusion of the journey, a reward for the energy and effort dispensed. Believe it or not, we have access to such a map and the promise of reward for our quest.

Jesus made it available to all, and when followed it leads its users through the most effective prayer and life experience possible.

The map is designed to be easily comprehended and is well worth the investment to follow. Though it may yield wealth quite different from the world’s shallow treasure seeking, those who choose this journey will indeed discover its pricelessness, for its wealth satisfies humanity’s greatest longing, which is love, hope, peace, and purpose.

The treasure map

Deep in the Buffalo River region of Arkansas is one of the most peaceful places I have ever visited. I have been there enough times now that it has become a familiar friend, and a place for solitude and spiritual refueling. I hesitate to disclose the location for fear that it may become so popular it loses it’s quiet reclusive character, but then that wouldn’t be fair to others seeking shelter from the storm of life-clutter and distraction.

Within the small village of Ponca sitting next to a creek that runs through the distance of the township is a lodge called Cedar Crest, the place I usually stay when visiting the area for several days. The main enterprise of Ponca is canoe and overnight cabin rentals. Oh, I almost forgot the Lost Valley General Store where you can pick up a few staples and an ice cream bar on a hot summer’s day, but if you’re looking for a broad selection of food items, a longer drive will be necessary.  All of this is comfortably nestled at the north end of Boxley Valley, a place I personally think is worthy of some National Geographic attention, but then I am a little biased.

Almost daily Elk can be seen quietly grazing in large open fields against the back drop of breathtaking limestone cliffs and forest covered hills that host and escort the Buffalo River on its meandering southern journey. Not far away from the lodge beaver and Trumpeter swan can often be seen traversing an old spring fed millpond, and occasionally I have spotted a Bald Eagle or two perched on one of the many trees at water’s edge.

One day during a January retreat, while reading the Sermon on the Mount, I reached the section containing the Lord’s Prayer. While slowly perusing its words, I again found myself amazed at the brilliance of the mind of Jesus, and His passionate heart of love. Within these brief sentences He strategically provided His new disciples and all who would later join Him, with His sanctioned framework for successful prayer, as well as a successful life.

When rightly followed the prayer is as relevant today as it was the day it flowed from His lips. Though brief and woven with simplicity, embedded within it is the divine outline for a rich prayer life.

Unfortunately as with several things in Christianity, over the course time, the lack of proper recognition and use has caused a veil of familiarity to conceal and lessen the true value of this treasure. In some cases this masterful work has been reduced to a twenty-five second verbal recital of hollow and indifferent formality. Not that it can’t often be sincerely spoken or recited with beauty and affect, but many times it is delivered or presented with all the depth and sincerity as repeating ones name, birthday, and street address when renewing a drivers license at the local government office.

John Stott writes,

“It is comparatively easy to repeat the words of the Lord’s Prayer like a parrot. To pray them with sincerity, however, has revolutionary implications, for it expresses the priorities of a Christian. We are constantly under pressure to conform to the self-centeredness of secular culture. When that happens we are concerned about our own little name (liking to see it embossed on our notepaper or hitting the headlines of the press, and defending it when it is attacked), about our own little empire, (bossing, influencing, and manipulating people to boost our ego), and about our own silly little will (always wanting our own way and getting upset when it is frustrated). But in the Christian counter-culture our top priority concern is not our name, kingdom, and will, but God’s.[i]

This prayer model given by Jesus can be used in many and varying ways. To guide a lone individual in early morning hours for a time of solitude, or in large corporate gatherings to lead hundreds or even thousands of people in intense focused prayer, for an hour or an entire day. The beauty of its form provides one pilgrim with a source for setting aside a few moments for prayer or for those consumed by a spiritually hungry heart it can be the guide for a deep and strong prayer vigil lasting for days. And, not only does Jesus provide us with a perfect prayer model in His prayer, but also a prioritized outline for daily living as well.

Prayer was one of the primary objectives of Jesus when teaching His disciples the principles for a fruitful victorious Christian life. He lived and modeled a life of prayer and He desires for all His followers to do the same because it is critical to our ongoing spiritual health, success, and the accomplishment of His mission for us in this earth life.

For those finding it difficult to establish a time and system for praying, this prayer model is an on ramp for cultivating a deeper prayer life or renewing one that has diminished or stands idle. For those who pursue ongoing prayer with deep seriousness, strength, and passion, this is still the veterans proven guide. Whichever, as Believers we are called to explore the depth and richness of God’s Kingdom and its transforming power as we pursue vigilante prayer lives.

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[i] John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon On The Mount (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press,1978), p. 147, 148.