Beloved in Christ - You Have the Right, Authority, and Privilege to Say "Our Father..."
I recently came across a devotional that went through the Lords Prayer. You can find the link here for context. The article started with the following sentence: "The implications of the Disciples prayer are profound and far-reaching." I continued to read and quickly found that the implications inferred that obedience, faithfulness, and sincerity qualifies a person to pray to God with the confidence that they will be heard. There were no qualifiers in that statement for the reader to draw a conclusion other than the one stated previously. If the inferred implications are true, then we are in grave danger. If our faithfulness and obedience qualifies our prayers before God, we would be damned before we even start. The good news is that Christ's works and merits alone qualifies our prayers. Unfortunately, this beautiful truth was not present in this devotion. Missing this truth robs us of the motivation to obey, to pray, and to continue to fight our sin with a good and free conscience. Heidelberg Catechism Question & Answer 116 says that, "prayer is the most important part of thankfulness which God requires of us". How can we be thankful in prayer if we believe that we are not going to be heard by our merciful and forgiving Father? I rewrote this devotion to highlight the comfort we have in knowing that Christ qualifies us to pray.
"I cannot say 'our' if I live only for myself in a spiritual, watertight compartment. I cannot say 'Father' if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. I cannot say 'who art in heaven' if I am laying up no treasure there. I cannot say 'hallowed be Thy name' If I am not striving for holiness. I cannot say 'Thy kingdom come' If I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day. I cannot say 'Thy will be done' if I am disobedient to His word. I cannot say 'in earth as it is in heaven' if I will not serve Him here and now.
Beloved in Christ, you have the right, authority, and privilege to say , "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". You can say "Our Father who art in heaven" because Christ has bought and purchased you with His blood. He has placed you in a family with other believers who collectively say "our Father" under the covering of Christ's name, our elder Brother who mediates our prayers. You can say " thy kingdom come, thy will be done", because Christ has done the will of the Father in coming to save us from our sins. He was perfectly obedient for you and in your place. Christ is the one who ultimately serves you, before you can ever serve Him. In fact, we are indebted to Him for even the good works that we do. In knowing and understanding all of this, pray these things boldly and with full assurance that you will be heard, because "consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" Hebrews 7:25 When we pray, "thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven", we know that, "God breaks and hinders every evil counsel and will that would not let us hallow the name of God nor let His kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh. Instead, He strengthens and keeps us steadfast in His word and in faith until we die. This is His gracious and good will" (Luther's Small Catechism)
"I cannot say 'give us our daily bread" if I am dishonest or an 'under the counter' shopper. I cannot say 'forgive us our debts' if I harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say 'lead us not into temptation' If I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say 'deliver us from evil' if I do not put on the whole armor of God"
Beloved in Christ you have the right, authority, and privilege to say "give us our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," because you are no longer your own "but belong to your faithful Savior Jesus Christ who has fully paid for all of your sins with His precious blood..." (Heidelberg Q&A 1). You are under the care of the triune God: The Father who sustains and provides for all of your needs, The Son who "upholds the universe by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3), and the Holy Spirit who "helps you in your weakness", and who "intercedes for you with groaning too deep for words" (Romans 8:26 & 27). This triune God also promises that all things will work together for your good (Romans 8:28). You can say "forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors" because Christ has forgiven you of your sins, and being forgiven of much, you will also love much. Christ who is your Prophet, Priest, and King, will see to it that you forgive others, because your sanctification was effected objectively 2000 years ago when Christ was raised from the dead. He is working in you Beloved, because He saves to the uttermost.
You can say, "lead us not into temptation", because even if you do deliberately place yourself in the path of temptation, the Gospel is there for you to believe and cherish again. Even if you are tempted by the evil desires that still cling to your heart, Christ is ultimately the Lord of your heart and will use all things to conform you into His image. You can say, "deliver us from evil", because He has already delivered you from evil, when He said, "My God! My God! why have You forsaken Me?" He was forsaken by the Father so that you will never be forsaken. Your sin does not have the final word over your life because Christ declared" It is finished". Remember 2nd Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God".
Beloved you can say, "deliver us from evil", because Christ is forever and always your armor. "God indeed tempts no one. But we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us nor seduce us into false belief, despair, and other great shame or vice. Though we are attacked by these things, we pray that still we may finally overcome them and gain the victory." (Luther's Small Catechism)
Christ indeed gives us the victory!
"I cannot say 'thine is the kingdom' if I do not give the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject. I cannot attribute to Him 'the power' if I fear what men may do. I cannot ascribe to Him 'the glory' if I am seeking honor only for myself. I cannot say 'forever' if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time."
Beloved in Christ, you have the right , authority, and privilege to say "for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory" because Christ is giving you His Kingdom and is governing you by His Spirit. You can ascribe to Him power because "by God's power you are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1st Peter 1:5). You can ascribe to Him the "glory" because Christ Himself is the Glory of God revealed in the Gospel. You can say "forever" because the horizon of your life is bound in the Eternal, Only Begotten Son of the Father. Your "forever" will one day be in a new heaven and new earth where the "dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God" (Revelation 21:3) Your forever will include, "the temple the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, and the city that has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light" (Revelation 21: 22-23).
Beloved, Christ is the one who qualifies your prayers before your Father. You do not enter the throne room of grace through your own merit. You enter through Christ's merits alone. You live by faith in the promises of God in Christ:
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." (2nd Peter 1:3-4)
Christ's life, death, and resurrection are what define you now, so therefore you can "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him; bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10). Do not despair in your wavering, but rejoice in His faithfulness because "he is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy" ( Jude 1:24)
Christ is your past, present, and future. Through Him you may pray boldly and with full assurance that the Father who loves you, will answer your prayer.
Further resources for Gospel Centered Prayer:
Dr. John Fonville: Pray This Way: The Divine Patter for Righteous Prayer
Belgic Confession Article 24: Our Sanctification
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