May 29th, 2007

In the Presence of Whom

Read Matthew 6:5-15 and Psalm 86

"Our Father in heaven..." vs. Matt. 6:9

"But you, O LORD, are a compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." vs. Psalm 15

Throughout the few years that I have been in the ministry, I have found that a great number of people struggle with their prayer life. I don't necessarily believe it is because there is a lack of desire. Instead, as I have mentioned a few days ago, it has more to do with confidence than with desire. Consequently, when someone tells me they have trouble praying, one of the first things I ask them is, "What do you believe about God?" That might seem an odd question. You might expect I would engage their method of prayer directly. However, I have found that if people have a perverted image of God or don't really know what they believe about God, they are less apt to feel confident communicating with God.

For instance, if a person has grown up under a consistent dosage of fire, hell, and brimstone preaching and their vision of God is an angry judge with gavel in hand ready to strike the head of anyone who messes up, then every bit of communication will be tainted with guilt and self-condemnation. The person will actually walk away from a time of prayer feeling worse than they did before they started praying. Likewise, if a person has grown up believing that God is a distant, aloof, unapproachable Being, then the temptation will always be..."why even bother?"

So...to address someone who is prayerfully-challenged, I must first engage their belief about God. In fact, isn't that what Jesus does right off the bat in the prayer he teaches his disciples? "Our Father, who is in heaven..." Central to the prayer life of Jesus and admonition that he passes down to his followers is a belief that God is our Father. I know for many this is a loaded word. When I say father, I am not talking about the drunk guy who used to come home and beat you, or the one that walked out on your mom, or the one who seemed to always have something better to do than pay attention to you. I am not talking about the man that never affirmed you, hugged you, or told you he loved you. No, I am speaking of a word that carries the weight of a Being that is present, compassionate, attentive, affirming, and loyal. I am not speaking of the one that gets riled up real easy, no our Father in Heaven is slow to anger and extremely patient with us. I am not talking about the guy who forgot your birthday and never sent you cards for Christmas. No, this Father is gracious, full of gifts. In fact, He is a God who loves to spoil his children with good things. Our Heavenly Father is a Father whose very nature is love, an embracing, forgiving, guiding, disciplining, sacrificial, unconditional, persevering love. That's the God we address when we pray. How might that vision change the time that you spend with Him?

Oh yeah...did I mention our Father is in heaven? Now wait a minute. Let's not start thinking that God is in some far off distant place beyond the clouds and the solar system. No, according to Jesus the Kingdom of God (also called the Kingdom of Heaven) is very near. In fact to say God our Father is in Heaven has a lot less to say about distance than it does about sovereignty. the Kingdom of God is the realm of existence that he reigns supreme. Guess what, that realm has broken into our world. To say our Father is in heaven is to say that he has the power to change things. He has the capacity to deliver us, to restore us, to save us, to redeem us and make us whole. He is on the throne, ruler over all. It is in Him and through Him that all things have their being!

So let's put that together. The one we pray to is a Father that is entirely loving, always compassionate, forever gracious, eternally faithful, and enduringly slow to anger. And...He is above all things and has the power to change anything. How might that vision of God change your prayer time?