Prayer as the Chief Part of the Thankfulness that God Requires of Us (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 116)

Why should we as Christians pray? Why is it necessary for us – why do we need to pray? No doubt there may be any number of good answers to that question. We pray because we are needy people (Psalm 70:5; Matthew 6:8). We pray because God gives good gifts to His children who pray (Matthew 7:11). We also pray because we are commanded to do so in the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The Heidelberg Catechism concludes with an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer (Q/A 116-129). And in introducing the Lord’s prayer, it teaches us that the primary reason (although certainly not the only reason) that believers need to pray is that it is the main way that we express our gratitude to God for our salvation in Jesus Christ:

Q.116. Why is prayer necessary for Christians?A. Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us; and also, because God will give His grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of Him, and are thankful for them.

Again, notice that the first reason for prayer given here in Q/A 116 is gratitude. That says a lot about both the motive for prayer as well as its very nature. This fits in well with the entire 3rd section of the catechism (Q/A 86-129), which is all primarily about how we are to show our gratitude to God for our salvation. (See Q/A 2.) Gratitude is to be our primary motive for obedience to God’s commandments (Q/A 86-115) and for prayer (Q/A 116-129).

It is no coincidence that giving thanks and prayer are linked together in Scripture. Here are just a handful of examples:

• “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3-5 ESV)
• “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6 ESV)
• “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV)

And if you add to that the dozens of times that the Psalms speak of giving thanks to the LORD (e.g. Psalm 7:17; 9:1; 30:4; 33:2, etc.), the list gets even longer. After all, in a sense, many of the Psalms are both songs and prayers.

You can’t really give thanks without praying. (To give thanks to God is to pray!) And you probably won’t persevere very long in prayer if your heart is not filled with gratitude to God for all of the blessings that He has bestowed on You in Jesus Christ. No wonder the Heidelberg Catechism calls prayer “the chief [i.e. the most important] part of the thankfulness God requires of us” (Q/A 116).

In addition to that (and then only secondarily to giving thanks to God), the catechism goes on to teach us that we are also to pray “because God will give His grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of Him, and are thankful for them.”

This is a direct connection to the previous question (Q/A 115), which says that the strict preaching of the ten commandments should more and more reveal our sinful nature to us, so that we seek forgiveness of sin and the righteousness in Christ alone (i.e. justification), as well as so that we might “constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God” (i.e. sanctification & growth in grace).

This should be a much more common theme and request in our prayers than it tends to be. We should sincerely and continually ask God for His grace and His Holy Spirit, and give Him thanks for them, for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

How much different might our prayer lives be as believers in Christ if we were to view prayer not merely as a duty to be performed, nor even as a means to an end, but first and foremost as “the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us” – as the primary way that we express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His saving grace and kindness toward us in Christ!

The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory (The Conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer)

In this our last study through the Lord’s prayer, we now come to the conclusion of the prayer. The Lord’s Prayer concludes with these words:

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13, KJV).

If you were raised in a church where the Lord’s prayer was a part of the liturgy of the worship service on Sundays (which used to be much more common than it seems to be in our day), no doubt those words are very familiar to you. If so, you may well have uttered these very words in prayer more times than you can even count.

But have you ever stopped to think about what these words mean? What exactly are we saying when we pray, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory”? And what is the Lord Jesus teaching us about prayer when he concludes this great model prayer with those words?

The very last question (Q.107) of the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives us a very helpful explanation of what Jesus teaches us here in the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer. It says that these words teach us the following:

“to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise Him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to Him; and, in testimony of our desire, and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen.“

So the first thing we see there is that the conclusion to the Lord’s prayer teaches us “to take our encouragement in prayer from God only.” In other words, it is because we pray to the one true and living God, whose kingdom is over all, whose power is infinite and without limits, and whose glory outshines and outstrips all else, that can and should pray with confidence that He is both willing and able to answer all of the requests that we are taught to pray for in this great pattern prayer.

Secondly, the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer teaches us to praise God in our praying. It is far too easy to neglect to do that in our prayers, isn’t it? How often do we approach God in prayer as if we were presenting a shopping list of sorts? As Psalm 33:1 tells us, “Praise befits the upright” (ESV). We should praise God because it is fitting – it is the right thing to do. And we should remember to praise God in our prayers. In doing so, we remind ourselves of who it is that we are praying to in the first place. What an encouragement that would be to us in prayer!

Last but not least, the conclusion to the Lord’s prayer teaches us to testify to our desire and our assurance to be heard by God in our prayers by adding the simple word “Amen.” That word has the idea of saying “Let it be so.” The better we conform our praying to the Lord’s will as expressed in this model prayer, the more easily we will be able to add our “amen” to it!

I hope (and pray!) that you have found this brief series of studies through the Lord’s prayer to be helpful, and to be an encouragement to you in prayer. May the Lord Jesus teach us more and more to pray in accordance with this great pattern prayer – Amen!

Deliver Us From Evil (The Lord’s Prayer – Part X)

In our study through the Lord’s Prayer we now come to the last part of the last request, which is “. . . deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). What are we being taught to pray here? What does it mean for us to ask our heavenly Father to “deliver us from evil”?

First (as always), we need to keep the context in view. This request is very closely-related to what precedes it. In the previous requests the Lord Jesus has just taught us to ask for forgiveness (v.12), and for grace to avoid temptation in the first place, so as to not keep on sinning in the same ways (v.13a); now he teaches us to ask for deliverance from evil (v.13b). There is a clear progression of thought in these verses.

Sometimes we set ourselves up by not avoiding the occasion to temptation and sin. We allow ourselves to go to places or spend time with certain people that we know full well will give us cause to stumble. And yet we often fail to avoid those things. Many times that is our first mistake, isn’t it? We’ve all been there at one time or another, no doubt. Have you ever heard the saying, “Bad company corrupts good morals”? (It is based on 1 Corinthians 15:33.) Is there a place or a person(s) that you know that you need to avoid for this reason? It is not without reason that we are taught to pray not to be led into temptation.

But sometimes there is just no getting around temptation. Have you ever been there? Have you ever found yourself staring temptation right in the face, even if through no fault of your own? What are you to do then? Here’s an idea: pray. It is right here toward the end of the Lord’s prayer. We must pray to be delivered from evil. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way:

“Q.106. What do we pray for in the sixth petition? A. In the sixth petition, which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.”

We need to pray for the Lord’s support and deliverance when we are tempted.  We should not just think of “evil” as consisting in things such as suffering or even Satan himself (although it certainly includes those things), but also our own propensity and inclination toward sin. We are to “watch and pray” lest we enter into temptation (Mark 14:38), but when we do enter into temptation, we need to pray for God’s help and deliverance.

And none of us are sufficient for these things on our own. Which is why this request is in the first person plural (as are the others before it in v.11-13). We must pray that the Lord would deliver “us” (not just “me”) from evil. Do you pray for your brothers and sisters in the Lord this way? May the Lord’s prayer teach us to pray not just for ourselves, but others as well, to be delivered from evil.

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART IX)

In our brief study through the Lord’s Prayer we now come to the sixth request, which is “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13) . Sometimes the first half of that verse is thought to be a separate request from the latter half, and so “deliver us from evil” would then be the seventh request. Either way you slice it, the two parts are very closely-related. Simply for the sake of space, we will consider each half separately.

I must confess that I grew up reciting and praying the Lord’s Prayer in church from as far back as I can remember in my childhood. But in all that time I don’t think that I ever gave it enough thought to ask the obvious question – why do I need to ask God not to lead me into temptation? Does God ever actually lead his people into temptation? If not, is this request in the Lord’s Prayer superfluous? If so, then in what way can it be said that God does that? And why?

First things first – this request is not redundant; it is there for a reason. So we must conclude that in some way God may at times lead us into temptation. But the Scriptures are very clear that God tempts no one. James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (ESV). No ambiguity there – God tempts no one. Period.

The account of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness may prove helpful here. Matthew 4:1 says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (ESV). So the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the place of temptation. But who did the tempting? The devil. To be led into temptation is to be tested. To actually tempt is to try to cause someone to commit sin. There is a big difference between those two things. God’s goal in testing is never to cause sin. Satan’s goal in temptation is always to cause sin.

The Lord Jesus Christ passed the test in the wilderness that Adam failed in the garden of Eden (Genesis chapter 3), and that we all fail on a regular basis. Jesus was tempted in every way, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). That is why sinners can be saved by the “precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot ” (1 Peter 1:19, ESV).

If we would sincerely pray, “Forgive us our debts” (Matthew 6:12), then we must also ask the Lord to keep us from temptation so that we do not just keep on committing those very same sins. A.W. Pink writes,

” . . .past sins being pardoned, we should pray fervently for grace to prevent us from repeating them. We cannot rightly desire God to forgive us our sins unless we sincerely long for grace to abstain from the like in the future.” (The Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer, p.117)

To desire forgiveness of a sin while not also desiring to be kept from that sin is nothing short of hypocrisy. And so the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray for forgiveness of our debts or trespasses, and also to pray for God to keep us from the temptation to sin as well.

FORGIVING OUR DEBTORS (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART VIII)

The fifth request found in the Lord’s Prayer is “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, KJV). It is all too easy to focus our attention on the first part of that request (i.e. “forgive us our debts”), while giving little or no thought to what follows (“as we forgive our debtors”). We looked at the first part in our previous post, and so it is the latter part of this request that we will consider together here.

The Bible repeatedly reminds us of the need to forgive one another. There must be a reason for that! And so this part of the Lord’s Prayer serves as a reminder that forgiveness will be necessary. And it will be necessary because we all still sin against each other. Sometimes we will be the one sinned against; sometimes the shoe will be on the other foot and we will be the offending party. (Frankly, each of us probably fits the latter description more often than we might care to admit.)

This holds true in marriage. One of my favorite books on marriage is titled, When Sinners Say “I Do”, by Dave Harvey. The title alone speaks volumes, and is instructive. Even the most godly marriage imaginable is still a marriage between two sinners (even if forgiven, redeemed sinners). And so forgiveness will often be necessary. Harvey repeats one statement a number of times throughout the book: “Forgiven sinners forgive sin.” In some ways that is a good summary of this part of the Lord’s Prayer.

This also holds true in churches. Do you expect to find a perfect church? A church that is without sin? Good luck with that. In fact, the church this side of heaven is made up entirely of sinners. In this life every believer in Christ is a forgiven sinner, even a sanctified sinner (!), but still a sinner nonetheless. Put enough of those sinners in close proximity for long enough, and some sparks are bound to fly! And so we pray together as the Lord Jesus taught us, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

So when (not if!) we are sinned against, we must learn to forgive. And we must forgive as Christ has forgiven us (Colossians 3:13). Likewise when we sin against someone else, we must be quick to repent, and seek out forgiveness and reconciliation with them.

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, may the joy of being freely forgiven of all of your sins, lead you more and more to freely forgive others as well.

Forgive Us Our Debts (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART VII)

The fifth request found in the Lord’s Prayer is “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, KJV). There is so much packed into that one seemingly-simple request, that we will need to unpack its meaning and application over the course of more than one study. (So consider this as part one of a two-part study of this particular request in the Lord’s Prayer.)

Perhaps the first thing that we should learn from this request and its inclusion in the model prayer that the Lord Jesus taught us to pray is that we actually need forgiveness. If we need to ask for forgiveness, that necessarily means that we are sinners, doesn’t it? In fact, Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (KJV). How many have sinned? All. How many have therefore “come short of the glory of God”? All. Every last one of us.

And in this request our sins are referred to as “debts.” Sin puts us in debt to God. Being in debt to another person is bad enough, but being in debt to God should be a sobering thought for anyone! What every person owes to God as his or her Creator is obedience – perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience. But ever since the fall of mankind in Adam’s sin (Genesis chapter 3) we have all failed to obey God, and have transgressed his holy law in more ways and more often than we can even begin to comprehend. Our debt of sin is un-repayable by us. It makes our ever-mounting national debt seem like chump change in comparison. And so we desperately need forgiveness.

What is forgiveness? The word “forgive” in Matthew 6:12 has the idea of sending something away or removing it. It brings to mind the imagery of the “scapegoat” found in Leviticus 16:7-22. There we are told that two goats were to be used as a sin offering – one goat would be killed as a sacrifice to the Lord (v.15), while the other goat (the scapegoat), after having the sins of the people confessed over it, would be sent away into the wilderness (v.21), bearing the sins of the people far, far away, never to return.

Those two goats together picture for us the work of Jesus Christ on the cross in both making atonement for sin, and in carrying our sins far away from us. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (KJV). The reason that we can ask God for forgiveness of our sins is only because the debt of our sin has been paid in full by the only one capable of paying it – through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And forgiveness is not something that we just need to ask for from God at the beginning of the Christian life, but will continue to be an ongoing (even daily!) need in the lives of all believers. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that in this life we will never outgrow our need to continually ask God for forgiveness. (And so the Lord’s Prayer clearly rules out any idea of perfectionism!)

Praying for the forgiveness of our sins should also be a regular part of both private and corporate prayer (i.e. praying with other believers in groups as well as in public worship). After all, it does say, “forgive us our debts,” not just ‘forgive me my debts.’

I sincerely hope that you know the joy and peace that only come through the forgiveness of sins, and which is freely offered to you through faith in Jesus Christ. There is nothing else in this world that can relieve a troubled conscience like the knowledge that, in Christ, a holy God has freely forgiven all of your sins!

OUR DAILY BREAD (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART VI)

We now come to the fourth request found in the Lord’s Prayer, which is “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In this part of the Lord’s Prayer we are instructed to pray for the provision of our daily needs, the necessities of life (i.e. food, clothing, shelter, etc.). Bread represents the most basic staple of food needed in order to sustain life.

The idea of the Lord providing “daily bread” brings to mind the manna (or bread from heaven) that the Lord miraculously provided to the children of Israel for 40 years during the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16:35).The manna was not only miraculous provision, but it was also provided daily, with the exception of the Sabbath (Exodus 16:26). A double-portion was to be collected the day before the Sabbath. Think about that. What a picture of dependence upon the Lord!

And so by instructing us to pray for our daily bread, the Lord Jesus is clearly teaching us that we too are dependent upon God, even for our daily needs. If truth be told, everyone is still just as dependent upon God for their daily needs as those Israelites were during those 40 years in the desert, and in our prayers we should acknowledge that dependence.

It is all too easy to overlook this simple truth. When things are going well, and you are living comfortably, it is easy to forget that all that you have is a gift of God. No matter how hard you may work, no matter how successful you may be, at the end of the day, you are still utterly and completely dependent upon God for everything. But do you pray that way?

Likewise, even when things are not going so well, even when you have no earthly idea how you are going to make ends meet, it is surprisingly easy to forget that you are entirely dependent upon God to meet your needs. You might think that being in need would make it much easier to acknowledge one’s dependence upon God, but how many of us in those situations fail to pray, or treat prayer as a last resort? It is not without reason that the Scripture says, “ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2, KJV).

And notice that there is nothing inherently “unspiritual” (whatever that means) about praying for your daily needs. The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer, given to us so that we might better understand how to pray, and one of the main things that we are taught to pray is for our “daily bread.” To be sure, it is not the first thing or the top priority on the list (that is that the Lord’s name would be “hallowed” or revered – Matthew 6:9), but it is certainly included.

So let us learn to pray for our daily bread, and may we be quick to give thanks to the Lord for providing for our daily needs, whether we have a little or a lot.

THY WILL BE DONE (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART V)

In our brief series going through the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4), we now come to the third request, which is “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (v.10). This is closely-related to the previous request (“Thy kingdom come” – v.10). After all, one of the primary ways that a king’s kingdom is manifested is in his will being done. The one must lead to the other.

What does it mean to pray for the Lord’s will to be done? It means (as Jesus goes on to tell us in v.10), that His will would be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” How is God’s will done in heaven? Perfectly. Perpetually. Personally. That is how the angels themselves do the will of God in heaven! They obey Him perfectly. There is no disobedience or sin in heaven. None. (That is part of what makes heaven, well, heaven!) They obey Him perpetually. In other words, they do His will at all times. Always. And they obey Him personally. They live to serve the LORD and do His will.

That has important implications for those who confess the name of Christ and who would sincerely pray the Lord’s prayer. If you are going to pray for the Lord’s will to be done on earth, that has to start with His will being done in your own life, doesn’t it?

But what does that entail? It means first of all that we humbly submit to and accept His will in whatever He sends our way in this life. That is to pray as Jesus Himself prayed in the garden of Gethsemane – “not as I will, but as You will” (NIV). To pray this way requires that we trust God that His will is good, and that He knows what He is doing (even when we ourselves do not). Do you pray that way? Do you pray for the Lord’s will to be done in your life, even in times of trial or suffering? The Lord “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11, ESV). All things. And so He alone is worthy of our trust at all times.

It also means that we must seek to do the will of the Lord in our own daily lives. And if we are praying for the Lord’s will to be done without a sincere desire and aim to do what the Lord has commanded in His Word, then we are just going through the motions in prayer. There is a word for that kind of thing – hypocrisy. As Jesus Himself said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46, NIV).

So let us learn to pray for the Lord’s will to be done, both in our own lives as well as in our families, our community, and even “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Thy Kingdom Come (The Lord’s Prayer – Part IV)

In our series about the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), we now come to the second request found in the prayer – “Thy kingdom come” (v.10). Much like the previous request (“Hallowed be Thy name” – v.9), this might not really sound much like a request, but that is precisely what it is. Another way of putting it would be to say, “Let your kingdom come.”

But what exactly does that mean? As brief as this request may be (only three words in English!), it is not necessarily all that easy to understand, is it?

Theologians have often distinguished between the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of glory. These are not two separate kingdoms, but rather are two aspects of one and the same kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The old Puritan writer, Thomas Watson notes that “they differ not in nature, but in degree only” (The Lord’s Prayer, p.59). In other words, the kingdom of grace is the present-day expression of rule of Christ, while the kingdom of glory is the future, final, and complete expression or manifestation of that very same rule. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way:

Q. 102. What do we pray for in the second petition? A. In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

So when we pray for the coming of the Lord’s kingdom of grace to come (i.e. this side of glory, before the return of Christ), we pray for things such as the destruction of Satan’s kingdom; the salvation of the lost; that sinners would be brought to repentance from sin, and faith in the Savior; that the Lord’s rightful reign would be more and more acknowledged by all; that his good and righteous commandments would be affirmed, upheld,and obeyed in all spheres of human life; and for the good news of the gospel to spread to the ends of the earth.

And when we pray for the coming of the kingdom of glory itself, we are then echoing the words of Revelation 22:20 – “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (KJV). To pray for that is to pray for the Lord himself to return in glory, to judge the living and the dead, and to rule in glory with his redeemed people forever in heaven. In that great day the words of Revelation 21:3-4 will finally become a reality:

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, 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. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” (ESV)

When you see it put that way, who wouldn’t want to pray, “Thy kingdom come”! May the Lord be pleased to teach you and I how to pray. And may he advance and hasten his kingdom in answer to the prayers of his people!

Hallowed Be Thy Name (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART III)

This is the third post in a brief series of blog posts about the Lord’s Prayer. As I pointed out previously, the Lord’s prayer is intended to be a pattern or model for believers to follow in prayer – it is given in order to teach us how to pray. In Matthew 6:9 the Lord Jesus introduces this pattern prayer by telling his disciples, “Pray then like this . . . .”

The fact that the Lord’s Prayer is given as a pattern or model prayer means that the Lord’s redeemed people can (and should!) learn any number of things about prayer by a thoughtful examination of its contents. There we learn what kinds of requests ought to be commonly mentioned in prayer. For example, we as believers are to pray that the will of our heavenly Father might be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). There we are also taught to pray for our daily bread (v.11), as well as for forgiveness (v.12). So those things should occupy a prominent place in our prayers.

But we can also learn a lot about prayer from the structure and order of the Lord’s Prayer. You may be familiar with the old adage, “first things first.” It means that some things have a higher priority than others. Well, what comes first in the Lord’s Prayer? It may surprise you. In Matthew 6:9 Jesus begins the prayer this way: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Now “hallowed be your name” may not sound much like a request, but that is exactly what it is. Another way of putting it would be to say, “Let your name be hallowed” (or revered as holy).

Think about that for a moment. The very first request in the Lord’s Prayer is that God’s name would be hallowed. In other words, the glory of God is to be the number one concern of the prayers of God’s people! It is not merely first in sequence, but in priority as well! That is no doubt a revolutionary thought for many in our day. How many of us actually pray that way? Is the glory of God at the top of your prayer list? It should be. Jesus himself says so!

May the Lord be pleased to teach you and I how to pray. And may his holy name be greatly glorified and hallowed in answer to the prayers of his people!