Don't Waste These Sorrows

We are now seven weeks into this Covid quarantine and chomping at the bit to get back to life as we knew it, for the restrictions to be lifted, and for our freedoms to be restored. 
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Yet while I too, would love some things to get back to “normal”, I can sense the Holy Spirit urging us not to waste this moment by longing for what we don’t yet have. This is a unique moment, that contains unique, holy purposes of God. Don’t miss it.

It's Time to Get Oil! 

I wrote about this from a different angle in last month’s blog, but let me caution us all, don’t waste this moment, don’t come out of this quarantine time like the five foolish virgins who didn’t get oil when they could, then didn’t have it when they needed it (Mt 25). This is a moment to embrace the deep transformative things that God wants to do, in the Church, but also in our lives.

A prophet said to me last week that his greatest fear is that we would come out of Covid the same as we went in-- that we would have squandered this trial. I so agree!

Shaping Us Into Houses of Prayer

On of the Holy Spirit’s top priorities during this time (for those who will receive His workings) is the creation of a much stronger life of prayer. He’s giving us the time to pray and a great reason to pray, He’s also giving us a grace, an empowerment, for those who will receive it, to build muscles in prayer where there has just been flab, or where muscles have atrophied. While there are some other important areas that He is working on in our lives as well, I want to zero in on how we can cooperate with Him as He reshapes us personally into houses of prayer. 

​The only way to access His empowerment to pray, that is—His grace—to pray, is to acknowledge our need. He gives grace to the humble, not the self-sufficient, and we were never meant to pray without His Spirit helping us (Rom 8:26). 

But acknowledging our need is not enough, we must humble ourselves to receive His help. If we are trying to develop our prayer lives, yet doing it on our own steam, while we can set aside more time, we quickly bump into the reality that we don’t actually know how to fill that time.

Let's Learn From Jesus

We’ve grasped the idea that we need to talk to God, but don’t know how to line up our desires, our words, our requests with His, nor do we know how to stay steadfastly in that place, we find our minds wander, our emotions overwhelm us, our short attention spans are revealed. Prayer becomes a rambling “stream of consciousness”. Then on top of that all, our lack of self-discipline makes a consistent daily, investment in prayer a very real challenge.  

We need more than to know that we should pray, or to even be aware of all the prayer needs in this Covid time— right now we need the Lord himself to apprentice us in prayer. 

When His followers asked to be taught in prayer (Lu 11:2), they we actually asking to be personally apprenticed in prayer, not just get some tips. He responded to them as He responds to we who are asking for this same tutoring today, with a resounding “yes!”  From there He gave them, (and by extension, anyone coming after them who wanted to have a prayer life like His) - the Lord’s Prayer.
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I believe, that this is a prayer that matters like never before, and it is a key for this season.  Here are some of my reasons:

1. It Guides Us Through the Chaos

It charts a path through the chaos of emotions that are overwhelming us. Everything that the world (and in some cases, the Church) has built its security on is shaking, and it’s the entire world, not just a region, there is no where to go to escape. Fear, anger, suspicion, despair, depression are rampant, we can’t control when they will derail us. We can’t cure our hearts by admonishing them not to fear, we need to fix our thoughts on the one that can use a storm as a stage, who walks on water to save us (Mt 14:23-27).

​Praying the Lord’s Prayer takes our eyes off of the wind and the waves, reminds us of the greatness of His name, His kingdom, the goodness of His will, His promise of provision and His deliverance. It leads us higher than just praying out of the swirl of emotion into the peace of trust, into His love and presence.

2. It's Accessible 

This prayer is a perfect onramp for beginners, yet deep enough for the mature. Many are turning to prayer who haven’t made this area of their spiritual walk something that they have previously cultivated. Perhaps they have been strong in serving, in teaching or in evangelism, but they have left prayer to, well… “the prayer people”. Now new muscles are needed and it turns out to be a bit more challenging than we expected. 

The Lord’s Prayer, prayed through using each phrase or petition as a thought to explore and apply to our lives, (and the lives of those around us) as the Spirit leads us, give us a framework that walk us through the most important issues we face. The petitions are set in a strategic order, so the prayer takes us somewhere, every step tethered to God’s heart and kingdom. Here we are guided by His wise coaching. 

​As you lean into this, you find you can’t outgrow the Lord’s Prayer, it remains the prayer that teaches us to pray regardless if you have been in intercession for decades or are just venturing into this arena.

3) It's the Prayer of Unity 

In this hour where we are all isolated, we long for connections with the rest of the Body of Christ more than ever. We’re thankful for the ways we can connect virtually using technologies, but there is a deeper union with the global Body of Christ that we touch as we pray the prayer that is being prayed all over the globe, in every language which has encountered the gospel, across the wide spectrum of denominations. Praying this very same prayer, believing for the very same things, brings a deep union and solidarity which comforts us in a profound way. 

​But it’s not just the Church that is alive right now, as we pray this prayer, we are uniting with those that have gone before who faced the most chaotic times of plague, persecution and calamity. They too, in wisdom, prayed this prayer, and so we in a sense, join their prayer meeting. By doing this, we are honouring our fathers and mothers in the faith, and drawing from the good roots of the Church that God has cultivated through the centuries.

4) It Teaches Us the Gospel

In an age where the gospel has been twisted and distorted in so many ways, praying the Lord’s Prayer reaffirms its goodness and truth.

The three opening petitions (Your name be hallowed, Your kingdom come, Your will be done) takes us off of the throne of our lives. The repentance of “forgive us our sins”, draws us back to the cross and the need for deep sanctification and holiness in all areas. The petition of "give us this day our daily bread", centres us in the truth of our daily need for Jesus the Bread of Heaven, as well as His word and His presence, cultivating dependance on Him even before we ask for our needs of provision. 

I’m only scratching the surface on the myriad of ways the Lord’s Prayer pulls us into the gospel, but remember it’s the gospel that brings transformation, not our efforts of self-improvement. We can’t save ourselves from any sin or stronghold, we are not the Saviour, we never will be. Pauls’s words to the Romans are: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Rom 1:16).

​Paul then continues to teach that this salvation is the ongoing work of transformation of our lives through sanctification. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1:18)

5) God Wants Us to Pray Prayers He Can Answer 

Of course the big mic drop is that the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that is answered.
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The petitions we pray are answered and the longing to be discipled to pray like He prays is also answered. He is near, He hears us, and He’s given us a gift of a a global pause to build up a lifestyle of prayer in His presence that will be worth so much more than gold in the days to come.

Friends, may we not waste this holy time!

​By Sara Maynard

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NEED SOME HELP?
Would you like more help learning how to pray the Lord's Prayer in a way that invigorates your prayer life?!  Don't forget our excellent resource of Sara's recent book, The Prayer of All Prayers!

It's also available as an e-book (on Kindle) through Amazon, and perfect for small groups to study together.