I took a week off after school got out to decompress.  It’s like my mind and heart are tightly wound, not as a ball of string, but as a ball of elastic.  If you snip an outer piece of string, no big deal.  If you snip an outer piece of elastic, get out of the way!  A lot begins to happen all at once, but still it only gets you so far.

Decompression—you might call it unraveling—takes time and patience and stillness, none of which come very naturally after having been “on” for months on end.  Before I taught full time, I would often take my vacation time in two week blocks because it seemed to take an entire week just to cut the elastic and release all that pent up tension; only then could I really relax, reflect, enjoy, bask in the quiet (during the first week, quiet is unnerving, uncomfortable and irritating—if you don’t know this, you will resort to “fixing” a problem which isn’t really a problem at all, but a healthy part of the solution).

We don’t do quiet well.  We don’t do stillness well.  So I want to look at some problems we often try to fix that aren’t really problems, but healthy parts of a solution that most people look right past.  It’s not that they’re invisible, really, they’re just ignored.

Humility would be a great place to start.  If you don’t see humility as a good thing, then the unraveling of your elastic ball, the “downward movement” of going there, is going to seem counter-productive.  The root of humility is humus, the rich, dark soil produced by decomposed animal and plant matter.  To be humble means to be of the earth, which is good because that’s how Genesis 2:7 says we were made:  “then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”

We tend to get ourselves into trouble when we neglect our “earthiness,” when we forget that we were formed from the soil of the earth.  What leads us to awe, however, is the last half of the verse which says that God took this formed earth and breathed His life into it—we are matter and we are spirit.

Any understanding of life, meaning and purpose that doesn’t take both into account is fatally flawed.  If we forget that we are “dust of the earth,” we find ourselves building towers in Babel and seeing ourselves as worthy of all praise, honor, power and authority (even when we don’t see ourselves this way individually, seeing all of humankind this way leads to just as much trouble, if not more).  On the other hand, if we forget the breath of God that resides within us, we become mere animals; we lose any capacity for nobility, conscience, morality, compassion, or even love itself.

I want to talk more about humility next time, but I also want to leave room for a little of the quiet and stillness I alluded to earlier.  Why not take a quiet moment right now?  It need not be a whole evening, or even an hour—why not just five minutes?  Don’t time it—let it turn into more if you want.  But find a quiet place and just reflect on the humility and dignity of being a man or woman made from the dust of the earth and inspired by the breath of God.

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What an excellent and inspiring way to close our reflections on the Lord’s Prayer!  None of what we have prayed for can come to fruition apart from God, the Creator and Redeemer of all things.  All reaches a glorious crescendo in this final reflection, as it lifts us again up and out of our own small (yet significant) lives and into the presence of our holy, transcendent Lord.  And of course, in the end, the glory that results from our praises and petitions accrues solely to the Trinity:  the Father whose Kingdom is eternal, the Son whose intercessions and affirmation are ever-present, and the Holy Spirit whose indwelling power and presence make genuine transformation possible,

But while it may close these reflections, I hope this is really just the beginning of yours.  As I said when we began, I like to pray and reflect on the Lord’s Prayer during long runs, so whenever I go out, I just jump right in and follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting.  But you can most certainly do the same while you walk or drive, or even as you get up or go to sleep at night—any time, any place will do!

Remember, too, this is a form for prayer, not a formula.  So every time I pray it, my prayers come out differently, depending on what’s going on in my life or in the world at the time.  I hope you’ve begun a beautiful journey here!  May God’s favor be upon you!  Amen—let it be so!

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY, FOREVER AND EVER.  AMEN.

We humbly ask these blessings of You, King of the Universe, because the eternal kingdom for which we pray is and always shall be Yours.  Yours too is the power to establish that kingdom, to bring it into being, to sustain and nourish it, to fortify and defend it this day and all days.  And having been established, Your kingdom will win for You eternal glory as You reign in majesty and dominion, power and authority for all time, amen—let it be so both now and forever.

If we really get the fact that as Christ-followers we are led people rather than driven people it will change our outlook on life forever.  It will change the way we connect to God, the way we relate to our families, the way we interact with our co-workers and clients—it will change our approach to every single day from the moment our feet first hit the floor in the morning.

Today’s post highlights this distinction: Lead us not into vs. Deliver us from.  First, notice the contrast in verbs: Lead vs. Deliver.  We are in far greater need of deliverance than we realize.  Deliverance isn’t just for people who get lost in Appalachian woods or for those whose heads spin as if on a swivel.  This world we live in is enemy territory, and while we are indeed to be battlers (see Ephesians 6), we are also in need of great deliverance.  Left to our own wits, abilities and resources we’re going to get creamed.

Second, notice the prepositions (I know, I know, this isn’t a grammar lesson—I promise to keep it simple!). Into vs. From.  As we just noted, we’re right in the thick of enemy territory.  Our prayer ought to consist not of being led deeper in, but of being set free from—or if you will, led out.

So our prayer today is essentially, following on the heels of my last post, “Don’t let us go charging headlong into a mess we’re completely unequipped for because we think we’re so tough, but rather deliver us from both the hubris of thinking too highly of ourselves, and from the blatant and disguised evils that surrounds us at every turn.”

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

As we walk in this humility, protect us from the Evil One, from him who seeks our destruction not so much because we are a threat to him but because we are instruments in the hand of the Creator and Redeemer of all things. Because we are agents of the King against whom he is a rebel and a traitor, we proclaim his soon-to-be utter and complete, eternal destruction.

We remember, O Great Deliverer, to offer our whole selves into Your ever just and capable hands. To You alone, not to any other person or entity, do we entrust ourselves.  May we always lean into You and not into our own strength and effort.  And here before Your shining face we leave our lives and selves, our dreams and callings, our hopes and fears, our desires and longings, our past, present and future, for You alone are trustworthy and true, faithful and just, merciful and forgiving.  No force can prevail against us, so long as we remain tethered to You.

I remember when I was 16 and learning to drive.  When I got my license I felt that, since I had logged quite a few hours behind the wheel and since I drove more or less the same roads most of the time, I pretty much had this driving thing nailed.  Then I pulled out in front of another driver on a residential street because I’d stopped being so diligent about looking at everything—everything—around me.  For several minutes I had to wait for my heart to stop racing.  I could hear the driver’s horn echoing in my head long after he had gone.  I thought I was a better driver than I was, got a little cocky, and it nearly got me into a wreck.

The same cockiness can creep up on us spiritually too.  Let’s face it: relishing the presence of God, basking in His goodness and light, offering ourselves to His provision, confessing and being forgiven—it can go to our heads.

That arrogance can lead us to take chances we shouldn’t because we think we’re stronger than we are, or more mature than we are, or immune to temptations that once would have thrown us.  All sorts of problems can come our way when we think we’re better, stronger, more mature than we really are.  We forget to stay dependent; we forget to abide in Christ (John 15).  We rush on out ahead of Him and think more highly of ourselves than we ought.  Next  thing you know, our lives are a wreck.

Maybe your situation is different than mine; maybe this part of our prayer—lead us not into temptation—means something different to you.  So be it!  If you feel led to take a different tack with this part of our reflection, go for it!  This shouldn’t be a hard and fast formula—let it fit your own life and circumstances.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

And now, having confessed our sins, received of Your abundant mercy, and entered into the freedom of grace, shield us against the pride of thinking ourselves better than we are.  Give us grace to remember how great was our sin and how prone (and how eager) we are to fall into it again.  May we remember Your great love that separated our sins from us as far as the east is from the west, as far as the heavens are above the earth.  “How great the Father’s love for us!”  Let us walk by faith that fine line between not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought and marveling at the stupendous heights to which we have been called—to think we are now the very children of God!

Do not throw us—or let us blindly plunge—into waters too deep for us, but let us always cast ourselves upon Your everlasting arms.

[Where are you most prone to get “cocky” about your own abilities and forget God?]

Once we’ve been offended or violated in some way, the walls begin to go up pretty quickly, don’t they?  And walls don’t normally appear out of nowhere; they arise one small brick at a time.  Most of us, when thinking of forgiving those who sin against us, think of the big sins, the criminal offenses that no one could blame us for harboring grievances over.

I suspect, though, it’s really the small, petty, boring sins that are the greater threat to our souls.  More often than not, the temptation to squirrel away a little resentment here and a little bitterness there is hard to resist—it even feels natural.  Before you know it, though, we’ve built for ourselves a wall.

Ironically, the very barriers we erect to protect ourselves from future harm also isolate us from intimacy with others in the present.  That’s the nature of walls:  they don’t merely keep enemies out; they keep everything and everyone out.

However, when we work forgiveness into the daily rhythm of our lives by recognizing and naming the smaller sins committed against us, we can re-purpose those bricks.  We find that we can use them to pave a smoother road of reconciliation and community than to erect a wall of isolation.

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US

It would again be foolish and short-sighted of us to cry out for our own forgiveness while neglecting to forgive those who have sinned against us.  Make us mindful, Lord, of those against whom we hold grudges and resentments; make us courageous enough to face the wrongs done to us, whether intentional or not.  Let us fools bear with the foolishness of others.  Let us acknowledge the seething hurt, disappointment, anger and resentment that reside within us because of others’ sins against us.  These have birthed in us judgmental spirits and hardness of heart.  We offer You our wounds, O Crucified One—we refuse to cherish or nurse them.  We surrender our desire for vengeance and retaliation; enable us, Faithful God, to see our very own face in the face of those who have sinned against us, so that we can remember how prone we ourselves are to wound others.

[Call to mind specific sins committed against you or wounds you have suffered at the hands of others, large or small, intentional or unintentional.]

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C.S. Lewis relates the story of Eustace Scrubb, a young boy who becomes “hard” due to his greed and meanness toward others, and so he turns into a dragon.  (You’ve met some of these yourself, it’s just that they don’t look very dragon-ish on the outside!  You may even be one–yikes!)  But Eustace cannot strip off his hide one layer at a time, it’s not so easy as that.  In order to be set free of his dragon-hide, Eustace needs Aslan to strip it off–and he has to go clear down, through the whole thickness of the hide.  But first, Eustace will have to consent.  (It’s a great story–read the rest of it sometime!)

In just the same way, forgiveness isn’t a road we can walk entirely on our own–it requires grace.  Just as when we pray for the Kingdom to come just “as it is” in Heaven, we’re looking for the Kingdom that already IS in Heaven to be established here on Earth where it IS NOT, at least not fully (or we wouldn’t have to pray for it!).  Here too, when we pray to be forgiven, we do so knowing not only that we need to be forgiven, but that our forgiveness rests on our forgiveness of those who have sinned against us (more on that, of course, tomorrow).

The road to wholeness is the road of repentance.  John the Baptist’s message was to “prepare the way of the Lord.”  We can understand this in two ways: first, John is himself preparing the way by preaching his message of repentance, but secondly, it’s the people of Israel he’s speaking to!  They are to prepare the way of the Lord into their own hearts and lives by repenting, rejecting the trajectory they were on and aiming instead for the Kingdom.  Repentance is the road to be traveled, and no one finds their way to the Kingdom apart from that road.

So as we reflect on this petition today, let’s be courageous enough to let God show us our hearts (Psalm 139:23-24).

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Let’s allow God to show us our hearts, so we can have our own dragon-hides removed, and so we can clearly see where and whom we need to forgive.

AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES

Many times we have shown ourselves foolish and have fallen prey to weakness, temptation and pride.  We have thought of ourselves over others and even sought out ways to satisfy ourselves at others’ expense.  We have judged others, indulged our biases and prejudices, acted in proud and selfish ways both for our own “benefit” and in our neglect of others.  And we have failed to act, we have failed to step in on behalf of the poor, the downtrodden, the victims, the weak and the powerless.  We have come up short in our families; we have not been the husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, children and siblings we could have been and should have been.  We have missed opportunities daily for serving and loving those precious others you have made in Your own image because we have been pre-occupied with our own lives and circumstances.  And even in our prayers to You our minds and hearts have focused on ourselves over others.  In daily and countless ways we have sinned against You, Creator of heaven and earth and Father of all.  Have mercy on us, O God.

[Name specific personal failures and relationships that need healing because of your own sin, neglect and/or hard-heartedness.]

Here we are, Day 8, and this is the first time we’ve prayed for something personal!  Have you ever noticed that in the Lord’s Prayer we never pray for ourselves individually?  All we see are plural pronouns: us, we, our.  This is a profound lesson for 21^st century American Christ-followers.  We are members of one another, and our lives intersect and overlap one another’s in ways we may never see.  When you flourish in your endeavors, struggle against despair, or cave in to temptation, in some sense we all have a share in that.  In some mysterious way, we truly share a life together.  Your struggle with pornography or your secret generosity really affect your brothers and sisters in Christ; all you do affects the spiritual health and temperature of the Church.

Well, back to today!  When we pray for “our daily bread” we are, of course, praying for far more than just food.  Food is a poor substitute for truth.  For genuine sustenance, for nourishment not just of our bodies but our souls, we need to feed on God’s word.  Jesus replied to Satan’s temptation in the desert with God’s word from Deuteronomy 8:3:  “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Ahead of us today are all sorts of trials, temptations, worries, concerns and opportunities.  As we walk through the day in His Spirit, let us be mindful of Christ’s provision for us in every encounter, every smile, every tear, every challenge.  He is our daily bread, our bread of life.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

And even as You fill our hearts with visions of glory, even as You in the person, presence and power of the Holy Spirit lend strength of will and purpose to those whom You have made, give us all we need to walk our road in this present age, in this our one earthly life.  Give us all the resources we need to follow You fully, devotedly, and passionately.  Mindful of Your eternal power, goodness and love, we offer ourselves and our ways to You, for we are but dust shaped by Your divine hand, with life breathed into us by You, the Author of all creation.  The Author of all creation, who spoke worlds into existence, has breathed life into our bodies and souls.  We are Your humble creatures, inspired dust, God-shaped clay, utterly and wholly dependent upon You.

We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from Your holy mouth.  Give us this day all we need in order to join forces with you, to be your image-bearers, those who act in accordance with your will and purposes, for we are not men and women capable of such.  All we have we owe to You, and therefore we ask for the courage, faith, boldness, hope and vision of Jesus in the living out of our daily lives.

[What are the specific challenges or responsibilities you need grace for today?  Make them your offering today.]

Who can even imagine Heaven?  The best we can hope for is a good analogy, so how about this:  Heaven is like a musical composition.  If you try to write it all down, capturing every instrument’s part and every nuance of musical dynamics, the end result looks endlessly complex–you see a lot of pieces, but you lose sight of the whole.  But when you hear the piece actually played as a single composition, it’s unified, seamless, an immersion in beauty.

We’re so blinded by the world we do know, we cannot even conceive of Heaven—and yet when we pray for God’s will to be done on Earth, we ask for it to be modeled upon what exists in a realm we cannot even imagine—now that’s boldness!  As the Apostle Paul wrote: “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

So we may not be able to pray with precise words for God’s will to be done “as it is in Heaven,” but we can rely on the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, to intercede with us and to speak through us, so we listen in on the music of Heaven instead of getting lost in the individual pieces.

AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

This very moment You reign supreme—over the angels in heaven, over the sun, moon and stars, and over this Earth.  You reign, indeed, over all You have made.  But in the heavens Your rule is established in all its fullness.  You reign in the eternal present where nothing is past, nothing is yet to be, but all simply is, and is as it ought to be.  That rule, that reign, is the deepest longing of our hearts, and we yearn for it to be established among us even now.  May we be emissaries of this Kingdom and act for its fulfillment.  Give us a vision of Your kingdom as it is so that we may surrender our goals and aspirations to Yours.  May You be our vision of all that can, should, and ought to be.  Let Your glory reside in and emanate from all You have made.  And as Your glory fills us, and all of Creation round about us, may we be transformed as we wait for the Day on which You will return to us.  Correct and train all our imaginings.  Fill our hearts and minds not only with the vision of Your kingdom established among us, but with longing for it as well, so that our wills may be joined to Yours.  Raise us up to You as You indwell us.  Grant that our imaginings and longings will be loftier, nobler and holier than they could otherwise be.  Transport us into the heavenly realms so that, descending to the here and now, we may, like Moses, bear the light of glory on our faces and live in such a way that Your heavenly kingdom be established here on Earth just as it is in Heaven.

“Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the Earth”

                                                                                                ~Psalm 74:12 NRSV

So why pray in one breath for God’s Kingdom to come and in the next for His will to be done?  Aren’t they essentially the same thing?  Simply put, God’s Kingdom is where He rules, but God’s will is what He intends.  What does He intend for the world?  And if He met with greater faith in His wanderings through the world, what exactly would He be doing?  Rest assured it’s more humble and less cutting edge than you think!

And what about you?  Does He rule in you?  Are you aware of what He intends for you?  I mean, beyond some vague, nebulous sense of being meant for eternal life, do you know what He intends for you?  How would your life be different if you were more that person than the one you are today?

Dallas Willard said in The Spirit of the Disciplines that the nearest and best synonym for “salvation” is “life.”  So what would more abundant God-life look like if it were manifest in you and in the world around you?  Can you enter into that life?  Can you be a vessel of that life today?

This Christ-life is meant for now.  It’s about far more than just holding on until He returns—as if the one aim of life was holding on until we get to eternity!  Eternity is now, friends!  You are not far from the Kingdom of God!  He has already invaded this world in Christ.  It’s rather like D-Day:  once the Allies established a beachhead in France the war was essentially over, but there were a whole lot of battles yet to be fought.  Ever since the Resurrection of Jesus, the war is over, but yes, there are indeed a whole lot of battles yet to be fought.  Merely holding on until we reach Heaven is no way to live when God’s Kingdom of love, joy, peace, grace and strength are near to us right now!

THY WILL BE DONE

Lord, as Your kingdom comes, as Your reign is established, let Your will and purposes be accomplished therein.  May all those who are called by Your Name bend the knee in allegiance and devotion to You.  May “the obedience of faith” be our hallmark.  We surrender to Your will, sacrificing our own wills on the altar of obedience.  As You come and indwell us, rule in us to accomplish Your purposes.  Give us the grace to join our wills to Yours as we offer them in Your service.  Send forth legions of angels to do battle in the heavenly realms so that Your people’s way would be leveled.  Then let Your people wage their own battle to enter fully and joyfully and readily into the Land that is Promised.  Lord, let all this world’s systems, all nations, all governments, all rulers, all people, all families, and all of nature itself be what You have ordained them to be; let Your will and Your purposes be accomplished everywhere and at all times.  And may Your people, Your Church, stand for Your purposes and protect, honor and defend them with boldness, courage, faith and hope.  May we love Your purposes and, led by Your Spirit, enjoy the grace to work with You until all their clarity and brilliance is established.  Have mercy upon us as we set about Your work, for it is You who are at work in us.    And we recognize as well that you are about purposes far larger and far beyond than ourselves.  May these larger purposes of Yours be extended and fulfilled throughout all Creation.

[Beginning with the most global concerns you are aware of, invite God to accomplish His purposes in those places and/or issues.  Then think nationally.  Then of your community and neighborhood.  Then, not least, pray for the unity and purity of the Church—not just your local church, but the entire Church of Jesus Christ.]