WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday February 16, 2020
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KINGDOM-SEEKING PRAYERS AND FASTING
(Pray to live as citizens of GOD’s coming Kingdom)
(Matthew 6:9-18)
In the previous lesson (Matthew 6:1-8) we addressed the subject of “having the correct attitude towards giving sacrificially” to GOD, and, to each other as Christians living here on earth, under GOD. We have to be “spiritual minded” if we are to truly “follow JESUS” into eternity.
Most people today are more interested in “playing church” than they are in “building GOD’s Church in their hearts”. They are satisfied with living life as “hypocrites” before men, seeking earthly accolades and rewards for what they do publicly as a means of “self-promotion”. In the previous passage JESUS warned against “giving for the purpose of promoting one’s self”.
JESUS also warned us in the previous passage about praying as hypocrites pray, desiring only to “pray in public” while our private life is totally absent of any communications with GOD, whatsoever (Vs.5-7). As I stated last week, “the effectiveness of prayer” is based on “the righteousness of the petitioner”. And so, here in verses 9-13, JESUS takes time out to address the request from HIS disciples, “LORD, teach us how to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). What we’ll now do, is learn what is encompassed in this brilliant “blueprint” on how we, as CHRIST-followers, should present our petitions before GOD.
However, before we get into details, there are certain general facts that should be noted. First of all, this passage represents a guideline by which we should pattern our daily prayers, and is indeed, a petition guide that only a true disciple of GOD can follow consistently. By that I mean, only a person who is truly committed to GOD can pray this prayer with any meaning, or effectiveness.
This is not a “child’s prayer” per-say, as it has often been stated in our society, but rather, it is a prayer for those who have reached an age of accountability. It is only out of the heart of a person who is truly committed to GOD, that this prayer can realize its full meaning and effectiveness. And with that said, let us now analyze this terse, but brilliant petition guideline that was handed down to us by CHRIST JESUS that day, on the slopes of the Mount of Beatitudes, in far-off Palestine.
The first line of our prayer should identify WHO it is addressed to, and that of course is; “Our FATHER WHO art in Heaven”. Next, we see the proceeding three lines in this blueprint acknowledges GOD the FATHER and HIS glory; “Hollowed be THY name. THY kingdom comes. THY will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven”. These kind of statements express how blessed the name of the LORD is, and our desire for earth to reflect the ways of GOD’s Kingdom, and, they express our personal desire for this earthly realm to become 100% obedient to GOD the FATHER, just like it is in heaven.
And so, we see that, in our prayers, we must first acknowledge GOD the FATHER as being in the supreme place in our hearts, and, in HIS universe. This must be done before we turn to ourselves, and our own needs, which GOD already knows about anyway (v.8). Only when GOD is given HIS proper place in our lives, will everything else in our lives fall into place.
Then, the next three lines in this blueprint have to do with our needs. They deal with “the three essential needs” of all mankind, be they rich or poor, and no matter what their race, creed, sex, or national origin may be. These three essential needs are “maintenance of life”, “forgiveness”, and “help with temptation”.
These three lines also deal with the three spheres in time through which every man, woman, and child must travel, “the past”, “the present”, and, “the future”. “GOD the FATHER” assigns HIMSELF with the task of providing for our “presence” (our daily bread), GOD the SON, JESUS CHRIST, has the task of “forgiving our past” through HIS vicarious sacrifice (forgiveness of our sinful past), and GOD the HOLY SPIRIT is assigned with the task of leading and guiding us into a future of obedience to GOD.
The whole GODHEAD is busy watching over us, every second of every day, and so, here in this passage JESUS is saying that, the whole GODHEAD, or “TRINITY”, must be acknowledged in our daily prayers. “Give us this day our daily bread” turns our thoughts to “GOD the FATHER”, our CREATOR and constant SUSTAINER of all of life. This line brings our needs of “the present” to the Throne of GOD.
“And forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors” turns our thoughts to “GOD the SON”, our LORD and SAVIOR, and GOD-appointed, ultimate JUDGE. This line brings our “past” before the Throne of GOD. And finally, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” turns our thoughts to “GOD the HOLY SPIRIT”, our GOD-appointed COMFORTER, STRENGHTHENER, and GUIDE. This line commits our “future” into the hands of GOD.
And so, we see in this “prayer blueprint” from JESUS, that, HE is actually teaching us how to lay “the present”, “the past”, and “the future”, at the mercy and grace of GOD in Heaven, in our prayers. Here HE, quite literally, instructs us on how to bring “the whole of life” (the present, the past, and the future) to “the whole of GOD” (GOD the FATHER, GOD the SON, and GOD the HOLY SPIRIT), and “the whole of GOD, to “the whole of man”.
Prayer should never be an attempt to “bend the Will of GOD”, but rather, it should always be aimed towards “submitting ours wills” to “the Will of GOD”. And then we should “fast” on a regular basis, to teach us how to maintain discipline and self-control over our own bodies, minds, and “human spirits”, willing to sacrificially “give up” for while, even the two things that we “need” to sustain life (food or water).
Giving up porn, the internet, shopping, TV, cell phones, etc. is not “fasting”. We don’t need those things to live anyway, and so those things are not necessary to maintaining life. True fasting is being willing to give up for a period, “things that we need”, not “things that we greedily, or sinfully desire”. We have to train ourselves how to “eat to live”, rather than to “live to eat”, and how to “give” and “give up” for each other, as JESUS “gave” and “gave up” for us.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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