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PORTRAIT OF THE FATHER

Samuel Fentem

Copyright@Samuel.M.Fentem 2020

All scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® unless otherwise quoted

Introduction

Introduction.

There are certain passages in the Bible that are so familiar that we know them by heart and consequently we believe we know what they mean. That would be true if the Bible was a normal book, but it isn’t. The Bible is the Word of God, and his word is alive and active and speaks to us differently at different times. I see it like light viewed through a prism, as you move the prism it transforms the light into a multi coloured spectrum of light. Colours that were previously hidden suddenly come into view. The Holy Spirit does this to the scriptures so that we can see new truths. He shows us new ways of looking at verses which bring greater and deeper understanding to our souls and draw us into a deeper relationship with God.

This book is based upon a series of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer. It approaches it from a different viewpoint which then brings a greater understanding of how Jesus was teaching us to pray. Look at it this way; imagine standing on a road and watching a fire engine pass. Describing it later you may say it came from the left, but had you stood on the opposite side of the road, you would say the fire engine came from the right. Both are correct, both speak the truth, it’s just different because your starting point is different. All the other books written may present different truths but that doesn't indicate that one is right and the other wrong, it just means the authors are looking at it from different angles.

It is often easier to stick with what we know, what is familiar, rather than explore the fullness of the truths of God's word. It's a little like mining for gold. You dig until you find gold then rejoice at the seam you have found. But in order to enjoy the full benefit of the seam of gold it needs digging out. It does no good being left where it is. The same it true about God's word, often we see something, real gold, but never work at it to extract its full meaning and the benefit it can bring to ours and others lives. This book is about extracting the gold seam of truth I found when considering the Lord's Prayer from a completely different viewpoint. I trust in sharing my simple thoughts on each phrase that you too will benefit in your relationship with God.

So to the prayer we all know so well.

Matthew 6 v 9 - 13

This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread

Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom, the power and glory, forever and ever, Amen

Chapter 1 - Teach us to pray

True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that - it is spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Charles Spurgeon

A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil which abounds in weeds. His Majesty roots up the weeds and will put in good plants instead. Let us reckon that this is already done when the soul decides to practice prayer and has begun to do so.

Saint Teresa of Avila

Chapter One

TEACH US TO PRAY

When I look back on the near sixty years of my life it has been a continual journey of learning and being taught new things. It started when I was very young, or so I believe, with some very basics skills, how to speak and how to walk. Those first steps or the first "Da" or “Ma” sound brings tremendous joy to any loving parent and even grandparent as they encourage and help their little precious ones to learn. Then came two other important skills that needed mastering, two skills which I have carried through life and I can honestly say are as important as walking and speaking. The first I can speak of with great joy and pleasure, how to eat using a knife and fork and enjoy the delights of a vast variety of food. The second, equally important, especially for others, how to use a toilet. Now many years later these basic skills, and many more, I use daily and are an important part of life.

Little did I realise in those early years that my life of learning was only just beginning. Those early years soon changed and as I left the security of home and entered into the expanding world of school and education. Now I was taught skills, facts and information. Maths and English, History and Geography along with a host of other subjects came bombarding into my mind. Teachers, some old, using old school methods, the ruler and cane, others younger with a different approach, all sought to teach me their given subject. Some I loved, others I struggled with, particularly languages including English, but throughout it all I was expected to learn. But alongside the educational subjects, I was learning other skills, social skills like how to positively relate to others, but alongside that, how to fight and stand my ground. All the time I was learning. By the time I was a teenager the information I had learnt was massive, but it didn't stop there.

At sixteen I left the familiar environment of school and formal education and entered a whole new world, the world of employment, first as a builders labourer, which as you would imagine taught me all manner of things including language not to be used in the presence of ladies. The police followed, then into building and property management until I eventually found myself working for church. But the change only changed the learning environment, still there were teachers and I was a pupil needing to learn the intricacies of the job as well as relational skills on how to deal with colleagues, bosses and customers. Add to employment marriage, something I am still learning at nearly forty years later. Children then grandchildren followed, the learning curve continues. Then there's my walk with God, first youth leaders, then pastors and teachers all continually giving insight and information, all hoping I would learn.

In later life, things changed as I took on the dual role of both teacher and pupil. Now as a Pastor of a church, people look to me to bring them teaching and direction that will help them fashion their life for the better, whilst all the time I still seek to learn mentally, spiritually and practically how to walk in a deeper relationship with God. Throughout it all as I reflect back on years of learning and being taught, I can never remember ever asking anyone to teach me a specific thing or ever being asked simply "would you teach me." In a world of continual learning, few actually ever ask to learn something specific. It's a question you can ask of yourself. "Have I ever been so inspired by something someone has done that I asked them to teach me how to do what they did?" If you have I suspect you are one of a few. Many will choose to go to lessons or classes or secretly practice what they see others do, but to openly ask to be taught I suspect is an unusual thing.

It is therefore an amazing thing that one of Jesus' disciples did, when he approached Jesus and asked him a simple thing, teach us to pray.

Luke 11 v 1

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

But before we address the whole issue, I have another question, why don't we ask?

Attitude of the open.

It was a hot summer’s day and at three o'clock England were due to play in the football world cup. Before I could contemplate the trauma of watching England, which it often was, I had the small task of removing an old heavy cast iron bath and fitting a new steel bath. As far as I was concerned a relatively easy task, one easily within my capabilities. Well everything went reasonably well although it took a while longer than expected. The old bath eventually came out with the assistance of a heavy hammer and the new one went in. The taps were then fitted and connected to the water supply before turning the water back on. A quick test revealed only one small leak, which was soon fixed. It required a new waste pipe, so one was obtained and fitted and by kick off at three o’clock all I needed to do was cut the waste pipe outside and direct it to the drain. A minor task which would take about ten minutes, so it could wait until half time.

Half time came, England were winning one nil and everything was rosy. Out I went, up went the ladder then up I went saw in hand to cut the pipe. That was the last thing I remember. The next thing I knew was sitting on the living room floor, holding a towel to my head. My hands were covered in blood and I was watching the final five minutes of the match, which by the way England won. What had happened, you can probably guess, as I have had to do as I have no recollection of what really happened. The evidence however pointed to me, in my hurry climbing the ladder, the ladder moving and me falling. The result, my head hit the concrete path, and as you will know head and concrete don't go together too well. Hospital followed with an overnight stay. Thankfully nothing broken but I was badly bruised all over and had a laceration on the back of my head in the shape of a chicken’s foot. I tell everyone now if they see it, I'm hen pecked, which isn't really true. The job which should have only taken ten minutes, didn't get fixed and I was in no position to do it.

Why do I tell that story, simply because of the difficulty I had of asking for help. Pride and a sense of being a failure screamed out, tell no one, but the job needed finishing. I did ask and a good friend came and sorted it, and thankfully he was very gentle with me and I didn't feel too bad. But often pride and arrogance, or insecurity, inferiority, fear of rejection get in the way of asking, so rather than address the issues that hold us back we, or certainly I, have found, subtle ways of getting what we want without being vulnerable enough and asking. Like a teenager that hovers in front of you admiring your guitar, longing to learn and have a go. They say nothing with their mouths but in their eyes and body language they are crying out their desire, can I have a go. Or like the husband that watches from a distance his wife cooking and longingly wants to know how she produces such delightful food, he watches hoping to learn her secret tricks, the magic ingredients but he asks nothing.

See to ask is to put yourself in a vulnerable position. You risk refusal and rejection, exposure of your own limited capabilities. Openness and vulnerability always comes with a risk attached. When you are making your desires known and hoping the person you are asking will respond in a positive, polite and equally open way. Unfortunately that is not, as we have all found in one way or another, what sometimes happens. So imagine the disciple who asked and how he must have felt. It wasn't a group decision, it was, we assume, a personal request which made them vulnerable, not so much to the response of Jesus who you could be sure would welcome the request, but vulnerable to the response of the other disciples, what would they think? Fear of man can paralyze us and stop us pursuing what is in our hearts.

I wonder how they asked, did they sneak up to Jesus and almost whisper in his ear, I think not. I think it was done openly, although they did ensure it involved the others when the request came, teach 'us' to pray. Have you ever desired to do something in God, to know more, to experience more, to understand more? How do you go about it? Would you have asked openly as they asked? I am sure we have all felt inadequate at times when it comes to prayer. Should I declare, should I ask, who do I pray to, what words should I use. Should do I rebuke the enemy, or should I be focused on God? There is always so much to learn, yet I for one can honestly say I have never asked, until, now that simple request to God, teach me to pray.

SO WHAT IS PRAYER?

Now before we even start the process of looking at Jesus' teaching it would be good to get a simple understanding of what prayer is. Billy Graham the great American evangelist simply defined prayer as follows:

"Prayer is simply a two-way conversation between you and God"

That about sums it up, we can look at dictionaries, find other definitions but none will be as simple and straight forward as that. So putting the disciples request differently, we could read it as "teach us how to have a two way conversation with God." One other quote to define prayer, this is from Charles Spurgeon, the nineteenth century Baptist preacher.

"True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that - it is spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth."

TEACH US TO PRAY

What we know of the person asking was Jesus was that he was more than just a follower, someone who came and went at he wanted to, he is identified as a disciple, a pupil, a learner of Jesus. That is the meaning of the word disciple. All the disciples had made that commitment to leave work, home, security, possibly family so that they could learn from Jesus, their teacher. They had responded to his call and were obediently doing what he said. The Bible teaches us that being a disciple is to be yoked to Jesus. Oxen were joined to one another by a yoke for the purpose of ploughing or pulling a cart. They were required to walk side by side.

Luke 11 v 29

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls

The disciples were walking side by side with Jesus, learning from him. Ever since those first disciples responded to him, men and women throughout the ages have followed in their footsteps, learning under the carefully direction of the Holy Spirit how to live a life pleasing to God. I wonder of all the countless millions that have made that commitment to follow Christ, have ever asked the Holy Spirit to teach them how to pray.

As I look through the gospels and examine the lives of the disciples I find only one disciples being so inspired by Jesus that he asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. This is a remarkable thing when you consider all the things they were called to do. In Luke 9, we read of Jesus sending out the twelve apostles to preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. Then in Luke 10 we see Jesus sending out seventy two disciples. The commission was the same, they preached the gospel of the kingdom, healed the sick, cast out demons, and cleansed the lepers. Now for many I suspect, we would feel totally ill equipped for the task and we would be crying out to Jesus to teach us, but such requests are not recorded. The only request recorded followed their successful mission trips where they saw amazing supernatural demonstrations of God's power. Only after being party to seeing the good news of the kingdom backed by healing and deliverance does the simple request come. Which leads me to the question "why."

Unlike today, prayer was something common in their society, whether they were Jew or Gentile, all had god's and all were likely to pray in one fashion or another. Such an activity wasn't even confined to the temples or synagogue, or at home in private, even on the streets you would see the Pharisees publicly praying. Everyone had their gods and they all prayed to them. Praying was part of life and all would have been taught how to pray.

I remember growing up and going to school and from the age of five being taught how to pray. The earliest prayers came at lunchtime as we all sat down to face the delights of school dinners. We always started with a simple prayer, “for what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful." Only after we had all said this could we indulge ourselves in the delights of cheese pie and stodgy rice pudding. When we had finished, another prayer was said before we could be released into the wonderful world of the playground. This prayer was equally simple, "for what we have just received may the Lord make us truly thankful, Amen" As you can imagine as we grew, some of us changed the words, for example "for what we are about to receive, may the hospital have an extra bed." Very little gratitude in that one.

Other prayers followed, the one we said daily at school was the Lord's Prayer. Whilst the exercise and words became very familiar, the whole experience of prayer was an activity with no understanding. In church and in Sunday School it was the same, surrounded by prayer but having no real comprehension what it really meant to pray. I would imagine living at the time of Christ was very much the same, all would be surrounded by people praying but so many not really understanding the reality of what prayer was all about. So it is hardly surprising that this question arises. But for all they saw people pray, there must have been something different about the way Jesus prayed that prompted their question.

We are not given any insight as to what prompted the question so we can only speculate. Maybe the person had been speaking to one of John the Baptists disciples and learnt from them that John taught his disciples to pray. If John thought it necessary, then surely Jesus who was known to be greater than John, should do the same. Or maybe it was nothing to do with John, maybe, and I suspect the real reason they asked was they were inspired by Jesus himself and how he prayed.

JESUS’ LIFE OF PRAYER

Praying was an important part of Jesus' life, something we regularly see him doing. Even the request to teach us to pray followed Jesus going to a certain place to pray. It doesn't tell us where he went, just that he made a point of getting away from the day to day so that he could pray. This was a pattern.

Luke 6 v 12

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.

Luke 5 v 16

But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer

Luke 9 v 18

One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone.

Luke 9 v 28

About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray.

Whether alone or with others, Jesus prayed. It would be obvious to all the disciples that prayer was important to Jesus and if it was important to him, then the disciples probably considered it important for them to learn how to pray as Jesus prayed. Whilst they were surrounded by a society that prayed, in Jesus they encountered someone who both knew how to pray and enjoyed doing it. He was happy to be alone, even all night praying which must be a challenge to all of us. How many would even entertain the idea of staying up all night and praying.

I believe the way Jesus prayed was so different from what they had previously experienced that they wanted to know his secret. What they I believe are asking is simply this, how can we pray effectively as you do, how can I be like you in my prayer life. They may have been looking for, as many of us often do, a method, a formula which would guarantee success. They may have been looking at prayer as an activity they should do. We can approach prayer with the same attitude, I am going to do my prayers, it's time for prayer, let us pray. Have you ever looked for an effective formula for praying?

There have been many books written on prayer, all give guidance and to some degrees methods on how to pray effectively. Some would say that this is just another one, but don't give up on it just now, maybe this will help you as it has helped me to see things differently. There isn't such a thing as the perfect formula for prayer, because prayer isn't a task or a duty we do, it's about a relationship.

PRAYER IS RELATIONAL.

As long as we see prayer as an activity, a thing all Christian's do, we will be approaching prayer from a wrong position. If we see it this way it can quickly become a religious duty rather than a joyful relationship. Prayer was a central part of the relationship Jesus had with his Father. He shared with God, his Father and the Father shared with him the plans and purposes of his heart as well as his expressions of joy at his Son. If you start to change the way you think about prayer, see it as a relationship rather than a Christian activity it will immediately alter our perception and approach to prayer. Imagine it in the context of a loving marriage relationship. What sort of marriage would it be if the man see's talking to his wife as something he has to force himself to do each day once at the beginning or end of the day, and then only for a few minutes. I can't imagine that marriage lasting long. Or what about a child that thinks, I must talk to daddy today. Talking in a good relationship is natural, in fact communication is at the heart of relationship.

Right from the start Jesus had a relationship with his Father in heaven. His first recorded words reveal that relationship. Jesus was twelve and after a visit to Jerusalem with his parents, he remains behind in the temple talking to the religious leaders. The problem was his parents didn't realise until sometime later when they found he was missing. Off they set back to Jerusalem in search of him. When they found him this is what he said.

Luke 2 v 49

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

I believe that what the disciples had witnessed with Jesus wasn't beautiful prayers, with eloquent words, rather it was intimate communication based on his relationship with his Father. So was the request, teach us to pray what they really wanted or was there behind it a deeper more real question, “how can we have a similar relationship with God, the Father?” Have you ever asked a similar question, desiring to pray, powerful prayers, excellently expressed with passion, what's the secret to it?

HOW YOU SEE DETERMINES HOW YOU PRAY

The secret to effective prayer is relationship with the Father through Jesus. Jesus didn't just pray to the Father, he talked about him constantly. The relationship he had with the Father wasn’t just conversational between the two of them, it was something he talked to others about continually. For example in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 to 7, Jesus uses the term Father seventeen times to speak of God. This pattern continues throughout the gospel, Jesus speaks of the Father. But it's not just one way, God speaks to Jesus, as Billy Graham said, it's a two way conversation. Jesus was constantly focused on the Father, watching what he is doing and listening to what he is saying. This comes out clearly when he says

John 5 v 19-20

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished."

Even in relationships, there can be different degrees of intimacy, some relationships are distant and cold, others are open and friendly, then there are those special ones where each party hides nothing from the other. This is the sort of relationship he had with his Father, which brings us to the start of learning to pray. The effectiveness of our prayer life will be determined by the type of relationship we have with God and what our perception of him is like. Where our focus is, what our awareness is like will have a big effect on our praying. The more we know him, the more our prayer life will be affected by our relationship but if our vision and perception of God is wrong, then this also will affect the way we pray.

WRONG PERCEPTIONS OF GOD

Here are four of the wrong perceptions of God I have encountered over time. With each one I have tried to imagine how it will affect our passion to pray and the perceived effectiveness of it.

We see God is distant, so big that we are nothing in his sight.

I remember once speaking to a minister of what appeared to be a very large, by English standards thriving church. I asked him how he saw God. His reply shocked me, he said he saw God as distant. It really brought home that regardless of the outward appearance, he was struggling with developing an intimate relationship with God. Why would God who he perceived as being distant want to bother listening to our prayers, let alone answer them. I would imagine that in such circumstances prayer would be a chore rather than the delights it was intended to be.

We see God on the throne, sitting as judge over the earth dishing out punishment, then how will we pray?

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 16.11.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7487-6468-7

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