To many Christians the Lord’s Prayer seems like a formal,
liturgical prayer and hardly the starting point for prophecy. Yet it captures
the dynamics of prophetic life and prayer precisely.
The Jews of Jesus’ time waited eagerly for the coming of
the Messiah that would herald the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. So did His
disciples. After the Resurrection they asked,
"Lord, will You at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)
But instead of an
earthly kingdom Jesus had come to build a Kingdom that is invincible, eternal
and indestructible.
Over the years I have shifted from church-centric to Kingdom-centric
understanding of Christianity.
I don’t wish to know
more about God anymore.
I want to know Him. And the Lord’s Prayer is all about knowing
Him.
There are two different versions of the Lord’s Prayer
in the Bible—the shorter and the longer.
The longer can be found
in Matthew 6:9-13 as part of the Sermon on the Mount, the shorter in Luke 11:2-4.
The longer one simply
articulates more clearly what the shorter one
implies.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive
our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
The prayer
can be broken down to five movements into the Spirit.
The first one—Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name—is
a movement into God’s presence.
The second one—Your Kingdom come,Your will be done, on earth as in heaven—is a movement
into God’s perspective.
The third one—Give us this day our daily
bread—is a movement into God’s provision
The fourth one—And forgive us our debts, as
we forgive our debtors—is a
movement into God’s nature.
The fifth one—And do not
lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one—is a movement into
God’s freedom.
The doxology—For thine is
the Kingdom, and the power, forever
and ever.
Amen—isn’t in Luke’s version,
nor is it there in the earliest manuscripts of
Matthew.
In any case it only brings us back to the
first movement into God’s presence.
The Lord’s Prayer
expresses the Spirit’s desire
to move you into God’s presence,
perspective, provision, nature
and freedom. And you will need
to step into all these dimensions to last in a lifelong service as a prophet. In fact, the battle for your prophetic gift and life will be lost or won based on how deeply you will be
able to step into these five dimensions.
This article is an excerpt from the book: Five Movements: Winning the Battle for Your Prophetic Gift, a book by Marko Joensuu.
You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at facebook.com/marko.joensuu or by visiting markojoensuu.com.
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