Elements of Prevailing Prayer

61. Elements of Prevailing Prayer

Wrapped up in this passage are many beautiful teachings that help to reveal the true nature of our relationship to God.

First, let’s look at the prayer that Jesus recommends. He starts by calling God “Father”. While today many would take exception to the assumption that God is masculine, let’s for now set that objection aside and try without prejudice to understand Jesus’ frame of reference. Then on your own see if the meaning of the teaching changes if you instead assume a feminine nature for God. 

Father,

By using the word “Father,” Jesus suggests two things: One, we are all “Sons of God”; it is not a relationship available only to a chosen few. Two, our relationship with God has a very personal aspect to it.  The father gives of his seed to make life, and the seed lives on in the offspring. Being a son of God is therefore a statement of our identity, and revealing the true nature of that identity is the purpose of all of Jesus’ teachings. 

Hallowed be thy name.

Hallowed means “whole”; so Jesus is saying, “Whole be thy name.” God is one-- one creator manifesting one spirit of love and mercy and compassion and forgiveness. 

Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.

The kingdom of God is here on Earth when we do God’s will. The knowledge of God’s will is available to us, but we must be the ones to manifest it here on Earth. No one else is going to do that.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

A petition to receive what we need to serve God, and no more. It puts money in its place. No need to be a multi-millionaire or billionaire. In fact, at best wealth is a distraction from what is really important, and at worst, it prevents others from getting their daily bread. It brings to mind an earlier teaching: “What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world but loseth his own soul?”

And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one who has wronged us.

This hearkens back to Jesus earlier teaching on forgiveness. As we are forgiven, so we forgive. When we are conscious of God’s love, we cannot help but reflect it back to others.

So ends the prayer. Then Jesus goes on, providing additional insight into the nature of God.

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father give good things to them that ask him?

This section brings to mind a famous speech given by John F. Kennedy in 1962, in which he sets out the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade -- well before we had any idea how that could really be accomplished. It was in today’s parlance a BHAG: a big, hairy, audacious goal. But we sought and knocked and asked, and the universe revealed to us its secrets, and the mission was accomplished. 

The same process holds true for our religious journey. Whatever we need to know to be able to love God with all our soul, mind, heart and strength, is available to us if we seek, knock and ask.

All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.

Does this mean if I pray for a million dollars, or a really nice car, or a house in the Bahamas, and believe that I’ve received it, it will be so? Hmmm...that seems doubtful.

The condition here may be that we pray for what we need, not what we want. And when praying for what we need, Jesus may just be recommending that we have an attitude of faith. Believe that you will get the answers you seek, and you will.