In a fresh look at the model prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), Dr. Albert Mohler explains, “The word ‘our,’ at first glance, seems like an insignificant little pronoun. But Jesus is making a tremendously powerful theological point by beginning his prayer with the word ‘our.’ Jesus is reminding us that when we enter into a relationship with God we enter into a relationship with his people. When we are saved by Christ, we are saved into his body, the church.”
Mohler elaborates, “Do you notice what is stunningly absent? There is no first-person singular pronoun in the entire prayer! One of the besetting sins of evangelicalism is our obsession with individualism.” This obsession with individualism chronically besets us as evangelicals. The first-person singular pronoun reigns in our thinking. We tend to think about nearly everything (including the truths of God’s Word) only as they relate to me. This is why when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he emphasizes from the very outset that we are part of a corporate people called the church.” [v] (You can read more from Mohler on our website HERE.)
In my days spent with these denominational leaders we rediscovered the power of the right leg AND the left leg in igniting a new passion for the Lord.
Grace for All Three
Time, attention and community are the three legs on the stool of a life engaged in Scripture-fed, Spirit-led, worship-based prayer. I urge you to ask God for the grace to embed these commitments deeply in your daily and weekly routines. Before you know it, prayer will be more delight than duty. Discovery will trump drudgery. You will never be the same.
Copyright © 2019 Daniel Henderson. All rights reserved.
[i] J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago: Moody Publishers; Reissue edition, 2017), p. 99.
[ii] Randy Frazee, The Connecting Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), p. 43.
[iii] Ibid, p. 85.
[iv] Michael Griffiths, God’s Forgetful Pilgrims (London: InterVarsity Press, 1978), p. 24.
[v] https://albertmohler.com/2018/08/20/danger-christian-prayer/
This article originally appeared here.
