T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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vital; the Lord Jesus gave several forms. But the order in prayer is the vital thing. In the order lie the mo tives, and these are essential. At the outset, of, course, one must be able to say in truth, "Our Father,” having been “bom again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible” (I Pet. 1:23). 1. God’s glory must be the upper most desire (v. 2). The longing for God’s glory to be manifested must be our supreme wish, above and beyond any mere form of words. We must 'be able to say from the heart, "Hallowed be thy name,” "Thy kingdom come,” "Thy will be done,” on earth as in heaven. 2. Our physical needs will be con fessed (v. 3). Prayer will provide a continual ac knowledgment of daily need, and a con tinual reliance upon God’s supply for that need. 3. Our spiritual requirements will be felt (v. 4). One who owes a debt, and is unable to pay, can get relief only by means of the creditor’s grace. In reality, if the debt is forgiven, some one must pay. Inasmuch as only the creditor can for give, so only the creditor can pay. Thus it is that when we offer prayer for for giveness, we are really asking God, our creditor, to assume and pay our debt. This is just w h a t God has done, in Christ. Furthermore, in prayer we will seek for protection in temptation, that is, the tempting of Satan to cause us to sin. III. B y P arable -^- or , T he M ethod (5-8) Prayer will display confidence. If a friend may show confidence in another friend, how much more should this be true between a child and his heavenly Father? Prayer will be intelligent. »He who prays must know what is wanted and must put the desire into actual words. > The request is, “Give that I may give.” TSiis attitude is what is needed by -the church and by the individual Christian today; it bespeaks thè" intelligent sense of the Christian’s responsibility to give, the full knowledge of his inability to give (from the human standpoint), and the correct understanding of where re sources to give may be found. Prayer will be importunate—keeping
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on until the request is not only heard but fully granted, or a reason found for its not being granted. IV. B y P romise — or , T he A ssurance (9-13) True prayer is c e r t a i n to be an swered: “Every one that asketh re- ceiveth” (Lk. 11:10). That is, every one “receiveth” who asks according to right motives and in the proper manner, as indicated in the passage as a whole. There is often mystery in connection with the ansyer. Many times the thing asked for comes in "packages” which belie the contents. But'looking beyond the exterior, we discover we have what we asked for, given to us in a form very much better than we could have re quested. To natural sight, the bread looks like a stone, the fish like a ser pent, and the egg like a scorpion; but the eye of faith looks beyond externals and realizes that God delights to gjve those gifts and graces that His child re quests (cf. Rom. 5:3; 2 Tim. 3:12; Heb. 12 : 10 ). The Holy Spirit is given as the One who knows what is the mind of God, and hence is able to pray through us and bring to pass what God desires to be done—to our good and the blessing of those about us. Points and Problems Regarding the prayer which appears in this lesson (Lk. 11:1-4), popularly known as “The Lord’s Prayer,” there are two extreme opinions and attitudes. One group feels that, since the Lord gave it to His disciples, it should be used whenever we pray. At the other extreme, there are some who feel it would be wrong for the Christian be liever to use it at all. The matter cannot be discussed fully in our limited space, but at least two remarks are in order: First, if it should be used, it should be prayed, not merely repeated. Second, it is absolutely certain that our Lord never intended this prayer to be used as a mere form of words. This is clear from the following considera tions : 1. Our Lord gave the prayer on two separate occasions, and He did not both er to use the same words. The first occasion was on “a mountain” where His disciples had gathered to hear His
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