Some Assembly Required.

It was a dark and stormy night in college when I was driving back from a late movie in Muncie, Indiana. I took a corner a bit too fast and my car bounced across the road, into a lawn, and slammed through the small space between two massive oak trees. The car was totaled and my occupants and I were lucky to walk away with only minor cuts and bruises, though the cigars we were smoking got obliterated. The wrecked car ended up in my parent’s garage because, as I told my dad, I could put it back together. After shorting out the wiring harness and realizing I couldn’t straighten the frame with a hammer, I gave up. It wasn’t long before the car ended up in a junkyard. My car was Humpty Dumpty, I was the king’s men and I couldn’t put it back together again.

I was a teacher for 17 years, a student for 20, and have realized that educators are very good at pulling everything apart and analyzing the subtle nuances of their material, but not every teacher can put all the pieces back together so as to understand the whole.

So far we have pulled apart the Lord’s Prayer and looked at the little pieces. And while there are many other ways to look at each piece, I think the way we’ve analyzed them have been true to the text. But as of yet, we haven’t put it back together. Unlike my wrecked car, we don’t need expensive tools like a frame-straightening machine, or specialized tools to rebuild the wiring harness, or even extra items like gaskets, glue, and grinders to reassemble the rest of the prayer. Reassembling the Lord’s Prayer and glimpsing the big picture merely requires patience, a careful reading of the Bible, and, most importantly, prayer led by the Holy Spirit, for it is only the Spirit Jesus sent that can guide us into all truth (John 16:13).

There are days when I think some of my auto aficionado friends have superpowers. Many are able to identify the year, make, and model of the car just by listening to the sound of the engine. But these superpowers are not really super; they have learned this skill because they spend so much time taking cars apart and putting them back together that they know each car inside and out. Not even a subtle squeak can pass their discerning ear without them knowing its origin. It is the same with the Word of God. The more we study it—the more we look at the small pieces in the light of the bigger story—the more we are able to understand the Bible and become keyed into what it is God is really telling us. But unlike the auto aficionados, we have to be careful to not attempt this on our own.

I’ve studied many cults and wacky religious sects and know that their entry into the world of heresy began with just a small step outside the boundaries of scriptural truth. Now, one small step doesn’t seem like much—what they were saying didn’t look too much different from what they read in the Bible—but any small step outside of the truth still lands on the wrong side of the truth. This is the danger for which we must constantly be vigilant, and this is a major reason we must not study the Bible without also seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. While I don’t intend on writing an entire course on Biblical Hermeneutics, it is important to know that seeking the Spirit through prayer before putting our entire mind to the task of studying scripture is important if we are to understand the message God intended for us to receive from his word.

When it comes to the Lord’s Prayer, we need to remember that Jesus gave it after one disciple said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus was not providing a worship song, reciting good heavenly poetry, or even stating essential liturgical content. Jesus detailed one of the most, if not the most, important parts of a believer’s life—how to pray.

The Lord’s prayer, I am convinced, is meant to be prayed meditatively. I realize people often think of prayer and meditation as two different things, but when praying the Lord’s Prayer they should not be separated. Praying meditatively through the Lord’s Prayer opens our hearts to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And while I’m not sure how others meditate, for me meditation often takes the form of questions. I have included a few questions in the prayer below to help you think through this idea of prayerful mediation:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Do I approach God as my Father or do I see him as a distant unapproachable diety?
Do I give the Father proper credit—the proper glory—for his works?
What has the Father done recently in my life for which I need to give him credit and glory?

Your kingdom come,
Am I becoming more and more a citizen of heaven and less and less a citizen of the earth?
Is my true allegiance to the Father’s kingdom?
What does it mean specifically in my life for me to become a citizen of heaven?

Your will be done,
Am I acting constantly with the Father’s moral will?
Am I striving to be more like Christ every day?
In what ways do I fail to act consistently with the Father’s moral will?
Have I offered all of my time, my treasures, and my talents to my heavenly Father for his use?

On earth as it is in heaven.
Do I place the Father’s will above my own?
Can I pray as Jesus prayed when he said, “Not my will but thine?”
What do I need to let go of in my life so as to live on earth as a citizen of heaven?

Give us this day our daily bread,
Have I acknowledged today that all I have comes from my heavenly Father?
Do I worry about tomorrow, or am I content with my Father’s direction and protection for today?
Have I gone to my Father for his word for me today?
Do I seek to do my Father’s work every day?

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
For what do I need to ask my heavenly Father’s forgiveness today?
Do I forgive others as if the Father’s forgiveness is dependent upon the forgiveness I offer others?
Have I released any and all grudges and anger so that my forgiveness is complete?
Have I personally offered forgiveness to those who are indebted to me?

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Do I deliberately walk in places where temptations might be found?
Do I go places that might drag me into sin and evil?
Do I follow the Spirit’s leading when he tells me to avoid a situation?
Am I sensitive enough to hear the Spirit’s leading?
Do I trust God to keep me from evil, or do I try to handle it on my own?

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Do I acknowledge that the only lasting kingdom, power, and glory are from my heavenly Father?
When I am tempted with the lust of the flesh, do I grab what I want or do I wait on my heavenly Father’s true kingdom to supply my every need?
When I am tempted with the lust of the eyes, do I seek my own position and power on earth or do I submit to my heavenly Father’s power?
When I am tempted with pride of life, do I seek my own glory or do I chose my heavenly Father’s glory?

These are a few of the questions that cause me to assess the state of my heart. In this way, the Lord’s Prayer has become a daily test of my spirit. I’ve found that when I begin to pray the Lord’s Prayer if I have coddled temptation or given birth to sin, it all comes rushing forward. I can’t get past “Our Father in heaven” without my sin showing up. And then, when I begin to pray for forgiveness I am reminded of those to whom I have not offered forgiveness. When I step into the Lord’s Prayer, if any of the pieces are broken or if I am are unwilling to truly listen to the Spirit, then the prayer itself becomes broken. The sin in my life and the ways I’ve ignored the Spirit’s prompting have to be confessed if I am to allow the Spirit to do his work in my life. It is only when all of my sins are addressed that I am able to put all of the pieces together and am able to pray as our Lord instructed us when he was asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

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