I Dare You... I Double Dare You

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...’”
Matthew 6:9-10

More than 20 years ago I attended a one day retreat where the speaker spent the entire eight hours teaching about the Lord’s Prayer. I remember thinking there was so much more to the simple pray than I ever realized – after all I can probably say in 30 seconds. Recently however I was reminded of the importance of this prayer – the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. I was reading a book by Dave Earley called; Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders, and was once again reminded of the power that this simple prayer holds.

A short phrase in the Lord’s Prayer really caught my attention this time around – the phrase: “your will be done.” We often say we want God’s will but do we really? That is a dangerous phrase and to pray it sincerely we need to have a courageous faith. His will may require us to be willing to sacrifice a child – like it did Abraham. His will may require our own lives of us – like it did Jesus’. His will may require that we give up our cushy American life to serve him in a not so hospitable land. His will may not be what we want.

Dave Earley’s book really challenged me and so I have been concentrating on supercharging my prayer life and that includes saying the Lord’s Prayer several times a day and asking Him to give me the courageous faith needed to really want His will for me. To do this I need – we all need to trust, to have faith that God really does know what is best, that He really intends to bless and not harm and that good will come of bad – even when we don’t understand.

So I dare you – I double dare you to seek that courageous faith, to pray the Lord’s Prayer and when you get to “your will be done” ask it with a sincere heart, being ready to act on His answer.

A Prayer
Father, Your Son taught us to prayer – Our Father in heaven, hollowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, YOUR WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Jesus said that whatever we in His name we shall have and so we pray this prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.