In and Within 14 Praying Within to Live Without

[HKHaugan]

There are really two parts to Jesus’ teaching on prayer:

The first is Father-centered---

“Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

The second is Father-dependent,

“Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

We have given the first a closer look since it teaches us to really go into that closet of our mind, heart and spirit and shut the door to everything, that is, everything outside of my conscious self and body in order to concentrate on “Our Father.” This is a deeply personal and interpersonal leap into the spiritual dimension of ultimate awareness and being. This is more than just saying ‘god.’ This is saying “GOD,” the One who personally and intentionally created us to be like Him, to have a personal, individual consciousness that reaches out to my eternal ‘Abba,’ my eternal ‘Daddy’, my ultimate Father in whom my mind, heart and spirit find their shape. He has created me to give me a very personal identity that looks like Him, feels like Him, thinks like Him and has faith like Him. But even further He has made me to be a child among other children, in a like family of those made in His image, to be uniquely different and uniquely self-conscious yet overtly and purposefully relational with Him and others.

This consciousness is why Jesus became a human being, to show us that His consciousness centers on ‘Our Father’ and when we have seen Him we have seen all the quality, intention and purpose of the Father. As Jesus revealed Himself as the unique Son of God so He demonstrated what it meant for a human being to be a ‘child’ in His total submission to His Father’s will.

So, being a child means I begin my ‘closet’ experience with the way Jesus taught, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mt.18:3-4).”

There are three ‘change’ words that can help us begin our ‘closet-child’ prayer experience when we close the door of our material world and walk into the spiritual dimension, ---recognition, realization and repentance.

First, we recognize (Scripturally conceptualize) with our mind the One to whom we are praying.

Second, we realize (trust what we have thought) with our heart the Father whose child we are.

Third, we hear the critical call in Jesus’ first public words in Galilee “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near (Mt.4:17).”

From recognition in the mind comes realization in the heart. Realization in the heart moves us to fall on our knees and repent in faith moving our spirit closer to Him in His Spirit.

Now we are ready to continue the rest of Jesus’ teaching on prayer, which is being ‘Father-dependent.’ What does that look like? Next, we will continue this thought in our series on ‘In and Within.’ Another little reminder,---see the Cross in this teaching. The first part of Jesus’ teaching here (vs.9-10) is the vertical beam reaching to the Father and the second part, the horizontal beam (vs.11-14 KJV), praying for the provision necessary to reach outside ourselves in the glory of the Father.