Today we start a new sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. For the next seven weeks we will unpack this prayer together, line by line, word by word. After 10 years of being a pastor I can tell you that my experience of being a Christian matches the people in my congregations. All of us carry around beliefs about our Heavenly Father that are simply lies from the enemy. We think He is angry, disappointed, uncaring, or frustrated with us. We think God is distant from us because of what we’ve done, shocked at our behavior, or disgusted with us. We think we have to get God to come near, to perform for Him, to somehow make ourselves worthy of His love, even though we know about grace and mercy. Ten years of ministry has taught me that I am just like you. I have believed these lies about God, and sometimes still do, while simultaneously confess the truth of the Gospel, believe that God loves me, and want fully to know God more. We all want to be free. We all love God. We all want to make a difference for good. We all want to be healed. Prayer, then, has become the vital intersection of my disbelief and also my belief. Jesus knew this and that’s why He teaches us how to pray. Prayer is the place where we confess our unbelief. Prayer is the place where we affirm what we do believe and what we want to believe. Prayer is also the place where what we really believe about God will bubble up. Even preparing this sermon, last night, I was asking God for help. At that very moment, I realized that there was a part of me that believed God would not help me unless I asked for it. When I thanked God for being with me, even when I didn’t ask for help, tears and joy and healing came.
