What Did Jesus Pray for? Here’s What He Taught His Followers.
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the profound simplicity of the prayer Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. It delves into the two halves of the prayer: the first focusing on God's will and kingdom, and the second on human needs like daily sustenance and forgiveness. Jesus emphasizes trust in God's provision, forgiveness, and protection from evil. The prayer is seen as an invitation to align with God's purposes and participate in the reunion of Heaven and Earth, making Jesus' story our own through daily trust, love, and forgiveness.
Takeaways
- 🙏 Prayer is rooted in the belief that we can communicate with the God of the universe, which is quite mysterious.
- 📖 At the heart of Jesus' teachings, the Sermon on the Mount, he provides a simple prayer with two halves: one focusing on God's purposes, the other on daily concerns.
- 🌍 Jesus begins the prayer by addressing God as 'Our Father in the skies,' which signifies God's universal presence and power.
- 👑 Jesus doesn't call God 'King' but 'Father,' emphasizing the intimate relationship between God and humanity.
- ✝️ The prayer asks for God's name to be recognized as holy, reflecting God's unique status as the source of all reality and life.
- 👼 The prayer also seeks for God's Kingdom to come, where Heaven and Earth reunite, and people live by God's generosity and justice.
- 🍞 The request for 'daily bread' draws from Israel's wilderness journey, highlighting daily reliance on God's provision.
- 💔 Forgiveness is central, as Jesus teaches that forgiving others mirrors the forgiveness we receive from God.
- 🛡️ Jesus prays for protection from tests and the evil one, urging trust in God during trials and challenges.
- 🌟 Jesus embodied this prayer, especially before his crucifixion, showing how it guided him through life's greatest test.
Q & A
What is the central idea behind the prayer Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount?
-The prayer is based on the idea that humans can talk to God and seek both God's purposes in the world and assistance in their daily lives. It invites people to align their lives with God's will.
What is the significance of calling God 'Our Father' in the prayer?
-By calling God 'Our Father,' Jesus emphasizes the close, personal relationship between humans and God, portraying God as a loving parent who cares for His children, rather than a distant ruler.
Why does the prayer ask for God's name to be recognized as holy?
-The prayer asks for God's name to be recognized as holy because God's holiness represents His unique and powerful status as the creator and sustainer of all life. It's a call for God's character to be respected and for His people to live as His holy representatives.
What does it mean to pray for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done?
-Praying for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done means asking for God's reign of justice, love, and peace to be established on Earth, and for humans to live according to God's wisdom, reflecting Heaven’s values in their lives.
How does the request for daily bread relate to trust in God?
-The request for daily bread refers to trusting God for daily provision, just as the Israelites relied on God for manna in the wilderness. It highlights reliance on God for basic needs, especially for those struggling in life.
Why does Jesus emphasize forgiveness in the prayer?
-Jesus emphasizes forgiveness because it is central to His teaching. He taught that receiving God's forgiveness requires being willing to forgive others, as holding onto revenge continues cycles of harm and pain.
What does it mean to pray for deliverance from the 'evil one'?
-Praying for deliverance from the evil one means asking for protection from temptations and lies that lead humans away from God. It is a plea for guidance in making choices that align with God's wisdom rather than self-interest.
How does this prayer relate to Jesus' own life and teachings?
-This prayer reflects Jesus' own life, especially in His willingness to submit to God's will, as seen during His prayer before His crucifixion. It encapsulates His message of trusting God, loving others, and forgiving wrongdoers.
Why does the prayer end with asking God to lead us away from tests?
-The prayer asks God to lead us away from tests because tests are moments of choice, where we must decide whether to trust God or rely on our own wisdom. It reflects a desire to avoid situations where we might be tempted to stray from God's path.
How does this prayer help individuals participate in God's Kingdom on Earth?
-This prayer helps individuals participate in God's Kingdom by encouraging them to trust in God's provision, love and forgive others, and live according to God's will. It aligns personal actions with God's larger plan to unite Heaven and Earth.
Outlines
🙏 The Mystery of Prayer and God's Purpose
Prayer allows humans to communicate with the God of the universe, a profound mystery. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his followers a simple, yet powerful prayer. The prayer is divided into two halves: the first part focuses on God's purposes, and the second half on human concerns in daily life. Jesus starts by addressing God as 'Our Father in the skies,' highlighting God's universal presence. However, instead of calling God 'king,' Jesus emphasizes God's relationship with humanity as a father. Humanity has often strayed from its calling to represent God's wisdom, and the prayer seeks to reestablish God's holiness and rule on Earth.
👑 God's Kingdom and Human Responsibility
Jesus continues the prayer by asking for God's Kingdom to come and for His will to be done on Earth, just as it is in Heaven. The prayer invites people to participate in God's Kingdom by loving God and their neighbors, reflecting His generosity and justice. The first half of the prayer is a call to seek God's will, while the second half shifts to asking for help with daily struggles. By praying for 'daily bread,' Jesus encourages people to trust in God's provision, as the Israelites did during their time in the wilderness.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Prayer
💡Sermon on the Mount
💡Heaven
💡Kingdom of God
💡Daily bread
💡Forgiveness
💡Holy
💡Testing
💡Evil one
💡God’s will
Highlights
Prayer is based on the belief that humans can talk with the God of the universe.
The prayer Jesus taught has two halves: the first focuses on God's purposes, the second on daily life concerns.
Jesus begins the prayer with 'Our Father who is in the skies,' which represents God's universal power and presence.
Jesus does not refer to God as king but as 'Father,' highlighting a personal and relational view of God.
The prayer's first request is for God's name to be recognized as holy, referring to God's one-of-a-kind status as the author of life.
Israel’s prophets, like Ezekiel, promised that one day God would restore the holiness of His name among nations.
The prayer for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done reflects the reunion of Heaven and Earth.
Jesus taught that loving God and others is a way of entering God's Kingdom and bringing Heaven's reality to Earth.
The second half of the prayer focuses on asking for daily bread, symbolizing trust in God's daily provision.
Jesus emphasized forgiveness, asking God to forgive us as we forgive others, making forgiveness a core aspect of His teaching.
Forgiveness, for Jesus, meant not seeking vengeance but trusting God to handle justice and promoting healing.
Jesus compared forgiveness to breathing: to receive forgiveness, we must also give it to others.
The prayer ends with a request not to be led into temptation but to be delivered from the evil one, recognizing the constant choice between God's wisdom and the evil one's lies.
Jesus himself prayed a similar prayer the night before His execution, asking for God's will to be done, even in His moment of greatest trial.
Through His self-giving love and resurrection, Jesus brought God's Kingdom to Earth, restoring God's holy name.
Transcripts
- Prayer is based on this belief that we can somehow talk
with the God of the universe, which is pretty mysterious.
Where do you even start?
- Well, at the very center of a collection
of Jesus' teachings called the Sermon on the Mount,
he taught his followers a simple
prayer to adopt as their own.
The prayer has two short halves, each with three requests.
The first half focuses on God's purposes in the world,
and then the second half addresses our
concerns in day-to-day life.
- So it's a short prayer.
- It is, but this little prayer contains a whole
new way to look at everything in the world.
- Jesus begins the prayer this way:
"Our Father who is in the skies."
So God lives in the sky?
- Well, in the Bible, the skies, or the heavens,
are a way of imagining God's universal power
and presence that are above all things.
In God's realm, God rules as the king
whose will and purpose are always done.
- But Jesus doesn't refer to God as king.
- No. Jesus calls God "our Father."
- That's a bold thing to claim about the
God of the universe.
- It is. But a key claim in the Bible is
that God has appointed humans as representatives
and beloved children to embody God's wisdom
and rule in the world.
- But the story of the Bible is about humanity's disregard
for this calling--how we make a mess of things.
- And so the prayer continues:
"May your name be recognized as holy."
- Now, "holiness," that's a fancy religious word.
- Sure. In the Bible, "holy" signifies God's
one-of-a-kind status.
God is the source of all reality and the author of life.
And it's this God that calls the family of Israel out from
among the nations and then attaches his holy name to them,
setting them apart as holy representatives
to all the other nations.
- But just like all of humanity,
they mess up this calling.
- And that led to Israel's defeat
and subjugation to many empires,
bringing dishonor on God's holy name.
But Israel's prophets, like Ezekiel, said
that one day God would restore the holiness
of his name among the nations.
- How? - Well, by raising up
a new representative, who will
restore God's rule over Israel and the world,
so everyone can see how holy and good God really is.
That's who Jesus claimed to be when he went
around announcing the arrival of God's Kingdom.
- And that makes sense of the next lines of the prayer.
"May your kingdom come, and may your will be done,
as it is in the skies so also on the land.
- Jesus taught his followers that when
we love God and our neighbor,
when we treat others with God's generosity and justice,
we are entering God's Kingdom.
And so this is a prayer for the reunion of Heaven and Earth,
and we are invited to participate.
- Okay. That's the first half of the prayer,
focused on loving God and seeking his will.
- The second half shifts to the challenges of daily life
as we pray for God's Kingdom to come.
- "Give us today our daily bread."
That's as basic as it gets, asking God to provide food.
- Yeah. Jesus is using an image from Israel's story,
when they journeyed through the wilderness,
and God provided just enough bread each day.
- That's a tough place to be, not knowing
where your next meal will come from.
- And remember, Jesus' audience was filled
with poor people struggling to get by
during the Roman occupation.
And so he invites them
to join their ancestors in the wilderness,
trusting God's provision each and every day.
- Wow. Okay. And the prayer continues.
"Forgive us our debts
as we also forgive those indebted to us."
- Jesus made forgiveness central to his movement.
He announced that God was forgiving Israel
and all of humanity for its long history
of violence and greed.
And so he calls his followers to do the same,
to forgive those who hurt us.
- But we can't go around forgiving everyone.
I mean, won't evil spread unchecked?
Won't people take advantage of you?
- Well, for Jesus, the problem is that our desire
for revenge just keeps the cycle of pain going.
He taught that forgiveness begins
with naming the wrongdoing
but then not seeking vengeance.
- So that doesn't mean becoming
best friends with the person who wronged you.
- No. But it does mean releasing my right to
get totally even with them, and even learning
to pray for their well-being instead.
- That kind of forgiveness requires radical trust in God.
- Yes. Jesus invites us to see
that forgiveness is like breathing.
In order to truly receive
and take in God's forgiveness, you have
to be in the habit of giving it out.
The two work together as one.
- Finally, Jesus prays, "Don't lead us into the test,
but deliver us from the evil one."
So wait, God might test us?
- Well, remember the biblical story, how God appoints humans
as his representatives in ruling the world?
That opportunity presents them with a choice.
- Will they partner with God and rule by his wisdom?
- But along with every choice, there's a voice whispering
that we could do things our own way by our own wisdom.
And that voice twists the test into a trap
and forces us to decide: Whose voice will we trust?
- So Jesus invites us to ask
if we can be spared from tests altogether.
Like, can I just live a normal life please?
- But Jesus also knows that even normal life is full
of choices that will force us to trust God
or something else.
And so when we find ourselves in a trial
or a test, Jesus urges us to ask
for protection from the evil one's lies.
- And with that, the oldest form of the prayer comes
to an end. Short and powerful.
- But check this out. This is Jesus' own prayer
that he prayed himself.
- Really? - Yeah. The night before
his execution, Jesus went to a garden to pray.
And while he didn't want to die, he called out
to "my Father," saying, "Let your will be done, not mine."
- Oh, that is this prayer.
"May your Kingdom come and your will be done."
- Jesus had been praying this way for so long
that when his greatest test came,
his arrest and execution,
these were the words that carried him through.
- And Jesus was delivered from evil
when God raised him from the dead.
- Right. In fact, it was through his act
of self-giving love that God's forgiveness
and heavenly Kingdom came to Earth.
This is how God's holy name was restored.
- So this prayer that Jesus taught his followers,
it's a way to make Jesus' story our story.
- The prayer invites us to daily trust God
and to love and forgive each other
so we can participate in the story
of Heaven and Earth becoming one.
- In the prayer that we just looked at,
Jesus taught his followers to pray
for God's daily provision.
- And Jesus has a lot more to say about trusting in God
and not in our stuff.
And that's what we'll look at next.
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