Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 52

127. Q. WHAT DOES THE SIXTH REQUEST MEAN?

     A. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” means, By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies-the devil, the world, and our own flesh-never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of Your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory.

128. Q. WHAT DOES YOUR CONCLUSION TO THIS PRAYER MEAN?

     A. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” means, We have made all these requests of You because, as our all-powerful King, You not only want to, but are able to give us all that is good; and because Your holy name, and not we ourselves, should receive all the praise, forever.

129. Q. WHAT DOES THAT LITTLE WORD “AMEN” EXPRESS?

     A. “Amen” means, This is sure to be! It is even more sure that God listens to my prayers, than that I really desire what I pray for.

“Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”  John Owen wrote those words, and they remind us as believers of the importance of our battle against sin.  The sixth request  in “The Lord’s Prayer” also directs us to mortify sin.  We are not on our own in this battle though.  In fact, if we were, we would have no power to fight.  We need the Lord to “uphold” us.   As we pray this way, we are demonstrating dependence on God to guard us, but also our own awareness to resist our enemy.

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 51

Q.  WHAT DOES THE FIFTH REQUEST MEAN?

A.   “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” means, Because of Christ’s blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us.  Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of Your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors.

Paid Volunteer…Definite Maybe…Pretty Ugly…Original Copy…

Today’s reading adds one more to this oxymoronic list;

unforgiving Christian.

In His model of prayer, Jesus instructed the disciples to pray “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”.  Elsewhere He taught;

 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

(Matthew 6:14-15 ESV)

Question.  How does God’s forgiveness of us as Christians relate to our forgiveness of others? 

Clearly we have been forgiven of much as believers.  “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2), “No one is righteous, no not one” (Rom. 3:10)  “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:8-9 ESV)

So then, a fruit of repentance is forgiveness.  An evidence of God’s forgiveness in our lives is a willingness to forgive others. 

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 49

122. Q. WHAT DOES THE THIRD REQUEST MEAN?

     A. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” means, Help us and all people to reject our own wills and to obey Your will without any back talk.  Your will alone is good.   Help us one and  all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.

Along with instruction for our prayer lives, the third request in “the Lord’s Prayer” teaches us something about God’s character. It also reveals something fascinating about heaven.

For the believer, praying in this way necessitates a high view of God and an accurate view of man.  A High view of God in that He alone is perfectly good, He alone knows what is best, and He alone is working all things for our good and His own glory.  An accurate view of man means that we recognize that in our sin condition, nothing in the previous sentence is true about us. 

Such a prayer communicates our responsibility to obediently follow God’s commands as revealed in His word.  It also reminds us that we are dependent on God’s grace to obey.

This request also identifies that God’s will is being perfectly carried out in heaven.  Kevin DeYoung points out that in heaven, “there is perfect worship, perfect obedience, perfect holiness (The Good News We Almost Forgot, 227.)  May God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 48

122. Q. WHAT DOES THE SECOND REQUEST MEAN?

A.     “Your kingdom come” means, Rule us by Your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to You.  Keep Your church strong, and add to it.  Destroy the devil’s work; destroy every force which revolts against You and every conspiracy against Your Word.  Do this until Your kingdom is so complete and perfect that in it You are all in all.

I really like the Heidelberg’s commentary on “Your kingdom come”.  I have been praying through it as I have been preparing for this post and intend to allow it to assist my prayer time over the coming weekend.

In the explanation, we see a model of prayer asking for growth in sanctification that is both dependent on God’s grace as well as individual responsibility to submit to God’s word.  This guards against the “Let Go and Let God” error as well as false self-dependence.

We are reminded to pray for Christ’s church; both universal and local.  We ought to also pray for Satan’s destruction.  That “every force which revolts against You (God)” will be destroyed.

If you have been struggling recently to figure out what to pray for, perhaps todays reading might assist you in this spiritual discipline.

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 46

120. Q. WHY DID CHRIST COMMAND US TO CALL GOD “OUR FATHER”?

     A. At the very beginning of our prayer Christ wants to kindle in us what is basic to our prayer-the childlike awe and trust that God through Christ has become our Father. Our fathers do not refuse us the things of this life; God our Father will even less refuse to give us what we ask in faith.

121. Q. WHY THE WORDS “IN HEAVEN”?

     A. Those words teach us not to think of God’s heavenly majesty as something earthly, and to expect everything for body and soul from His almighty power.

Sunday morning during the High School lesson, we studied the Love of God demonstrated through the sacrificial death of His Son.  The message of the gospel is the good news that by faith in Jesus the Son of God, who died for our sins, we are adopted as God’s children.  Adopted into the very family of God.

In our fallen condition, the Scriptures teach that we are “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).  But through Christ alone, sinful man can be reconciled to the Father.  The Scriptures identify believers as “Children of God” (John 1:12),  “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Gal. 3:26), “for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).

As believers, we have been adopted into God’s family, so we can now approach Him by faith in prayer.  And just as any father will not refuse the needs of his children, “God our Father will even less refuse to give us what we ask in faith.”

Fridays with the Heidelberg

Lord’s Day 45

116. Q. WHY DO CHRISTIANS NEED TO PRAY?

     A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And also because God gives His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking Him for them.

117. Q. HOW DOES GOD WANT US TO PRAY SO THAT HE WILL LISTEN TO US?

     A. First, we must pray from the heart to no other than the one true God, who has revealed Himself in His Word, asking for everything He has commanded us to ask for. Second, we must acknowledge our need and misery, hiding nothing, and humble ourselves in His majestic presence. Third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation: even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. This is what He promised us in His Word.

118. Q. WHAT DID GOD COMMAND US TO PRAY FOR?

     A. Everything we need, spiritually and physically, as embraced in the prayer Christ our Lord Himself taught us.

119. Q. WHAT IS THE PRAYER?

     A. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Why Pray? Who do we pray to?  How are we to pray?  What are we to pray? These are all good questions.  Questions that you have likely asked yourself, or have been asked by others.  The HC briefly deals with them all in today’s reading.

 The remainder of our time in the Heidelberg will be commenting on “The Lord’s Prayer”, so we will be able to think much upon the “how” and the “what” in the coming weeks.  For today, lets think about the “why”.

Since God is sovereign over all things, why pray?  He has everything under control, His eternal purposes cannot be thwarted, He knows all things, He can do all things, so why pray?   The Heidelberg points out two reasons; gratitude and means.

We pray because of who God is, what He has done and what He is going to do.  We also pray because God has chosen prayer as a means to carry out His sovereign purposes.

If you would like to think further upon this question of “why”, I suggest the following article by John Piper, “The Sovereignty of God and Prayer.”