Annie F Downs is doing several podcasts on prayer. To be honest, I pray but to be one of those who wakes up at 5 am in the stillness of the morning with no sound and pray that isn’t me. I am more of a pray-on-the-go person, and I will admit I need to do more of the sitting still.
Yesterday, Annie had the guests Brad Gray and Brad Nelson. They have written a book Bringing Heaven Here- How the Lord’s Prayer Can Change Your Life And Our World. They are both with the organization, Walking Through the Text whose goal is to help people understand the original meaning and context of scripture.
Then this morning, Annie visited with Matt Smallwood about prayer. The episode is titled “What if we actually prayed the way Jesus taught us?”
You can find these episodes 1035-1037 Annie F Downs That Sounds Fun if you would like to listen.
I have never really dissected the Lord’s prayer, but after listening to these podcasts, I want to.
Several 3 little words I found while listening were live it out, walk it out, and prayer is participatory.
Brad Grey told the story of a Rabbi-
In 1965, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, driven by faith and a shared demand for justice. Black and Jewish communities stood together then, and that legacy calls us to stand together now. Someone asked the rabbi if he had time to pray, and he said, “I prayed with my legs.”
This is what the Lord’s prayer does – it is commissioning you to pray prayers with your legs and to LIVE IT OUT just as Jesus did.
Is this not so true? Live it out by praying with your legs.
How many times do we say I will pray for you or someone will say, ” We just need to pray for them. This is true, but there is a second step. The step of action. Living it out with your legs, participating in the prayer.
I read a statement that said, for example, it is like if you don’t have a job and you are praying to God to help you find one, but you still must go out and apply. So, you put prayer with action.
The Lord’s prayer even gives us action- forgive (forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us)
I go to Jesus and think about Him and His actions. He not only prayed for us, but He died for us. Talking about living it out with your legs. He acted even though it led Him to weep and ask God to take it from Him. He washed feet. Just like last week, we visited about how Jesus even washed Judas’s feet.
Jesus prayed, and He also acted. He trained people on how to partner with God to advance the kingdom on earth. We are to be and do what He was in the world. His great commission led others to Him.
Are you living it out? Are you only praying, or are you praying and acting? Are you being participatory in praying? Are you walking the text?
We are to be forming a relationship with Christ and living it out for Him, and walking the text, bringing others closer to Him.
To do that, we must:
1. Show up for JESUS every day – Start your day in the Word.
2. Show up for OTHERS – Serve others, whether or not they are like you, whether or not they annoy you, or are difficult to understand. That is what Jesus did; He showed up for everyone.
3. Show up for YOU – Fill your cup before you help fill others’ cups.
WE WILL FIND JOY WHEN WE SHOW UP FOR JESUS, OTHERS, AND OURSELVES.
As Father Mike says, “You pray for me, and I will pray for you.”
As Tara Leigh says: He’s where the joy is.
Have a great week, Cupcake loves you and so does Jesus.
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