Matthew 6:9 You, therefore, pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven! May your Name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. 11 Give us the food we need today. 12 Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us. 13 And do not lead us into hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One. For kingship, power and glory are yours forever. Amen.’
Can slaves pray? Is it possible to pray if you are not a son?
Perhaps slaves can only cry out. They can only beg for a deliverer. We see this over and over in the Book of Judges. Israel would abandon Abba then become oppressed, they became slaves. Only then would they cry out for a deliverer. And Abba would save them...again.
Is that me? Am I only asking for deliverance?
I seem to always need deliverance from:
Are my prayers rooted heavily in deliverance only? I think they are. I come with a laundry list of items I need for Him to fix but is that because I have abandoned Him along the way? Have I walked myself into oppression? Am I a slave?
Even if I am praying for someone else, it tends to be a petition to have a problem resolved on their behalf. Am I always needing for Him to change things, fix things, or even allow the "good" things to continue?
I seems that all I ever do is ask. How can I just be?
Just BE with Him. Not ask, not need...just be.
Does a slave come into the Master's house and just visit? Rarely, if ever.
Perhaps my prayers are petitions because I walk as a slave.
It's easier to come to the door and ask than it is to come into the house and dwell. I can still be me as a slave because I can retreat back to my quarters and live the life I'm accustomed to living.
But a son is different. Dwelling in the house means I am exposed. My vices, my desires, my guilty pleasures can continue to exist in my private quarters but sitting with Abba changes all of that. I wonder what all would change in my life if I knew He could walk in at any moment.
Something as simple as what's on the TV or my phone-- or as serious as to what's in my thoughts. My tastes would change. My habits would change. My life would change.
Are these things so important that I would rather live outside in the slave house than dwell with Abba in His house?
What do I do to break this?
The start of this addresses a very important point: Our Father.
There is no way to come in prayer without first acknowledging Abba as my Father. The posture I have must be as a son coming to ask on an intimate level.
But how often do I come as a beggar? Most of the time, actually.
This is not to be presumptuous with my Father. There is tremendous sincerity and reverence in my approach. Can I get my mind around what it actually feels like? Can I get my heart around it?
I think I have the mental model but pushing it down into my being may take some work. A slave moving out of slavery will oftentimes tremble at requests from the Master so it makes sense there is a transition that must occur.
Now I must transition.