________________________________________________
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23.46)
Matthew and Mark both say that Jesus cried out with a loud shout, but Luke gives us the substance of Jesus' prayer. From the cross, Jesus was quoting Psalm 31.5, which says, "Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, LORD, my faithful God." It's a good prayer for us to pray, too.
What a simple one-sentence prayer: "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." I bet Jesus prayed this many times, not just from the cross. In essence, it's the same as "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." It's the same as, "Let this cup pass from me--nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." Today, I pray the same prayer. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." This is an all-encompassing prayer: that God would take my spirit and hold me, that God would lead, guide, and protect me, that His Spirit would fill me, that God would use me, that even as Jesus was fully committed, so I would give all of myself.
_________________________________________________
“Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1.36 ESV)
Here, in one sentence, John identified Jesus for who He truly was. By describing the Lord as the Lamb of God, John was at once indicating His personality, and His mission.
In His personality, Jesus is a lamb. "'Not my will be done'--'my meat and drink is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.' As Paul Tillich said, Jesus lived in unbroken unity with God and yet soughtnothi ng for himself by that unity...There was no effort to make an impression--he refused the spectacular, he spoke the language of the people; there was no pose of any kind; he kept silent when he did not know the answers--'of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son'...'take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.'" (From Discipline and Discovery by Albert Edward Day)
In His mission, Jesus was the lamb. Slain on an altar of wood for our sins, Jesus would bear the full weight of our transgressions. As a sheep before her shearers is silent, Jesus opened not His mouth. At the shedding of His blood, the veil was torn and we gained access to God. All this is summed up in one word, "Lamb."
In Revelation 5 (ESV), the whole court of Heaven declares Jesus as the Lamb of God:
6And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.8And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
11Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
To pray this phrase, "Lamb of God!" declares our Messiah, who is the lamb in both personality and mission. Adding the word word "behold" declares the imminent presence of the Lamb, not as someone far away, but as our accessible Lord. Repeating this Logos Prayer draws your awareness to His presence, and invites your soul to look on Him--the Lamb who was slain, the Lamb who is tender and lowly of heart. More than a mere gazing, this one-sentence prayer invites the praying person to become like the Lamb. The more we behold Him the more we adopt His personality. The more we become like Him in our aspect, the more we will take on His mission--to give ourselves for the benefit of the world.
Saul's one-sentence prayer, "Who are you, Lord?" led to another serious consideration: "Who am I, Lord?" We know this because Saul changed his name. Once named after the first king of Israel, a man of stature and pride who literally towered over all other men, Saul changed his name to Paul, which means "small." When Jesus revealed Himself to Saul, he took the man down a few pegs. The new name indicates a new estimation of himself, and a new humility before God. "Who are you, Lord?" is a bold prayer because it causes you to reevaluate everything--even your own identity. I pray you'll be bold enough to pray this prayer today.
This one-sentence prayer comes immediately after Saul's conversion. On the heels of Saul's prayer, "Who are you, Lord," Ananias hears God's voice and says, "Here I am, Lord." Apparently, Ananias is so used to hearing from Jesus that he doesn't have to ask who the voice belongs to. He simply says, "Here I am."
Ananias' prayer is more than an acknowledgement of his current position. Of course, Jesus knows where Ananias is. Just as God's "Adam, where are you?" in the book of Genesis isn't a question about the first man's location, so Ananias realizes that Jesus knows exactly where he is. So his "here I am" isn't designed to help God with echolocation. Instead, it's a statement of availability.
Moses told God, "Here I am...send Aaron." Isaiah said, "Here I am, send me!" Like Isaiah, Ananias' brief prayer says, "I'll go wherever you send me." He also calls Jesus "Lord," acknowledging Him as absolute authority over his life. In other words, "Whatever you want, no matter how dangerous or preposterous I think it may be, I'll do it, because of who You are." And Ananias does. Even though he thinks it not such a great idea to seek out Saul, the persecutor of the church, he does it anyway--because Jesus says so.
When we pray Ananias' prayer, we affirm both Jesus' authority and our availability to God. There's a lot packed into these four little words. I hope you can pray it with the same strength and sincerity that Ananias had, when he prayed.
Stillness is a gift that we receive from God, and a gift that we give to God. When we receive God's stillness, we receive God's peace, tranquility, and joy. When we give God our stillness, we're giving God our attentiveness and our obedience. Repeating this short sentence is both an invocation of God's stillness, and a gift of our stillness to the Lord.
Click here to read more about the gift of stillness.
Both Jesus and Stephen prayed this one-sentence prayer at the time of their deaths. When we read these New Testament accounts, we tend to think that this is a prayer only for the dying. Yet the original psalm that Jesus and Stephen are quoting is a prayer of hope that God will bring deliverance and refuge from trouble. Certainly their deaths were a form of deliverance, as their suffering was ended as they entered the Kingdom of God. But we can pray this one-sentence prayer as an expression of daily surrender to God's keeping.
This is also a good prayer to pray when, in centering prayer, the mind has been wandering and needs to reorient itself to Christ.
___________________________________
"Who are you, Lord?" (Acts 9.5 ESV)
When Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, his prayer was only one sentence long. Sometimes, in moments of crisis, you only have time or energy for one sentence. Jesus had manifested Himself to Saul, not in the resurrection body that He had shown to the other apostles, but as a blinding light. Once He had dramatically gotten Saul's attention, Jesus asked, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me (Ac 9.4 ESV)?"
In this one question, Jesus indicated two things. First, He showed that He knew who Saul was. This was no random supernatural attack, but a targeted intervention in Saul's life. Second, it demonstrated that Jesus takes it personally when His followers are persecuted. "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for [or to] one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for [or to] me (Matt 25.40 NIV)." This accusation had to shake Saul up! In an instant, he realized the trouble that He was in, as he cowered before an angry God who was offended on behalf of His people.
Saul's response was so brief that it only took the span of one breath: "Who are you, Lord?" Yet, as brief as this prayer was, it was loaded with meaning.
First, it recognized that all of Saul's preconceived religious notions of who God is, were out the window. Saul's ritual and religion had taught him many things about God, but they hadn't done a thing to teach him to know God. Now, facing the True Light, he wanted to truly know the One he had only known about. "Who are you?" is a daring prayer, because it says you're willing to re-learn what you thought you knew. Are you ready to pray a prayer that bold?
Second, when Saul calls the Light his Lord, he is submitting himself to this Power that he doesn't even know. In one sentence, Saul asks, "Who are you?" and then follows it with his acknowledgement the lordship of the Light. He doesn't wait for the Light to respond before he submits himself. He says to himself, "Whoever this Light is, this is the One I'm going to follow." Are you willing to be so bold as to call Jesus your Lord, even before you know Him fully?
Saul's one-sentence prayer, "Who are you, Lord?" led to another serious consideration: "Who am I, Lord?" We know this because Saul changed his name. Once named after the first king of Israel, a man of stature and pride who literally towered over all other men, Saul changed his name to Paul, which means "small." When Jesus revealed Himself to Saul, he took the man down a few pegs. The new name indicates a new estimation of himself, and a new humility before God. "Who are you, Lord?" is a bold prayer because it causes you to reevaluate everything--even your own identity. I pray you'll be bold enough to pray this prayer today.
________________________________________
"Here I am, Lord." (Ac 9.10 ESV)
This one-sentence prayer comes immediately after Saul's conversion. On the heels of Saul's prayer, "Who are you, Lord," Ananias hears God's voice and says, "Here I am, Lord." Apparently, Ananias is so used to hearing from Jesus that he doesn't have to ask who the voice belongs to. He simply says, "Here I am."
Ananias' prayer is more than an acknowledgement of his current position. Of course, Jesus knows where Ananias is. Just as God's "Adam, where are you?" in the book of Genesis isn't a question about the first man's location, so Ananias realizes that Jesus knows exactly where he is. So his "here I am" isn't designed to help God with echolocation. Instead, it's a statement of availability.
Moses told God, "Here I am...send Aaron." Isaiah said, "Here I am, send me!" Like Isaiah, Ananias' brief prayer says, "I'll go wherever you send me." He also calls Jesus "Lord," acknowledging Him as absolute authority over his life. In other words, "Whatever you want, no matter how dangerous or preposterous I think it may be, I'll do it, because of who You are." And Ananias does. Even though he thinks it not such a great idea to seek out Saul, the persecutor of the church, he does it anyway--because Jesus says so.
When we pray Ananias' prayer, we affirm both Jesus' authority and our availability to God. There's a lot packed into these four little words. I hope you can pray it with the same strength and sincerity that Ananias had, when he prayed.
________________________________________________
"Be still (Psalm 46.10 ESV)."
Click here to read more about the gift of stillness.
_____________________________________________
"Into your hand I commit my spirit (Psalm 31.5a ESV)."
Both Jesus and Stephen prayed this one-sentence prayer at the time of their deaths. When we read these New Testament accounts, we tend to think that this is a prayer only for the dying. Yet the original psalm that Jesus and Stephen are quoting is a prayer of hope that God will bring deliverance and refuge from trouble. Certainly their deaths were a form of deliverance, as their suffering was ended as they entered the Kingdom of God. But we can pray this one-sentence prayer as an expression of daily surrender to God's keeping.
This is also a good prayer to pray when, in centering prayer, the mind has been wandering and needs to reorient itself to Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a respectful comment.