On Sunday, September 11 I preached on the topic of prayer at the Church of the New Jerusalem in Dawson Creek, BC. \u00a0I spoke from notes and I didn\u2019t have a manuscript; the following is a rough draft of some of the things we talked about. \u00a0So, it may be a little rough around the edges, but hopefully it gets across the main ideas. (Note for those unfamiliar with New Church terminology: \u201cthe Writings\u201d refers to the divinely-inspired theological works written by Emanuel Swedenborg<\/a>).<\/p>\n Readings: Matthew 6:7-13<\/a>; Matthew 26:36-44<\/a>; Arcana Coelestia <\/a><\/em>2535<\/a><\/p>\n LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY<\/p>\n Throughout the world, probably throughout the entirety of human history, people have been praying.\u00a0 Even with all the diversity among religions in the world, almost every religion has some kind of prayer \u2013 an attempt to communicate with something greater, and to ask something of that higher power.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But the religions of the world vary in how<\/em> they pray, what form of prayer they believe will be effective.\u00a0 Within the land of Judea, the Lord\u2019s disciples saw many different forms of prayer, by both Jews and Gentiles; and they naturally wondered how they should pray.\u00a0 The gospel of Luke recounts a time that they saw the Lord praying, and came to ask Him about it: \u201cAnd it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He had ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples\u201d (Luke 11:1).\u00a0 His response to them was to teach them what we now know as the Lord\u2019s prayer.<\/p>\n In that gospel, the Lord said, \u201cWhen you pray, say,<\/em> \u2018Our Father, who art in the heavens\u2026\u201d\u00a0 He told them to use the exact words of that prayer, and there\u2019s evidence that the earliest Christians did pray the Lord\u2019s Prayer regularly.\u00a0 And there is power in those very words.\u00a0 In fact, the book Arcana Coelestia <\/em>says of this prayer, \u201cIn the contents of this Prayer there are more things than the universal heaven is capable of comprehending.\u201d\u00a0 By praying the Lord\u2019s Prayer, we open ourselves up to countless thoughts and affections from heaven.<\/p>\n But the occasion recorded in Luke was not the only time the Lord taught His disciples to pray this prayer.\u00a0 He taught the same prayer also as part of the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.\u00a0 And on that occasion, rather than telling His followers to say those exact words, He told them to pray \u201cin this way\u201d \u2013 that is, for all <\/em>their prayers to be modelled on the Lord\u2019s Prayer.<\/p>\n Like the disciples, we wonder how we ought to pray.\u00a0 Who do we pray to?\u00a0 What kinds of things should we pray for?\u00a0 How<\/em> should we pray in a way that will really make a difference?\u00a0 The Lord provides us with His prayer as a model to answer these questions.<\/p>\n Our Father who art in the heavens:<\/strong><\/p>\n We begin with the question of Who<\/em> we should pray to.\u00a0 And we begin with the most important part of the prayer, which is contained in all the things that follow.\u00a0 We can think of the entire prayer as a column descending from highest to lowest, a picture of the Lord in His essence descending down into all levels of creation (see Arcana Coelestia <\/em>8864:4).\u00a0 The first thing in the prayer is \u201cOur Father,\u201d and in the original Greek text, this is actually, \u201cFather of us\u201d \u2013 Father is the first and most important thing.<\/p>\n Think of the relationship we\u2019re invited to have with the God of the Universe \u2013 not as a distant, unknowable being, but as our own Father, in the relationship between a parent and child.\u00a0 \u201cOur Father\u201d is the Lord in His essence, which is His infinite Divine love.<\/p>\n Now, for those who think of a God as a Trinity of persons, it may seem like we are supposed to pray to \u201cthe Father\u201d rather than \u201cthe Son.\u201d\u00a0 Swedenborg recounts an experience with spirits who tried to argue just that (see True Christian Religion <\/em>112<\/a>).\u00a0 But the Lord Himself made clear over and over again that it is impossible to approach the Father except<\/em> through the Son, because the Father is in the Son as the Soul is in the Body.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cI and my Father are one\u201d (John 10:30). \u00a0When they asked Him to show them the Father, Jesus told His disciples, \u201cHe who has seen me has seen the Father\u201d (John 14:9). \u00a0\u201cOur Father\u201d is the Lord God Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Hallowed be Thy name<\/strong><\/p>\n A person\u2019s name is an external thing that still contains within it an idea of who they are.\u00a0 For example, even the mention of the name of a friend brings to mind all that friend\u2019s qualities.\u00a0 And so, our Father\u2019s \u201cname\u201d represents all His qualities and all the ways He manifests Himself to us.\u00a0 And the way He manifests Himself is in His Divine Humanity, as the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when Jesus said, \u201cFather, glorify Thy name,\u201d a voice from heaven answered and said, \u201cI have both glorified, and will glorify again\u201d (John 12:28). \u00a0The Father\u2019s name, in the deepest sense, represents His Divine Human.<\/p>\n This is who we pray to: the Lord God Jesus Christ, in His essence of Divine Love (the Father) and all His qualities and manifestations (His name).<\/p>\n Thy kingdom come<\/strong><\/p>\n We know come to the content of the prayer \u2013 what <\/em>we pray for (although praying \u201challowed be Thy name\u201d is actually the beginning of this).\u00a0 Praying for the Lord\u2019s kingdom means praying for spiritual things \u2013 for the Lord\u2019s good and truth to descend into the world \u2013 since as the Lord said, His kingdom is not of this world.\u00a0 And in the most general terms, prayers that are answered are prayers for spiritual<\/em> things.\u00a0 One of our lessons, taken from Arcana Colestia<\/em> 2535, says, \u201cIf a person prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, there then comes forth in the prayer something like a revelation\u2026 as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy.\u201d\u00a0 More specifically, the prayer that the Lord\u2019s kingdom come is a prayer that His New Church will descend more and more into the world \u2013 that is, that more and more people will be able to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only God, and that salvation comes from living according to the Ten Commandments.<\/p>\n Thy will be done<\/strong><\/p>\n Following right after the prayer that the Lord\u2019s kingdom come is this prayer that His will be done.\u00a0 This statement is essential in every prayer, as it says in Arcana Coelestia <\/em>8179:<\/p>\n For in prayer from the Divine it is always thought and believed that the Lord alone knows whether it is profitable or not; and therefore the suppliant submits the hearing to the Lord, and immediately after prays that the will of the Lord, and not his own, may be done, according to the Lord\u2019s words in His own most grievous temptation at Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39, 42, 44).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This prayer that the Lord\u2019s will be done makes<\/em> a prayer spiritual.\u00a0 For example, we may pray, \u201cLord, I really want to get this job.\u201d\u00a0 In itself, that is a natural prayer.\u00a0 But if we pray along with this, \u201cNot my will, but Your will be done,\u201d the prayer becomes spiritual \u2013 we are praying that we get the job if it is going to be the best thing for our spiritual welfare<\/em>, and the best thing in the Lord\u2019s providence.\u00a0 We acknowledge that He<\/em> knows what is best for us, and that He will grant it.<\/p>\n As in heaven, so upon the earth<\/strong><\/p>\n Although some English translations have this as, \u201con earth as it is in heaven,\u201d the original Greek has heaven first.\u00a0 This continues the picture of the prayer as descending down from the Lord in a column \u2013 beginning with His essence (the Father) down through His kingdom (heaven and the church within people) into every level of human life.<\/p>\n Give us this day our daily bread<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord\u2019s Prayer continues to model the kinds of things we ought to ask for in all<\/em> our prayers.\u00a0 \u201cBread\u201d represents goodness and love, and so by asking for bread we are asking that the Lord inspire us with love \u2013 another element in spiritual prayer.\u00a0 It\u2019s also important to note that the prayer is to give us today<\/em> our daily<\/em> bread.\u00a0 We don\u2019t ask for bread for a week or a month \u2013 we ask that the Lord give us as much as we need for today.\u00a0 It echoes the Lord\u2019s command to the children of Israel to only gather as much manna as they needed for a day.\u00a0 When we pray that the Lord give us only what we need<\/em>, the Lord can inspire us with a greater trust \u2013 so that we can be free from some of the worry about \u201cwhat we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what we shall wear\u201d (Matthew 6:31).<\/p>\n But forgive us our debts<\/strong><\/p>\n Some translations have this as \u201cforgive us our trespasses\u201d \u2013 and immediately following this prayer in the sermon on the mount the Lord said, \u201cFor if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you\u201d \u2013 but in the prayer itself, it literally says, \u201cForgive us our debts.\u201d\u00a0 The reality is, we all owe an unpayable debt to the Lord.\u00a0 He gives us life and the ability to act \u2013 and when we take that life and use it for evil, to trespass against others \u2013 we have stolen something from Him.\u00a0 We owe Him a debt.\u00a0 But the Lord forgives every debt.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t keep a tally sheet.\u00a0 But for that forgiveness to be effective, we have to repent<\/em> of our sin, as the Lord calls us to do over and over again.\u00a0 \u201cBut if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die\u201d (Ezekiel 18:23).<\/p>\n As we also forgive our debtors<\/strong><\/p>\n For the Lord to flow in with forgiveness, we need to have a spirit of forgiveness ourselves.\u00a0 The image of debt here helps us see the ways that we can be unforgiving \u2013 when we keep track of all the ways people have wronged us, the way they \u201cowe\u201d us, when we keep a tally sheet of how we are better than them.\u00a0 The Lord asks us to throw that away.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean we let harmful people continue to do harm \u2013 but in our attitude toward them, we are not to hold anger or hatred against them.\u00a0 This part of the prayer also acts as a model showing us that true prayer must come from a spirit of charity<\/em>, as said above in Arcana Coelestia<\/em> 2535.<\/p>\n And lead us not into temptation<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord never actually does<\/em> lead anyone into temptation, as is known in the Christian world from the epistle of James: \u201cLet no one say when he is tempted, \u201cI am tempted by God\u201d; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.\u201d (James 1:13-14) \u00a0But it can appear <\/em>that God leads us into temptation, and this part of the prayer is a prayer that the Lord protect<\/em> us in temptations, as well as an acknowledgment<\/em> that He does not tempt.<\/p>\n But deliver us from evil<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen several different things that we can ask the Lord for in prayer.\u00a0 We ask that His kingdom come \u2013 a prayer for the spiritual state not just of ourselves, but for everyone in the universe.\u00a0 We ask that He give us our daily bread \u2013 the good things that are necessary for our spiritual well-being.\u00a0 And now we descend to the lowest level, where evil spirits attack us; and the final thing we pray for is that the Lord protect us from evil.\u00a0 It is an acknowledgment that the Lord is present with us on all levels \u2013 from where He dwells \u201cin the heavens\u201d to the valley of the shadow of death, where he delivers us from evil.<\/p>\n In this part of the prayer there is an acknowledgment that we are in<\/em> evil, and that of ourselves we are helpless to get out of it.\u00a0 And one of the essentials in true worship is humility<\/em> \u2013 the acknowledgment that of ourselves we are nothing but evil, and that all goodness and truth comes from the Lord alone.<\/p>\n For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The other side of the acknowledgment that we are powerless against evil is the acknowledgment that the Lord does<\/em> have power.\u00a0 This final acknowledgment encapsulates the entire prayer, showing the Lord\u2019s presence on every level of our lives.\u00a0 We acknowledge that the kingdom<\/em> is His \u2013 all good and truth with angels and spirits and men.\u00a0 We acknowledge that the power<\/em> is His \u2013 the power He has to act from Divine Love.\u00a0 And we acknowledge that the glory <\/em>is His \u2013 the awe-inspiring wisdom and truth from Him, that we can only ever capture a glimpse of.<\/p>\n Two final questions<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord\u2019s prayer gives us a model for true prayer.\u00a0 We pray for spiritual things, and from charity.\u00a0 We pray that the Lord\u2019s will be done.<\/p>\n But there may still be a question: if we are praying that the Lord\u2019s will be done, do our prayers really make a difference?\u00a0 Right before teaching His disciples the Lord\u2019s Prayer, the Lord said, \u201cYour Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him\u201d (Matthew 6:8).\u00a0 If our Father knows what we need, does asking make any difference?<\/p>\n The answer is clearly yes.\u00a0 Because in the act of asking, we open ourselves up to receive<\/em> the things that the Lord wants to give us.\u00a0 We open ourselves up to the answers to our prayers, which come as \u201csomething like a revelation as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy.\u201d<\/p>\n And this raises one final question: do our prayers make any difference to anyone else, or only to ourselves, in opening us up?\u00a0 The Writings say little on this topic directly.\u00a0 But we are<\/em> told that anyone who knows of the Lord\u2019s second coming, and the New Heaven and the New Church, pray that the Lord come with light (Apocalypse Revealed<\/em> 956<\/a>).<\/p>\n