SPEAKER_02 0:09

The Coaching for Life podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to the Coaching for Life podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis, a conversation that we pray encourages you to pursue the Christ-centered life. And it's always a highlight of the week to spend time with my good friend and co-host Monty Williams. And Monty, I first have to give the disclaimer that I'm feeling a little emotionally fragile today as we drop we just dropped off our middle child Kate at AM yesterday. So to any any parents who are listening who might be in that season right now, we are with you and we're praying for you. You have a college freshman as well, and uh we're praying for for our students. But the last time we were together, you know we talked about my will versus thy will, God, and we mentioned the Lord's Prayer and how we wanted to come back to that in a future podcast and spend some more time on this very familiar prayer from Matthew 6. And before we get into the actual prayer itself, the the what of the prayer, Jesus sets the table for us with how we should pray in verses 5 through 8.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah. Before we go to that, like we gotta go back to the moment of dropping our kids off. And you know, we we you know we need a lot of prayer when God when Jesus says to pray like this. Uh in those moments, you know, I I remember dropping Elijah off this past uh two months ago in in June. And you know, you and I were texting yesterday. I know it was a hard day for you, and I just emotional I cried so much dropping him off that my nose bled profusely. It was like, what is going on? Right. And for all the parents that have dealt with that, um it is hard. And it's not like I haven't dropped off kids before. I mean, I have three girls that have you know dropped off at school in some fashion, and uh it's just hard.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, and so yeah, you you know that's where God wants them. And so that that part you you feel at peace about. But you know, you you spend 19 years building into them and and and raising them, and and just as we saw this past Sunday in the life of Hannah, you know, she open-handedly offered her son Samuel back to the Lord, and he was a young child, and and so so that was a good example for us on how we dedicate our children to the Lord. But it still makes it challenging for parents.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

What a prayer by Hannah. Yes. And uh what what a prayer um that we get to dive into today. When we look at Matthew um six and verses five and six, Jesus talks about um how we should prayer, the posture of prayer in terms of um not being like the hypocrites. Um and the verse is so clean and clear in terms of Jesus said, and when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they will be seen by people. Verse 60 says, But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your father who is in secret. And I think that's a something that I had to learn in my walk, uh, the different places to pray. You know, as a kid, you can be a little bit ashamed to pray at lunchtime. You know, all the other kids may be doing something else, and you don't even want to pray, and you can be it can be confusing. And then we see uh Jesus gives us this heart set. You know, the reason why we pray is to um connect with the Lord, be grateful to worship, uh, to talk to him. But we're we're also warned to not be like those who pray for and applause or whatever effect that they think they're gonna get by praying in public. And and then in verse 7, he says, be careful of vain repetitions. I think that's something that even with this particular prayer, it can become a vain repetition if we just say it without any um posture in our heart that we're talking to the Alpha and Omega, the lifter of our heads. We're we're we're communing with the Lord when we pray. And it's it's so cool when you have teachers like yourself that remind us that we are to pray like this, not necessarily this every time we pray. And so in verse 7, uh Jesus says, be careful of unnecessary number of words to impress. So sometimes the greatest prayer is, Lord, help. And then the and the Bible also talks about um the Holy Spirit being our helper in terms of prayer. There are times where we don't even know what to say, but the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and conveys that to the Father in a way that we can't even understand. And so we just it it it just dives into what Jesus wants us to do in terms of prayer. And then in verse eight, um, the Lord knows what we need. He knows all things. And a great reference for that is Psalm 139, uh, verses one through four. The Bible says, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways, even before there is a word on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it all. And that right there is something that we probably need to add to any Sunday school curriculum for kids so that they understand that God gets them, not like the commercial that we see on TV. Like God knows you, He knows what you're thinking, He knows what you want to pray, He understands your need, He has the answer. But He wants you to come to Him, He wants to have this beautiful relationship with you, but He knows us. And that's something that when you think about the Lord and the billions of people on earth and the billions that have come before us, like He knows us. Yeah. And we get to know Him better through this vehicle of prayer.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, and you made that key point, I think, in this conversation uh on prayer is is what's at the heart. And w I just mentioned Hannah from First Samuel. So first Samuel is a lot on my heart and mind right now as we just started a a series on 1 Samuel. But uh I I couldn't help but also be drawn back to 1 Samuel 16, 7, where Samuel is told by God, God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And he he's not focusing on the external, as these Pharisees and religious leaders were out on the marketplace, and everybody was impressed by their lengthy prayers, uh, but he's really looking at the heart, you know, having that intimate and personal conversation with him that that is ongoing uh throughout the day. We're never about trying to impress others through our prayers. I like how one author uh wrote, When a man begins to think more of how he is praying than of what he is praying, his prayer dies upon his lips. And another writer said, We shouldn't measure prayer by the yard, because it's not about how long or how many words we pray, but it's about the depth of our hearts as we are pouring out our prayers to the Lord. And that's that's the focus. It's it's prayer to an audience of one. We're to pre please the Lord in all things, we are to honor him, we are to praise him. And I like how the initial focus on the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 is on the Lord Himself, he's on God. We're not speaking to some distant force, we have this near and dear Father that we are communicating with. He's our loving Father, we are his children, and we speak to him in the way that we speak to loving parents, with reverence, but also with mutual love as we share our concerns and our requests for help to them. And so Jesus said, pray in this way, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Again, the focus is not upon self, but it's on God. The Father is in heaven, he is sovereign over all. And we see that word hallowed, which is not a word that we use in normal everyday conversation, but hallowed means holy and sacred. So sacred is his name. We glorify God because he alone is worthy of it, and his name represents his divine attributes and his reputation. So we are hallowing him as our Almighty, our all-powerful, majestic God. He is completely above, he is completely other than anything else. And we are to have that appropriate amount of healthy, reverent fear and awe of God when we approach him in prayer. Yeah. What about that next section?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah, verse 10 uh chapter 6, um, the Bible is pretty clear in terms of um it's about the Lord again. You know, your kingdom come, meaning the Lord. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And it's it's pretty cool that we just talked about um the Lord's will versus my will. Yes. Um his will has to be the priority in all things. And and it's it's so much like Matthew 6 33. Um, seek ye first the kingdom of God, then all these things will be added unto you. Um his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's pretty cool as you do these pods, how much you learn and you're you're preparing. And you know, I've been looking at this for about a week and a half, um, not straight, but just off and on. And this morning, before I came in, I'm I was reading my Wearsby commentary, and it had a really good quote that I thought was so appropriate in terms of this particular um line in the in the prayer. Uh Wearsby says, the purpose of prayer is to glorify God's name and to ask for help to accomplish his will on earth. This prayer begins with God's interest, not ours. God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will. Robert Law has said prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man's will done in heaven, but for getting God's will done on earth. We have no right to ask God for anything that will dishonor his name, delay his kingdom, or disturb his will on earth. And it's it was really good for me in terms of however God has grown me over the years, because I think I've shared this with you before. God has been a genie in my life early in my walk. If you could call it that, early in my crawl as a believer. Um I would pray for things and it would happen. And I was like, okay, this works. And when you're, you know, when you're in your teens, it's fun. But then there are times in your walk where you pray for things and God is like, not right now. Yeah. Or he's like, no. Yeah. And that's hard to digest when you're trying to figure it out. Like, I know you can do it. Why won't you do it?

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

And when I read that in the commentary, I realized that some of my prayers would dishonor the will of God. Yeah. Um, and they weren't that good for me. Yeah. And in his graciousness and kindness, he said, No, not right now. Um, and then sometimes he would say yes, but and when he said yes, it was always good for me, but it it absolutely had to line up with his will if it happened. Yeah. And so when I read this now, it's so different than when I read it as a kid. Like we in sports, we tend to say this prayer before games or after a game. We just pray the Lord's prayer. Yeah. But as you study it, um, you realize that it probably isn't done properly and in the right context, which is what we do in sports at times, in particular with prayer.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Yeah, as a young person, you you tend to have that foxhole kind of prayer, or you're in the trenches and like that. I'm about to take this quiz and and it's a pop quiz, it's it's being passed out right now, Lord help me. And uh in again, the primary focus in those prayers is often on us, instead of making God the primary focus, as we see in the first three parts of the Lord's Prayer. And then the next sections of the prayer do have to do with us. Uh, first we see in Matthew 6.11, give us this day our daily bread. And this is a reminder to ask God in prayer for all that we need. And and it's a prayer for needs, not greeds. And Philippians 4.19, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He supplies what we need based on the abundance of his riches and his love for us. And we see that phrase daily bread, and and at times we can think of just the daily physical provisions that we need for life and the necessities, but it's primarily speaking of spiritual daily bread. That spiritual sustenance that God alone provides through his indwelling spirit and through his life-giving word. Yeah. God knows what all those needs are. So it's not like he's needing us to tell him, but he wants us, he delights in us coming to him to ask him as we live in total dependence upon him. How about that next section?

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, verse 12. Um, this this is the one that probably hit home for me in terms of where I need to grow in terms of my awareness of um what God has done for me and what I need to continue to do to others, for others. Um verse 12 says, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And some versions uh use trespass um in place of debts. It's an important reminder for us to confess our sins to the Lord, where we find uh forgiveness of our sins, as 1 John 1 9 explains so well. But it's also a huge reminder for us to um forgive those who have hurt us in the past, or if we're living in some level of hurt right now with someone or or maybe more than one person, yeah, to have a heart of forgiveness. And it only takes one person. I I would I grew up um probably with a misunderstanding and probably lumped forgiveness and reconciliation into the same bucket, and forgiveness is on me to make sure that I forgive when somebody has wronged me. The re reconciliation piece may not happen. Yeah, because it takes two. And and that I think that's a hard concept for Christians to understand. Um it is on us to forgive.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Whether or not it's received or uh talked about, like it's it's we cannot carry the bitterness of unforgiveness as believers. Yeah. And it doesn't work if you're not a believer. It becomes a weight in your life. And I and I can say this with um without any you know pats on the back. I know it because I've done it. And it it just does it's not healthy. Um and it there's a reason why the Lord put it in the most famous prayer in the Bible. You know, it is our job to forgive when people have hurt us, but more than that, when we forgive, we have however small this understanding of what has been extended to us. A heavy price was paid by our Lord and Savior when he willingly went to the cross to die for us. Every sin that was ever committed, past, present, and future, was laid on him. Yeah. And somebody could do something relatively small to us and we refuse the same gift that we've been given from the Lord. And so there's so much there. Um, I mean, this this this line right here is is all of these lines. We could actually do pods on just this one. Right. Um and I I can I hope it's an encouragement to anybody who's listening to be quick to forgive. Um we can justify our own feelings. We can justify and stack however we want to build a case against people. That's what we do as humans. We don't like to admit it, but we do it. The Lord didn't do that with us when he's the one that could. Like he can, he's the one that can stack it, justify it, and stand on it. Yeah. And he doesn't do that with us, and we do it. And I think this is a reminder of the gift that we have from the Lord. He forgave us. The Bible says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for us to get it right. In our worst state, he's like, I love you, I forgive you. And we have to remember, um, and I'm preaching to myself right now to do that when stuff comes up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

This it would be a good conversation to come back to, just uh camping out even more on this topic of forgiveness. And you know, this that can be the hardest part of this prayer for some, uh, and having that humility to seek forgiveness from the Lord and then turn around and forgive others. And you think about the Lord, he didn't pray this prayer himself. I mean, he gave this prayer as an example of prayer to the disciples. I mean, he didn't need to ask the Father for forgiveness. I mean, he was perfectly sinless. Yeah. And but he provides that model to us. Like, I this is a part of prayer, seeking the humility uh of the Lord and then turning around, humbling yourself and and seeking forgiveness.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

It's it's interesting, Will. I I've seen as we study and go back and forth, you and I with our notes, I've seen some uh commentators, teachers have said, you know, we call it the the Lord's Prayer. Right. It could very easily be called the disciples' prayer. Right, right. Because it wasn't for the Lord. Yes. It was for the disciples. So that's an interesting way to look at it. Um the Lord doesn't need to know how to pray. Right. You know, we do. Yeah. And so He He gave us this template.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

We need the help. Yeah, for sure. But I remember praying this prayer as a child, and and to be honest, I didn't really think about what I was actually saying. You know, it was just words, and it became very similar to saying the the Pledge of Allegiance, you know, every day at school. I I didn't really think about the words that I I was saying. You know, you kind of mumble the words as a second grader at school. Uh but when we pray. It's profitable that we don't just say words, we don't just give lip service to God, but we truly seek to know the heart of God. We read his word, we meditate on the word, and I think having that discipline as well prompts us to adore the Lord more and to show affection to him in in very meaningful and personal ways. And as we continue in the Lord's Prayer, we read in verse 13, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And it's interesting, these ideas are two sides of one coin. God is not the cause of our temptation, but he allows and permits us to experience temptation from the world and from the enemy, and that should drive us to prayer. Prayer that God, would you minimize any testing that could result in sinning and deliver me from the evil one, deliver me from any temptation that could lead to sin.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

It's it's it's a pretty for me when I studied this, um something came to mind in terms of the world's way of thinking, which is easily adopted. Yeah. Because it sounds cool or it um it tickles our fancy, if you will. And then there's God's way, yeah, and and the biblical way of looking at anything through his lens. And and there's a uh a popular poem um by William Ernest Henley. And I won't read the whole thing. I'll read the the first uh four and the last four lines. It says, Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. And then the last four lines says, It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. And that goes totally against um what we're asking the Lord to do. We're asking God not only to not lead us not into temptation, but we're asking God for guidance in every area of our lives. Yes. Um we are not the captains of our souls. Um it's why the Bible describes us as sheep. You know, we're not we're not wolverines, we're not this solitary animal that can, you know, take care of himself. No, we're sheep. That's how the Bible describes us. And when we look at it from God's perspective, Psalm 3723 says, the Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Uh Proverbs 16, 9 says, We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. And we ask God, you know, to not lead us into temptation, to guide us in every step. And that sounds like a shepherd. Yeah. And it gives us this picture of God um ordering our steps, guiding us as we follow his lead. And it always goes back to this concept that you and I have talked about the surrendering of our will, our hearts, our plans to him, and we allow him to direct our steps, and he takes us to green pastures and quiet waters and places of refreshment and rest and encouragement, but also places of growth, you know. And so when you read this particular line, yeah, um, when we follow the Lord, he keeps us from temptation. When we surrender to him, he keeps us from evil. Yeah. But the it's it's on us to surrender our way and and and actually commit to his.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yeah, I'm glad you brought up that poem uh from Henley, because it does kind of speak to the typical American male mindset, you know, that we are to be master of our own faiths, captain of our own souls. But the Christ-centered life is a life of of humility, and and the fruit of that is often just our humility in our prayers and making Christ Lord over all in our lives. And as we think about this beautiful and very familiar prayer, it does center our hearts on the fullness of our triune God as Father, Son, and Spirit. We look to God the Father, our Creator, to sustain our lives with his daily bread. We also look to God the Son, Jesus, to save us and forgive us. He's our Savior, He's our Redeemer. And then we also pray to God the Spirit to keep us from temptation and sin as our helper. He's our comforter, he's our guide. And again, with prayer, it's not about having the magic formula, saying just the right words. Sometimes people get caught up in that and and they they don't want to necessarily pray in public because what if I say the wrong thing? But it's never done in a way to manipulate or or make a deal with God, but we pray out of that sincere, humble heart. We are are broken, and we are to have that contrite spirit. That's what God is desiring, that's what he's looking for. And again, I think it'd be good to come back to this when we talk more at length about just having a general discipline of prayer in the spiritual life. But in in your experience, what has been a practical step that we can leave with the listener in terms of your own growth in prayer over the years?

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah, it's it's it's an interesting question because when, like I said, when I started out as a believer, God was, again, a genie. He was a butler, if you will, um, who was to be there at every beckon call. Right. Um, when I had an issue, bam, I went to the to the Lord. Yeah. Um, as I began to grow a little bit, um, and we were going to church in South Bend, Indiana, uh, in college, um, you you start to run into these verses that stick to you a bit. And one verse that stuck with me was Ephesians 6.18. The Bible says, with every prayer and request, pray at all times in the spirit. And with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all saints. That pray at all times was something that I was just like stumped on. And we actually had a song at the church that I went to, New Wings of Faith, and I can remember the lady Glenda singing the song. And it was, you know, at all times with all kinds of prayer, Ephesians 6.18, keep on praying. And she would just pray that and it would just, it would just kind of stick with me. And it's a reminder to parents to put your kids in environments where good stuff sticks to them. Because even though I didn't understand it, it has been with me all these years. And I thought I was confused and I was also like overwhelmed because I was like, I can't do that. Like, I want to go outside, I want to go play basketball, whatever. Like, and what I found is as I've grown and study, is that God has given us this privilege of communing with Him all day. And we can do it anywhere. Yeah. Um, we can do it in the car, we can do it in the bathroom, we can do it in the cafeteria, we can do it anywhere. Yeah. From a practical standpoint, for me, um, and we've talked about this before, my time in the morning has been the most focused, um, settled time for me to start my day in prayer. Yeah. And I don't feel rushed. I don't feel like I have to perform. I don't feel like I have to say the right things. I just sit there and and I talk to the Lord, and um I've grown in the area of listening to the Lord in my time in prayer. But it's it's in that quiet time, uh, sometimes really early, uh, probably earlier than Lisa wants me to get up and make noise, getting out of the bed. Uh, but between 5 30 and 6 30 every morning when I get up to do my time and and study, it's it's also a time of prayer where I'm not interrupted. Yeah. And um I wasn't like that. Um, as I've shared before, I used to watch my first wife, Ingrid, do it all the time. Uh, get away by herself, wake up, break, she'd take her Bible, her journal, and pray and and and write down what she felt like the Lord was sharing with her. And so I just encourage uh if you're struggling with that, it's okay. God is so gracious and kind. He will walk us into these places where we need to be and grow and and and give us opportunities to grow in this particular area. But it's been such a special time for me as someone who has lived a busy, busy, busy lifestyle. Finding that time and setting aside that time is so profitable. And I can't tell you how much I've grown in discernment and things I needed to know that I probably wouldn't have heard as clearly had I not had that special quiet time in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Yeah. And you brought up, I think the key point is listening to the Lord. You know, sometimes we get caught up in just speaking. And instead of just being quiet before the Lord and adoring him and worshiping him and reading the scripture, sometimes people may journal as they read the scripture, and the Spirit works in our hearts, and we can we can write out prayers and we can pray them back to the Lord. But but I think you you bring up just the integrated life. You know, it's not just Sunday mornings from the pews, it's Monday through Saturday going about your work, and there's to be no divide between the sacred and the secular. And everything we do is to be on to the Lord, and that that includes uh our prayer life. So as we close today, uh let me let me pray the Lord's Prayer on behalf of our listeners and ask God to reveal more of Himself to us. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, Lord, but deliver us from all evil. And Lord, we pray that you would strengthen anyone who is listening today by your spirit and through your word. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, thank you for spending time with us today. And remember, whatever it is you're facing, know that God loves you, He's for you, He's got a good plan for you, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Thank you for joining us at Coaching for Life. And please subscribe wherever you receive this content.