Practicing Prayer: Learning and Living the Lord’s Prayer

Week Four: Third Petition and Praying the Psalms - April 12, 2015

1. Review and Sharing Time

Thy Kingdom Come

The Puritans

Prayer Journaling

2. Third Petition: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

A. Thy will be done…

NOT God’s Sovereign/Providential Will

B. On earth as it is in heaven

RATHER God’s Saving Action: Bringing Heaven into Earth

Group Discussion: Ephesians 1:3-10

What is God’s will?

Who is at the Centre?

How is his will accomplished?

How then, do we pray?

C. The Perfect Application of God’s Will?

Obedience and Delight: Angels and Saints

Psalm 103:20Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!

Hebrews 12:22…to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

Jesus, the bridge between heaven and earth

John 4:31-34 …my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work

John 6:38-40 …For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me…. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Matt 26:39-42Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.

D. Thy Will be done, heaven on earth, in us!

What does God’s will look like in a Christian’s life?

God’s will for me as an individual?

3. Historical Excursus:Ignatius Loyola (d. 1556)

A. Cannonball Conversion

B. A New Order - Not Contemplative, or Mendicant, but Apostolic

C. God in all things

D. Holy Indifference

D. The Spiritual Exercises -

4. Prayer Practice: The Spiritual Exercises Adapted

A. The Examination of Conscious

I. Formal Examination

1.Give thanks to God our Lord for the benefitsreceived.

We always begin by remembering we come to a God who loves us and offers grace!

2.Ask for grace to know our sins and cast them out.

3.Make an account of our soul from the hour that we roseup to the present Examen, hour by hour, or period by period: and first as tothoughts, and then as to words, and then as to acts. Ignatius prescribes using the 10 commandments, the 7 deadly sins (pride, anger, avarice, gluttony, lust, envy, sloth)and the 7 virtues (humility, patience, generosity, temperance, chastity, love, and diligence) as a grid for this examination.

4. The fourth, to ask pardon of God our Lord for the faults.

5. The fifth, to purpose amendment with His grace.

II. Examination by Consolations and Desolations

Spend a period of time in reflection; working to identify the “motions of the soul,” the consolations and desolations that have been at work in us in a given period of time. These can be simply identified to God or in a journal, but often presentfodder for continued prayer. This is a great exercise for small groups or married couples.

Consolation:“Any thing through which the soul comes to be inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord… every increase of hope, faith and charity, and all interior joy which calls and attracts to heavenly things and to the salvation of one’s soul, quieting it and giving it peace in its Creator and Lord.”

Desolation:“…darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movementto things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations,moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when one finds oneself alllazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from his Creator and Lord.”

B. The Prayer of the Senses

This exercise involves using a Gospel narrative as a location for prayer and meditation.

  1. Self-examination (above) and prayer for assistance.
  2. Select a portion of Scripture, usually the Gospels, in which Jesus is interacting with other people.
  3. Read through the passage carefully (so you could tell the story to someone else).
  4. Engage your imagination to reconstruct the scene in your mind. Walk through your senses one at a time (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) and immerse yourself completely in the story.
  5. Speak to those with the narrative, including Jesus, asking a question about the narrative or a question from your own life you are wrestling with.
  6. Listen carefully!

5. Further Reading…

St. Augustine On the Lord’s Prayer:“Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” The third thing we pray for is that His will may be done as in Heaven so in earth. And in this, too, we wish well for ourselves. For the will of God must necessarily be done. It is the will of God that the good should reign and the wicked be damned. Is it possible that this will should not be done? But what good do we wish ourselves when we say, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth?” Give ear. For this petition may be understood in many ways, and many things are to be in our thoughts in this petition when we pray God, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” As Thy angels offend Thee not, so may we also not offend Thee. Again, how is “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth,” understood? All the holy patriarchs, all the prophets, all the apostles, all the spiritual are, as it were, God’s Heaven; and we in comparison of them are earth. “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth”; as, in them, so in us also. Again, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth”; The Church of God is Heaven, His enemies are earth. So we wish well for our enemies, that they, too, may believe and become Christians, and so the will of God be done as in Heaven, so also in earth. Again, “Thy will be done as in Heaven, so in earth.” Our spirit is Heaven and the flesh earth; as our spirit is renewed by believing, so may our flesh be renewed by rising again, and “the will of God be done as in Heaven, so in earth.”

Luther in A Simple Way to Pray:“The third petition. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Say: "O dear Lord, God and Father, thou knowest that the world, if it cannot destroy thy name or root out thy kingdom, is busy day and night with wicked tricks and schemes, strange conspiracies and intrigue, huddling together in secret counsel, giving mutual encouragement and support, raging and threatening and going about with every evil intention to destroy thy name, word, kingdom, and children. Therefore, dear Lord, God and Father, convert them and defend us. Convert those who have yet to acknowledge thy good will that they with us and we with them may obey thy will and for thy sake gladly, patiently, and joyously bear every evil, cross, and adversity, and thereby acknowledge, test, and experience thy benign, gracious, and perfect will. But defend us against those who in their rage, fury, hate, threats, and evil desires do not cease to do us harm. Make their wicked schemes, tricks, and devices to come to nothing so that these may be turned against them, as we sing in Psalm 7.”

Calvin in The Institutes:“Here God’s other will is to be noted- namely, that to which voluntary obedience corresponds- and for that reason, heaven is by name compared to earth, for the angels, as is said in the psalm willingly obey God, and are intent upon carrying out his commands (ps. 103:20). We are therefore bidden to desire that, just as in heaven nothing is done apart from God’s good pleasure, and the angels dwell together in all peace and uprightness, the earth be in like manner subject to such a rule, with all arrogance and wickedness brought to an end.

And in asking this we renounce the desires of our flesh; for whoever does not resign and submit his feelings to God opposes as much as he can God’s will, since only what is corrupt comes forth from us. And again by this prayer we formed to self-denial so God may rule us according to his decision. And not this alone but also so he may create new minds and hearts in us (ps 51:20), ours having been reduced to nothing in order for us to feel in ourselves no prompting of desire but pure agreement with his will. In sum, so we may wish nothing from ourselves but his Spirit may govern our hearts; and while the Spirit is inwardly teaching us we may learn to love the things that please him and hate those which displease him. In consequence, our wish is that he may render futile and of no account whatever feelings are incompatible with his will.”

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