Thursday, February 1, 2018

Book Review: The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down by Albert Mohler

The Lord's Prayer is perhaps one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. I know it is quoted in many worship services as a benediction. It is also one of the most used passages set to music outside of the Psalms. The Lord's Prayer was sung during my wedding back in 2000. The prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13, which says:

Our Father 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,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

This prayer that Jesus gave us serves as model on how we address God and what we should pray for. In his book, The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down, Albert Mohler breaks down the Lord's prayer to all believers and reflects on how we should pray. Mohler says that many Christians rush through this prayer without learning it even though it only takes a few seconds to quote. Mohler also says the Lord's Prayer not only serves as to what prayer is, but what prayer is not.

Mohler goes on to say, as scripture points out, before Jesus gave this prayer, he said, "When you pray." All Christians are called to pray, which we do see commands to pray in various parts of the Bible. Some of the Reformers have said that prayer is like breathing, you can't live without it. Mohler says that prayer is central to the Christian life and the scriptures, and there is no true intimacy with God without prayer.

After a brief introduction on the context on where the prayer is found, Mohler begins to break it down. When we come to God, we call Him, "Our Father." We are adopted into the family of God and we can call Him, "Our Father." Notice the passage says, "Our Father," not, "My Father." Christians are a family of many with one Father. When we hallowed God's name, we make it holy. We don't come causally to God, but with reverent fear because He is holy.

The subtitle of this book says, "The Lord's Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution." Some people will think a revolution as means of using military force to overthrow a government. That is not what Mohler is implying. The revolution is when we ask God's kingdom to come, "we want to see the kingdoms of this world give way to the kingdom of the Lord." If you are a follower of Jesus, you are citizen of the kingdom of heaven, which is why we ask for God's kingdom to come and His will, which is holy and good, to be done.

We ask God for what we need and pour out our hearts to Him, not as if He does not know what we need, but as means of our dependency on Him. When we pray, we come to God to ask for forgiveness for the sins we have committed. This is where I have a problem with calling this prayer, "The Lord's Prayer." Jesus knew no sin. He was tempted as we yet was without sin. If this is a prayer Jesus prayed, then we are in trouble. If Jesus asked for forgiveness, then His death was meaningless and His life was useless. This is why I like calling Matthew 6:9-13, "The Model Prayer." One of my professors at East Texas Baptist University called John 17, "The True Lord's Prayer," which was Jesus's great high priestly prayer.

We can come to God when we sin as we confess it and ask for forgiveness. We can also ask God not keep us from stumbling as we go about our daily lives. Jesus did not imply that God leads us to temptation. James 1:13 says God does not tempted anyone, but the Bible does say that God will provide a way of escape in the midst of temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a simple read. You can take a week to read it. This has become one of my favorite books on prayer and quote possibly, my favorite book from Mohler.

Thanks Booklook Bloggers for letting me review this book.

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