From the Desk of Chaplain Dale

A good friend of mine Dale Lowrimore is a San Diego Police Department Chaplain. This is a copy of the article he wrote for the Police and Sheriff magazines that will come out this month.Here It's definitely a great message worth passing on.

December 2009

“I don’t know of a single foreign product that enters this country untaxed except the answer to prayer.” (Mark Twain)

Over and over in the Bible we are entreated to pray. The word “prayer,” and its derivatives are used 545 times in the Old and New Testaments, and there are hundreds of examples of prayers being offered and answered through the entirety of Scripture.

But what is prayer? Please allow me to give you another quote, this time from Francois De La Mothe-Fenelon (1651-1715):

“Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart to a dear friend. People who have no secrets from each other never want subjects of conversation; they do not weigh their words, because there is nothing to be kept back. Neither do they seek for something to say; they talk out of the abundance of their hearts, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.”

You see, this is what prayer is…simply talking with God!

Now I must admit, there are aspects of prayer that I don’t quite understand or comprehend. But this should in no way hinder or impede my willingness to spend time talking to my heavenly Father. In fact, I stand in good company…the disciples of Jesus didn’t quite understand prayer either because at one point they said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray!” (Luke 11:1). It is from their inquiry that we have the model of “The Lord’s Prayer” that is so familiar to millions of Christians around the world.

“The Lord’s Prayer”

• “Our Father”…Speaks of intimacy. We are able to speak to God with the fondness and closeness of our own earthly father.
• “Which art in Heaven”…This sends our mind to where God dwells and speaks of His transcendence (i.e. that God is outside of our space/time continuum).
• “Hollowed be thy name”…This reminds us that the One to whom we are praying is absolutely Holy! He dwells in an environment of white-hot holiness!
• “Thy kingdom come”…What is our motivation for praying? Is it to further God’s kingdom?
• “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”…Are we willing to be obedient to the known will of God as explained in the Bible?
• “Give us this day our daily bread”…This reminds us that God is the one who sustains us; it is He who puts food on our table.
• “And forgive us our debts” (i.e. trespasses, sins)…This is not speaking about our MasterCard bill. This reminds us to come to God and ask for forgiveness for the sins we have committed against Him and our fellow man.
• “As we forgive our debtors” (those who have sinned against us)…Jesus warned us that we will not be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive those who have trespassed against us. (See Matthew 6:14-15)
• “And lead us not into temptation”…This is an unfortunate translation from Greek to English. It can be better rendered, “And let us not be led into temptation.” The first rendering can sound like God sometimes leads people into temptation but nothing could be further from the truth! God does not tempt people. We are tempted by our own lusts and desires (James 4:1-4).
• “But deliver us from evil”…When we find ourselves tempted to sin, that is the very moment that we should pray to our heavenly Father!
• “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”…Finally, we are reminded that God is the one in control. His kingdom, power and glory are unmatched and will go on for eternity.

Let me encourage you during this Christmas season to contemplate the need for prayer in your life. It celebrates the birth of One who, according to the Bible, was born into this world to pay with his own life and suffering the penalty for our sins, so that we could have a relationship with God, and direct access to Him via prayer. Now He can say to us “Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3… God’s phone number). What a wonderful gift! Take full advantage of it!

May the Lord richly bless you and your families during this wonderful Christmas season!
-Chaplain Dale