Praying - Other Thoughts

Yesterday I shared my struggles with prayer, again.  I shared that I have been praying through the Lord’s prayer (here @ BibleGateway) and that has given me some different things to pray for people.

Additionally in my quiet time, I have been reading what others have written about praying the Lord’s prayer.  I mentioned that I have 5 categories J. I. Packer has 7:

1. Approaching God in adoration and trust; 
2. Acknowledging his work and his worth, in praise and worship; 
3. Admitting sin, and seeking pardon; 
4. Asking that needs be met, for ourselves and others; 
5. Arguing with God for blessing, as wrestling Jacob did in Genesis 32 (God loves to be argued with); 
6. Accepting from God one’s own situation as he has shaped it; and 
7. Adhering to God in faithfulness through thick and thin.

(J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1994), 157.)

I like his alliteration, but I am not sure about his 5th point yet.

Warren Wiersbe has 10, but he includes the last clause of 13, so really 9:

1. Relationship I - “Our Father in heaven”
2. Relationship II - “Our Father in heaven”
3. Worship - “Hallowed be your name”
4. Citizenship - “Your kingdom come”
5. Partnership - “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”
6. Stewardship - “Give us today our daily bread”
7. Fellowship - “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”
8. Discipleship I - “Lead us not into temptation”
9. Discipleship II - “Deliver us from the evil one”
10. Benediction - “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

(Warren W. Wiersbe, On Earth as It Is in Heaven: How the Lord’s Prayer Teaches Us to Pray More Effectively (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010), 7–8.)

I have a great deal of respect for Wiersbe.  However, his choice of “Stewardship” for the sixth point for verse 11, as well as his explanation did not seem to fit either the context of the prayer or a simple reading of the text.  Further, his support for the point seemed forced.  It was if he had decided what the passage meant and then backfilled the explanation with verses that supported the topic if not the passage.  Additionally, the rest of the points after his sixth point seemed to follow a similar pattern and when he referred to the verse 11 in those sections, he referred to our dependence on the Lord rather than stewardship.

I mention this because it is an example of one who has a great reputation writing and publishing something that does not seem to make sense.  I have said this before, but just because a noted author pens something and “supports” it.  Does not free us from the responsibility to check what he writes or says against the Bible.  Remember, the text of the Bible is what is inspired.  It is not what is written about the Bible.  That would include this Blog – not inspired.