Your Love is Strong - Jon Foreman

scripture and prayer reflection

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Lyrics

Heavenly Father, You always amaze me

Let Your kingdom come in my world and in my life

Give me the food I need to live through today

And forgive me as I forgive the people that wrong me

Lead me far from temptation, deliver me from the evil one

I look out the window, the birds are composing

Not a note is out of tune or out of place

I walk to the meadow and stare at the flowers

Better dressed than any girl on her wedding day

So why should I worry?

Why do I freak out?

God knows what I need

You know what I need

Your love is, Your love is

Your love is strong

The Kingdom of the Heavens is now advancing

Invade my heart, invade this broken town

The Kingdom of the Heavens is buried treasure

Would you sell yourself to buy the one you've found?

Two things You told me

That You are strong

And You love me

Yes, You love me

Your love is, Your love is

Your love is strong

Our God in Heaven

Hallowed be Thy name

Above all names

Your kingdom come

Your will be done

On earth as it is in Heaven

Give us today our daily bread

Forgive us weary sinners

Keep us far from our vices

And deliver us from these prisons

Matthew 6:5-15

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

     on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts,

     as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

     but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Proverbs 18:10

10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower;

     the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

Reflection

The Lord’s Prayer — known all around the world and used across all Christian denominations — is the model of prayer that Jesus gave in His sermon on the mount.  Matthew prefaces the prayer with an account of Jesus’ warnings both against praying with hypocrisy and pride, and against trying to pray “well enough”.

As believers we too can fall into these traps.  We can try to pray in front of others in such a way that they admire how “spiritual” we are.  We can feel shy of praying out loud with others because we don’t feel eloquent enough or “good enough” at praying.  We can even more subtly begin to slip into the belief that the way we pray and the words we choose somehow might be the key to persuade God to act, and that if we ask in just the right way, He will give us what we want.  For those who have grown up in the church, we may even have developed a totally different vocabulary that gets pulled out when it’s time to pray, almost putting on a different persona based on what we’ve heard from others in prayer.

Jesus says, however, that God already knows what we need and we can speak simply and directly with Him.  He lays out a basic structure — honor God as God, seek to align with His will, ask for what you need physically and spiritually.  It is rather simple compared to some of our more anxiously contrived prayers. By all means, talk to God about what you are experiencing, including anxiety!  But this model becomes a place to return to, not as a rote ritual prayer to spout off automatically without thought, but as a place to be with God, knowing that He is powerful and loving, and is working for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:26-28).

The steady rhythmic strumming of the acoustic guitar in Foreman’s arrangement of this prayer paints us a picture of the firm, reliable foundation we have as we come to God in Christ.  The jump in intensity when the song arrives at the words from the Lord’s Prayer mirrors the singer’s heart crying out to God with His whole heart.

Take some time to reflect on Jesus’ words, praying slowly through the structure He lays out and connecting it to your own life.  What things from the Lord’s Prayer are hardest to genuinely pray for? What is it about those things that makes them challenging?  Talk with God about those things today. May you find there the freedom to lean into His strong love that holds you fast.