When We Say Father

Unlocking the Power of the Lord's Prayer

Adrian Rogers, Steve Rogers

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781462771325
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Adrian Roger's last written manuscript before his passing in 2005, has been edited and brought together by his son Steve, as a final joint work. When We Say Father takes the Lord's Prayer and breaks it down to its most basic components for readers to easily learn how to pray from the ultimate source, Jesus himself.

Chapter 2

First Things First

“The Priority of the Prayer”

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

—Matthew 6:10

I heard some time ago about a man who saw a talking parakeet for sale. Talking parakeets are generally expensive. This one was only fifteen dollars. So he asked the store owner, “Does this parakeet truly talk?” “Certainly.” “Only fifteen dollars?” “Yes.” “Well, I’ll take him.” The store owner replied, “Now the cage, of course, is thirty dollars.” The man said, “Okay, that’s still not too bad. Forty-five dollars; I’ve got the bird and the cage.”

The man was back at the pet store in several days. He said, “You know, the bird doesn’t talk.” The store owner said, “You did get a little swing, didn’t you?” The man asked, “A swing?” “Yes,” the store owner replied. “Before he talks, he has to get on the swing and swing.” The man asked, “Well, how much is a swing?” “Ten dollars.” “I’ll take a swing, please.”

The man came back again in several days. He said, “Hey, the bird has not said a word.” “The store owner replied, “You mean to say that that bird got on the swing and then looked in the mirror and didn’t say anything?” The man asked, “What mirror?” “Oh,” the store owner exclaimed, “You didn’t get a mirror? You need one of these twelve-dollar mirrors.” The man said, “All right, give me a mirror.”

A few days later the man was back. He said, “The bird is still not talking.” The store owner said, “Oh, don’t tell me. You mean the bird got on the swing and swung, and looked in the mirror, and went up and down the little ladder and didn’t say a word?” The man asked, “What ladder?” The store owner replied, “You didn’t get a ladder? Oh, you need one of these nine-dollar ladders.”

The man bought a ladder and soon was back, same story. He said, “Mister, this bird is not saying a word.” The store owner asked, “You mean to say he pecked the bell and didn’t say anything?” “What do you mean?” “Oh, he always pecks the bell before he talks.” “All right. I want the bell.”

Then one day the man came in the pet store. He went straight to the owner and said, “Mister, that bird died!” “He died?” the owner asked. “He sure did.” “Well, what happened?” “He got on the swing and he swung back and forth. And then he went up and down the little ladder. Then he came back down and he looked in the mirror. And then he pecked the bell. And then he turned to me and said something.” “Oh,” said the store owner, “he did talk! What did he say?” “He said, ‘Don’t they sell any birdseed in that store?’ And then he dropped over dead!”

Something more important than the bell and the mirror and the ladder is the birdseed. In this chapter, I want to talk to you about proper priorities—putting first things first.

Here’s what Jesus said in Matthew 6:10: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” That is the priority of the prayer—for God’s kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done. In verses 31–33 of the same chapter we read, “. . . What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

What He’s talking about here, therefore, in this prayer is the power of proper priorities.

Most of us get in trouble when we put God in second place and put things first. We are living in the realm of things, when, instead, we’re to be, according to what Jesus taught us to pray, seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. When that happens, the Bible tells us, “all these things shall be added unto us.”

Is It Full?

Stephen Covey tells a story about a professor in college teaching time management to his students. He came in the class one day with a big, wide-mouth jar that would hold several gallons. He also had some big rocks, about the size of a fist. He put those rocks in the mouth of that jar until the rocks came all the way up to the top. Then he asked the students, “Is the jar full?” The students nodded their heads. He said, “No, it’s not full.”

Then he reached under his desk and got a bucket of gravel and poured the gravel in on top of the rocks. The gravel began to fill in around the rocks. He shook it down real good and asked, “Now is the jar full?” They were afraid to answer, but some nodded, “Yes, it’s full now.” He said, “No, it’s not full yet.” He reached under his desk and got a bucket of sand and began to pour the sand in on top of the gravel and the big rocks, and shook it and smoothed it off at the top. He said, “Now is the jar full?” They were too skittish to answer. And some of the wiser ones said, “No, it’s not full yet.” He said, “You’re right.”

And then he reached down and got a bucket of water and poured the water in the jar. As he did, it seeped down through the sand, through the gravel, and around the big rocks. It came all the way up to the brim. And he said, “Now is the jar full?” And they said, “We think so.” He said, “You’re right. The jar is full.”

Then the professor asked, “Now what is the lesson?” Various ones of them said things like, “Well, there are a lot of lessons there. Perhaps the lesson is that you may think that you can’t get any more in your life, but with proper management, you can always squeeze something else in.”

He said, “No, that is not the lesson. Here is the lesson. If I had not put the big rocks in first, I never would have got them in.”

Friend, what you and I need to do is determine what are the big rocks. A lot of times we are living our lives, and our jar is filled with gravel and sand and water. Then we come to the end of the trail and we find out we did not put the big rocks in first. We did not have proper priorities. And so our Lord, in this incredible lesson on prayer, teaches us that we’ve got to have proper priorities. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

Three basic thoughts I want to lay on your heart and etch on your consciousness, and you’ll keep them forever.

The Principle of God’s Preeminence

What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is that realm where God is preeminent, where He is King, where He is supreme. Let me tell you something about our God. Our God will not take second place to anything or anybody. Our God is not a moonlighting God, a part-time God, and His throne is not a duplex. He demands, He desires, He deserves preeminence. He deserves first place. Colossians 1:17–18: “And he is before all things [speaking of Jesus], and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

God doesn’t want a place in your life; God doesn’t want prominence in your life; God demands preeminence in your life.

“God is not a part-time God, and His throne is not a duplex.”

Dear reader, I don’t know your name, but I do know something about you. It is the same thing that is true about every human who walks this planet: In every person’s heart there is something that is first place. And if that is not God and His kingdom, your life is out of whack.

S. D. Gordon said this: “In every heart there’s a throne. When self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross. When Christ is on the throne, self is on the cross.” No one can serve two masters.

What is God up to? What is the mystery of history? The mystery of history is simply this: that Jesus might have preeminence.

That’s What I Want Too

What is the ministry of the Holy Spirit? A lot of believers want to be filled with the Spirit. They pray, “Lord, fill me with the Spirit. I want to be a person of great of faith.” God says, “Ho-hum.” “Well, Lord, fill me with the Spirit. I want to live a holy life.” The Holy Spirit says, “I’m not interested.” “Well, Holy Spirit, fill me. I want to understand the mysteries of the Bible.” The Holy Spirit says, “I couldn’t care less.” “Holy Spirit, fill me. I want to be a great soul winner.” “Ho-hum.”

Something’s wrong here. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s wrong. “Holy Spirit, fill me. I want Jesus Christ to be glorified in my life.” He says, “You do? That’s what I want too. Let’s get together. You wan...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Our Father—The Person of the Prayer
• First Things First—The Priority of the Prayer
• Our Daily Bread—The Provision of the Prayer
• The Freedom of Forgiveness—The Pardon of the Prayer
• Deliver Us from Evil—The Protection of the Prayer
• Thine Is the Glory—The Praise of the Prayer
• Ask, Seek, Knock—The Promise of the Prayer