Sproul, R.C. The Prayer of the Lord. Reformation Trust, 2009. ISBN: 978-1-56769-118-4.
Meet the Author
R.C. Sproul is the founder and President of Ligoneer Ministries and can be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast . He is a teacher, theologian, and pastor. Sproul is currently serving as the director of Serve International, and as senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida. Sproul, an ordained Presbyterian teaching elder/pastor is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America and has written over seventy books.
Book Basics
After opening with a chapter on how not to pray, Sproul presents chapters on each of the petitions in the Lord’s prayer, a chapter on its doxology, and a concluding chapter with questions and answers. The book effectively communicates both the message of the Lord’s Prayer and its intended role as a model prayer for all disciples. In examining the details of each petition, Sproul masterfully blends solid basic explanations with more in-depth theological insights creating a work that is both accessible and enlightening. Consistent with his reformed views, Sproul suggests that God’s sovereignty trumps everything else and, as such, “my future is in the hands of the will of the sovereign God” (p.124).
So What?
When the disciples approached Jesus to ask him how to pray, they were likely surprised that his answer began with two warnings (don’t be hypocritical and don’t merely go through the motions over and over again with no thoughts to what the words mean) and followed with a model prayer. As modern day disciples, we too must exercise caution about how we pray and not allow our praying, including and perhaps especially, our praying of the Lord’s Prayer to become so routine we fail to focus on the meaning of the words. We must also remember it is intended as a model prayer and allow ourselves to build prayers of our own using its structure to guide our efforts.