Part 10 of “Learning to Pray to Our Father”

The only temptation is to trust in ways that are not God’s ways, including our own private ways:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight. (Proverbs 3:5)

Asking God to lead us is both a petition and the fulfillment of that petition: we ask God to take the lead, and in the same breath we follow his lead.

Rather than self-doubt, this is a plea of self-knowledge. Jesus teaches his disciples to accept the knowledge that, on our own, we falter. Seeking to direct myself is the root of all sin: the first and final temptation. It is to live as if I were my own god.

To call upon God means to entrust ourselves to him. Those who seek God as Father never leave the valley of humility, where lives a healthy distrust of our own wisdom. St. Paul, who prayed in Christ time and time again, learned to see ever more clearly that “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15). He distrusted his own understanding and trusted in God, whose power and wisdom are revealed in Christ alone (see 1 Corinthians 1:24).

The great temptation is always to make God into less than God. What does it mean to treat God as God? Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) instructs us:

"A god means that from which we are to expect every good and to which we are to take refuge in every distress, so that to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart." (God of Jesus Christ, 37)

The temptation is to give the place of God to someone or something else, including our own understanding. For God to “lead us” means we must work to always listen for his word first, to heed his ways first, and to seek his will first. The temptation we ask God to preserve us from is the temptation to give our hearts above all to someone or something other than him.

Practice praying: I invite and challenge you to pray the Lord’s Prayer each day this week. In fact, pray it twice each day. Pray it once, then spend some time examining your conscience, asking the Lord to show you who or what you are tempted to place above him. Is it your career, your reputation, your success? Is it the approval of friends or family? Is it wealth, security, or a political viewpoint? Beg the Lord to lead you into understanding yourself in his love. Perhaps journal about what you discover. Then pray the Lord’s prayer again.

Click the image to order your copy today

Find more: This series draws on sections of my book Into the Heart of the Father: Learning from and Giving Yourself through Christ in Prayer. I am grateful to my publisher, Word Among Us Press, for allowing me to share these sections with you here. If you are interested, I hope you will check out the book – I think you’ll like it.

Study and pray with others: I have also designed a reading, prayer, and discussion guide for groups that would like to read the book and learn how to pray better together. This is ideal for parishes, schools, and families.