Firbush Retreats Firbush retreats are organized and led by Robert T. Walker. Firbush retreats are designed to make the best theology accessible to as many people as possible and especially those not trained in theology and often not familiar with routine technical terms. They combine times of worship and prayer with reflection on a theme related to Torrance theology. For more information see https://tftorrance.org/firbush. ----------- Firbush Retreat Summer 2014 David W. Torrance, "Prayer and the Trinity" https://tftorrance.org/firbushS2014 The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:07 There can be few theologians that have laid a greater emphasis on prayer than Karl Barth 00:07-00:16 and those of you who are familiar with Barth will soon discern that I've been much influenced 00:16-00:19 by Barth and prayer. 00:19-00:25 For those who aren't so familiar you'll find various references of course through his larger 00:25-00:34 works but two small works which I think are gems, one on prayer and the other on prayer 00:34-00:36 and preaching. 00:36-00:41 I know that Andrew will be a red-farbored Barth that I have but I've been much influenced 00:41-00:44 by it and you'll soon discover what I... 00:44-00:49 Is it possible to overemphasize the importance of prayer? 00:49-00:50 Prayer is basic to the Christian life. 00:50-00:54 We cannot live the Christian life without prayer. 00:54-00:58 If we do not breathe it we'll die physically. 00:58-01:02 If we do not pray we'll die spiritually. 01:02-01:07 Prayer which is communion with God is based on and flows from the inner communion between 01:07-01:11 the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 01:11-01:17 As God is Word and the Word is God, God is a speaking God. 01:17-01:24 The three persons of the Godhead who are one in essence and substance enjoy constant internal 01:24-01:28 communion with each other through the fellowship of love. 01:28-01:34 The union between God and man and Christ Jesus is an extension in love of the oneness and 01:34-01:38 communion enjoyed within the Godhead. 01:38-01:44 The whole life of Jesus Christ who is God and man yet one person is a life of communion 01:44-01:48 in love of the Son with the Father and the Father with the Son. 01:48-01:53 It's a life of continuous prayer through the Holy Spirit. 01:53-01:59 We cannot understand the Son and its relationship of love with the Father and we cannot enter 01:59-02:05 by grace into that relationship except through prayer and the Holy Spirit. 02:05-02:08 Prayer is all important. 02:08-02:12 Without prayer we could have no knowledge or communion with God. 02:12-02:20 Prayer is both a command and a gift from God coupled with wonderful promises from God. 02:20-02:23 Prayer is a gift, prayer is very simple. 02:23-02:29 It can be offered by anyone, even the youngest child who turns to God as Father and Savior. 02:29-02:33 It's the opening of our hearts to God's love. 02:33-02:37 And yet what incredible depths there are in prayer. 02:37-02:44 How much there is to learn and to go on and on and on learning about prayer. 02:44-02:46 The prayer life of Jesus. 02:46-02:51 Jesus' whole life is one of constant communion between the Father and Son. 02:51-02:55 Jesus said my Father is always at work so it's a very day and I too am working. 02:55-03:01 The Son can do nothing by himself, he can do only what he sees the Father doing because 03:01-03:05 whatever the Father does the Son also does. 03:05-03:11 The Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. 03:11-03:17 The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 03:17-03:22 These passages and many others illustrate the life of continual communion between the 03:22-03:26 Son and the Father, between Jesus and the Father. 03:26-03:32 When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and received on our behalf the Holy Spirit a voice 03:32-03:37 came from heaven, you are my Son whom I love with you I am well pleased. 03:37-03:43 When the Spirit sent him out into the desert where Jesus prepared for his ministry we are 03:43-03:48 not told anything about his being tempted by the devil and Jesus replied yet we can 03:48-03:54 be certain that it was a period of very close communion with the Father. 03:54-04:00 When Jesus commenced his ministry, Capernaum, we very early in the morning, well it was 04:00-04:07 still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went off to a solitary place where he prayed. 04:07-04:12 And we read that Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. 04:12-04:17 When morning came he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them. 04:17-04:23 After feeding the five thousand Jesus went up in a mountainside by himself to pray. 04:23-04:29 At the mount of transfiguration a voice from the clouds said, this is my Son whom I love 04:29-04:31 with him I am well pleased. 04:31-04:37 And his way to Jerusalem Jesus said, now my heart is troubled and what shall I say? 04:37-04:39 Father save me from this hour? 04:39-04:43 No, it's from this very reason I came to this hour. 04:43-04:45 Father glorify your name. 04:45-04:53 And a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, I will glorify it again. 04:53-04:57 Jesus prayed on our behalf. 04:57-05:01 He came down to restore us to fellowship with God. 05:01-05:08 As such Jesus in his own person, together with all that he did, was and is prayer to 05:08-05:12 God on our behalf. 05:12-05:16 Since Adam's sin men and women have been living a life of disobedience and rebellion against 05:16-05:18 God. 05:18-05:24 In Jesus God came down into our disobedience and rebellion in order to overcome sin in 05:24-05:30 the flesh, to turn our lives around and restore us to communion and fellowship with God. 05:30-05:37 In Jesus God took our flesh and blood, he identified himself with each one of us in 05:37-05:43 our weakness and frailty, in our sin and rebellion against God. 05:43-05:50 While throughout he remained without sin, he faced all that we face in life and throughout 05:50-05:58 every one of our temptations and deeds of rebellion Jesus prayed, Father, not our sinful 05:58-06:05 will and rebellion, Father forgive, may your will be done. 06:05-06:12 As TFT has said, through his obedience as a son within our disobedience, he brought 06:12-06:20 the fatherhood of God in all his holy love to bear upon every aspect of our human life. 06:20-06:24 There's no situation in the lives of each one of us. 06:24-06:29 But Jesus has confronted it already on our behalf. 06:29-06:36 He turned our lives around, he sanctified them, restoring us to a covenant relationship 06:36-06:38 with the father. 06:38-06:43 When we come in humility and repentance and receive him as savior, he gives each of us 06:43-06:49 that new righteous life which he has lived out for us in communion with the father. 06:49-06:56 Jesus is our great high priest reconciling us to God and God to us. 06:56-07:00 Jesus prayed for us. 07:00-07:06 After celebrating the last supper with his disciples, Jesus prayed. 07:06-07:14 Here in his high priestly prayer, John 17, the curtain is drawn aside and we are taken 07:14-07:22 in to the son's communion with the father and we see and hear how Jesus prays for his 07:22-07:25 disciples. 07:25-07:33 We discover what he prays and what he prays for each of us each time we sit at his table 07:33-07:37 and celebrate the sacrament of holy communion. 07:37-07:44 I think the high priestly prayer of holy communion, you need to think of it far more closely than 07:44-07:46 we do. 07:46-07:55 On the last night, Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you sweet, but I prayed 07:55-08:02 for you Simon that your faith may not fail and when you turn back, strengthen your brothers." 08:02-08:09 Here we learn how Jesus has prayed and continues to pray not only for Simon Peter but for each 08:09-08:10 one of us. 08:10-08:17 It is only through his prayers that we gain the victory over the powers of evil. 08:17-08:21 Without his prayers, all of us would be lost. 08:21-08:26 When Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, we see him praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. 08:26-08:33 At the cross Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." 08:33-08:37 Our forgiveness is the result of his prayer. 08:37-08:43 Then on the cross Jesus prayed, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 08:43-08:46 Then he said in a loud voice, "It is finished." 08:46-08:51 And again, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." 08:51-08:59 Jesus' whole life was lived out in communion and utter dependence upon the Father in prayer. 08:59-09:01 He lived a life of prayer. 09:01-09:09 It's important to understand his prayers as embracing his whole life, his person, together 09:09-09:14 with what he did and prayed to the Father. 09:14-09:18 His prayers are an adaptive activity. 09:18-09:23 We are redeemed in and through the person of Christ together with what he did. 09:23-09:29 It is in that light that we need to see or understand the prayer life of Jesus both on 09:29-09:32 earth and in heaven. 09:32-09:40 His prayers are the priestly prayers of our high priest as he unites himself with us, 09:40-09:48 prays within our alienation, and intercedes with God on our behalf. 09:48-09:51 His prayers were not simply spoken in word. 09:51-09:58 His whole life, his person, together with all that he did, was a prayer as he battled 09:58-10:01 for our reconciliation with God. 10:01-10:05 His was prayer without ceasing. 10:05-10:12 Prayer in God's covenant, bringing us into fellowship with himself, belonged to the order 10:12-10:15 of God's creation. 10:15-10:21 As TFT has said, "It is covenant fellowship or partnership with God. 10:21-10:28 Prayer belongs as an essential element in man's existence as child of God." 10:28-10:34 For men and women are called not only to hear the word of God, but to answer it. 10:34-10:38 Not only to endure God, but to call upon him. 10:38-10:44 Not only to obey God's summons, but to summon God in prayer. 10:44-10:51 It is an essential part of the covenant that God is a God who hears prayer, and the preacher 10:51-10:58 is one who prays and makes petitions to God as a child to his Father, and so realizes 10:58-11:04 his filial relation to his heavenly Father. 11:04-11:10 There isn't ascended and reigning of Jesus in heaven. 11:10-11:13 He continues to pray for us. 11:13-11:18 His very person is a prayer on our behalf in heaven. 11:18-11:23 And so the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, "Because Jesus lives forever." 11:23-11:26 He has a permanent priesthood. 11:26-11:31 He is able to save completely those who come to God, because he always lives to intercede 11:31-11:33 for them. 11:33-11:39 The covenant between man and God is actualized in the life and person of Jesus. 11:39-11:47 There throughout his life and ministry, Satan held all his attacks on Jesus to isolate him 11:47-11:52 from God, to break the bond of fellowship between them, to step the life of prayer and 11:52-11:58 obedient clinging to the heavenly Father, to destroy the life obedience to God's will 11:58-12:04 and word, and so make impossible any meeting between God and man and Jesus, to destroy 12:04-12:11 the ground of reconciliation, to disrupt the foundation for atonement being laid in the 12:11-12:15 obedient prayerful life of the Son of Man. 12:15-12:22 The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting 12:22-12:28 that God for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation 12:28-12:31 perfect through suffering." 12:31-12:37 And through the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud 12:37-12:43 cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of 12:43-12:46 his reverent submission. 12:46-12:49 Jesus remained steadfast to the end. 12:49-12:54 He conquered all the powers of evil, accomplished our salvation, opened the way for our sinful 12:54-13:01 men and women, become members of God's family, able in Christ to know God as our Father and 13:01-13:05 know that in Christ we are heirs of the heavenly kingdom. 13:05-13:14 Jesus won the victory through prayer and his utter dependence on the faith in prayer through 13:14-13:17 the Holy Spirit. 13:17-13:19 Our prayer life. 13:19-13:22 Our lives also must be a prayer. 13:22-13:28 We pray by what we are and in what we say to God. 13:28-13:31 We cannot live the Christian life without prayer. 13:31-13:39 In Genesis 3, 2, we read that God talked to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. 13:39-13:48 God created us to have fellowship with himself, created us to pray and petition him as a child 13:48-13:50 to his Father. 13:50-13:57 As TFT has said, 90% of all that Jesus taught about prayer was concerned with petitionary 13:57-14:04 prayer, the prayer of a child asking gifts of his Father. 14:04-14:07 Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given you. 14:07-14:10 Ask and you'll find, knock and the door will be opened to you. 14:10-14:15 Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. 14:15-14:20 You may ask me for anything by name and I'll do it. 14:20-14:23 Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete." 14:23-14:32 When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus gave them what we call 14:32-14:38 the Lord's Prayer and the two other occasions in which he taught them to pray, Jesus told 14:38-14:46 a parable, the parable of the friend at midnight, the parable of the assistant widow. 14:46-14:51 Both parables teach the need and assistance in asking God. 14:51-14:54 Let's turn to the Lord's Prayer. 14:54-15:02 The Lord's Prayer is not simply a model prayer which Jesus gave to his disciples to teach 15:02-15:04 and command them how to pray. 15:04-15:06 It is that. 15:06-15:15 But it is first and foremost a prayer which embodies Jesus' own prayers to the Father. 15:15-15:22 It's a prayer which Jesus prayed and lived out and which he continues to pray and live 15:22-15:24 out in heaven. 15:24-15:32 It gathers up all that Jesus came to do and continues to do. 15:32-15:35 And so from this a number of things follow. 15:35-15:42 First in true prayer we are never praying alone. 15:42-15:48 We're entering into union with Christ through the Holy Spirit. 15:48-15:55 We are through the Holy Spirit by grace sharing in Christ's Prayer to the Father. 15:55-16:01 We are praying together with Jesus who is both man and God. 16:01-16:08 After Jesus rose from the dead he said to Mary, "Go to my brothers and tell them I'm 16:08-16:14 returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 16:14-16:23 So Jesus has taught us to pray our Father and we are praying together with Jesus. 16:23-16:29 Secondly in true prayer because we are praying together with Jesus and Jesus is praying with 16:29-16:36 us we know and are assured that our prayers are heard and answered. 16:36-16:39 God has taught us and commanded us to pray. 16:39-16:43 He has given us marvellous promises about answered prayer assuring us that when we pray 16:43-16:50 in his name that is together with Jesus he always hears and prayers. 16:50-16:59 So if our prayers are not based on the assurance of God answering them we're not truly praying. 16:59-17:05 And thirdly when we pray in the name of Christ we're not just praying together with Christ. 17:05-17:12 We are praying together with everyone who believes in Christ as Lord and Redeemer. 17:12-17:23 In the second half of the Lord's Prayer the word us, our, we, occur eight times. 17:23-17:30 That is to say whether we are physically alone or with others in prayer we are united in 17:30-17:36 spirit with all over the world who believe. 17:36-17:43 That is surely something that we need to understand when we pray, that we understand praying alone 17:43-17:52 with Christ, we're praying together with all over the world who believe. 17:52-17:58 And fourthly when we pray in union with Christ our Father we are in a real sense praying 17:58-18:02 for those who do not yet believe. 18:02-18:06 Jesus when he was on the cross prayed Father forgive them they do not know what they're 18:06-18:08 doing. 18:08-18:16 His whole life of atoning sacrifice was and is a prayer for the salvation of the world. 18:16-18:25 And as you and I united in Christ praying along with Christ and we are praying along 18:25-18:30 with other believers but those who do not yet believe. 18:30-18:35 The Lord's Prayer is divided in two parts although it is one prayer. 18:35-18:39 The two parts belong together. 18:39-18:42 The first three petitions concern the glory of God. 18:42-18:48 These we are concerned with his name, his kingdom, his will. 18:48-18:56 As members of God's family we are called commanded to be concerned about God, that his cause 18:56-18:59 be victorious in the world. 18:59-19:05 As Karl Barth has said, although God is the creator of all things and sovereignly free, 19:05-19:07 he does not wish to be alone. 19:07-19:16 He does not wish to act, exist, live, labour, work, strive, vanquish, reign and triumph 19:16-19:18 without the human race. 19:18-19:22 God does not wish for his cause to be alone. 19:22-19:27 He wishes it to be ours as well. 19:27-19:33 The last three petitions concern our spiritual and material welfare. 19:33-19:39 Because in Christ we are members of God's family we are not just permitted, we are commanded 19:39-19:41 to pray for our welfare. 19:41-19:45 God as our Father is concerned about our welfare. 19:45-19:51 We cannot live without God's continual help and only if we receive God's continual help 19:51-19:58 will we be fit and able to be concerned about God's cause throughout the world. 19:58-20:02 And so the six petitions belong together. 20:02-20:06 Our Lord commands us to pray them as members of his family. 20:06-20:11 As members of his family we are commanded to be concerned about the cause of the Father. 20:11-20:16 As a father is equally concerned about the cause of his children. 20:16-20:26 When we pray this prayer it is important to know that Jesus has already prayed all six petitions. 20:26-20:31 In his coming to earth, he is taking our flesh and blood, living, dying, rising, ascending 20:31-20:35 for our salvation, the salvation of the world. 20:35-20:40 He has offered all six petitions. 20:40-20:45 He has made God known to us so we and the world might glorify God and receive abundant 20:45-20:48 life. 20:48-20:56 His atoning life, death, resurrection, ascension is his prayer for the world. 20:56-21:01 When in union with Christ through the Holy Spirit we pray these six petitions we are 21:01-21:11 praying what Jesus has already prayed and what he continues to pray along with us now 21:11-21:13 on our behalf. 21:13-21:20 Since we can and should pray with complete confidence and assurance that our prayer is 21:20-21:22 being heard and answered. 21:22-21:26 The first three petitions follow to thy name. 21:26-21:29 God created the world. 21:29-21:30 The world is his. 21:30-21:33 As Calvin said the world is a theater of God's glory. 21:33-21:39 Yet the world can only glorify God when the people within it glorify him. 21:39-21:44 Jesus is commanding us to pray that the field might be lifted from people's hearts so that 21:44-21:47 they may see and recognize the Lord and worship him as Savior. 21:47-21:53 Only so will the world glorify God and his name be hallowed. 21:53-21:58 Of course those who pray hallowed be thy name must know the name of the Lord. 21:58-22:04 He must themselves have had their eyes opened and received Christ as Lord and Savior. 22:04-22:06 Thy kingdom come. 22:06-22:09 The kingdom of God is a reconciliation of the world to God. 22:09-22:14 It is God's victory over sin and the powers of darkness. 22:14-22:18 It's God's reign of righteousness and justice and love. 22:18-22:24 His kingdom is present wherever the Lord reigns over the hearts and minds of people. 22:24-22:30 As members of God's family knowing what his kingdom is and committed to the cause of God 22:30-22:36 throughout the world, we are commanded and commissioned to go into all the world to make 22:36-22:38 disciples of all nations. 22:38-22:41 We have not the power or the wisdom to do that. 22:41-22:46 Only God can turn the hearts of men and women around so that they love and serve him. 22:46-22:52 But you and I are commanded to pray thy kingdom come. 22:52-22:56 Our prayer must embrace our entire lives. 22:56-23:02 We must pray in both word and deed as Christ prays in word and deed. 23:02-23:06 We live in a world that is still largely hostile to God. 23:06-23:10 To make disciples, to advance God's kingdom is difficult. 23:10-23:14 But we go forward knowing that all power belongs to Christ. 23:14-23:18 He has conquered the powers of darkness and opposition. 23:18-23:20 Victory is his. 23:20-23:23 Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 23:23-23:29 In a world which lives in rebellion against God and men, and men and women want to do 23:29-23:36 their will, not God's will, we are commanded to pray, Lord may your will be done in every 23:36-23:42 event and situation on earth as it is done in heaven. 23:42-23:47 God's will was done in the creation of the world and in the creation of men and women. 23:47-23:53 May his will be executed in the world today and in the lives of men and women. 23:53-23:55 Yes and in the church. 23:55-24:00 When God's will is done there is peace and joy. 24:00-24:05 Men and women enjoy abundant life and God is glorified. 24:05-24:06 The second three petitions. 24:06-24:11 With the last three petitions there is a clear change in our praying. 24:11-24:17 We are presented to God our spiritual material needs and asking God for his gracious loving 24:17-24:18 help. 24:18-24:20 Yet this is commanded of us. 24:20-24:25 As children we are commanded to be concerned about the cause of our father and Christ assured 24:25-24:31 us that the father is concerned deeply about all of our needs. 24:31-24:36 So we are commanded by God to pray about our needs. 24:36-24:44 In so praying we need to be assured as we said above that Jesus by his coming to earth 24:44-24:51 to forgive us to give us new life has already prayed these three petitions concerning our 24:51-24:59 material and spiritual welfare and he is praying along with us as we pray. 24:59-25:01 Give us this day our daily bread. 25:01-25:06 Bread means that which is required for our daily sustenance. 25:06-25:11 It also as a form of said includes all our needs spiritual and material. 25:11-25:17 Here in a small catechism this all is included by the word bread. 25:17-25:24 It's food, drink, clothes, shoes, houses, farms, fields, lands, money, property, a good marriage, 25:24-25:29 good children, honest and faithful public servants, a just government, favorable weather, 25:29-25:36 neither too hot nor cold, health, honors, good friends, foul neighbors. 25:36-25:39 So Luther said but he's right surely. 25:39-25:43 Bread covers all our requirements to live a happy and fulfilled life. 25:43-25:48 Primarily it means what is required each day for our physical nourishment. 25:48-25:55 We should not limit it to that it also includes what is required for our spiritual nourishment. 25:55-26:00 The eating of bread given by God is also a sacrament which carries us forward in the 26:00-26:05 promise of an eternal banquet which we shall eat and drink in the presence of the King 26:05-26:06 of Kings. 26:06-26:12 Jesus said he who believes has everlasting life, I in the bread of life. 26:12-26:15 Jesus speaks of daily bread. 26:15-26:19 We are commanded to ask for bread for today not for tomorrow. 26:19-26:21 The needs of tomorrow are in God's hands. 26:21-26:27 We are called on a morrow to trust God that he will always provide what we require. 26:27-26:32 Our lives, our future and the hand of God who has promised never to leave us or forsake 26:32-26:33 us. 26:33-26:37 Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. 26:37-26:40 We're constantly in debt to God. 26:40-26:42 We owe him everything. 26:42-26:46 We owe him our lives, our service, our all. 26:46-26:50 For we have been created by him and redeemed by him. 26:50-26:55 What we are and what we do falls far short of what he has done for us and for our eternal 26:55-26:56 salvation. 26:56-27:01 You're not giving him what is rightfully his, we sin. 27:01-27:05 Forgiveness each day we are commanded to ask for his forgiveness. 27:05-27:10 To ask God each day to clothe us with his new life of Christ and give us a new staff 27:10-27:14 that you might serve him and live for his glory. 27:14-27:21 Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debts, our debtors. 27:21-27:26 We cannot receive his forgiveness unless and until we forgive others who might have injured 27:26-27:28 and sinned against us. 27:28-27:32 We don't have the capacity or power to forgive others. 27:32-27:36 We have to ask God for the gift to forgive others. 27:36-27:42 As we do so, God answers our prayers and we receive his forgiveness. 27:42-27:48 And again let us remember that before we ask God, God has forgiven us. 27:48-27:53 He has forgiven us before we were born, before we sinned. 27:53-27:56 He must have ever received his gift of forgiveness. 27:56-28:03 We must ask each day to receive as we forgive one another. 28:03-28:07 It is not a temptation but deliver us from the evil one. 28:07-28:12 Jesus has commanded us to ask not simply to be delivered from temptation. 28:12-28:19 However strong and testing these temptations may be, he has commanded us to ask to be delivered 28:19-28:22 from the evil one. 28:22-28:25 The Gospel writers have made it clear that Jesus was battling against what is called 28:25-28:32 the Prince of this world, which Jesus calls in the parable the strong man. 28:32-28:37 The Gospel writers took seriously the existence of Satan, which is not popularly believed 28:37-28:39 today. 28:39-28:45 The cross was Christ's decisive victory over the devil and all the powers of darkness. 28:45-28:50 As Christians we must acknowledge the presence of the devil but go forward courageously in 28:50-28:55 the name of Christ asking his deliverance from every attack of the devil claiming day 28:55-28:58 by day Christ's victory. 28:58-29:01 And so the doxology. 29:01-29:05 Scholars assure us that doxology, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory was 29:05-29:11 added later possibly in the second century. 29:11-29:19 Almost certainly however the doxology belongs to an oral tradition and is surely a fitting 29:19-29:21 ending to the Lord's Prayer. 29:21-29:22 Amen. 29:22-29:24 So be it. 29:24-29:28 We do not doubt what Christ has commanded the promises of answered prayer. 29:28-29:40 So be it firm that God hears and has answered our prayers. 29:40-29:49 Amen.