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Lucado, pulpit minister at Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas, utilizes his familiar conversational style of prose to lead readers room by room through God's "house" -- manifested through the verses of the Lord's Prayer. The author beckons readers into areas such as the "living room" (Our Father . . .), the "chapel" (Hallowed be Thy name . . .), the "study" (Thy will be done . . .) and the "kitchen" (Give us this day our daily bread . . .) -- all the while encouraging us to apply God's truth to our lives.
During a recent interview, Lucado said the overall goal of the book is to instruct busy Christians to live within God's presence, and to "pray without ceasing." One of the most fascinating aspects of The Lord's Prayer, Lucado said, is that "we're not asking for anything; we're learning what God has already done for us. If I fail to say, "Give us this day our daily bread", God's still going to feed me. The purpose of that prayer is to give me a catalog for what God does for me every day."
In many circumstances, Lucado said, Christians have allowed prayer to become too "voodoo-oriented," focusing on speaking out against Satan and demons rather than communication and rest with the Lord.
"One of the great things I found as I was preaching through this is that everybody knows The Lord's Prayer, even if they know nothing else about the Bible," said Lucado, whose books typically begin as a series of sermons for his church. "This was a great series of messages I found for outreach purposes."
At the beginning of the book's first chapter, Lucado refers to King David's famous declaration in Psalm 27:4, "I only ask one thing from the Lord. This is what I want: Let me live in the Lord's house all my life."
Lucado writes in the latter pages of The Great House of God, "He (David) longs to live in the house of God. I emphasize the word live, because it deserves to be emphasized. David doesn't want to chat. He doesn't desire a cup of coffee on the back porch . . . he wants to move in with Him . . . forever. He's asking for his own room."
Our ambitions often are in stark contrast to David's; Lucado notes that we have the habit of creating elaborate houses for our bodies while our souls are "relegated to a hillside shanty where the night winds chill us and the rain soaks us. Is it any wonder the world is so full of cold hearers?"
Lucado emphasizes the "is" portion of "Our Father who is in heaven," ascribing to "is" the quality of a footer without which a mansion could not stand. God is the God of the present tense, Lucado asserts -- God "is." Our noble achievements and strengths are not the building blocks of this eternal home, but rather God Himself serves as the foundation of His own house.
Lucado advises readers, "Make it your aim never to leave God's house. When you're worried about your bills, step into God's kitchen. When you feel bad about a mistake, look up at the roof. When you call on a new client, whisper a prayer as you enter the office, 'Thy kingdom come to this place.' When you're in a tense meeting, mentally step into the furnace room and pray, 'Let the peace of heaven be felt on earth.' When it's hard to forgive your spouse, pull out the check of grace God has given you."
The author points out that proper prayer follows a path that reveals God to us before revealing our needs to God. "The purpose of prayer is not to change God, but to change us, and by the time we reach God's kitchen, we are changed people," Lucado writes in the "kitchen" chapter.
Lucado says "this daily bread" addresses our present concerns, while "forgive our sins" deals with the past and "lead us not into temptation," the future. "The wonder of God's wisdom: How he can reduce all our needs to three simple statements," Lucado ponders. So does the author stay aware of his own need to dwell within the Lord's presence? Lucado said he's trying every two to three minutes to "tune in" to God. He recalled a recent church financial meeting (not his favorite activity, by far), when he caught himself thinking, "Father, come in this place and help us."
Almost more than any other figure in the Christian publishing arena, Lucado's clear, powerful writing reveals an author who has surrendered himself to God. Tremendous commercial success and popularity have followed, which the author keeps in perspective. "Nobody applauded the bush that burned, through which God spoke (to Moses)," Lucado notes, "and the donkey that carried Jesus to Jerusalem didn't get any body's applause. There are times when I think, Hey, I did that, and then I remember: I'm just a jackass."
Although Lucado has been speaking at some Promise Keepers conferences this year and other engagements, his goal is to stay focused on ministry at Oak Hills Church. This author isn't one that you're likely to find on the publicity campaign trail, but he's bound to have earned a few slots in your bookshelf.
John M. De Marco is a student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY.
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