It is by prayer, then, that we fight the good fight with absolute humility. In prayer, God trains us to leave behind our personal vendettas, and he realigns our hearts to treasure Christ and his kingdom. Through prayer, God assures us that “he is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he would, and quietly to rely upon him, that he will fulfill our requests” (WLC 196).

Pastoral ministry is a true paradox. Pastors must be tough enough to “wage the good warfare” while also remaining gentle enough to resemble “a nursing mother taking care of her children” (1 Tim. 1:18; 1 Thess. 2:7). Our call is to fight off the fierce wolves who would not spare the flock, and also to seek out the lost, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak (Acts 20:29; Ezek. 34:16). We must act like men and be strong, but not break the bruised reed or quench the smoldering wick (1 Cor. 16:13; Matt. 12:20).

Every sincere pastor knows the difficulty of striking this balance in the heat of spiritual battle. In our sinful flesh, we are quick to pick a fight and, perplexingly, just as quick to retreat into passivity. Yet, as willing as our spirit may be, our flesh is weak—indeed, incapable—of speaking perfect truth in perfect love (Matt. 26:41; Eph. 4:15).

In this article, we will consider weapons for spiritual warfare that the Lord has given toward this end—not weapons of the flesh, but weapons of divine power (2 Cor. 10:4). Specifically, we will explore the Lord’s Prayer as a resource for cultivating paradoxical pastoral piety of fierce humility and meek boldness.

The Paradoxical Preface of the Lord’s Prayer

The preface of the Lord’s Prayer immediately establishes a balance between these seemingly contradictory values of boldness and humility: “Our Father, who art in heaven.” To begin, Jesus teaches us to pray to God as our Father, coming to him with “all…confidence, as children to a father able and ready to help us” (WSC 100). When my children need something, they do not care in the least what I am doing, whether working or sleeping. Instead, they burst directly into my presence to make their requests. Jesus says that we should approach our Father like uninhibited children.

Nevertheless, Jesus also teaches us to acknowledge that our Father is in heaven. If our God is in heaven, he does all that he pleases, and we would be fools to run our mouths with many words in his presence (Ps. 115:3; Eccl. 5:1–3). Therefore, we come with confidence as the children of our Father, but we also pray humbly, with “all holy reverence” (WSC 100) as the unworthy servants of Almighty God (Luke 17:10).

Thus, Jesus characterizes true piety—including true pastoral piety—as prayer from two postures: in boldness as sons and abasement as slaves. Jesus splits up the six petitions of the Lord’s Prayer into two sets of three petitions, working out the full implications of the two-sidedness of our posture in prayer.

Our Fierce Humility for the King and His Kingdom

The first set of three petitions teach us to pray in a posture of humility, but a kind of humility that fights. To do this, the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer reorients our attention and desires away from exalting ourselves, and toward glorifying the King and his kingdom.

First, we pray that God’s name would be “hallowed” or “sanctified.”

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