2005-12-02
Good Morning Future Citizens of Heaven,
I just had to address you that way, because I know we are all trying to make the God-pleasing changes that we need to make in order to gain entrance into heaven. We are very blessed with our faith in the Lord Jesus, because that gives us the opportunity to be His students who learn how to make these changes. One of them is learning how He wants us to pray. MT 6: 9-13, an integral part of His Sermon on the Mount known as the Lord's Prayer, is His lesson on prayer for us. "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen." I've used the KJV here, because it's the version most of us have memorized. It might be interesting to compare this with Today's English Version of the Good News Bible, for the sake of understanding. "Our Father in heaven: May Your holy name be honored; may Your Kingdom come; may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the evil one. Amen."
Those of you who have been reading the devotions I send know that I have done an extensive analysis of the lessons Christ is teaching us in the Lord's Prayer, but there is always more to say when the Holy Spirit returns us to a topic of this importance. Here are some of the lessons God is teaching us through His Son. 1) We are to begin by acknowledging God's supreme status. 2) We should acknowledge His right to our worship. 3) We should acknowledge His permanent Kingdom to come, showing our faith this will happen. 4) We should acknowledge that no matter what, His will shall be accomplished. 5) We should realize that God is the ultimate Source of all things and ask Him to provide for us in every way (physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually). 6) We should ask Him for His protection from temptation to do evil and from all the evil temptations that the adversary can devise. 7) We should acknowledge the earth and everything on it was created by Him and belongs to Him. 8) We should acknowledge that to God belongs all the glory. 9) We must recognize that we must be forgiving to be forgiven by God. 10) We must not draw attention to ourselves when fasting; rather, we should pray privately.
These lessons are supported in other places in Scripture. God wants us to recognize His supreme power and sovereignty. PS 99: 1-2, "The Lord is King, and the people tremble. He sits on His throne above the winged creatures, and the earth shakes. The Lord is mighty in Zion; He is supreme over all the nations." He does have every right to our worship. PS 98: 1-3,9, "Sing a new song to the Lord; He has does wonderful things! By His own power and holy strength He has won the victory. The Lord announced His victory; He made His saving power known to the nations. He kept His promise to the people of Israel with holy and constant love for them. All people everywhere have seen the victory of our God... He will rule the people of earth with justice and fairness." His Kingdom will come. IS 25: 8-9, "The Sovereign Lord will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone's eyes and take away the disgrace His people have suffered throughout the world. The Lord Himself has spoken." God's will shall be done. PHIL 2: 12-13, "So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed Me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey Me know while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, because God is always at work in you to make you will and able to obey His own purpose." All things do come from God, and God owns all. PS 132: 14-16, "This is where I will live forever; this is where I want to rule. I will richly provide Zion with all she needs; I will satisfy her poor with food. I will bless her priests in all they do, and her people will sing and shout for joy." PS 37: 11, "But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing, and shall have wonderful peace." To God does belong all the glory. PS 115: 1, "To You alone, O Lord, to You alone, and not to us, must the glory be given because of Your constant love and faithfulness." We are foolish not to ask Him for His protection from all evil. PS 46: 1, "God is our Refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." PS 119: 133, "As You have promised, keep me from falling; do not let me be overcome by evil." He is indeed our Alpha and Omega, our Creator. No one but God could have asked Job the questions He did in JOB 38 and 39. PS 104: 1-2, "Praise the Lord, my soul! O Lord, my God, how great You are! You are clothed with majesty and glory; You cover Yourself with light..." God wants us to be forgiving, because He wants to forgive us. COL 3: 13, "Be tolerant of one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you." Praying privately prevents hypocrisy and hidden human agendas. It also shows humility. GA 5: 22-23, "But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these."
PRAYER: O Lord, every time Your Spirit leads us to go over Scripture passages like the Lord's Prayer, You are either repeating lessons for emphasis, letting us know how important they are, or you have something new to teach us. Too many of us take these lessons for granted, or we repeat them by rote without letting their meaning be absorbed into our hearts. You mean for us to know what is above in the Lord's Prayer as an important lesson about Your rightful position as first in our lives. You are not being cruel or misusing usurped authority. The power and authority over all is rightfully Yours and applied with wisdom, compassion, patience, and love. Had it not been for Your marvelous heart, we would have never known how to pray, how to be civilized, and how to love. Had it not been for your unselfishness in bringing Your Son to the cross, we would have never been saved! Your greatest pleasure is to bring us back to Your side for eternal bliss. Your Son's stated purpose in JN 6: 39-40 and Your own in EPH 1: 4-5 make that crystal clear. When we submit to Your power, sovereignty, and authority, we show a strength only You could have given us. When we obey You and are faithful to You, You shower us with love, blessings, guidance, provision, and protection. Our lives are enriched by studying Your word, praying, and serving You. We are also greatly blessed when we can testify to Your truth and spread the Gospel to others waiting for a chance to hear it. Dearest Abba, we know that we can't live lives of righteousness without You. We also appeal to You to give us the courage to make the God-pleasing changes You so badly want us to make. You are to be worshipped, praised, and thanked for all You are and all You do in our lives. In Christ's name, Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit is leading me to continue discussing prayer and forgiveness as a part of the instruction Christ gives us in the Sermon on the Mount. Before I began coordinating our huge prayer chain at Woodbury Lutheran Church, I had little to no prayer life. I wasn't really convinced of the power or necessity of prayer. In my foolishness, I was convinced that I didn't have time to stop and pray. How arrogant that was! As with all of us, God has had to chip away piece by piece the evil that is in me. And He's still at it. This was the lesson of my life! I was being put in a position where this doubter could see first-hand prayer's power and God at work in the lives of others. Like anything else, it took time, time which God was patient enough to give me. What I saw was astounding. People who suffered with cancer showed more faith than I had. One lady who knew she was dying, Gwen Frazier, taught me how one dies with faith and dignity. I also got to see how prayers were answered that led to victories for people. One such victory was a man who got hired after a long job search in a job that has been lasting and satisfying for him and his family. I've even seen people who went through terrible divorces grow in their faith and ability to take on necessary responsibilities. I've watched their self-esteem grow at the same time that their spiritual maturity did. God has taught me the need to put Him first in my life, making time for Him first. I have been blessed beyond description by all of this. While each of you can't be a prayer chain coordinator, we can all be greatly uplifted by faith in the power of our prayers. God really does hear them and answer them, in His own time and way.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn