2006-01-20
Good Morning Faithful of God,
Yes, each of us who tries of learn what God has to teach and obey Him is indeed "Faithful of God." This is certainly the heart of making God-pleasing changes in our lives. We do it for ourselves, but we also do it for Him. What I'm saying is that making God-pleasing changes is another way of worshipping God, showing Him reverence. The Father instructed His Son to teach us how to pray. This is done in the Sermon on the Mount. You'll remember that MT 6: 7-8 is where Christ tells us, "When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that God will hear them because their prayers are long. Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask Him. This, then, is how you should pray." What a remarkable statement: "Our Father already knows what we need before we ask Him!" As humans with limited perspective, it is hard to grasp that God knows even the most minute detail of each of our lives and needs. He knows the difference between wants and needs too. The question is: Are we willing to make that distinction in our lives too?
The next section of the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most important in the Scriptures, because it not only teaches us how to pray, but it helps us put things in godly order and perspective, if we are willing to learn from it. Notice I said "willing" and not "able." God knows each of us are already able. Kay Arthur, who is in my opinion a very able writer with a good view of God's perspective from her maturity in the faith, has spent a lot of time looking at MT 6: 9-13, The Lord's Prayer, in her writing. The Spirit leads me to share some of her perspective on this with my own comments. First, the passage itself: "Our Father Who art in heaven, Hallowed by 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 delivers us from evil: for Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." Now, let's look at the lessons within it, paying attention to their order. 1) Worship: That's the proper way to begin a prayer to God. It is an acknowledgment of Who the Father really is, the One Who deserves to have His name "hallowed," which means to be consecrated as holy, to be honored and sanctified. 2) Allegiance: Notice how it is begun with "Our Father..." That is Christ's way of indicating that we need to start off acknowledging the relationship we have with God and His superiority in it. The child is not superior in a family relationship; it's the father. Because we are saying "Our Father..." we are indicating that we have accepted Him as the One and only true God. The statement, "Thy Kingdom come," indicates that we believe what has been promised, and that only He can bring this about through His Son, Jesus Christ. 3) Submission: This can be seen from the order in which these statements are being made. It is understood that God is the stronger, more perfect Party in this Covenant of Grace. It is understood that we, the weaker partners, cannot live righteously without His influence on our lives. We also acknowledge that all that we are and all that we have comes from Him. That's why we go on to say, "Give us this day our daily bread." 4) Petition: We understand that because of the last truth mentioned, we must go before His throne with our heads bowed to ask him for the things that are on our hearts. It's my opinion that thought must be given to what is a real need and what is simply a want prior to making petition to God. In the heat of emotion, that is not always done. 5) Confession: I keep thinking of MT 5: 3 here, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the Kingdom of heaven." The poor in spirit are indeed those who recognize they can't live righteous and holy lives without God's guidance and intervention. So, these are the people who will know about their imperfections and will confess them and their sins to God with sincerity. Stop and think about it: these are the people who spend time in the Scriptures and prayer daily, so they can recognize a sin when they encounter it. These are the people who are most likely to bring those sins before God, asking His help in their effort to expunge the sin from their lives and to move forward in their spiritual maturation. This facet of one's relationship with God is crucial. God's intent is not to produce guilt, but to help a believer get the sinning out of his life. 6) Deliverance: This is the recognition that God alone has the power to forgive our sins and that we must forgive the trespasses of others, if we ourselves are to be forgiven. The issue of forgiveness is a very special and important feature of belief in Jesus Christ, because if God is truly obeyed, it is the end of grudge-holding and all it's evil consequences. The question is raised: Don't we owe it to God to be forgiving, since He has forgiven us? [See COL 3: 13].
Yes, I know that last paragraph was a long one. Now we should reread it several times for its content and how it relates to us in our individual lives. The end of the Lord's Prayer, "For Thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen," reminds us that God is our Superior and Sovereign Deity, the only One Who, through the righteous use of His power and His willingness to keep promises, deserves all the glory. [See PS 115: 1].
PRAYER: O Lord, we are Your children who recognize You deserve our worship, praise, and thanks every day. You are holy and have sent Your Son to us as an example of how we should live. You deserve for us to honor You every day of our lives. We worship You in many ways, by our corporate worship in church, by honoring You and what You teach us as we are at work and at home raising our children and grandchildren, by excelling in the use of the talents You gave us, by following Your direction in our lives, by serving You with distinction and careful consideration of Your will, by spending daily time in prayer and in Your word, in what we do to help others, and in how we join You in the work of bringing Your truths to those either without faith or weak in the faith. We acknowledge Your Sovereignty and Your Supreme power over all, including our own lives. You are our Father, and we are Your children, Dearest Abba. We ask You today to have patience, compassion, and mercy. You know the evil one assails us in every way he can. That brings us pain, suffering, and loss. However, we understand that You are in control and can and often do limit what the devil can do to us. We understand that You allow him to do some evil, so that we can be sanctified and strengthened in our faith as we work through those challenges in our lives. You do this solely for our good, even through we don't always see it at the time. We plead for You to let us know, especially during those bad times, that Your love and presence is constant. We confess that without You, we can't have the faith and strength to overcome our sinning. It is through Your Son's Atonement that You have given us a way out, and we are more than grateful for that. We stand eager to get rid of even the most subtle sins in our lives. And, Dear Lord, it is through You that we can enjoy blessed forgiveness from the sins that have plagued us. And yes, we also dedicate ourselves to being forgiving toward others and refusing to hold grudges. You are an awesome God, and we love, worship, thank, and praise You forever. In Christ, Amen.
The Spirit leads me to write more for the next few weeks on the Lord's Prayer-no surprise there! With the help of God, we will look at some of the cross references that support the Lord's Prayer and some context background on it. Let me close today's devotion with the citation of some verses that I find helpful as we take a look at the larger subject of the Lord's Prayer. PS 33: 22, "Yes, Lord, let Your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in You alone." MT 17: 20, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say this to a mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Can we see God's power here? PS 31: 24, " Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord." PS 3: 3, "But You, O Lord, are always my Shield from danger; You give me victory and restore my courage." PS 93: 1-2, "The Lord is King, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, He is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting." LAM 3: 40, "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." PS 107: 43, "Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord." PS 119: 133, "Order my steps in Thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me." IS 38: 17, "My bitterness will turn to peace. You save my life from all danger; You forgive my sins." PS 145: 8-9, "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn