2006-05-26
Good Morning Cherished Readers,
The Holy Spirit is taking us on quite a journey thorough the index sentences used before compact Bibles were available to help people learn the lessons from the Lord's Prayer [MT 6: 9-13] and the prayer itself. You'll remember that the first two index sentences are: "Our Father Who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name..." and "Thy Kingdom Come..." The third index sentence, which I began writing about last week, is "Thy will be done." While the first index sentence is an expression of worship, and the second one is allegiance, this third one is an expression of submission. The Spirit directs me to write more about the third index sentence.
Let me tell you a quick story that somewhat reflects the principle that there is real power in submission to God, not so in submission to man. My sweet husband always expressed his view, "Real men don't eat quiche!" He hates this dish. However, one of the most manly male friends that we know once heard him say this and interrupted him. "Oh yeah," he said. "Well I'm a real man and I love quiche!" That took some wind out of my silly husband's sails to be sure. This story reminds me of people who say that relying on oneself or one's own opinions to the exclusion of all else is a sign of real strength. We need only look at MT 5: 3 to know how foolish such a notion really is. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the Kingdom of heaven." Who are the poor in spirit? They are the people who rely on God, the ones who understand their spiritual poverty and need for God's interaction in their lives to live righteously. This is no new idea. Solomon, inspired by God, wrote in PR 3: 5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Without God, our paths are crooked indeed.
Submission to God is an opening to His blessings and brings answers to prayer. There are some challenges in this life that frankly, I don't see a way to overcome without God. 1 JN 5: 14-15, "We have courage in God's presence, because we are sure He hears us if we ask Him for anything that is according to His will. He hears us whenever we ask Him; since we know this is true, we know also that He gives us what we ask from Him." The ticket to success here is to spend daily time in the word and pray often. That's how we know God's will and thus know what He will give us. Let me go back to two other verses from the book of John. JN 15: 5 and 7, "I am the Vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, then he will bear much fruit; without Me you can do nothing...If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it." With such statements as these, I believe the 15th chapter of John are a very special gift to us. [The 14th is too].
Just Who is this wonderful Deity to Whom we should submit? That revelation is all over the Bible. Let me share some verses and passages that help to elucidate the picture. PS 16: 1-2, "Protect me, O God; I trust in you for safety. I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from You.'" PS 6: 8b-10, "The Lord hears my weeping; He listens to my cry for help and will answer my prayer. My enemies will know the bitter shame of defeat; in sudden confusion they will be driven away." PS 24: 8,10, "Who is this great King? He is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, victorious in battle...Who is this great King? The triumphant Lord-He is the great King!" PS 30: 1-3, "I praise You, Lord, because You have saved me and kept my enemies from gloating over me. I cried to You for help, O Lord my God, and you healed me; You kept me from the grave. I was on my way to the depths below, but You restored my life." PS 51: 10-12, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me. Do not banish me from Your presence; do not take Your Spirit away from me. Let me once again know the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey You." PS 75: 9-10, "But I will never stop speaking of the God of Jacob or singing praises to Him. He will break the power of the wicked, but the power of the righteous will be increased." IS 9: 6, "Unto us a Child is born! A Son is given! And the government shall be upon His shoulders. And He shall be called, 'Wonderful,' 'Counselor,' 'Almighty God,' 'Everlasting Father,' 'Prince of Peace.'" These verses are only a small part of the picture of Himself that God reveals to us in the pages of the Bible, but we can't miss the differences here between our righteous, loving God and mankind. By His attributes and His deeds, God accomplishes is more and does more than any man can be or do. That's why there is real strength and wisdom in submitting to Him and acknowledging this submission in our prayers.
PRAYER: O Lord, You deserve nothing less that our worship, allegiance, dedicated submission and much, much more. Sometimes we feel that we can't give You everything You require of us, but those are the moments when You step in to help us learn to do what is beyond our wildest dreams. Those of us who are dedicated believers in Christ can look back upon our lives before You were in them and see the difference. You call us to do that, just when we feel we are about to give up. That is why You inspired David to say in PS 23: 1-3, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." While You don't promise us that our lives on earth will be easy, You do promise to guide, protect, correct, and bless us with Your grace. All we must do is to submit to Your leadership in our lives, even if it takes us away from our comfortable zone or we don't fully understand it at the time. The issue, Dear Father, is our willingness to trust in You. We are imperfect and were born with sin. But thanks to Your great sacrifice of Your Son on the cross, we don't have to wallow in the hopelessness of certain spiritual death. Instead, we can anticipate what we learn in RO 8: 29, "Those whom God had already chosen He also set apart to become like His Son, so that the Son would be the first among many brothers." This means we can have the hope of a resurrection to eternal life with You, a life filled with bliss, joy, and close fellowship with You. As we mature in our faith, we learn the strength that is in submission to You and dedicate ourselves to not conforming ourselves to the standards of this world, but allowing You to transform us inwardly by a renewal of our mind. Then we will be able to know Your will-what is good and pleasing to you and is perfect [RO 12: 2]. Dearest Abba, we love, honor, and adore You. You are to be praised for all You are and do. We express our heartfelt thanks for Your constantly loving and compassionate presence in our lives. While we don't deserve Your grace, You give it to us anyway. We are forever grateful. In Christ's holy and mighty name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit is leading me to write about the fourth index sentence of the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread...," an expression of petition (supplication). Yes, it's really okay to ask God for things. If we stay in the Scriptures daily and have an active, dynamic prayer life, we are going to know God's will. That insures that we who try to "be holy because I am holy" [1 PET 1: 16] are likely to be making God's agenda our own and have our prayers answered. Are there going to be times when those two agendas diverge? Of course! And that's the time when a truly faithful and obedient believer will know that the crafty old devil is at work tempting us. If we are strong in our faith, we will not let him get away with it. That's because we will remember the comforting truth of EPH 1: 18-20 and 1 JN 4: 4, that we have been made stronger than the devil by Christ and can stop him dead in his tracks! Will it always be easy? Certainly not! However, God has brought us together with others who are believers to help us through the tough challenges we face. This is in addition to His very own presence in our lives at all times. I remember laying in a hospital bed back in '03, wondering if I would ever have my "normal" life again. I was very ill indeed, having been in a fuzzy world of semi-consciousness for four days. I remembered nothing of the night my husband, Peter, found me on the bedroom floor totally unresponsive or of the ambulance ride, the tests, or those four days that ensued. My first conscious act was to pray to God, asking him to let me return to Peter and our lives together. Our gracious God answered my prayer, even though it took quite awhile for me to fully recover. He also let me see Him at work through Peter and my dear friends who helped me in the eight weeks it took before I could drive a car again. God wasn't through with me; He had more for me to do. He continues to bless my life. He is not through asking each of us serve Him, while He continues to bless us. He wants us to each have a joyful eternity with Him. What better reason to submit to Him do we have?
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn