Sometimes I think we sell God short in our prayers when we only ask for things that seem to good to us. There is, of course, the guideline of the wonderful prayer of our Lord. But, even in this prayer there is the element of faith and trust where we ask for his kingdom to come, not knowing fully what that might mean. Yes, I pray many times each day that God would obliterate my wife’s brain cancer. I pray for the well-being and a deepening love for God for each of our five children. I believe these are good things to pray for. But, I find I pray little for what God might do in my life beyond […]
Prayer
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Do you pray for God’s will to be done or yours? To pray effectively, in a way that honors God as hallowed, we must pray that God’s purpose and plan must prevail and not our own. The reality is that we often come to God when we have a problem. Our problem and our solution to the problem dominates our prayer. This is not good. It is vitally important to realize that the solution to our concerns lies not in our understanding of what is best, but in God’s understanding of what is best. If God is our heavenly father, if he is the King, then it is his plan, his rule that you should desire above your own. […]
The word best is a commonly used word. But during Leap Year, best becomes even more common. Leap years occur every fourth year. In Leap Years since the beginning of the United States, we elect Presidents, all of our U.S. Representatives, one- third of our Senators, and countless other state and local officials. Since the advent of the modern Olympic Games, the Summer Olympics also occur during leap years. We hear the word best frequently! Who is the best candidate, the best swimmer, runner, jumper, skater, or the best ______? So, in this election year, this Olympic year, how can you use the games to teach your children what is best in life? Only one person can win each Gold […]
We have come to the last petition of the Lord’s Prayer, as it is recorded in Matthew 6. These fifty-seven words are Christ’s clear directive: “This, then, is how you should pray.” As we have commented previously, when the Son of God, speaking through the Scripture, is this clear and this direct, his people would do well to pay close attention. Given the huge number of books on prayer, it is safe to conclude that learning how to pray is a concern for many Christians. But we are not left without instruction for prayer; there is no better teacher for us about how to pray than the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Because of the straightforward and simple style of […]
In this next petition of the prayer, Jesus adds the gospel perspective. The Kingdom of God is not something you can earn your way into. Entrance is by the special invitation of gospel grace. This biblical message is consistent and clear. Look at Israel. She was not the greatest of nations, but the least (Deuteronomy 7:7)! God chose the Israelites to be subjects in his kingdom simply because it was his pleasure to do so. Similarly, no one earns his way into Christ’s kingdom. As Colossians 1 teaches, we have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. See how God’s grace plays out in this petition. We are instructed: Forgive us […]
We continue on with Jesus Christ’s exemplary lesson on prayer: give us today our daily bread. These ninety words in Matthew 6 are to form the model for all of our prayers. Jesus begins this prayer by addressing God as our heavenly Father saying that he alone is to be praised as “hallowed.” Our God is a jealous God who will not give his glory to another. Christ then leads us to see that we are to seek God’s kingdom here on earth. We are to desire his will more than our own. Thus, if God is indeed our father, and if He is the ruler of the mightiest of all kingdoms, it is only fitting that we ask him […]
When you teach your child to pray for God’s kingdom to come, you are teaching him to do something that is contrary to the nature with which he was born. You see, the little “kingdom of self” with which we were all born is radically opposed to the kingdom of God. Think seriously about this statement. The flesh stands in violent opposition to the purposes of God. Read once again what the flesh is all about in Galatians 5:19-21: The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those […]
When Jesus says this is how you should pray Christians should take notice! The idea that sinful people like you and me can come before the holy God, ruler of the universe, and ask him to hear our concerns should be a humbling experience. God in his faithfulness has not left us without clear direction in how we are to approach him in prayer. What a wonderful privilege and blessing; we learn that we can pray to our father and that Jesus tells us how do it.
This next line of the Lord’s Prayer is a statement of worship and honor. God is our father. He resides in heaven. Therefore, he is a different sort of being from you and me. We are not the Father of all and we do not reside in a place that is sinless and wholly reflects the character of God. It is the very nature of God’s character that makes him hallowed or holy. Thus, Jesus says that all that God is, his name, is holy, set apart. In this sense, hallowedness is appropriate for God and for none other. If we are to think of God at all, especially when we come before him to pray, we are to acknowledge […]
What does the opening line of the Lord’s Prayer teach us? When working with children, truth that is clearly and simply stated is essential. This is why this prayer in Matthew 6 is a model not only for how to pray, but for how to speak. Jesus says earlier in chapter that the prayers of his people should not be like the babbling prayers of the pagans that overflow with many words. Many words offer no guarantee that your prayers will be heard. Trust that your Father in heaven knows exactly what you need before you ask him. While it is important to come to God in faith with specific requests, it is also important to realize that informing God […]