February 13, 2012

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."   Matthew 6:13

As we have worked our way through this great prayer given to us as a guide by the Savior, we have learned four important reasons why we should care about prayer:

1) Prayer leads us into worship

2) Prayer lines us up with God's will

3) Prayer lets us express our wants

Those three parts of the Lord's Prayer we have already discussed. The fourth area of the prayer is warfare.

Just looking at this last section of the prayer with a casual glance shows why it matters.

There is evil in this world that tempts us. The reason we are tempted by evil is that we have an evil nature within us. So, there is evil that surrounds us and it appeals to the sinful desires resident in the human nature.

And, there is an Evil One who attacks us, accuses us, and allures us toward sin.

So, the power of evil is two-fold and double trouble - there is a powerful person and there is a powerful pull.

Jesus said, "The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy - BUT I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

So, we are torn between two natures and confronted by two opposing kingdoms. We are in the middle of a spiritual war between righteousness and evil. Both kingdoms are strong than us and one is stronger than the other.

The battlefields of this war are in the mind, in the spirit and in the will. Each of those have been sabotaged by the enemy to cause us to self-destruct.

This final phrase of the prayer remind us that the only hope we have for victory is to call in an ally who is stronger than our enemy. That ally is Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who became Savior of the world. He conquered the two most powerful weapons the devil could threaten us with - sin and death. Sin was conquered when Jesus bled and died on the cross to atone for sin and death was defeated at the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ!

So, when we pray, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one", we are choosing sides and calling in the One Who has already conquered and won the victory! When we pray this prayer are calling in the cavalry and the infantry and the artillary and the air force all wrapped up in One - Jesus!

You are engaged in a spiritual conflict with eternal consequences and an overwhelming enemy. There is no neutral territory and no treaties. Either you are being defeated or you are defeating the enemy in the power of God.

With prayer as your primary weapon, how can you afford not to pray?

Why would you not pray as Jesus taught you to pray?

Why risk defeat when victory is one prayer away?

February 12, 2012

"Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."  Matthew 6:11-12

 

 

 

I didn't agree with everything that Rick Warren wrote in his "Purpose Driven Life" book, But I strongly agree with one of his main premises in the beginning of the book. Warren states that "It is not about you" - "it is about God". And it is!

Why then do we act as though we think prayer is about us?

In response to the disciple's request "Teach us to pray" Jesus gave them this prayer we have  come to know as The Lord's Prayer. Truly it does teach us about praying but also reveals much about the God to Whom we pray.

Jesus taught us to use prayer as a way of worship. Since prayer connects you with the Person of God and brings you into the presence of God and helps you praise God, this prayer is indeed, worship.

Also, prayer helps you do the will of God. Through prayer you can align with the will of God and accept His will and then act on it in daily living.

So, Jesus reveals that prayer is important to worship and important to doing His will, but also prayer helps you get what God wants for you. I know that many believe the purpose of prayer is to convince God to give them what they want from Him. But if you study it you will see that it is more about getting what God wants us to have.

First, God wants to give us food each day. Based on the word used in the original language, you could conclude that God wants to provide for you physically, emotionally and spiritually! You cannot live without food and God wants you to live and live abundantly.

Second, God wants you to enjoy fellowship with Him. God wants you to rely on Him on a daily basis so that you will have to commune with Him daily in order to receive the supply He has for you. We saw the evidence that God wants you to know Him in the "NOW" and enoy Him in that moment.

Third, God wants you to to know forgiveness for your sins. Being forgiven allows you to come into fellowship with a Holy God. Receiving His salvation through Christ for the forgiveness of sins is HUGE! Once you are forgiven you will find grace to forgive those who might sin aginst you.

Food, fellowship and forgiveness are three things you want and desparately need. God will give you those things if you will pray and ask Him! According to the Lord's Prayer He wants those things for you!

Why should you care about prayer? You shoudn't care about prayer unless God's worship is important or unless His will is important or if His wants matter to you.

If any of those or all of those are important to you, then you need to understand the importance of prayer. Pray away!

February 11, 2012

"Give us this day our daily bread and forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:11

This phrase is as much a proclamation of praise as it is a petition of prayer.

Both are vitally important because God is worthy and God is able!

As you pray "give us this day our daily bread" you are recognizing God as your source!

He is your source because He is the Creator. As Creator we know He has the power to simply speak into existence things that are not! He can command manna from heaven! He can speak water into wine. He can make a simple lunch into an all-you-can-eat buffet!

Why not acknowledge Him as your Source? Why not trust Him and call upon Him as Jesus admonishes in this prayer?

We are living in under an increasingly oppressive government that seeks to be your source for everything. Nearly one-fourth of Americans are turning to them as their source. But there is a high price for these handouts - a loss of freedom because of the crushing $16 trillion debt incurred.

If you choose God as your Source, He can give on a daily basis and not be diminished in the least!

Jesus also tells you to make God your supply!

When you pray "Give us THIS DAY our DAILY BREAD...." you are not only declaring that God CAN and WILL supply exactly what you need in the right amount at exactly the right time!

If you make God your Source He will supply what you need BUT not just in the form of a hand-out, He will supply you with a job and with job skills and with the strength and health and intelligence to supply yourself and your family! When God is your Source and your Supply He feeds your physical needs but your emotional, psychological and spiritual needs as well!

God wants to be your Source and He wants to be your Supply but even more so He wants to be your Savior! When you pray ".......and forgive us our debts (sins) as we forgive our debtors (those who sin against us)" you are asking God to save you from your sins. It is those sins which separate you from a Holy God. But when you receive the forgiveness provided by Jesus on the Cross you can then enter into a personal relationship with God - that is the game-changer!

Coming into a personal relationship with God your Father, your Creator, your Source and Supply will allow to experience His incredible love and grace! Filled with His grace you will discover a new love for others welling up with your spirit! Out of that love you will find the desire and the strength to forgive others who have sinned against you!

Being forgiven and being able to forgive others brings unbelievable spiritual freedom! You will find freedom from guilt and freedom from shame and freedom from fear! You will experience and amazing peace and security when you acknowledge Jesus as your Savior and God as your Father!

The Lord's Prayer is a powerful resource because it teaches about and reaches to a great God Who delights in being your Source, your Supply and your Savior!

Let me ask you, "Are you relying on Him as your Source?"

"Are you requesting Him to be your Supply?"

"Have you received Him as your Savior?"

The Answer is only one prayer away!

February 10, 2012

"Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:11

The Lord's Prayer is not just a prayer or a pattern for prayer it is a new way to think about God. God is a Father Who desires to know you and to be known by you.

Jesus taught that prayer connects you with God and brings you into His presence and helps you bring Him praise. God wants to make your life a living praise offering to Him. And He taught you to accept His will and align your life with it so His kingdom can be lived out through you.

Over the last couple of days you learned God wants to provide for you  daily so you can be focused on Him and enjoy His fellowship. We talked about how God wants us to know Him in the "NOW". He wants you to trust Him to provide on a daily basis. He knows it is easy for you to fret over something in your past or stress over something in your future and when you are worried or anxious you can't enjoy Him fully in the "NOW".

When you pray, "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors", you are telling God you want to trust Him today and you are going to commit to him your past so you won't have to worry over the past. You are committing to know Him in the "NOW".

So, if God takes care of the past and the presence does that mean you don't plan for the future? Not at all! In fact, by making plans for the future it is easier for you to love God in the "NOW". With your past covered and your future planned you are free to enjoy Him and His blessings in the "NOW".

When you are in fellowship with God you can seek His guidance as you plan for the future. Proverbs says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path."  Proverbs 3:5-6.

When you are in relationship with God you can know that He will lead you into the future as a Good Shepherd leads his sheep. You will have confidence know that as you remain in His presence He will provide and guide and protect you daily.

Prayer has a powerful and pervasive impact on your life. Prayer is the language of His Kingdom. It is communication with the King and fellowship with your Father!

Learning to pray as Jesus prayed will aalow you to know God as Jesus knew Him. You will know His Person, you will know His peace because you will know His pardon and you will know His power because you will live in His presence.

If you thought you didn't have a prayer of ever knowing God in a significant way, Jesus is here to tell you that you DO have a prayer! He gave it to you!

February 9, 2012

"Give us this day our daily bread......." Matthew 6:11

You are created for God’s pleasure! He made you to be the object of His love and grace! God desires to be known by you and to know you. One way that happens is through prayer.

Therefore, prayer is not a ritual or a religious exercise but a relationship with the Heavenly Father! Like all good Fathers, God delights in providing for His children.

I was blessed by the thought that God desires to relate to us in the “NOW”. Relationships happen in the moment and you must capture those moments to know and be known by God or by your loved ones.

Last night I saw this truth demonstrated in a powerful way in the recent movie “Courageous”. I recommend this movie for everyone but particularly for dads.

The men in this movie, like many of you, were busy making a living and providing for their families and in that process became easily distracted from the very family members they wanted to protect and provide for. So, like you, when they actually came home to be with their families they were physically present but emotionally absent. Like many of you they struggled with switching that mental switch that takes you from “THEN” to “NOW”. A God-given desire to provide and protect your wife and your children and the drive it takes to do that can be the very thing that prevents you from providing them with the emotional connection they desperately crave. Not many things are lonelier than living around the people you love but not giving or receiving that love.

Often it takes something dramatic happening to shock you into the importance of being “THERE’ when you are there. You and I need to be emotionally engaged in the “NOW” with wives and children. Otherwise, you wake up one day to discover you are living with strangers.

What does this have to do with the Lord’s Prayer?

Jesus teaches His disciples – and you – that you should pray for God to help you know Him and trust Him on a daily basis. He is helping them understand the importance of relating to God in the “NOW”. Relationships happen moment by moment. If you miss those moments you miss out on relationship. All relationships.

As in the movie and in your world, what keeps you from enjoying the “NOW” are the pains of the past, the pressures of the day as well as your plans for the future. When you are distracted by your past regrets or future concerns or the demands of the present, it keeps you from enjoying the “NOW”. Life happens in the “NOW”. Love happens in the “NOW”. All of us have missed moments we would love to have back!

One of the truths the Master wants you to get from this teaching on prayer is how to live in the “NOW” by trusting Him for the day and the days to come. One of the messages of “Courageous” is how to seize the moments with your family that shape lives and build love.

Pray the prayer. See the movie. Learn to live in the “NOW”. Start now.

February 8, 2012

"Give us this day our daily bread......." Matthew 6:11

I focused yesterday on how God has the power and the desire to provide your needs. He fed millions of Hebrews in the desert for forty years with manna from heaven.

In the next few days I will have more to say about God, the Provider. But as I was meditating on this verse today, I was impressed with another aspect of this prayer. Jesus taught us to pray for His provision on a daily basis.

When God miraculously provided the manna in the wilderness He did it on a daily basis. Moses gave the people enough manna for that day and if they tried to gather too much it spoiled and became filled with maggots. Only on the day before the Sabbath were they allowed to collect more than one day's worth of the "heavenly bread".

On those occasions when Jesus fed the multitudes from only a few loaves of bread, even though it was a miracle of multiplication He only gave them what they needed for THAT day!

Later in this same Teaching, Jesus again mentions the important of living daily and trusting God to provide what you need. And think about it, if you can trust Him to give you daily bread today, why shouldn't be able to trust Him again tomorrow? Here is His statement:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^?  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34

"Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:13-14

When Jesus sent His disciples out two by two in His name to do ministry, He didn't give them any food at all! And they didn't ask! He knew they would be taken care of and they didn't seem worried about it either! They did go and they didn't starve and many signs and wonders were performed.

So, what is Jesus wanting you to understand by stressing the daily aspect of your relationship with God?

God wants you to enjoy knowing Him and loving Him in the NOW - THIS MOMENT - a day at a time! He wants to provide for you so you can focus on Him, so you can fellowship with Him, and so you can feel His presence!

That is how it was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve enjoyed being with God in the eternal moment - until they sinned. And that's how it is in Heaven! Time is not a factor, God is worshipped in the forever NOW! He is the adored central focus of Heaven and all of the Heavenly beings rejoice over being in His presence in the eternal NOW!

Will you enjoy being in God's presence today? Will you ask Him to provide what you need so that He  and you can enjoy being with Him today in each moment of today? Will you get up in the morning and do it again? Will you get yourself acclimated for your life to come in the forever NOW?

February 7, 2012

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

Bread was associated with some significant events in Jesus’ earthly life and ministry.

When He was tempted in the wilderness following a 40 day fast, He was challenged to turn stones into bread. That indicates two things about Jesus: (1) He COULD have done it; and (2) there was a hungry human part of Him that wanted to do it! But He preferred being the Bread of life to having a bite of bread and He responded, “Man should not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God.”

Of course, there were the two miraculous feedings – the 4,000 and the 5,000 – using just a couple loaves of bread each time.

There was the intimate final meal He had with His disciples on the evening before His arrest and subsequent crucifixion. Near the end of that meeting He took bread and broke it and passed it out to His disciples to eat it in commemoration of  His sacrificial death  – something He was preparing to do for them.

What does this mean for you? It means that because of Jesus, God understands your hunger. Having been hungry His self and having enjoyed feasts with His friends, Jesus understood and appreciated the importance of tasty satisfying bread! And, by feeding several thousands of people through supernatural means, He proved His ability to feed anyone who is hungry.

I saw Him provide for my family on three seperate occasions we sat down to eat with barely enough to go around. We had a partial loaf of bread and a mostly filled gallon of milk. Counting kids at the table against the number of slices of bread on the table we knew it would be close. Each time we said grace and thanked God for His goodness to us.

On one of those occasions, we were still praying grace when a knock came at the door. Going to the door my mother saw my Little League baseball coach standing with a stringer of freshly caught fish that he gave to us. We were amazed at the goodness of God to provide for us that way.

One other time we were about to sit down for a less than complete meal and again someone knocked on the door. When we went to the door we saw a woman from our church standing there with a box of groceries to give us. Again, my brothers and sisters and I had a visual example of how God could provide!

The third time, was even more incredible because the person who appeared at the door at precisely the right time as an eccentric neighbor who hardly ever ventured out of his house, but there he stood with bags of groceries for our family!

God, on those three dramatic demonstrations, proved to us that He would “give us each day our daily bread”! We learned to trust Him more!

You can trust God to give you your “daily bread” and take good care of you! He is “Jehovah Jireh” your provider!

As your Father, He cares that you have what you need. And as your God He has the power to make it happen!