Hope all is well with you and yours on this glorious summer day! I have to say that I was proud last night to see some ministry teams doin ministry at fusion! We have a long way to go, but it was cool to see them take off like they did last night!
Summary...
There is a ton of good stuff in Matthew 6 that you need to take time to look at, but I would like to take our time and focus on the Lord's prayer. Do you know this prayer? For me, I have grown up saying this prayer every week, and to be honest it has lost its meaning. In Matthew 6:5-14, Jesus talks about prayer. He warns against public prayer, saying that we must be careful as we pray publicly not to pray to impress others. Jesus also says not to babble on as we pray...yeah I am horrible at that! So many times when I pray, I ramble on and on and then I end my prayer never allowing my God to speak to me. We MUST remember that prayer is a 2 way conversation between us and God, and that we have to stop hanging up on God! But Lets take a closer look at the "classic" Lord's prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Something I noticed about this prayer that I have never seen before is how the first 3 lines have nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. Do your prayers to God mimic the Lord's prayer? I think most of us rush into prayer, lay or requests before God, and then say thanks and love ya...I love ya Lord...Amen. Remember the disciples asked Jesus how should we pray...and Jesus said like this...and then went into the Lord's prayer. We must begin our prayers with the holiness of our God like Jesus calls us to. We must start with acknowledging life begins with You Lord. I know people who start their prayers with...It's not about me, it's about You Lord! We have to learn to run into God's presence focused more on Him and less on us.
Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
I love the idea of coming before our God and asking Him to give us what we need for our day. Asking Him to wipe us clean, and help us to forgive those around us. And looking to Him for guidance through temptation and keeping us safe from the schemes of the enemy! Do your prayers sound like this?
Questions...
- Stop and recite the Lord's prayer. Do feel that prayer has power within it, or have you become used to saying it, and it is simply a routine prayer you say in church?
- When do you pray to God? How to you go about doing it usually? Do you follow Christ's model He gave us in Matthew 6?
- I would like to encourage us to memorize vs. 33 of Matthew 6. Begin each comment with it. What is the significance of that verse to you?
Lord God help us to keep You first in our lives! Draw us closer to You as we study Your Son Jesus. Lord God help us to keep our focus on You as we pray, rather than focusing on ourselves. Jesus give us victory today over temptation from the evil one, and remind us of our forgiveness that we have in You! Lord Jesus we love You, and we need You...we desperately pursue You! Bless my friends as we study You!
In Jesus Name...Amen
tom
4 comments:
HELLOOOO,
I've known the Lords prayer before of course on church days. This prayer does seem to of lost some of its meaning but as i look over at it now i see it does have power i mean it really is the perfect prayer. You can't really say "oh Jesus Christ forgot to add....." cuz he did. It really did seem to sum upour true lifes hope. After reading verse 33 it reminded me of something pastor Dave once said "Either God is God above all or he is not God at all".In easier terms you either put him first or not.This doesn't just mean in posessions.Now it reminds me of something Tom said that means giving up maybe your summer sleep in time.God is more important than sleep. I have to admit (call me bum if you must) but i'm more of a stay up all night til th A.M.'s and sleep in till its the P.M's.:) okay so i'm not that bad but you get my point. i know i do need to work on this. I know God would appreciate me starting my day with him. Even though i know i could go, as Tom would ptu it, More radical but let me first just start this.
Now for ur other questions i don't really have a problem about praying in public (i do pray at church of course) cuz i have read that verse before and if i do need a prayer like at school of even at like Walmart of something i say it in my head. But i will admit i do have a problem with rambling on. I meani do kind of think that if i keep on repeating myself i can stress to God how important it is. Although i know i should know that he, being the God of the Universe and all, already knows. Pray for me brothers and sisters
got to get to bed,
ali
Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Wow. That verse is everything I need in my life right now. I've been stressing and worrying about scholarship and financial aide requirements lately and after reading this verse, I just stopped and began to thank God for his mercy and grace. I don't need to stress about money for college, all I need to do is put God first, and honor him in all I do, and He will guide my footsteps into college and the "real" world decisions and stresses. Thank you God! :]
To be honest, when reciting the Lord's prayer in church I don't really think about it's meaning. Like in school when you had to stand and say the pledge of allegiance, I didn't ever think about the words I was saying. When I actually think about the prayer, it's like "God you're amazing and great, thank you for forgiving me of my sins, please give me grace to forgive others, and please keep me away from temptations" and I need to start beginning my prayers thanking God for being so great and amazing to me.
"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Verse 33. Just like Lauren said it's just what I needed. Not everything we want but what we NEED.
I definitely believe that the Lord's Prayer is loaded with power. I don't think of it much, but when I get one of my days that I must analyze everything and imprint everything on my heart.... that's when I come to fully understand the power of this prayer Jesus taught us to say. I often tell God that he is bigger than my problems and then go on to talk about my problems but I never wait to see what God has to say back unless I'm writing my prayer.
I love you all! all the prayer for my mom are successful but still don't know some results. Keep her in your prayers. :)
-Mars
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you! God has proven Himself faithful to me time & time again with this Word. When i was a new Christ follower the lady who discipled me hammered this Scripture into my mind! She constantly said "Lori, you have to put Him first every day, get up before your kids to spend time in the Word, just do it." My response was "i would have to get up at like 4am!!!" Her response "so"- SO i did. Let me just say its kinda like tithing with your time, every time i put Him first, He blessed me with the energy, patience & attitude to not just survive my day but thrive in my day. There would be times i would suddenly wake up at 3am & feel like He wanted me up & sure enough someone would wake up at 4:30am vomiting. Its like He knew that i got it, that i knew i needed to put Him first so He helped me out, i just trusted Him as my personal alarm clock.
On that note let me say that i have never struggled with this until this past year, still am, so you can pray for me or call me at 4am. ha
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