OUR FATHER, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN 27 MAR 2018
I share my thoughts on the Lord’s prayer (A), which is perhaps the most quoted part of Scripture. The depth of this concise prayer could take a book to fathom.
“Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name”… Yes God is our true Father; we have a relationship with our Creator God. And we should reverence His awesomeness & love. He is worthy of worship. Because God is not reverenced, we have amoral confusion, genetic tampering, along with moral degeneracy & moral anarchy.
“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”… Christ came to give us life & life more abundant; not an empty, purposeless life. When we fulfill His will, we are fulfilled; not our will, but His. Do we have a sense of participating in something great, something larger than ourselves??…Thy Kingdom come. Yes, His kingdom is growing on earth; things do change for the better. And that Kingdom is not of food & drink, but righteousness. (B) And righteousness brings life & the fruit of the Spirit, such as peace & joy.
“Give us this day our daily bread”…Yes, we live day by day by faith & trust that He will provide. Because we live by faith, we replace worry with faith in His provision & love. In that sense, you “take no thought for your life, what we shall eat, or what ye shall drink.” (C) God provides us life on several levels.
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” If we want forgiveness, we need to forgive. God redeems, restores, and reconciles. This verse also reminds us to let go of our own guilt. It touches on the great virtue of love which can manifest as kindness, courtesy, & generosity. Without forgiveness in this world, the World just continues a downward spiral of accumulated bitterness, resentment and hate.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Contrary to the World’s PC attitude, evil does exist!! Bear in mind God does not tempt—He tests us, but it is the lying power of Satan’s World that tempts us. Satan uses alluring things to get us to take poison & death. When life is done wrong, trauma plants a lie in our soul. When done right, out of misery comes ministry. We need deliverance from the lies of evil. Lies & liars do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.(D)
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, amen.” God’s people are citizens in a kingdom, with a glorious king who has all power. This power is in the blood of Christ for salvation, & in His sustaining grace: “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every work.”(E) It is exciting to think what God can do with our lives. Indeed we will grow from glory to more glory. For thine is the glory, forever, amen! Wow. Have a great Passover, and think on Christ, his suffering and resurrection during this time.
REFERENCES: (A) MT 6:9-13 (B) ROM 14:17 (C) MT 6:25 (D) REV & other places (E) 2 COR 9:8.
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