“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org/
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht
“Homily Grits Devotional” http://www.homilygrits.com/
2 Chronicles 6:38-39… and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: 39 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place theirprayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. (NKJV)
I believe many of us (me included)…sometimes rattle off a prayer to the Lord, without absolute concentration with our thoughts, and our motives…as to how we should pray…and who we are praying to… The opening scripture was part of King Solomon’s prayer of dedication to the Lord, for the Temple which was just finished… We see Solomon’s acknowledgment, that the Israelites needed to pray “with all their heart and with all their soul”…
Solomon’s declaration that they must be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20) before they pray…goes right along with the writing I posted a few days ago, that was titled…“The Best Way”… Anyone wanting to go back and read this, can go to www.Godsmanforever.wordpress.com and type in 5/16/2013 in the search window…
Jesus gave us a “model prayer”, two times in the 4 Gospels… First, in His “Sermon on the Mount”, in…Matthew 6:9-13… And again, in…Luke 11:1-4…in response to a direct question from one of His disciples…
Jesus tells us where to pray, in…Matthew 6:6… “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (NKJV) To me, this indicates that open prayers in public for others to hear, that we are making on our behalf…isn’t the time or the place…
When I’m out in public, and I sin…I say a quick prayer in my mind to the Lord, asking forgiveness… But in retrospect, I see it best to wait until I get to a quiet spot, where I can truly concentrate on seeking proper forgiveness for my sin, without distractions…
Jesus goes on,with His instructions on how to pray, in…Matthew 6:7… And when you pray, do not use vainrepetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. (NKJV)
What immediately comes to my mind is the prayer we as young kids use to make around the dinner table… “God is great, God is good… And we thank Him for our food… By His hands we are fed… Give us Lord our Daily Bread”… Do we really stop to think about why and who we are praying to ?? Or is our prayer just a routine we do out of habit, or because we were suppose to ?? Many churches today recite the same rote prayers week after week… Do all of them really stop and think about these words ofprayer they are making to the Lord…or are some just praying in unison, because it’s tradition ??
Jesus goes on to give us His model prayer, in…Matthew 6:9-13… In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 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.
It is important to note that this is just a guideline for how we might go about praying…not for us to always pray with the exact words that Jesus used… (“do not use vainrepetitions as the heathen do”)
I found a great write up, breaking down each verse of what we now call…“The Lord’s Prayer”, at the following link…http://www.allaboutprayer.org/lords-prayer.htm There is also a 45 minute sermon by John Piper on…Matthew 6:5-15…for those who want to spend some extra time exploring Jesus’ model prayer… http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/our-deepest-prayer-hallowed-be-your-name#/watch/full
Today the part of this prayer I am most interested in discussing, is…“Hallowed be Your name”… Jesus addresses His Father in heaven…and then tells us with these next 4 words that we are to identify that the God we are about to pray to is sanctified, consecrated, holy, highly exalted, and worthy of nothing but our praise, honor, and glory…
How can we begin to prepare our minds and hearts to focus on prayer to the Lord, until we acknowledge how great He is ?? And while we are at it…praying before the Lord on our knees, is something we should be doing willingly as a Christian… If not willingly now…all will be forced to someday acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord…
The Apostle Paul pens this, in…Philippians 2:9-11… Therefore God also has highly exaltedHim and givenHim the name which is aboveeveryname, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that everytongue should confess that JesusChrist is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NKJV)
God reminds us in two other places in scripture that “every knee shall bow”, in…Isaiah 45:23…&…Romans 14:11… Friends, for those who say…“No way am I going to bow at the knee to Jesus”…all I can do is reveal what God’s inerrant Word, the Bible tells us…
I pray that all Christians…myself included…would take a long, hard, look at how we go about approaching our Father in heaven with prayer… And that we always come to the Lord in prayer as righteous in His sight…by first searching our hearts, and confessing and repenting of our sins…1 John 1:9… I suggest this, because of what the Apostle John pens in the following scripture…
John 9:31… Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. (NKJV)
Heavenly Father, I for one am ever so thankful for Your Word, that is living and powerful…and that can cut right to the very soul of those who will prosper by heeding Your instructions for godly living…Hebrews 4:12-13… Urge Your children Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit…and the daily feeding of Your Word (Matthew 4:4)…to “be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work”…(from – 2 Timothy 3:16-17)… I pray for this fullness of Christ in all of us, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
Blessings in Christ, bruce r mills
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