The Lord's Prayer

"Pray, then in this way:" Christ when teaching His disciples how to pray was not enjoining us to some formula of words which are to be repeated word for word as though it was the only prayer which the Lord hears, rather He points out what ought to be the object of all our wishes and prayers. Contained within the prayer are six petitions. The first three are toward the glory of God, without any regards to ourselves, which are rightly placed in there proper priority. The remaining three relate to those things which are necessary for our sustenance, salvation and sanctification.

"Our Father" For those whom God has saved by His grace, through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and who have repented of their sins, God gives them the right to be called children of God. This is made possible through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, to reconcile us to God, for without this sacrifice man cannot be reconciled to God and is at enmity with God. But in Christ there is a righteousness wherein we can receive with Jesus the inheritance of God, and are adopted as sons through Jesus Christ. (Eph. 1:5)

"In Heaven" As Christians we do have God as our Father, and what a glorious and awfully we may approach Him because of the redemptive work of Christ, and have communion with God as sons and daughters, through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet our Father is in Heaven, He is enthroned far above the earth ruling and reigning with power and might, in the presence of the ceaseless worship of the holy angels and the saints that have gone before. He has no lack or need of worship, but to Him and only Him is all worship due.

"Your Kingdom come" What is the Kingdom of God? Lets me start by explaining what the Kingdome of God is not! The Kingdom of God is NOT of this world. (John 18:36) God's Kingdom is not made up of castles, knights, ramparts, or walls. The Kingdom of God is Jesus Christ. That is what John the Baptist meant when he said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." (Matt 3:2) The word "kingdom" means sovereignty, or royal power. Jesus is the sovereign Lord ruling, with royal power, over heaven and earth perfectly. This God came to earth to seek and save that which is lost. So when we pray, "Your Kingdom come,” we are praying for the sovereign reign of God, both in the Second Coming, and also His reigning over our lives, as our Sovereign Lord, conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ.

"Your will be done" When we talk about the will of God there are some things we must understand. God’s will is already happening in a sense, in every aspect of life. He ordains everything that has been, is, or shall be. Every birth, every death, every calm, every storm, every perfect moment, and every tragedy, everything is being divinely orchestrated by God, for the purposes of His Glory and the Christian’s present and ultimate good. Now if God’s will is being done in everything, than what is it we are praying for? It is true, God allows everything to happen, that happens, though some of which is not according to His perfect will. So we pray that all creatures obey Him, without opposition or reluctance, as is done in Heaven.

"On earth as it is in Heaven" This has been subject to twisting by faith healers and prosperity preachers, who say, "well in heaven there is no sickness or poverty, therefore we shouldn't be sick or poor, and if you are you don't have enough faith.” Heaven is a place, an actual place, where God reigns with power and might, receiving glory and honor and praise that is due Him. God's Kingdom and will is done on this earth primarily when we preach the gospel, and His Kingdom is populated when souls get saved, and when every aspect of our lives is transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to the glory of God.

"Give us this day our daily bread" In the time this was written almost everyone worked very hard to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. These people were not working to buy a second donkey to ride around to show up the neighbors, or to buy the latest style of turban. They labored just to survive. Men were looked up to and honored for providing the necessities for his family. It is not so today in our culture. Men are frowned upon for not having a large TV or the newest SUV. So what is being said here? When we pray, we ought to pray for what we need to live, not what our wandering lustful hearts desire.

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." This is a cry and a plea for mercy. The word for "forgive" in the Greek literally means "to send away", or "leave alone". This is the same word Jesus used on the cross when He cried out "Forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) In the same way we are crying out to God, not that He forgive someone else but to forgive us for our debts against Him. (Debts: sins, moral fault.) The debt we owe is astronomical. Our debts consist of, our lying, thieving, dishonoring, coveting, pride, blasphemy, perverse and murderous thoughts, idolatry. It also includes our failures to love God as we ought, honor Him as we ought, glorify Him as we ought, thank Him as we ought, worship Him as we ought, seek Him as we ought, and know Him as we ought. So many and so gross are our debts against an infinitely, holy, perfect, righteous and good God, that all the worth of all the earth with its gold and jewels, and all the worth of all the worship of every created thing could not satisfy the debt we owe. Our sins being against an infinitely holy God require a sacrifice of infinite worth, Jesus Christ, the Righteous, paid the sum of an infinite debt, as He hung on that cross suffering the wrath of God in our place, and rose again for our justification. Now as believers, justification is a one time act, in which we are made right before God. So as believers this prayer is not for justification, for that is already accomplished, but it is a confession and repentance of sin that remains in the believer, looking always to the cross and seeing our forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ Jesus. "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just o forgive us our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

"As we also have forgiven our debtors" In the same way we have been forgiven by God, we ought also to forgive. This does not mean, "God forgive us because we forgive others," rather, "God forgive us, and because You have so graciously forgiven us, we will in like manner forgive others.”

"And do not lead us into temptation" Now we know from the epistle of James 1:13 that God cannot be tempted with evil nor can He tempt anyone. So what does this verse mean when it says, "do not lead us into temptation?” In Scripture the word "temptation" can be used in two different ways. For example in James 1:2 is says "Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of you faith produces steadfastness..." The Greek word for "trials" comes from the same word "tempted" used later in verse 13 "Let no on say when he is tempted...." In verse two "trials" referrers to hardships, persecution, and affliction in our lives from the world, through which our faith grows and produces steadfastness. On the other hand in verse 13, the word tempt is used more in terms of as a desire to sin, a lust for that which is evil. For we see in verses 14 and 15 that temptation entices our own lust, lust births sin, and sin brings forth death. It is from this kind of temptation that we are praying for God to lead us away. For our sinful flesh, though regenerated by the Holy Spirit is still enticed by the things of the world. The plea is, "God leas me far from, not just sin, but even just the temptation to sin. It can only happen by Him leading. Fleeing temptation is impossible apart from the grace of God.

"But deliver us from evil." This half of the sentence is more pointing to the grace of God in a cry for rescue. Firstly we prayed for His leading away from temptation, but now it’s a cry for deliverance from evil, or the evil one. As Christians we do battle against evil spiritual forces of darkness. This prayer is about humbling ourselves and looking to God for our deliverance. We are not looking to our own merits, our praying, or even our faith. These are tools used in the battle against evil, but first and foremost we must humble ourselves before a Might God, who is might to save. Then we must turn to the Truth of God, the Righteousness of God, the Gospel of God, the Faith of God, the Salvation of God, and the Word of God. All of which are gracious gifts given by God to deliver us from evil. The strength is not in us but in the Lord Almighty.

"For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and The Glory forever! Amen!

A Prayer For The Broken Hearted

A Prayer For The Broken Hearted

Words by Chelsey Scott (based on a prayer from “The Valley Of Vision”) Music by Chelsey Scott © 2006 Petit Bateau Music (ASCAP)

"No day in my life has past, that hasn't proved me guilty

Prayers are uttered too fast, from a heart that’s cold and empty.

Chorus: Oh Blessed Jesus, May we find a covert in thy wounds

Though our sins, they rise to meet us, how they fall next to the merits of you

All in me calls for this, it calls for my rejection

This heavy unrighteousness, oh is there no protection?

My best services are rags, my best deeds are filthy;

Grant me hear thy shoring voice, that in thy wounds is pardon

Grant me see thy willing choice to make my hard heart softened

Keep the broken-hearted sure, clinging to thy cross, our cure;"

Folk I hope this has been a blessing to you as it has to me. May we always look to Christ and the cross, and not on our righteousness which is but filthy rags. This song is from Indelible Grace Music, if you would like to listen to this and other great music please visit www.igracemusic.com or purchase their music in the itunes store. God bless.

Confession of sin

Almight Lord, we have been willing to listen to sin's deceptive talk.

We have walked in the counsel of its arrogance.

We treat with contempt Your gifts of kindness, thinking ourselves to be entitled to what we have.

We believe we are righteous whithout You, when our righteousness is from You.

We make ourselves judges, when we ourselves are under judement.

We glory in our successes, when our very breath comes from You.

We have turned away from forgiveness and mercy to grudges and bitterness.

We justify our wrongs, excuse our lack of goodness and smile at sin's presence.

Strengthen our hearts in Christ. Invigorate us to do Your will, that we might honor the precious name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen!

Puritan Prayer - Confession and Petition

Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.

Puritan Prayer - Sin!

Merciful Lord,
Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle, and advanced years, of omission and commission, of morose, peevish and angry tempers, of lip, life and walk, of hard-heartness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of men, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken zeal for His glory, of bringing dishonor upon Thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness, in my dealings with others, of impurity in thought, word and deed, of covetousness, which is idolatry, of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered, not consecrated to the glory of Thee, the Great Giver; sins in private and in the family, in study and recreation, in the busy haunts of men, in the study of Thy Word and in the neglect of it, in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld, in time misspent, in yielding to Satan’s wiles in opening my heart to his temptations, in being unwatchful when I know him nigh, in quenching the Holy Spirit; sins against light and knowledge, against conscience and restraints of Thy Spirit, against the law of eternal love.

Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt, confessed and not confessed, remembered or forgotten. Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.

From Valley of Vision -a Collection of Puritan Prayers

God is Holy

Holiness is the attribute of God that is most forgotten in the Church today, however it is one that we can not afford to forget. Even a slight understanding of the holiness of God reinstates the true Gospel. Holiness is a foundational attribute of God, one that must be understood, otherwise the redemptive work on the cross means absolutely nothing. By understanding His holiness, even in a small way we are able to a glimpse of ourselves and our total depravity. Through His holiness the love of God in the redemptive work of the cross and the resurrection is most magnified, but it all starts with holiness. 

  So what does the word “holy” mean? It comes from the Hebrew word “qadosh” which means “separated”, “marked off”, “placed apart”, “withdrawn from common use.” There are two important meanings when referring to the holiness of God. 

1.) God is "transcendent" above His creation (Transcendence “to go beyond”, “rise above”, or “exceed.” God is not merely “quantitative” (the same but greater), but “qualitative”, (God is a completely different being.)  

  God not only transcends His creation but He also is transcendent when it comes to His creation’s corruption. He is pure and spotless, and the foundation of His throne is righteousness the Bible says. The transcendence of God, perhaps can better be understood with this somewhat trite illustration. If one were to ask ‘Is God more like an angel or an earth worm?’ The correct answer is neither, you can’t compare Him to anyone or anything. In doing so I would submit to you, that is blasphemy, when trying to describe God outside of what the Bible already says about Him. 

Exodus 15:11 "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?" There is no one like our God! (Also see 1st Samuel 2:2, Jo 15:15, and Isaiah 40:25)

  2.) The second important word when it comes to understanding His holiness is “preeminent” which essentially means that it is impossible to understand the character of God apart from His holiness. Above all things God is holy. We see this very clearly demonstrated in Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8. In these verses we see something called a Hebrew parallelism (Chiasmus) When we want to put emphasis on a word or phrase we will put in bold letters or underline it, but in the Hebrew language when they wanted to emphasize something they would repeat it. You can see this though out the Old Testament. For example in Psalm 119:105 “You word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” The same thing is being said twice (lamp to my feet, light to my path).

   Again in Isaiah 6:3 we see the same thing when the seraphim are flying around the Throne of God crying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with His glory!" Do you see the parallelism? In Revelation 4:8 this is used once again to emphasis the holiness of God. Never once in a scripture do we see any other attribute emphasized the way that the Holiness of God is. We don’t, God is love, love, love, or merciful, merciful, merciful. No! We see Holy, Holy, Holy! Do you think the Bible is trying to get at something? Yes, God is Love, God is Merciful and God is Just but we must understand that God, above all is holy, in order to understand the rest of His character and nature. 

  Holiness is the foundation of all that God is and does. I have heard people ask questions wondering if there is anything that God can not do. For example “Can God sin? I’ve heard some really weird answers about this, such as, “well, God can do whatever He wants.” Or “well, if He does it’s for a good reason” or “oh, it wouldn’t be sinning for Him.” Anyone who is actually thinking such things that God can commit a sin: 1. Needs to read their Bible more, and 2. Is completely not understanding the holiness of God. The Bible is very clear that there are things that God can not do. 

  Many verses back up this point: Psalm 5:4 “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness: evil may not dwell with you.” Job 34:10 "Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong." 

1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

 

  Through these verses we can very clearly see that God can not sin. He can’t even look at sin or dwell with wickedness. James 1:13 (and I am paraphrasing) God can not tempt or be tempted. If God can not even tempt, than He most certainly can not sin. He can’t go against His own nature and His very nature is the very opposite of everything that is evil. God’s character and nature does not change. Holiness is the foundation of all that God is and does. In my next blog I will talk about more practical holiness, and what the Bible was talking about in Hebrews 12:14 “Strive for peace with everyone, and of the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Love

"To be constrained by the love of Christ creates a life heroic, exalted, illustrious: no, I must come down from such lofty words—it is such a life as every Christian ought to live; it is such a life as every Christian must live if he is really constrained by the love of Christ, for the text does not say the love of Christ ought to constrain us, it declares that it does constrain us."     - Charles H. Spurgeon 

The question that has been plaguing me and the question I would like to pose to you is... How do you view God/Jesus, as your pal or boyfriend who is just so lonely and longs to hang out with you and He just wants to fill that emptiness inside your heart with this "hold me and cuddle me" kind of love. Or do you view God and His love as the Bible describes? For He is The God, Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. He raises up kingdoms and pulls them down. He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. He is The Holy God who judges the world in righteousness. He is our provider of every breath and every day that by His grace He allows us to live. He is our Savior who suffered and died under the full wrath of God, taking the punishment for our total depravity. He created the universe and everything in it in six twenty-four hour days. He created you in His image and likeness and you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He loves us so perfectly that if we repent and trust the Savior, He gives us the right to be called sons and daughters of God. He is Immanuel "God with us".

Now all that being said, I do want to make one thing very clear, I am not saying that we should keep God at a distance, and not view Him as our Heavenly Father, for He does care very deeply for His children. We are still to seek for a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a love for Him, but this love we are have for Him must be properly defined using scripture. Any time we see the word "love" in scripture pertaining to God's love for us is a self-sacrificial love, a love that is perfect in all that it is, for God is Love. And if we look at 1 John 4:8-10 "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." We see love in its greatest demonstration, the cross. This kind of love is so much better and more beautiful than the trite seemingly romantic love sung about in modern Christian music and preached from many music stands each Sunday. Nowhere in scripture when talking about the love of God or Jesus, does it use a romantic or trite language, and no the Song of Solomon doesn't count. It is an ancient Hebrew poem written to describe the eros love (sexual, emotional love) between a man and a woman in the confines of marriage. God's love for us is also the love of a father, who cares very deeply for His children, so deeply that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to die on the cross for wretched, depraved sinners. That is the love of God, the love of Jesus. Yes, we can cast all our cares upon Him, come to Him with our needs, and pour out our hearts to Him and He has compassion and mercy on those who love and fear Him, but He is still Almighty God, the Just Judge of the universe, He is still holy, and it is that holiness that wholly demands our reverence, respect, honor and worship. 

That is the love the Father has for us. But how are we to view Him and love Him, are we to see Him as our pal who we would chat about sports with and tell jokes with on the golf course, or is He our husband, our boyfriend, our bridegroom. Again nowhere in scripture does it instruct us to love God or Jesus in these ways. When Jesus tells us what the greatest commandment of scripture is ("You shall love the Lord you God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.") the word "love" in the Greek is translated agapao which simply means to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly. This is the word used all over the new testament when referring to Jesus' love for us or our love for Him. You may be thinking right now, well Jesus says He is the bridegroom and He calls me His bride. Well you are right and wrong, Jesus indeed does call Himself the bridegroom, you are right. But He never calls you or I the bride, He calls the collective body of believers, known as the church, His bride, not the individual. This way of thinking is very dangerous, I have heard of church in Africa which glorifies sex as a form of worship and teaches there members it's okay to fantasize about having sex with Jesus, and about a woman who was having dreaming about having sex with Jesus. And people get these disgusting ideas by allegorizing the Song of Solomon, that is just a very pour and dangerous way to read and interpret the Bible. And we see this a lot in our modern Christian music, romantic language. We are singing love songs to Jesus or He is sing them to us. Without severely twisting scripture we cannot find this kind of language us when God is talking about His love for us or how we are to love Him. Infact many time especially in 1 John it is said if you love me, you will keep my commandments or those who love me keep my commandments, or my favorite 1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

In closing I just want to talk a little more about this bridegroom theology and what it really means and how it should be interpreted. 

So God, at the end of time, has prepared a church, the bride, a collective body of called out ones, for His Son, to say "here You go Son, this is My gift to You so that You can be glorified, and Jesus, showing that there is nothing degrading about taking a submissive role says, "Father, its for Your glory, here its Yours." The bride "the church" and Jesus the "bridegroom" is all about bringing glorying to God the Father.