Published by admin on 08 Mar 2013 at 01:35 pm
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
There was a time when the disciples of Jesus asked him how they were to pray, and He taught them the following as is written in Matthew 6:9-15;
Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Many times our prayers are self-centered as we ask God for this or that, and that is not always bad, but you’ll notice when Jesus gave us this model prayer, he did not once ask anything for himself. He offered these specific guidelines how we are to pray, and by doing so, we are not only doing the heavenly Father’s will, but we will make things much better for ourselves as well
I like this; “Our Father”. Jesus could have said “My Father, He’s MINE and you can’t have Him”, but instead Jesus made it clear that His Father is also OUR Father, if we are His disciples. Jesus hallowed and honored His Father, just as we are to, giving great heed and reverence unto Him, asking His will be done here on earth, just like it is being done in heaven. Wow, that alone is a statement that we fail to grasp in its entirety. Imagine life in heaven, there is no crime, no sickness, no poverty, disappointment, death, strife, lack, or pain. Well, that’s the Father’s will for earth, too. Heaven on earth, you might say. Yes, that’s GOD’S plan, but He has allowed us to work OUR plan, which has made the earth in no likeness whatsoever to heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. You see, many on earth are without this basic necessity. Others take it for granted. We think pretty much only of ourselves, while there are many who have not had their daily bread, maybe even once this week. That’s not God’s way, yet He has allowed mankind for all these years to do it his way, resulting in multitudes lacking even proper food. Jesus told us to ASK Him for our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. But what about the second half of that sentence? Forgive us OUR debts, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS? Did Jesus stutter? No, He said exactly what He meant. In other words, we are asking, “Lord, don’t forgive me UNLESS I forgive, and TO THE SAME EXTENT AS I forgive those who have sinned against me.” Really? Yes. Go read it again, and consider, are you forgiving others even the same way you want God to forgive YOU? There, that’s about as clear as I can say it. You may say, Brother Jerry, you don’t know what they did to me. No I don’t, but I know what you (and I) have done to the heavenly Father is far greater hurt than anyone has ever done to us, YET, He forgives freely when we ask Him to. Think about this, you may think it’s injustice to just let someone off the hook who has hurt you, yet God says Vengeance is MINE. For certain, those who have hurt you in any way are not likely laying awake at night suffering about it, BUT YOU DO every time it comes to your remembrance. So, if you forgive them freely, who gets free? YOU DO! Your suffering stops because the hurt is forgiven and God can heal it. As long as you refuse to forgive past hurts, you are not free, NOR ARE YOUR SINS FORGIVEN. And if your sins are not forgiven, well, let me put it this way to make it simple: in the judgment we will either hear “Well done”, or we will BE “well done”. Any questions?
You see, when you forgive others AS GOD HAS FORGIVEN YOU, then you are doing the heavenly Father’s will on earth, as it is in heaven. Are there any unforgiven ones in heaven? No, because there is no one there in need of forgiveness in the first place. There is no offense, no jealousy, no sin, nothing that separates the heavenly Father from the others there. And that’s exactly why the Father sent Jesus to the earth; to restore the unbroken fellowship between God and man, exactly as it originally was in the Garden of Eden.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: God does not tempt any man with evil, nor does He lead anyone into temptation, but we are led there by our own lusts. By asking God to deliver us from evil, we are in effect asking God to deliver us from our own lusts. And He does accordingly as we seek to please Him and obey Him. When we get our eyes off of ourselves, and onto God and His Kingdom, He is able to bring us into true joy and peace with one another. Can we have days of heaven on earth in this life? Well, that’s up to us, but I can tell you for sure, if we are telling God we want to live His way, He will make a way for us to do it. Simple, huh? yeah, if we can get our selfish desires out of the way. That’s the hard part, but it can be done if we really want to bad enough.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Well, that pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it? HIS is the Kingdom, not ours, HIS way, not OUR way. God has let us do it our way for a long time, and we can sure see where THAT has gotten us, can’t we? If you really want to change your life starting today, pray this prayer daily that Jesus gave unto His disciples. Will everything change overnight? Not likely, but it WILL change as you keep at it.
Remember, as you are praying Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven, you are praying health, blessing, peace, prosperity, joy and every other good thing into your life. You are agreeing with God that you are healed, for there is NO sickness or disease in heaven. You are telling God you believe you ARE healed by the stripes of Jesus, and that your sins were laid upon Jesus, and they are no longer upon YOU! You’re telling Him that you’re actively doing your part to bring forgiveness of sins into the world. In other words, you’re bringing yourself into total alignment with the Word of God. And that, my friend, will make God happy. And if God is happy, well, you can imagine He will see to it that YOU are happy, too. So go on, pray like Jesus taught you, starting off Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Then take a moment and just savor that thought. Oh, my, you’ll feel the love of God pour all over you every time you pray that prayer.