Theme Scripture
Imagine. Can you? You, a human, seeking
guidance from your FATHER. How small in stature must we be
compared to the CREATOR of everything. Yet, HE is our FATHER in Heaven. So
huge, right?
Now I say again, imagine. We’ve
got HIS earàno, not to climb up inside because we are tiny, and HIS
ear must be huge – for all of you out there who have vivid imaginations. Let’s
just do this in human terms. We are small and GOD is big. King David, who was
not big -- at least not as tall as his predecessor King Saul was -- in prayer
to GOD wrote the words in Ps 31:2. If you are a fan of the collection of Psalms
in the book of the Bible with the same title you know already how absolutely
close King David was to his GOD. He poured out his heart, his mind, his spirit
often in his many lyrical writings. But this one, it may be one we can relate
to this expression or request of our Heavenly FATHER to bow down and listen. It
appears it was an urgent request from King David. He needed a fast get away someplace
strong to hide from the snares of those who secretly laid traps to try and trip
up the King.
You may have experienced in your
life some situation where someone wanted to trap you into saying or doing
something you did not want to do but they did it in such a cunning way that you
had to seek assistance to extricate yourself so as not to be considered part of
the company of those responsible for the snare. Or, worse, they were laying in wait
to cause some sort of hurt to you maybe cost you your job, try to interfere
with your marriage, make false reports to your Church leadership about you. King
David had lots of enemies and many of them worked as subordinates to him. Despite
there best efforts they only succeeded in driving him closer to his GOD. And
how exactly? Through prayer! His Psalms, worship hymns some of them, were his
form of prayer in those times when he was most overwhelmed with gratitude for the
many blessings he lived or the other end of the spectrum so overwhelmed with a
rather morose sadness and needed the only ONE he knew he could count on to be
just, loving, supportive and at times exhortingly.
Now that we have GOD’s ear, do we
have a particular concern we need to share? Maybe a prayer of thanksgiving? Maybe
just to be on bended knee blessing HIM? If you have a prayer of intercession or
one of petition you may want HIS ear close by. In intercession often our hearts
are weighed down on behalf of the person for whom we intercede. Or, if it is a
petition, maybe our voice is so overweary by something or plight of someone very
close to us and we just do not have the strength to speak with the voice of
conviction but more the voice of exhaustion. Whatever the circumstance, our
fallback is always to take it to GOD. We can certainly see the need to ask of
our LORD to please come close with HIS ear to hear our weak or sad voice.
What of those times when we simply
cannot formulate a prayer to cover what we are experiencing? What if another person has asked us to pray on their behalf? Or, we have a stirring in our spirit we do
not understand but it is strong enough to grab our attention so exclusively
we cannot think or do anything until we deal with it? We want the
LORD’s help -- but we are literally dumbfounded! What then?
Then, our last but not least best prayer
assistant, our very own resident Holy Spirit is AS ALWAYS there to help. Now,
do not get me wrong, in every other manner of prayer the Holy Spirit provides
our direct line of access. But all the more so when we are weak as Paul points
out in Romans 8:26 –“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Is that not JUST AS AWESOME as asking GOD to bow
down and listen to us? If you are a person who may feel inadequate with or in
your prayer time/manner this should bring you so much hope and relief. No
worries. GOD has got this too!
You may be feeling like a prayer
right now but are at a loss for words. The LORD has that covered too. How? Two ways. First, in Matthew 6:5-7, HE
tells us how and what NOT to do when we pray. Second, how to pray giving us a
suggestion of the kinds of things we can include in our prayer. It is called the
Model or LORD’s Prayer [Matt 6:9-3]. I just call it my ‘go to prayer’ for a jump start. What?
Yes, within the framework of this example we have the following:
Our Father in heaven, ß Remember, we’ve asked
our LORD to bow down and give us a listen so here we are reminded our FATHER is
in Heaven – you are on earth. It is a good thing HE is so big as HE has a long
way to bow down. I would fall over if I had to bow down very low. But, be that
as it may…you see where I just went with just this first sentence. We may have
no other thing in mind but when we read that first sentence it unleased a flood
of thoughts all of which could be topic of our prayer and at this point the Model
Prayer is no longer in play. - Hallowed be Your name.
ß
Do you know what Hallowed means? Words like ‘venerable’ ‘consecrate’ ‘purify’
come to mind. To separate from profane things. Musing over your day, just then
in your prayer are there things you did or said that may have not separated GOD
from profane things or in our world today, profanity? Also, of note, is the
word GOD. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, GOD is a name that was and is
understood to allude to HIS divinity, divine majesty. As such, HE appeared to no
one but GOD until HE commissioned Moses to appear before Pharaoh to demand he release
the children of Israel. Think upon that as a matter of prayer. Or ask, how can
you make GOD’s name hallowed?
- 10 Your kingdom come. ßWhat is GOD’s Kingdom
to you? Meditate in prayer on just that? And, remember, as you pray those words
you are asking for whatever you think that Kingdom is to ‘come’. Are you ready?
If you are not sure what it is perhaps prayer in determining what is GOD’s Kingdom
… searching out the Bible for the answer along with your prayer.
- Your will be done ß Like the Kingdom understanding
GOD’s will can seem too much. Prayer makes it more manageable. You can always
start here.
- On earth as it
is in heaven. ß HIS Will done ON EARTH as it is in Heaven. It
relates back to the KINGDOM, what, when, who, where? All great things to study
and pray about. Or just say with a completely convicted heart ‘Your Kingdom
come, YOUR Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ That is a powerful prayer
in and of itself.
- 11 Give us this day our daily bread. ßHere is a great topic. Think…most people immediately
think in terms of edible bread and totally I believe that is what is intended
here but our daily bread is also our relationship with Christ. HE is the bread
of life, the bread HE broke represented HIS flesh. Do we often consider, in
depth, what Jesus did in and with HIS flesh for us? Is your prayerful time to
seek out Christ?
- 12 And forgive us
our debts, ßOur debts. Need I say more? If you are a humble lover
of GOD you know all too well what debt we have and Christ has in fact forgiven
us our debt when we were born again. Yet, do we other debts? Do you need definition
of your debts? Read your Bible; pray.
- As we forgive our debtors. ß
Is this all about money? It most certainly can mean that. However, sometimes it
is not so much about money as it is about what we perceive someone may have
withheld to us we feel they owed. Are we ready to forgive them?
- 13 And do not lead us into temptation, ß
No suggestions needed here except to say from time to time we might want to
truly pray these words and mean them intensely.
- But deliver us
from the evil one. ßABSOLUTELY REQUIRED prayerful matter. Daily, we
should request being yanked from the snare of the wicked one, delivered from
Evil..from the evil one and from any evil we may have been influenced to have
entertained or act upon. Please, do not let the day leave you without recognizing
prayer to the ALMIGHTY GOD, our FATHER IN HEAVEN should be to keep us or deliver
us from evil. But not just ourselves, our loved ones, our brothers and sisters
in CHRIST, our friends. We should pray this too for our leadership in the
Church, in the Country, at the top and all the way down to our municipalities.
Just this topic could keep your mind busy and engaged in prayer.
Finally, remember we have two
examples of prayer Jesus through the Holy Spirit made sure was recorded in the
Bible and preserved through all the many centuries since HE said them for us
today. Here are two:
- But I have prayed for you, that your
faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” – Luke 22:32
- “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven,
strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.
Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. –
Luke 22:42-44
We can surely see how our prayer life could get
busy…the intersection at which our mind and spirit meet could get congested
with thoughts, emotions, wonders, words. As we articulate our way to the prayer, we see what we can pray for; how we can pray, and why we should pray. Remember
King David? If you did your homework and read the entire 31st Psalm
you can see King David was very troubled and at times feeling most inconsolable,
yet after some 23 verses he concludes with these words:”
Be of good
courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the LORD
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the LORD
AMEN!
NOTICE: If you are feeling inclined or
feeling led to want Jesus as your Savior, your leader, your King, your source
of Peace and Joy but are feeling woefully inadequate, uninformed on how best to
get to know HIM, or find yourself at wit’s end because you believe yourself
trapped and in need of GOD, please know Jesus stands ready to welcome you with
HIS Holy Spirit. Believe these words: “16 For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “—John 3:16
“Repent therefore and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may
come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He
may send [c]Jesus Christ, who was [d]preached
to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until
the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the
mouth of all His holy prophets since [e]the world began.” –
Acts 3:19-20
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born [a]again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he
is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is
born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you,
‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear
the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is
everyone who is born of the Spirit.” – John 3:3-8
If you need help, please feel free to leave a
comment and I will respond. †
DISCLAIMER: The thoughts published on this
blog, in total, are the opinions, thoughts and considerations of the
writer/author of every post published. It is assumed that research by the
reader will lead the reader to their own conclusions. It is not the writer’s
intent to make a judgment of anyone but to allow GOD’s Word to do what it does.
“For the word of GOD is alive and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints
and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the
heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from GOD’s sight. Everything
is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give
account.” – Hebrews 4:12 [NIV]
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