faith

Final Lessons on Prayer

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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. Matthew 6:13 KJV

The voices of our parents calling us in on a summer’s night rang out across our neighborhood. “Louie! Wally! Peter!” It didn’t really even matter if your mom or dad was too busy watching the latest episode of Bonanza to remember to call you in. Once two or three kids left to go in, whatever game  we were playing was essentially over.    P1030934

In that same way these final words of the prayer Jesus teaches us sat that it is time to come home to God’s house. We started the morning remembering God is our Father and that His name must be kept holy in our life. We went out into our day ready to find our part in the work of His kingdom. Then as we went along the path God leads us we asked for bread to keep us strong and forgiveness when we stumbled. Now as we are praying through our day we ask Him to keep us safe from temptation on the inside and the enemy named Satan without.

Jesus teaches us that we need to pray this way every day because only He knows where our journey leads and at what hour He will call us home!

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Letters to My Father

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After my Dad passed away one of the most difficult and yet most rewarding things I had to do was going through his things. Though he was now gone it was as if I came to know my father better than I ever could on earth. Old postcards mixed with photos of family and friends I had never met. But among all the books and papers the most startling find was a stack of letters. The handwriting on the envelopes seemed familiar and as I looked closer it suddenly struck me that they were mine. Every thank you note, every Christmas and Fathers Day card were there. One by one I read through words I had forgotten about but Dad had kept them as a special treasure.

I believe it will be the same way in heaven. There God has prepared a place for each of us and lying open on a table will be our letters to God. Each and every word of every prayer God keeps as His special treasure. He has never forgotten a single time we praised or prayed. Then we will begin to uncover the astonishing love of our heavenly Father and begin to know Him so much better than we ever could on earth!

Learning to Pray – Day 2

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Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 ESV

Our first step in learning how to pray room begins by becoming God’s child, but the second only happens as we yield our will to His. When we pray your kingdom come and will be done it isn’t about who will win the next election or what laws will be declared constitutional by the courts. God is most interested in His kingdom coming in our own hearts.

Consider the life of Jesus who never sinned, acted from selfish motivations or asked others to do so. He always walked in perfect fellowship with His Father and yet on the night before He was crucified He prayed alone in a garden. He told His disciples to pray with Him because of the weight of His sorrow as He faced the cross.

Then Jesus prayed an astonishing prayer. He asked God to find another way if it were possible for Him to finish His mission on earth. If Jesus had to pray this how much more the rest of us! Even if we did everything right, and avoided breaking even one of God’s rules we still come up short until we are ready to yield our will to His. The old Hymn we learned to sing when we were young declared, “I surrender all” but practically speaking we should have sung, “I surrender some!” Nobody knows this better than Jesus so He includes this part of our prayer: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done”. He wants us to remember that every day we will need His help. And every day He is willing to answer!

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