Once you gain these few basic insights into the Lord’s Prayer, you will never again look at it the same:
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click 3 things that every Christian should know about the Lord’s Prayer
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Thank you for this midweek Lenten message, Pastor Mark.
And thanks to flickr and ButterflyMandy, for the photo.
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Filed under: Lent, Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon, The Lord's Prayer |
The Old Adam Lives! 
There are so many deep, deliberate thoughts within this class that I only want to focus on one of them.
It is so true that we cannot have any (good) relationship without talking to each other. If one is speaking all the time, and the other one doesn’t respond at all – the best relationship will soon be broken up. The reason for this mustn’t be a lack of love on the one or on the other side, but an accumulation of misunderstandings between the two persons concerned. So, it’s very important to talk and to listen to each other in order to grasp what the other person really wants to say.
Referring to our loving Father in Heaven who desires to talk with us, Jesus introduced the commandment of “The Lord’s Prayer”. In my opinion, this is not a commandment that we should or even must do, but rather that allows us to say, “My Lord, my Father” or even “Daddy” (Abba). This almost seems too good to be true …
I think that the reason for us to neglect prayer to our Father lies in the fact that we often don’t expect Him to answer at all. Although God is speaking all the time – through creation (Rom 1:19-20), through preachers and teachers, through spouses, parents, children, friends, and enemies – do we really believe that God is the one who is speaking to our hearts in order to draw us nearer and nearer to His loving heart?
God is desirous – yep, He is absolutely keen on sharing His love with His beloved children. And the fact that His children are hard of hearing caused Him to make “commandments” like “Pray!” And what do we think when we hear this unpleasant word “commandment”? We mostly think in terms of “We must/we have to/we should” and so on. We don’t like anybody saying to us, “Do this and that and blah …” Nobody likes it. However, God is not a man. His commandments are intended to help us finding our eternal happiness already here on earth, not in giving us a perfect life, but in spite of difficult living conditions through a satisfied heart.
God promises,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)
God bless you, Pastor Mark, Steve, your families and all the readers of this blog
Susanne
Dear Steve,
Thanks again for your “Please Pray” blog post. You’ll never know how much it has meant to me. Prayer is so crucial that we don’t fall into temptation as Jesus said in Gethsemane.
Two weeks ago, as soon as I thought that everything would have become better with me, it became even worse. Hence, I wrote to a Californian Pastor (Steve Fuller, San José, Mercy Hill Church) to support me/us in prayer and he did, too. Yet a similar thing happened again. At first I felt relief and peace, but suddenly I found myself on the rock-bottom – absolutely weak, full of fear, helpless, and somehow confused.
On February 24, 2012 that awful, horrible condition reached its climax. I almost didn’t feel like a believer any more. Satan had nearly achieved his target, but God chose another man to help me. And this was John Thomson whom you know, too. As soon as he read my somehow helpless comments on his site, he e-mailed me for he was very concerned about my weak condition. Moreover, he was so nice to delete those comments shortly afterwards.
For me, all these experiences show Christ’s love shining through my sisters and brothers. This wonderful experience even today really moves me to tears. I’m so grateful that I may know you and other faithful believers in Christ.
Thank you, Steve.
Susanne