Luke 11 2 And He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us daily our bread [food for the morrow]. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended us or done us wrong]. And bring us not into temptation but rescue us from evil.
“Our Father”
When Jesus teaches on prayer there is no individuality. There is no focus on the personal self life. We are not taught to say “My Father”. This is a striking and powerful truth.
It is wonderful that we can personally, individually and intimately call upon The Heavenly Father but with these opening words our gaze/focus is immediately off of ourselves and on others, HIS body and HIS family. We are immediately in intercession for others rather than personal petition. Of course it is not wrong to pray for personal needs and petitions. We are encouraged to do this elsewhere in scripture but as a single teaching, a singular example/template this prayer from The Lord is markedly unselfish.
I’ve found this to be such a wonderful provision in my own prayerlife. When I have so many people to pray for and so many petitions to bring, when I feel overwhelmed with burdens and unable to pray effectively, this prayer truly and completely fulfils every request/need. With my heart on every brother and sister as well as my own circumstance I can pray “Our Father”. I find myself united in heart, on the same Spiritual plane, standing alongside my brother/sister in Christ.
Saying “Our Father” I can stand in representation of all who I desire to pray for, no matter the length of the list or span of the needs. I come before The Father with the burden of all who are on my heart, and I plead “OUR Father”!
We will never fully appreciate or understand how incredibly wonderful it is that we can call Him Father. We will never understand the lengths that He has gone to and the price that He has paid for our Salvation, but we can live in the wonder, awe and joy of such a truth. It is something we ought to meditate on more often. Let us take care to not let the words become too familiar and common. We are sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with Christ!! Hallelujah!! What a hope is ours!! We have been given the best robe, a ring on our finger, shoes on our feet and all of heaven rejoices in our Salvation!! Oh, praise the name of Jesus Christ! Bless Your name Heavenly Father! Glory be to You!
Brothers and sisters, when we pray let us, reverently and joyfully, say “Our Father”!
Psalm 132 3 “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, Or go up to the comfort of my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, 5 Until I find a place for the LORD, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
There is nothing so precious or so vital as a place for God to rest/dwell with us. It is truly a place that must be found/made/prepared. A loving, longing heart of faith that will not give time or attention to self interests and self comforts will find such a dwelling place.
We give our time and attention to so many little things. We are so prone to distractions. There can seem to be so much to be busy with, we can be “anxious and troubled with many things, But one thing is needed.” Luke 10:40-42 The psalmists eye was single, with vision/desire only for God.
Have we found a place for God to dwell today? Have we set aside all selfish, fleshy desire for comfort, in order that we might find a place for The Lord to come down and be with us? Is there something else more appealing?
Psalm 132 13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: 14 “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Zion is not a place, it is the gathering of God’s people. Zion is the body of Christ; the sons and daughters of God; those who are circumcised; not of flesh, but of heart; not of flesh but of faith! God has chosen to set HIS glory on HIS people and to abide in and among them! He has chosen US!! He desires US for His resting place forever! Hallelujah!! What a glory! What an honour! What a JOY!!! What a Great Salvation!!
It is so incredible to consider and meditate on this truth. It is far too easy to type/talk… But be encouraged today brothers and sisters… The Lord God Jehovah has chosen you/us as His dwelling place!! Selah!!
May we be careful to find a place for The Lord today. A place of communion, fellowship, rest and LIFE!
Psalm 126 5 They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and singing. 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
The writer doesn’t give us a specific reason for the weeping. In context of the psalm we could presume they are weeping in grief because of loved ones still in captivity; or maybe they might feel that their seed is so insignificant; perhaps they weep in loneliness for none will stand and sow with them; maybe the labourers are few and no one else is willing; maybe they weep in pain because they are neglected by those who should help them, unappreciated by their brothers, sisters and equals, despised and rejected by friends; it could be that they weep in fear and doubt, weak in faith that the harvest will come…
Weeping and tears are real, not discouraged, not rebuked, but lovingly and tenderly comforted (Psalm 56:8, Revelation 21:3-4). So with this promise, and The Lord’s testimonies, we need not continue in tears. Be careful of trying to create or get to some emotional experience. The promise is not to the weeper but to the sower! This psalm is written to exhort and encourage us to sow with hope and expectancy in faith! We are encouraged to sow looking joyfully to the harvest, comforted and resting in the promise.
There are many valid reasons for tears but those who continue to faithfully sow will, from a Faithful God, reap the promise!! Whatever our circumstance, may we be faithful in sowing the seed of HIS Gospel! May we continue to sow HIS word by HIS Spirit… For WE SHALL REAP in joy and singing and rejoicing! Bringing sheaves of countless seed to glorify The Lord of the harvest! Sometimes we may sow in tears, but always sow in faith and hope.
Luke 24 32 And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us the Scriptures?
These two disciples had been walking along sad and broken hearted. Their hopes were dashed, life hadn’t worked out as they had expected or hoped. With their faith crushed to pieces, they talked in the past tense trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
They did not recognise Jesus! The very one they had hoped in! The one they had followed for so long. He was walking and talking with them but they were ignorant of His presence. Their gaze so inward and their sight so blinded by self pity, disappointment and defeat that they did not recognise their risen, victorious Lord and Saviour was with them.
But Jesus, after a straight but gentle rebuke, corrects their understanding and lays firmly the foundations of the gospel message. Slowly they came to realise how their expectations had been wrong! Their focus and understanding had been on the wrong thing, it had been fleshly, without Spiritual understanding. Slowly, by knowledge of The Word, their faith began to stir again… Of course Jesus had to die! It was prophesied, it was necessary, it was God’s plan for Salvation all along! They gradually became certain and assured of the scriptures, they started to believe again, truly Jesus was risen, they didn’t know where He was but it didn’t matter any more! They were reassured in the scriptures, took God at His word and trusted in Him! Their hearts burned with excitement, expectancy, hope, joy and rejoicing in all that God was doing.
When their hearts burned in the Spiritual, Jesus revealed himself in the physical! Only after their hearts burned with faith did He open their eyes to see He had been there all along!
May our faith be so stirred and may our hearts burn with such joy, expectancy and trust! Hallelujah! HE IS RISEN! PRAISE THE LORD!!
2 Corinthians 7 9 Now I rejoice, not because you were made sorry, but because you were sorrowful unto repentance: for ye were made grieved after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil,: but worldly/fleshly sorrow is deadly resulting only in death. 11 For look back now and observe that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, and observe what this same godly sorrow has done for you and has produced in you…
Why would we give thanks for such an experience of the burden of sin? How can we find comfort in sorrow for sin? It may seem strange to rejoice in such regret and shame.
But look what such sorrow produces, repentance that leads to restored fellowship and rejoicing! The greater the sorrow, the greater the repentance, the greater the rejoicing!! Hallelujah! “But he who is forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:47
Romans 2 4 Or are you so blind as to despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant of the fact that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent?
Consider this thoroughly… It is God’s loving kindness that leads us to repentance. It is His mercy that allows us to feel such guilt and grief. In order to repent we must first acknowledge and confess our shame, weakness and sin. Coming to such an understanding of our flesh in the eyes of our perfect, loving Saviour is a painful and shameful realisation.
Why? Why does God lead us to such regret, shame and anguish? Why does His goodness lead us to experience such sorrow, grief and conviction? How on earth does the acknowledgement of such wretchedness demonstrate the Almighty Love of God?
Hebrews 12 6 For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes. 7 You must submit to and endure [correction] for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline? 8 Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all]. … 11 For the present time no discipline/punishment brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness-in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].
God deals with us as His children!!! The heart of The Father thoroughly delights in His sons and daughters! The Born Again believer is a child of God and heir with Christ! He has placed His glory on us! He LOVES US with an everlasting love! He disciplines us for our good; to restore us to Him and to glorify His name in and through His people!
Jacob spoke truly when he said “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and loving-kindness and all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant” Genesis 32:10. We are not worthy of the least of all His mercies!! We are worthy of God’s wrath and hell! But God, who is rich in mercy and great love takes time to teach us, correct us and has promised to forgive our sins when we sincerely confess our lack and disobedience to Him.
Our Heavenly Father longs for us to come to Him in repentance so that He can restore us into glorious communion and fellowship in His secret place of intimacy!
Psalm 23 4 Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
For the heart/soul that longs to abide in “the secret place of The Most High” there is such great comfort in the chastisement and conviction of The Lord! How precious are His proddings, pressings and painful lessons! How precious is the privilege and opportunity to have our flesh/sin exposed and then to come in confession and repentance!
To be lovingly, though sternly corrected by The Shepherd, to be taught and rebuked in love by Almighty God! It is so incredible that God would be so patient and tender with these failing, lusting hearts! But HALLELUJAH!!! WHAT A SAVIOUR!!
Psalm 119 65 You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your promise. … 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now Your word do I keep [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it]. … 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. … 75 I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right and righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
Psalm 51 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice. … 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You. … 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.|
REPENTANCE ALWAYS LEADS TO REJOICING!! We are not to live in a constant state of sorrow, we are not to remain in a state of affliction and grief. To stay there is to continue in sin!
When The Lord does lead us to repentance, when Godly sorrow does overwhelm us, when the burden and guilt of lack and sin weighs us down… Then let us come in obedience, humbled but boldly to His feet and confess and repent! And immediately we do we can rise up REJOICING! For He forgives!!! He restores, cleanses and forgets!! Hallelujah!! Praise The Lord!! Oh, what great love and comfort there is in The Lord’s chastening!
Oh, praise God for His tender mercies and loving kindnesses that lead us to sorrowful repentance. Oh God, THANK YOU for the dealing of your Holy Spirit! Oh Lord give us more of your Godly sorrow for sin that we might praise you all the more for your love, mercy, patience, forgiveness, long suffering and compassion.
Learning With Lovell 