"Teach us to Pray" 3

"Thy Kingdom Come ..."  
The rule of King Jesus in our lives, and in the world! What an amazing thing to pray. At this point in the Lord's prayer, having come into His presence with praise and worship and receiving the love of our Father, now we bow at Jesus' feet and ask Him to be Lord in our lives. In Romans 14:17, you will read that "the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." 
The Kingdom of God in our lives is about the fruit of the Holy Spirit growing in our lives, about Jesus' life in us.  

Let's pray for the Kingdom of God, His rule of love and righteousness, to become more and more evident in our own lives and our families - from there to reach out with His love into our communities and world!

You may have a specific circumstance where you want to see things changed by the love and power of God. Speak "Thy Kingdom Come" into that lost life, or the child or person you love who is ill or suffering. Speak "Thy Kingdom come" into your own life where you may still be trying to overcome a habit or addiction. God will do it! As you speak, ask Jesus to be on the throne of your life.

Learn to be led by the Holy Spirit. Not long prayers, but heart prayer for His Kingdom of love and peace to come.

"Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven"
This part of the prayer follows on from the last phrase. As we ask for His Kingdom to be revealed and to come and transform us, then we need to ask for HIS will to be done in our lives. In Colossians 1, Paul prays a wonderful prayer for his readers, which now includes us! The first thing he asks is that they may be filled with the knowledge of God's will! As we come to this part of the Lord's prayer, this would be a good prayer to pray for ourselves, our family, our friends and our church fellowship.

Col 1:9-14
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

 In Ephesians 5, we find 2 verses about knowing the will of God:
Eph 5:10
"... finding out what is acceptable to the Lord."
Eph 5:17
"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."

If Paul tells us to be not foolish but understand the will of God, then it is possible to know God's will. It is not something airy-fairy or mystically unreal. He has a plan for each of our lives and it is a good plan. Read Jeremiah 29:11-14. 

One way to pray God's will is to pray His Word. Find promises and truths as you read your Bible. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to specific words for you and those you pray for. Declare these promises and truths of God's salvation, healing, comfort, strength etc as you pray. Pray His Word into our lives. 

Jesus said that His food was to do the will of His Father who sent Him. (John 4:34). Immediately after this He talks of the harvest ready to reap. His will is for many souls to be harvested and brought into His Kingdom.  
John 6:38-40
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

God sent Jesus from Heaven to earth so that ANYONE who believes in Him should not die but have eternal life!(John 3:16) THIS is God's will! Eternal life, fullness of life. 
John 10:10 - "He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly". 
There may be tests and trials as we pray for His will to be done in our lives. There will certainly be changes in our pattern of living and lifestyles. BUT it is the way of eternal life and joy for us and for others! And remember, that just as we come to Jesus by faith, our walk with Him continues in simple faith and in the abundance of His grace. Only He can give us the grace and strength to walk in His will!

So, as we pray,
"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven", we are praying for all that means in bringing many to salvation, healing of mind and body, fullness of life in Christ! 

Practical helps: Write in your notebook any scripture you find about God's will and how He wants us to live. Look at Jesus life on earth to see how He portrays Heaven and God's will.

"Teach us to Pray" 2

"Hallowed be Thy Name"

We have come into His presence, we have acknowledged our wonderful Father in Heaven, almighty God, with Jesus reigning at His side - and we, through the mercies of the living God, reigning with Him in Heavenly places! How can our heart not cry out in praise and worship and honour to the Lord?

Lift up our hearts, lift up our voice and our hands to love and praise God. 
To worship Jesus. 

Ps 100:4
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

Ps 34:1-3
"I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together."

The "name" of the Lord means His character, His personality, His whole being! We praise Him for Who He is, as well as for what He does. He never changes, He is always faithful and true to His Word. He is our Rock, our Fortress, our Deliverer. He is our Shepherd and Saviour! As we read our Bibles, we can jot down references to the Lord's name and character, and note the wonderful works of His hand. Spend time worshiping HIM in the Spirit. Read a praise psalm, or a hymn or chorus which expresses your heart to love Him.  Let Jesus Himself lift you up as you praise and worship HIM! 

As we come into God's presence and reverently worship His Name, He will give us revelation of His love and power, Of Who He IS - the great "I AM"! I just cannot think of a better way of beginning our prayer time - coming into Father's presence, letting Him love us, and then loving and worshiping Him - receiving insight and knowledge of God Himself, of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit.

"Holy Holy Holy!
Lord God Almighty!"

"Our Father  in Heaven,
Holy is Your name!"

Teach us to Pray 1

The disciples came to Jesus and said "Please teach us to pray!" (Luke 11:1) These were Jewish men and women who would have learnt to pray from childhood. But they saw, as John's disciples had seen, that there was something different about their Master's prayer. He would take time to go aside with His Father, and would return full of the Holy Spirit, with power to heal the sick and calm the storm! His was no formal praying. They wanted to know more! Let's look for the keys He gives us as we follow His pattern given in 
Luke 11:1-13 and Matthew 6:5-21.
"Our Father"
Come into Father's presence as His child. Be quiet in His love for you. Remember you have access into His throne room, not by any merit of your own, but because of the precious blood of Jesus, which has made you clean. So you can come and enjoy just being in His arms, protected, loved, warm, safe. 

Heb 10:19
"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus ..."

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 to go into a quiet place to pray, to shut out other interference. So turn off the problems and worries that crowd your mind, as you just relax in your Father's love. In the first letter of John chapter 3, verse 1, we read how great a love our Father has lavished upon us as His sons and daughters. Sunbathe in that love as His chosen precious child before you continue into further prayer. Maybe also He will speak words of grace, comfort and love into your heart. Then, when you pray, it is from that position of being a loved, treasured daughter or son of Almighty God - your Father!

"Who art in Heaven"
Our Father Who is pouring His love into our hearts lives in HEAVEN! He is with us through His Holy Spirit on earth. As we come to Him, into HIS presence, He will help us see from His perspective. He will show us Heaven's view! 

Ps 11:4
The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven; ...
Jer 17:12
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

As we see God in His splendour and holiness and power, and remember that He has raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus is now seated "at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion ... and He (God) has put everything in subjection under His feet ...",(Eph 1:18-22), then oh how awesome it is to pray to this mighty all-powerful Lord and King! THEN, on top of that we learn in the next chapter of Ephesians  that we too are " raised up with Him, and seated in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:4-7)
This is the place He shows us all the riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus! This is the place we come to learn about the inheritance that is ours in Christ.
We see who we are in Christ, the amazing truth of our righteousness in Him. This is the place where we can pray, outside of all the entanglements of earthly life and the turmoil of the world. Above satan's rule. Above all sin and pain and sorrow. It is real enough - but here we have the place of God's covenant promise and riches of grace!

Why not read Ephesians 1:18-23 and Eph 2:4-8. 
Then pray the first line of Jesus' prayer again:

"Our Father, Who art in Heaven ...."

Practical helps: Why not have a prayer notebook. In it you can jot down scriptures as you find them. There are so many wonderful verses about the closeness of our Father and His tender care for us. If you are not sure you are a child of your Heavenly Father, then click on the post label called "Becoming a Christian" and read that and other posts on this blog.  Jesus loves us and He died for us, so that as we believe and receive HIM, we will be redeemed from the power of sin and death and brought into the Kingdom of God and our Father's forgiveness, cleansing and love! 
"Beloved, now we are children of God!" 1 John 3:2

"Teach us to Pray"

A friend said the other day, "I don't know how to pray." This was a cry from her heart the same as the cry from the disciples when they said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray ..." Luke 11:1. Maybe, like this friend, you do talk to Jesus, and to your Father in Heaven, but you don't recognise that is prayer. Perhaps your heartcry is to make your prayer time alive and real. I certainly need to increase my prayer life and understand more of what it means to spend time with God. Let's start out together with open hearts to learn from Him. The key is all about a growing relationship between us and the Lord. Just as a child has simple little words to start with and not even sentences, so we can come with our simple prayers - and He delights to hear us! But a child grows and learns, and so can we, and as we learn to pray, we will discover depths of love and trust in our heart for the Lord, who hears and answers!

On the next few posts, I will be sharing some great and exciting truths to be learnt from the pattern Jesus Himself gives us in His prayer, which you can read here in Luke 11, in answer to His disciples request. It is also found in Matthew 6:9-13.

Before we begin here is an outline about what personal prayer is - and what it is not!

What prayer is: 

Talking to God and listening to Him, learning to live in His presence.  He loves us and wants us to spend time with him. He longs for us to bring His Kingdom rule into our circumstances and families and communities. 

What prayer is NOT:

Matt 6:5-8
Prayer is not a parade of fine words to be admired by others! 
It is not for public display. 
It is not a string of requests, or a shopping list of needs.
It is not using repetitive words.
It is not boring!

Prayer consists of: 

Connecting with God

Listening to and loving Him       
Thanking Him
Knowing His forgiveness and cleansing 
ReceivingHis love and promises
Hearing His gentle voice

Praising Him

Asking

Confessing His Word and truth
Worship

Talk  to God as your

                                               Father       Matthew 6:9  

"In this manner, therefore, pray: our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

                                    Friend  John 15:15 

"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

                                         Faith-giver   Mark 11:22,24 

 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God." ........

"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." 

Jesus tells us plainly that prayer is essentially secret intimate communion with our Father.

Let's ask the Lord to increase our prayer life, to deepen our knowledge of Him and His overflowing grace for us, as we come to Him. 

Jesus gave us a pattern for prayer when He taught His disciples how to pray. This prayer has become a repetitive set of phrases for many, but it is a powerful and exciting way to come into God's presence. The next posts will begin to take us on a journey of discovery. Come and explore with us!

The Honey Bee

It is a very long time since I wrote a post for this blog. For those, who have kept on looking, please accept my apologies! I believe God has told me to come back here and continue where I left off, trusting Jesus will give me words to help build up and teach and encourage. I was watching a TV nature programme the other day, and learnt that the little honey-bee lives only 6 weeks from when it emerges from its cell in the honeycomb. During that 6 weeks, it has tasks in the hive and then finally goes out to forage nectar. In the average bee's lifetime, it makes just one teaspoonful of honey! It makes us very thankful as we dip into our jar of honey to all the little bees who made it for us! It has made me think that however small we may consider our work or ministry for Jesus and with Jesus, one small teaspoon of honey adds in with all the other teaspoons to make a LOT of delicious nutritious sweet honey! ALSO, of course, the bee is busy pollinating the fruit trees and crops and flowers as it collects the nectar, and it does not even realise! Praise God - just go for it today, loving Jesus, collecting His nectar, and He will use you in ways you haven't dreamed of!

Pour out your Heart

Ps 62:8
"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah"   (NKJ)
Our pastor has been telling us on Sundays how we need to pour out our heart to the Lord, as the 2 disciples did on the road to Emmaus. In my last post, I shared about a dream I had, and how we need to invite the Lord to speak to us, and to wait to hear what He says. And in days to come, I will be sharing more of my thoughts on how we actually hear His word to our hearts. Today, let's think about the verse above. Look how it begins: "TRUST in Him at ALL times!" This blog is all about trusting Him because He knows US! And as we read that story in Luke 24 about that conversation on the road to Emmaus, we see a couple of men disillusioned and disappointed - how can they trust without understanding? Jesus invited them to tell Him what was troubling them.

And He invites you and me today to tell Him what is troubling our hearts and minds. He longs for us to pour out our hearts to Him. When did you last go to Jesus privately and tell Him exactly what is on your heart? We go to others and often we complain that God is not answering us. But have we actually spoken to Him? And, as I shared on the Post just below this one, waited to hear Him?

A major part of trust is to tell God how we feel! On this link you can find a study with the acrostic of the word TRUST with very simple steps to learning to trust Him every day. And the first step is "Talk to Him"!

When we honestly tell Him what is on our hearts, then, through reading His Word, or hearing His Spirit in our hearts, Jesus will give us understanding. He will open our eyes to His truth. Situations may not immediately change, BUT He will turn our disappointment and frustrations to hope and peace in our lives. He will speak His word of understanding and comfort and healing to our hearts.

Come to Him today. Pour out your heart. Let Him hear you. He will answer!

Jer 33:3
'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'   (NKJ)

Jer 29:11-12

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.      (NKJ)

(And please look at the latest "Sunday Gem" on the link above).

Hearts on Fire?

Please have a look at "Sunday Gems"  by clicking on the top link, and find  what our Pastor shared about the disciples who were joined by the risen Jesus as they walked to Emmaus, sad and despondent, 3 days after the crucifixion. Once He had been revealed to them, they said "Wow, no wonder our hearts were burning as He was speaking to us on the road!" (my literal interpretation!) Do we listen to Jesus, do we hear His Spirit within us, so that our hearts burn? So that we are warmed with His love, strengthened with His encouragement and wisdom and the revelation of Himself and the Father to us? So that we know we are connected with Him and know His presence with us? 
How can we stay connected and know that joy of His presence? As our Pastor encouraged us, we need to find ways which help us stay in that place.  There are so many ways we all know - but sometimes even reading our Bibles and prayer can seem distant and without any response within our hearts. Like the disciples we went there to find Him, but He was not there! 
Some years ago, I had a dream, which I have recorded and want to share it with you here:

In the dream, I was standing with a group of people. One young man was looking at me and saying, "How can I make my quiet time with God more interesting, less boring and routine?" And I immediately answered him, "There are 3 things you can do to keep your time with the Lord exciting, vibrant, refreshing and meaningful." Then I spoke these three things, which seemed to come from the heart of the Lord.

1//  ASK God to speak personally to me.
2//  RECEIVE His Word and His love. Wait.
3//  PRAISE Him. 

I told the man that both in his prayer and his reading of the Word to do the above. It means time, it means stopping and waiting to listen. When we truly expect to meet with God and hear Him, we will. And if God is present, how can ever the time be boring?? 

That was the dream exactly as I wrote it down. And, since I have put this into practice, it is amazing what I have heard the Lord speak to my heart. Try it! When you are feeling weak, He may call you "Overcomer". He may tell you in words from Song of Solomon how beautiful you are and how He loves to hear your voice and see your face. He may give you instructions for your day - in which case he will also fill you with the grace and strength you need for it! 

And then praise and thanksgiving and your heart love will flow back to HIM! 
Our hearts WILL burn, as we hear His sweet and wonderful voice revealing His love to us.