Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The Lord's prayer (the message)
The question has been plaguing me over the last little while, do i act like a beggar or do i live like a son? The Lord has challenged me so much in this, the whole prayer thing you know. When we see the Lord’s prayer Jesus teaches us to ask for our daily bread, not beg for it. God has challenged me so much in my prayer life.
I have come to realize that often my prayers are merely an expression of my doubt and not an expression of faith, of trust in God’s character. When we pray it is not to twist God’s arm until He gives and does what we would like Him to give and do, but rather it is to align our heart with His. It is about position not possession. If we really Know God, if we understand his character, then we know that any good father will give what we need even a bad father provides for needs.
The shift that God has brought in me is this: that God’s character as a good father is not revealed simply in his provision of our needs but is seen more prominently in the provision of the desires of our hearts.
Ok but let me just qualify this before we get out of hand and think that God is not a good father because you aren’t getting the car that you want or the coffee machine you have been praying for. I think that it is important (when we talk about desires) that we look at john 15 and psalm 37:4.
You see the concept is that as we delight ourselves, as we abide in Christ that He will give us the desires of our heart and when we can ask we will receive. You see because when you are rooted in Him and delight in Him His desires and your desires are intertwined His desires become your desires. So when you ask you will be asking for the things of His heart.
And so again i say prayer is about position and not posession, aligning ourselves with His heart so that we can proclaim His Kingdom in this nation, because when you ask you will recieve the Spirit without measure.
So my prayer is that you will abide in Him and as you abide in Him you will be overwhelmed by His incredible love, and as you walk in His love that you will be compelled to obedience, you will be compelled to GO!