When We Pray...
Have you ever found yourself at a place where life was moving so fast and was so hectic, that you responded to someone without thinking in a way that you regret? The opportunities abound for us to make mistakes, and hurt or offend each other in our haste particularly when life comes at us at 100 miles per hour. But as Christians, we know that it's satan, his cronies and his institutions doing their best to derail us with the details of this life. When life becomes such a storm of to-dos and distractions that we get caught up in just trying to keep our heads above the tide, we can be assured that it's not an accident.
The distractions and trials of this life have purpose. If we succumb to the busy, seemingly necessary demands of this life to a point where our peace is lost then we allow ourselves become separated from the spirit of our God and satan's purpose is on it's way to becoming a reality. But our Father God also has purpose for these same situations in life. We've discussed previously our Lord's desire to mold us and add to our character, refining us to become more like the image of Christ so that we can have deeper fellowship with our God. The deciding factor in who's purpose is being achieved in our lives is most often ... us. When we find ourselves immersed in the detail and overwhelming distraction of life it's most likely because we lost connection with our Father - we put down the phone, the hotline to Heaven, or we put Him on hold. "I'll be right back Father, I need to go deal with this ..." When we allow the barrage of worldly details (that would seemingly be deciding factors in where our lives will go) to cause us to put the phone down, we become vulnerable in ways that our Father never intended. When we do this, we take the carefully placed bait and put down ... our very life line. At this point, we hand ourselves over to be mauled by the forces of the one who hates us.
There was a time in the history of the world when men had to rely on priests, other men, to go to speak to the Father on our behalf. It was a time when men were separated from close personal communication with our God because of the offense of sin. He spoke at times to individuals of His choosing, but the vast majority was not afforded the comfort of such closeness with the great God who created them. We today on the other hand, are people of great and astounding privilege. Because Christ by His terrible suffering and sacrifice, removed the separating offense of sin from between us and our Father with His own blood, we may now approach Him freely. We once again have the ability to commune with our creator in a way that had not existed since the time when Adam and Eve walked with Him in the garden of Eden. But do we cherish and honor this sacred privilege as much as we should? Or do we take it for granted as with so many things that He blesses us with by His awesome grace?
As in everything, Christ is our best example in this. He taught us how to pray and opened the door for that one on one communication to be re-established by paying the price on our behalf for the offense to be removed. I'm convicted that men can sometimes get lost in the details of just about anything - including the Word of our God, but that His deep concern is that we understand the essence - the spirit of what He's saying to us. I know that there have been many many teachings regarding the things that I'm going to talk about, but I'm struck by the urgent desire that He's placing in my heart to speak His own heart again regarding them. So with that in mind, I offer the outline for our next discussions;
5. When We Pray...
A. Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name ...
B. forgive us ...
C. Thy will be done ...
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