Developing Intimacy With God - 12. Jesus’ Teaching About Prayer Part 2

Developing Intimacy With God

12. Jesus’ Teaching About Prayer (Part 2)

“9 ‘This, then, is how you should pray: ‘“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13) Last week in our Saturday series, we started looking at Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer in what we call the Lord’s Prayer and we continue that this week. Forgiveness: Forgiveness, of course, is a major part of the Christian faith and Christianity. Both in the way that God forgives me when I come to Him in penitence and repentance, but also in the way that I forgive others and themselves! Asking for forgiveness, particularly from other people, can be one of the hardest things I need to do. When those times come upon me, I need to stop and consider Jesus Christ and the enormity of His forgiveness. If He forgave me for all I have done wrong, then I also should forgive others, regardless of how difficult that might be to do. Again, is that your experience? Forgiveness deals with my emotional responses toward an offender. Forgiveness enables me to have the same openness toward the person after they offend me, as before. When I forgive the offender, the hurt and the wound start to diminish. This is helped when I realise Jesus Christ understands all of this. I can use these experiences for my eternal advantage. Is that your experience of forgiveness – both in giving and receiving?

Temptation: It’s an undeniable and inevitable fact of the Christian Disciple’s life! It is certainly true of my own life. But it is good to know that temptations are common experiences for all Christian Disciples, and not just for me as an individual. No matter what I may think at the time! An important thing to note and remember, is that temptation itself is not sin! Rather it is the giving into temptation that causes me to sin. How easily it is for me to forget that. One of the keys to living a life right with God and not sinning is by dealing with temptation the very moment it confronts us. As a Christian Disciple, I face temptation from three different angles: the world, my old nature and satan. It is not just out and out temptation that Jesus means here, but also the tests and trials of life. We are to overcome both temptations and trials, in order that our character may, through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, become more like that of Jesus, our Master.

Deliver: What I am delivered from, is better translated I think, as “evil one” rather than “evil”. satan tempts you and I for being a Christian Disciple. It is he who suggests to me that I should not forgive others and to trust in myself for my own needs. It is he who does not want God to be my number one priority or for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven. It is satan who does not want God’s kingdom to be spread. Neither does satan want Jesus Christ to return in glory. Therefore, as a Christian Disciple, I am to pray for these things. I need to rely and trust in God for deliverance from satan, who wants to snatch away the Christian Disciples inner joy and dependence on God.

Your Power: How can God deliver me from temptation, trials and satan? He can, because He is always all–powerful and eternally almighty. Christian Disciples are to rely on God’s strength to overcome temptation, trials and satan, and not to rely on their own strength. By relying on our own strength, failure is inevitable, but by trusting in God and His power and strength, overcoming temptation, trials and satan is assured. How easy it is to forget such fundamentals of Christian living!

Your Glory: What is the aim of being a Christian Disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ? It is for me to give all glory to God regardless of what personal achievements I have gained. His glory is to be my supreme concern, so that God is number one in all aspects of my life as a Christian Disciple. Ergo, I am to pray that His will is done in me, in other Christian Disciples and in the world. I am to pray that His kingdom continues to grow until Jesus Christ returns in majesty and glory.

Amen: May it be so, Lord, as I ask in faith of you. That is all for today! Our the book this series is based on “Developing Intimacy with God” It can be found at or www.pulptheology.com which will take you to our Amazon page. Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file