The Scary Prayer

 

(from nationaltoday .com)

I remember, back in the early 80s, first reading in the gospels where Jesus's disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. 

 

I recall the feeling of satisfaction that came over me, thinking there could be no better way to pray than by following His example. 

It was as if a smile took up not only my face, but my whole body. 

 

Then I read the familiar words to the prayer I learned very early on in my childhood, "Our Father Who art in heaven...." (Luke 11:1-4)

 

It's a feel-good prayer. 

It's a traditional prayer. 

It's a comforting prayer, bringing back memories of early childhood before the world ever felt dark. 

As a family, we'd kneel together on the living room floor and pray before bedtime. 

 

Now, as an adult, reading the words for myself in the Bible for the first time, seeing where they came from and discovering that Jesus Himself taught us this prayer, it warmed my heart. 

 

Sometimes when I read, I smooth the paper where the words are written, following my finger as I read... "hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

 

What joy to think of God's will being carried out here on earth just as it is in heaven!

(from nationaltoday .com)

 "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...."

 

Wait. What? Back that up a bit. "…forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US..."?????

(from unsplash .com)

 Wait. I've been praying this prayer since I could put a sentence together. I've been asking for God's forgiveness - according to how I've forgiven those who have wronged ME?

 

But sometimes I'm not that quick to forgive!

 

Sometimes I don't think a person deserves to be forgiven!

 

The thought may have even crossed my mind, "I hope they burn in hell for what they did..."

 

That's not how I want God to forgive ME!

 

I don't know what you call them, but that's what I'd call an "aha! moment”. 

 

As tears rolled down my face, I prayed The Lord's Prayer that day for the first time, understanding exactly what I was saying - and truly meaning each word I prayed.

 

Sigh. What a relief. 

 

THAT was a scary prayer. 

 

I survived it.

 

Now - every time I pray it, I mean it. 

(from practicalrecovery .com)

 "…and lead is not into temptation but deliver us from evil."

 

That day I was delivered from evil on a whole new level. 

 

"Amen."

 

Your turn. Can you pray this whole prayer from the heart? Will you let it set you free?

(from wikipedia .com)

Were You Thinking About This?

 

(from ssnet .org)

Do you think God has a big ol' weight scale next to His throne, where He has all of your sins and the ugliness of your past on one side and He's checking out the good things you do to balance out the scale?

Do you think He'll find enough good things to tip the scale in your favor?

Like, maybe if you could stop dropping weight on the sinful side you could catch up a little while trying to place things on the good side?

Well, I've got some great news for you. Here's the secret to getting that weight scale to tip in your favor!

Give yourself, your whole life - problems and trophies, to Jesus and He'll put His thumb on the scale for you. All He has to leave there is one drop of His blood and the scale will be completely tipped in your favor. 

You see, there isn't enough good in the world for you to pile up on the "good side" to weigh it down enough to outweigh the bad side; even if you're really “not that bad” of a human being. 

(from worshipministry .com)

The only thing that can tip the scale in your favor is the blood of Jesus. 

And that's the good news: 

He's offering to do that for you!

He'll wipe out your debt, completely!  

That's why He suffered and died on the cross. What does the cross have to do with you? That’s where He paid the price [death] for your sins and mine.

One drop of His blood. That's all it takes. 

It's yours for the asking. 

Simply turn to Him, tell Him you're sorry for all the junk on the bad side of the scale and give Him your heart. Then He can empower you to do good for yourself, for Him and for the body of Christ. Don't make it harder than it is. That's all He wants in return for His gift of redemption. 

Doing things His way isn't so that He can "lord over you" and boss you around. Doing things His way is for our benefit, to give us the best life we can live; and to cover us with His protection. 

All because He loves us. 

He loves us completely and without reservation or condition. (“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” the famous John 3:16 quote.)

Doing things our own way will never produce enough good to outweigh the bad. If we could pay the penalty ourselves, Jesus wouldn't have had to die in our place to make that payment. 

Like a child, we sometimes whine, "It's not fair!"

No. It's not fair. Jesus took all our sin on Himself and gives us all the blessings of heaven in return. (Romans 3:12 , Romans 3:16 , Romans 3:19 )

We get the better end of the deal, the deal He's been offering you your whole life. Take it. You won't get a better offer. This is God's grace wrapped up in mercy. 

A friend calls this the "almost too good to be true news".

(from guideposts .org)

Ponder it. Pray about it. Ask God to forgive you. Give Him your heart, allowing Him to be Lord of your life – and He’ll do the rest.

Romans 10:9 “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”

Processing Anger?

We all get angry at someone sooner or later in life. Some people live their lives filled with anger, getting angry at everyone for every little possible thing imaginable. Some people even wear their anger like it’s a sash from a beauty contest. I wish they could see the ugliness of their anger in the mirror. (Albeit, there is a righteous anger.)

But when you get angry at someone you love, the hurt runs deeper on both ends of the conversation.

I had such an incident recently. I became very angry and enraged on the inside at what I thought was the betrayal of a confidence.

I know and you know that in the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “…forgive us our trash passing as we forgive those who pass trash against us.” Isn’t that what it says? (And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. - Matthew 6:12)

In the spirit of wanting to walk in God’s forgiveness, I knew immediately that I needed to forgive the transgression, but in the moment, I really didn’t FEEL like I wanted to forgive just yet. I wanted to stew in it for a little while.

Yes, I knew that was wrong. That’s not how I want Jesus to forgive me. I want His forgiveness to be swift and complete.

I felt the Spirit of God speaking to my heart, “Forgive and let it go. Don’t bring it up again.”

What?? Don’t throw it in his face until my anger subsides on its own??

No, God wanted me to forgive immediately and completely, just like the forgiveness I want from Him.

You know, when your heart is tender towards God, it’s so much easier to do what He requires of you.

Immediately, my heart began to melt. Yet I wanted to fuss about the ‘not bringing it up again’ part.

It’s a choice.

It’s MY choice.

Do I submit to God and do things His way? Or do I do my own thing? (Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. - James 4:10)

That’s where the biggest choices we have to make every day lie, in our submission to God and His will for our circumstances. And – sometimes, what we perceive to be His will won’t make sense in the moment. But, do we trust Him, or not?

I choose to trust Him.

So, I won’t bring up the petty issue again even though it caused so much fluster in my heart. It’s a waste of energy. I don’t have energy to waste on things like that. I cherish every ounce of energy I can muster up – and I need to put it to good use!

So yeah, that’s my challenge to you for the day (and upcoming days). Let go of the anger, and if God so instructs, don’t bring the issue up again. It’s not worth it. So I guess the challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to honor God and submit to His will in all things. (Submit yourself, therefore, to God. - James 4:7)

I love you!