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The
Model Prayer By
Bob Myhan Jesus’
disciples, seeing Him pray often and effectually, and seeing the power of prayer
in His life because of the intimate relationship He had with His Father, asked
Him to teach them to pray. Now
it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one
of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught
his disciples." So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in
heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as
it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into
temptation, But deliver us from the evil one." (Luke
11:2-4) “In
this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your
kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not
lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matt.
6:9-13) “In
this manner, therefore, pray” Matthew’s
account indicates that Jesus meant what follows as a model for prayer, rather
than something merely to memorize and routinely recite. Let us analyze this
“model” prayer to see how we may apply it today. “Our
Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name” How
we address God is of primary importance. Because He has bestowed such love on us
“that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1), we should
reciprocate by calling Him “Father” (Gal. 4:6) and praise His high and holy
name (Psalm 111:9), by expressing the reverence which is due Him. This will help
us to be mindful of the gravity—as well as the privilege—of prayer. “Your
kingdom come” The
apostles were to pray for the kingdom to be established, as God had promised
through such prophets as Daniel, Micah and Isaiah. It is important that we also
express hope in the fulfillment of the promises of God. Of course, His kingdom
has long been in existence (see Mark 9:1; Col. 1:13), but we might pray, “May
the borders of your kingdom be extended.” “Your
will be done On earth as it is in heaven” We
should also express the desire for our lives and the lives of others to be
conformed to God’s will. Since God “desires
all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1
Tim. 2:1-4), we should pray to this end. “Give
us this day our daily bread” Rather
than worry about what we eat, drink, wear, etc., we should recognize our total
daily dependence upon God, remembering that Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father
of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning
(Jas. 1:17). If
you “seek first the “And
forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors” If
we would seek forgiveness of our own sins against God, we must forgive the sins
of others against us. And we will do this if we want to obey the second great
commandment—“You shall love your
neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39-40). “And
do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one” We
are to follow God wherever He may lead, and we are to “count
it all joy when [we] fall into various trials” (James 1:2). But we
are permitted to ask Him to keep these to a minimum. Of course, God “will
not allow [us] to be tempted beyond what [we] are able; but with the temptation
will also make the way of escape, that [we] may be able to bear it”
(1 Cor. 10:13). We should, however, pray for the wisdom to recognize “the
way of escape” when trials come (James 1:2-5). “For
Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” We
must ever remember that the kingdom belongs not to us but to God. We can not add
to or take from the things concerning it. We should also keep in mind that He
alone has the power to command and enforce obedience. And we should continuously
give Him the glory that He alone deserves for the good that is accomplished
through our efforts and those of others, for “without Him we could do
nothing.” “Amen” The
word, “Amen,” meaning “So be it,” occurs 22 times in the Old Testament
and 50 times in the New (KJV). Interestingly, it does not appear in any of the
prayers that are recorded in the book of Acts. Thus, it cannot be considered
wrong to omit it. &
Meet
the Apostles (Part 2) By
Bob Myhan Just
as Simon Bar-Jonah always occurs first in the first group of apostles, Philip
always appears first in the second and is always followed by Bartholomew,
Matthew and Thomas, in some order. We are given relatively little information
about these four men. But we are told how Philip and Matthew were called to
discipleship. The
following day Jesus wanted to go to As
Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax
office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.
(Matt.
9:9) We
are also told that Philip asked Jesus to “show us the Father” (John 14:8). Thomas’s
call to discipleship is nowhere recounted. Indeed, Thomas is not so much as
mentioned by the synoptists (Matthew, Mark and Luke), other than being on the
lists of apostles. But a few events involving him are mentioned by John. When
news of Lazarus’s death reached Jesus and the apostles, it was Thomas who
stated, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him." (John 11:1-16) In
the farewell discourse, he said, "Lord, we do not know where You are going,
and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5) He
was absent from the first meeting of Jesus with the apostles after the
resurrection. And he later said he would not accept the reality of the
resurrection without tangible proof. But when given the opportunity to put his
finger in the nail-scarred hands and thrust his hand into the Lord’s side, he
confessed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:19-29) Bartholomew
is never mentioned in the gospel of John and Nathanael is nowhere mentioned
anywhere but John. Nathanael was the first person Philip thought of after he was
convinced that Jesus was Messiah (John 1:45). Also, Nathanael was present when
Jesus met seven disciples in |