12th Sep 26 | 04:00
Studies by Book
Matthew 6 9-11
📖 Matthew 06:09-11
*Prayer is with our heavenly Father* _Luke 11:1-4/ Matthew 6:9-15_
_Matthew 6:9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name._
Jesus taught His disciples how to pray and so it is necessary for us to learn to pray.
We have been considering the importance of sitting at the feet of Jesus, to hear His word. Time with God is time with God but we need to know how to spend that time with God.
God is our Father in haven. Following are some of the crucial matters that we need to keep in mind as we commune with our heavenly Father. Before Him, there can be no pretences, pride and prejudices. We cannot try to make an impression on Him. He is our heavenly Father, who sees us completely.
We often try to perform before people and we hope to impress people, for various reasons. People may be impressed but this will not work with God. We need to be emptied before Him _Matthew 6:1_.
Prayer in public must be minimal but prayer with our heavenly Father is truly the time for prayer, where we are honest before Him. We pour out to Him, our challenges, problems, difficulties and fears. We cast ourselves entirely on to our heavenly Father, in prayer _Matthew 6:5-6_.
Prayer with our heavenly Father is not about words or phrase or praying in a certain tone. Many do so, thinking that this is prayer and others, who do not know to use those high sounding phrases, feel inadequate and incompetent for prayer. We must remember, our Father in heaven is not going be pleased with us because of our lofty and spiritual sounding words. Pray from the heart, expressing your concerns to God _Matthew 6:7-8_.
*Thought to ponder*
```Prayer is the time for personal healing```
*The substance of our time with God* _Matthew 6:9_
_Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand._
Prayer is time spent with our heavenly Father.
He calls us to be perfect, just as He, our Father, is perfect _Matthew 5:48._ Perfection is about His will. Jesus was perfect because He fulfilled His Father’s will _John 6:38._ God has given us free will but as we live here on earth, we take our free will and we willingly surrender and submit to our Father’s will. As the Father sent Jesus into the world, we are sent out by Jesus into the world to complete the Father’s will _John 20:21/17:18._
As we spend time with God our Father, we need to be conversing with Him, the matter of His will over us. Have we walked in His ways? Have we obeyed Him in all matters?
We are the clay and He, our Father, is our potter _Isaiah 64:8_. Have we been pliable and mouldable in our Father’s hands? These are the matters that we need to bring up with our Father. Have we resisted and rebelled against our heavenly Father? Were we always living our lives in reverential fear of God _I Peter 1:17_?
As we discuss these matters with our Father in heaven, we cannot but repent and sorrow before Him with a godly sorrow _Luke 15:18, 21_, which produces in us His salvation, or shalom _II Corinthians 7:10._
Our Father has bestowed on us His shalom, life in all it’s fullness _Romans 1:7._ This is the matter of our conversation with God, His shalom. As we spend time with our Father, we discuss and lay before Him, ‘the shalom’ experience of our everyday lives. Discussing His shalom, which He has granted to us, we are led to worship, praise and thank Him for all that He is _Isaiah 63:16, Revelation 4:11, ..._
Spending time with God, is also a time of evaluating our ministry, with Him _Galatians 1:1._ He is the one, who has assigned us to each of our ministries, here on earth. Regular evaluation of His ministry for us, with Him, will be a significant portion of our time with God. This evaluation of our ministry, with Him, will ensure that our perspective for the ministry, has not digressed.
These are just a few topics that must be the substance of our time with God. As we read His word, He will give us more light, on many more themes, that embody our time with God
*Thought to ponder*
```In your presence, there is fullness ...```
*Oneness within the body of Christ* _Matthew 6:9_
_John 17:21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me._
God is *our* Father. Prayer is not to be seen as individualistic, though we do pray personal prayers, we must always see that prayer is from an understanding that we are a family of God and we raise our prayer to ‘our’ Father, as His children.
God sees us as His children. There is no partiality with God _Romans 2:11._ He does not see one denominational group more special that the other. We have created denominational groups and churches.
He predestined us, His disciples, to be conformed to the image of Jesus, who is the first born in the family of God. We need to carry the resemblance of Jesus, for we are His brethren and He is our eldest brother, in the family of God. This understanding must permeate our prayer to ‘our’ Father _Romans 8:29._
Jesus sees us as His brethren. He calls us as His brethren and He longs for us to see ourselves as His brethren and together with Christ, calling on ‘our’ Father in heaven _John 20:17._ When we have created so many divisions and sub divisions amongst ourselves, as brothers and sisters of Christ Jesus and then seek to call upon our Father in the name of Jesus, with and through Jesus, it contradicts completely our prayer, for we are not being the brethren of Jesus.
We need to, first, settle our differences before we pray to ‘our’ Father. If we have not, how do we expect that the Father will hear our prayer, for He will see that there is no oneness amongst us, His children? Imagine, two siblings fighting amongst themselves and then going to their parents, who have been watching them quarreling, and if they individually ask their parents to give them a necessity, would their parents be happy to meet the need of their child? Yes, the parents may do so, considering the need of the child, but what would the parents want more than meeting the need of the child? You’re right, the parents would want their children to settle their differences and be one, before they seek the goodness of their parents.
Jesus has prayed for us, His brethren, that all of us should be one, just as the Father is in Him and He is in the Father, that all of us must have the same level of oneness and together, in our oneness, that we be one with Him and the Father _John 17:21._ Do we see how far short we fall in contrast to what Jesus has prayed for us? If Jesus has prayed thus for us, to ‘our’ Father, would our Father have granted His request? Absolutely… Jesus’ prayer has been granted in full, which means the means and the necessary resources for oneness, amongst us, the brethren of Christ, has been already made available. You and I need to be willing to receive God’s resources, given to us, and build oneness amongst us, the brethren of Jesus. Are we?
*Thought to ponder*
```John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.```
*We together represent the hallowedness of God* _Matthew 6:9_
Yesterday, we saw that the prayer our Lord taught us, His disciples, was to pray from a sense of plurality and not singularity. Sadly, today, our songs, our worship and our prayers, have become so very singular. We need to capture, once again, the plurality of our relationship with God. We belong to one another. We are brethren. We are the family of God and Jesus is our eldest brother.
We together represent the hallowedness of God. God is hallowed, holy, consecrated, set apart, greatly revered and honoured _I Timothy 6:16._ When we come before Him, we must come before Him always recognising and realising His holiness, His hallowedness and His honour. We dare not come before Him, irreverently _Leviticus 10:3._
The holiness of God must be made known to the nations. Why is this so? God is reaching the nations and He is longing for people, who rebelled and refused Him, to come back and be reconciled and be one with Him. The nations must know the hallowedness of God _Ezekiel 38:23, I Timothy 3:16._
He is greatly disappointed, when we, His disciples, have not lived in such a way as to demonstrate His hallowedness, through us _Ezekiel 36:23._ So, the Lord has taken it upon Himself to demonstrate His hallowedness, through us, to the nations around us. He is creating oneness amongst us by providing all the resources for us to be one, in Christ _John 17:21, 23, 13:34-35._ All that is required is for our willingness to co-work with God, in bringing about oneness in the body of Christ and to together show forth His hallowedness, to the nations around us _Luke 2:14._
We see a beautiful example of this principle at work in the life of Abram. Abram had gone to Egypt for his safety and security, when it was God, who had brought him to the land of Canaan. There, in Egypt, he was reprimanded by Pharaoh for lying about Sarai, his wife _Genesis 12:18-20._ Abram repents, returns back to Canaan and re-establishes his relationship with God _Genesis 13:4._
There now is an altercation between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. Look at the manner in which Abram is settling this matter. We read this in _Genesis 13:7-9._ He is keenly aware that the Canaanites and the Perizzites dwell in the land. Abram was deeply conscious that God’s name must be hallowed amongst the nations, through the life and relationship between Lot and him. “...We are brethren” is what Abram tells Lot.
*Thought to ponder*
```Will we, the church, wake up to our responsibility, to come together in oneness, in order to demonstrate the hallowedness of God, to our nations?```
*Revealing His name to our world* _Matthew 6:9_
_Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations," Says the LORD of hosts._
God’s name must be hallowed amongst the nations through us, for He is our Father. Nations must turn to Him and worship Him by surrendering and acknowledging God the Father as their king. This is God’s desire.
So, as we begin the Lord’s Prayer, we must begin with the understanding of the larger picture to which we are called, in terms of our relationship with Him. Most often, it seems as though our prayer time with God is about praying for our needs, which is not wrong to pray for, but we must begin prayer with the understanding of the grand plan of God. This will lead us to worship Him and be contrite before Him, for we fail to participate fully, in His grand design.
God the Father has revealed Himself through His Son, our Lord Jesus _John 1:18._ Jesus is the manifestation of the name of God the Father _John 17:6_ and Jesus has declared the name of the Father to us _John 17:26._
What do we understand about the name of Jesus? This question needs to be answered, for if we are to represent that name to our world, from the east to the west, then we must be familiar with the greatness of the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus, who declares the Father, is above all principality, power, might, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come _Ephesians 1:21._ The Father has put all things under the feet of Jesus and has given Jesus to be head over all things to the church. We, who are His family, children, brethren and church, are to represent that name of Jesus fully, for Jesus fills all in all _Ephesians 1:23. (Philippians 2:9-11/Revelation 19:11-16)._
Jesus is the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
God the Father has commanded His light to shine *in our hearts*, so that *we* give forth the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ _II Corinthians 4:6._ Whatever we do, we do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus _Colossians 3:17._
*Thought to ponder*
The world will have no excuse before God of saying that they have not met with Jesus, if only, we had presented Him fully, to our world, through our words and our life.
*Good news of the kingdom of Jesus* _Matthew 6:9-10_
_Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, (15) and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”_
As we pray we are connecting with the heart of God the Father, which is to bring us into a kingdom relationship with Him. We were in a kingdom union with God but we broke away from Him and chose to go our own way. What is our iniquity that we have committed against God? Our iniquity is to walk away from God and in going our own separate ways _Isaiah 53:6/Jeremiah 16:10-11._
God is longing and working out a way for us to come back into that kingdom bond with Him. God is promising to raise a King, who will establish the rule and righteousness of God, on earth _Jeremiah 23:5._ The government of God will be upon the shoulder of this King, who will be born on earth _Isaiah 9:6._ This King, will order and establish the rule of God with judgment and justice and this will be an everlasting reign _Isaiah 9:7._
The dominion of the rule of God will be brought about by the Son of Man, who is Jesus _Daniel 7:13-14._ All peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. This is the missional heart of God, which He desires for us to carry.
Jesus begins His ministry here on earth, with the message of the kingdom of God that He had come to establish. Jesus came preaching the good news of the kingdom of God _Mark 1:14._
To enter into the kingdom of God, one will have to repent and believe in Jesus, which is to realise and recognise the folly of rebelling against God and going our own separate ways. Repentance also involves turning around and seeking forgiveness from God for our rebellion and then surrendering back to the Lordship of God over us _Mark 1:15._
This is how a person enters into the kingdom of God.
*Thought to ponder*
```Without the Lordship of Christ over us, we cannot be in His kingdom.```
*Surrender to the Lordship of the King over us* _Matthew 6:10_
God is a missional God and He is longing for us to come back into a kingdom relationship with Him, a relationship, where we experience life in all its fullness.
Jesus came to inaugurate the kingdom of God _Luke 4:43-44._ To enter into the kingdom of God, of which Jesus is the King, we will first need to repent of our rebellion and rejection of God’s rule over us. We will need to turn around completely and surrender, with full understanding, to and under the rule and Lordship of Christ over us. This first step is mandatory to enter into the kingdom of Jesus _Mark 1:14-15._
Many are of the opinion that the gospel message is about salvation from my sins and after I have been saved, I will gradually come under the lordship of Christ, over me.
Do we see the folly in our understanding? We repent of our rebellion and surrender to the Lordship of Christ over us. As we surrender, we also believe or place our life completely into His hands. This is when we experience salvation from our sins. This implies that salvation from sins is an experience within the kingdom rule of Christ over us. Lordship to Christ comes first and within the lordship or kingdom experience, salvation from our sins, is granted for each of us _Matthew 4:17._
Jesus’ ministry was to get people back into the kingdom of God or heaven _Matthew 4:23_. As He taught and preached about the good news of the kingdom of God, He also healed people of sickness and all kinds of diseases.
Due to our rebellion against the authority of God over us, we broke down internally, within our own make up, as human beings. We also broke relationship with one another and we broke relationship with the environment. All of these four breakdowns of firstly, broken relationship with God, secondly, within ourselves, thirdly, with our neighbour and fourthly, with the environment, has and continues to have its cumulative effect, one of which is sickness and disease.
Jesus healed people of their sickness and disease. The Lord continues to heal us of our sicknesses but let us keep in mind that as long as we are in the body and in our broken world, sickness and disease will manifest. Our Lord is showing us that He longs for us to be set us free of all of our ills _Matthew 9:35._
As the Lord was establishing His kingdom rule, He was also introducing His disciples to the same task and responsibility _Luke 8:1/Matthew 10:7._ We are, therefore, ambassadors of the kingdom of Jesus, here on earth, which is ruled by satan, to announce and make known about the kingdom rule of Christ. We are pleading with people to repent and believe in Jesus. We are offering people citizenship to the kingdom of Jesus, to enjoy the benefits of fullness of life in His kingdom _II Corinthians 5:18-20._
People recognised that Jesus was the King, the Messiah, for whom the Jewish people had been waiting for _Luke 19:38._ The religious leaders, though, were aghast and wanted Jesus to rebuke His disciples _Luke 19:39._ But our Lord Jesus affirmed and confirmed that He was the King of the kingdom of God _Luke 19:40._
*Thought to ponder*
God’s heart breaks that the kingdom of God has been inaugurated but many are yet unaware and many are still refusing to be citizens of His kingdom.
*Our standing and our position in Christ* _Matthew 6:10_
When we come into the kingdom of Christ, we must be aware that we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and conveyed to the kingdom of the Son of God _Colossians 1:13._ Satan is the ruler of this world _John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11._ He is holding people in his sway _I John 5:19._
We were once in satan's custody, to do his will but now we have been moved from darkness to light, from the power of satan to the power of God, we have received forgiveness of sins and we have received an inheritance along with those are being sanctified in Christ _Acts 26:18._
We need to recognise how angry satan is that people, who were once in his clutches have been set free and are now enjoying the abundant life. He is working relentlessly and aggressively, within and without the body of Christ, through people, to oppose the fullness of the kingdom of God _II Timothy 2:25-26._ We therefore need to correct such with much patience and humility, realising the forces behind those, who behave in disagreement to the kingdom of God.
We have the authority to resist the devil and he will flee from us _James 4:7/I Peter 5:8-9._ As we enjoy and live out the life in the kingdom of Jesus, being aware of the strong forces that are at work against us, we also are assured that we are in the safe keeping of Jesus. No one is also able to snatch us out of our Father’s hand _John 10:27-29._
Jesus is praying for us that we be protected from the evil one _John 17:15/Hebrews 7:25._
*Thought to ponder*
```Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.```
*Living out the will of God* _Matthew 6:10_
The kingdom of God is about the will of God.
Jesus came to do His Father’s will. This was the work of our Lord Jesus, to do His Father’s will and to complete His work _John 4:34._ Turning this around, this would mean that if we are in the will of God, we will be completing His work and His work is to reconcile a lost world back to Himself, through Jesus Christ, for which He has made us His ambassadors _II Corinthians 5:18-20._
This understanding is very important since, we find many Christians are making life choices on the basis of comfort, convenience or to be well settled in life and then, as an add on, we also involve in ministry, with our local church or elsewhere and we satisfy ourselves saying, “I am involved in God’s kingdom work”. Friends, let us understand very clearly, it is God’s kingdom, which must have the precedence, always, in our life choices and decisions and not the comforts of life _Matthew 6:31-33._
Not everyone, who says, “Lord, Lord”, will enter into God’s kingdom but he who does God’s will from the heart _Matthew 7:21/Ephesians 6:6._ God knows our hearts and He knows the motives of our hearts, according to which we will be judged, whether we belong to His kingdom or not _Matthew 7:22-23/I Corinthians 4:5/Romans 2:16._
Being in the family of God is about living out His will in our lives _Matthew 12:50._ This was why, David, was a man after God’s own heart, since he fulfilled God’s will _Acts 13:22._
The inner compass of our life has to be the will of God. God’s will must be out of love for God, willingly and not for any other reason. This is the doctrine of God and any one, who desires to fulfil God’s will, will have no difficulty in recognising that Jesus is from God _John 7:17._
In His will we are renewed and transformed. We are able to overcome the compulsions and pressures of the world to conform to the thinking and pattern of the world. We prove in our own experience, the good, acceptable and perfect will of God _Romans 12:2._
God is making us complete in His will, through Jesus Christ, who lives in us through His Holy Spirit _Hebrews 13:21._ ‘God’s will’ cannot be accomplished in the flesh. They that are trying from the flesh, cannot please God _Romans 8:8/I Peter 4:1-2._
*Thought to ponder*
```How is it that so many, very ignorantly and nonchalantly, ask to know about God’s will, for their lives?```
*The church, the fullness of Christ* _Matthew 6:10_
The church is here to bring God’s will, on earth.
This is the understanding that we need to have, for this is the prayer that we are praying. We are able to pray this prayer, since this the lofty position to which the God has raised the church of Jesus Christ.
God rules in the heavens. Heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord our God _Deuteronomy 10:14._ All the host of heaven, worships God. They worship God because He has made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host. The earth and everything on it _Nehemiah 9:6._ God’s throne is established and His kingdom rules over all _Ps 103:19-21._
The church must worship God, again and again. At every opportunity we gather as church, we need to worship God, uninhibitedly. Our life comes from Him. We are nothing before God but we are privileged to belong to Him and what we do is to worship Him, for who He is. Every time we worship God, with total abandon, we are challenging satan and his forces. So, worshiping God for who He is, as the church, is an enormous opportunity for us to put to flight the rulers of darkness.
We receive understanding, when we acknowledge and worship God. This was the experience of Nebuchadnezzar the emperor, who thought he was god but he was humbled by God, to become as a beast. When he repented, acknowledged God and worshipped Him, Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding returned to him _Daniel 4:34-35._ Man’s ways and plans will end up in the ash heap, if he does not acknowledge and worship the God of heaven and earth.
As God is on the throne of heaven, He has lifted up Jesus to be with Him, to reign with Him _Hebrews 1:8._ Jesus is with the Father, angels, authorities and powers are subject to Him _I Peter 3:22/Colossians 1:15-20._
As Jesus is lifted up to reign with God, in the heavens, God has also made Jesus to be head over all things to the church. The church is the body of Christ and the fullness of Christ, here on earth _Ephesians 1:20-23._ What this means is that, we, the church, are the fullness of the rule and authority of Christ’ reign, to be executed here on earth.
Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer and say, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, we are taking responsibility and we are reaffirming our oath, to be the executers of the purposes of God here on earth, as His purposes are being executed in heaven.
*Thought to ponder*
```Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.```
*God takes care of all our bread needs* _Matthew 6:11_
_Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus._
Our Lord has taught us ask Him for our daily bread. Daily bread refers to our daily legitimate needs. Our Lord knows our needs even before we present our needs before Him _Matthew 6:8._
If He knows our needs even before we ask Him then what is the reason for us to pray to Him asking Him to give us our daily bread? There are three immediate reasons that come to mind as to why our Lord wanted us to pray this prayer.
_Firstly,_ we are dependent on Him for our daily bread. He is our provider and therefore we seek Him for our daily bread. _Secondly,_ we are content to have from Him our daily bread. We are not going to God and pestering Him to give us the things that we lust after but we are content with our daily bread _I Timothy 6:6-8._ Wanting God to grant those things that we lust after, will only bring leanness to the soul _Psalm 106:14-15._ _Thirdly,_ we are always thankful and grateful to God for all our needs that He is always providing for us _Colossians 3:17._
Looking more closely at this prayer also shows us that though bread or daily necessities are needed in life, we do not live by bread _Matthew 4:4._ Daily bread is not our sustenance. God is _Acts 17:28-29._ We live by God’s word or we live by His will for us. It is God’s purposes that determine our life and not bread.
Sadly, we see that many of us, without a sense of awkwardness, very merrily, are making bread choices for life and then we include our involvement in Christian ministry, as a part of our schedule. We even have the arrogance to ask God to bless all the bread choices that we are making and we tell Him, how we will serve Him faithfully, once we are well settled in life. This is the perspective with which we even raise our children. We ensure that they are well settled in life and then we are very concerned about how well they are shaping up with “spiritual matters”. *Do we see the hypocrisy?* Will we repent?
God wants us to seek His kingdom, always, not just as a priority. When we seek His kingdom and His righteousness, all our bread needs will be added to us _Matthew 6:31-33._ We will receive the reward from the Lord, for it is the Lord Christ, whom we serve _Colossians 3:23-24._
*Thought to ponder*
Though we know this as a principle, very few of us live out this principle in practise. I wonder how we intend to give an answer to the Lord on the Day of Judgment, for the Lord judges our motives.
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