SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/5/2020 9:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “God’s Paternity”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 6:9b
Message of the
verse: “Our Father who art in
heaven.”
For someone to understand what I am about to write they
would have had to have a good father, a father that they could trust with their
own lives. To be able to go to God as
our heavenly Father first of all means the end of fear. In the lives of many people during the time
of Christ, outside of Israel these people worshiped a pagan god whom they
feared, that is not the case with our heavenly Father. Having an earthly father who loves us and
would do anything for us is a wonderful thing indeed, but our earthly fathers
at best are sinners and do from time to time make mistakes, but not our
heavenly Father, for He is perfect all of the time.
Next,
knowing God as our Father settles the matter of loneliness. I have a section in my prayer list in which I
pray for widows and widowers and the greatest thing that they have trouble with
is loneliness, but they have a heavenly Father who will always be with
them. Believers know that our Father
will never leave us or forsake us. “"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one
who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love
him and will disclose Myself to him’” (John 14:21). “5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for
the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. 6 God makes a home for the lonely;
He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a
parched land” (Ps. 68:5-6).
Next,
knowing God’s fatherhood should settle the matter of selfishness. MacArthur writes “Jesus taught us to pray,
‘Our Father,’ using the plural pronoun because we are fellow children with all
the rest of the household of God. There
is no singular personal pronoun in the entire prayer. We pray holding up to God what is best for
all, not just for one.” In this section
from MacArthur’s sermon on this and also in his book “Jesus’ Pattern of Prayer”
written in 1981 he talks about one of the Jewish books that are written to help
understand the OT, and in that book it is said that we should not pray like a
traveler for he may pray for good weather when those where he is leaving from
need rain.
Next
we see that knowing God’s fatherhood settles the matter of resources. How is that so? Well He is our Father in heaven, and has
unlimited resources at His disposal, as He is not on earth where there are
limited resources. “Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” (Eph. 1:3).
Next
God’s fatherhood should settle the matter of obedience. Think for a moment of how our Perfect Lord
while He was on earth obeyed His heavenly Father even to the point of going to
the cross to pay for our sins. Now if
the perfect Son of God obeyed His heavenly Father then we should also obey Him
in what He desires for us to do. Later
on in Matthew we see that Jesus says “For whoever does the will of My Father
who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12:50).
The
story of the prodigal son shows us that even when we are disobedient to our
heaven Father that He still loves us as this story shows us first of all a
picture of our heavenly Father, who can forgive a self-righteous child who
remains moral and upright and also forgive one who becomes dissolute, wanders
away and returns.
MacArthur
concludes this section: “Our Father,
then indicates God’s eagerness to lend His ear, His power, and His eternal
blessing to the petitions of His children if it serves them best and further
reveals His purpose and glory.”
I
want to lastly quote a paragraph from MacArthur’s book mentioned above that
goes alone with this section: “What
happens when you know God is your Father?
It removes fear, it provides hope, it ends loneliness, it does away with
selfishness, it provides heavenly resources, it demands obedience, and it
declares wisdom.” This is a good recap
of what we have been studying.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is wonderful to continue to learn more
about prayer, as prayer is what is needed at this time for many of us in the
country. Praying effectively as we are
learning from this prayer will be the best thing that any of us can do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will give me peace as I
continue to lean on Him through this most difficult time.
11/5/2020 10:31 AM
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