SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2020 9:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 of the
Disciples Prayer
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 6:11
Message of the verses: 9 "Pray,
then, in this way: ’Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10
’Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ’Give us
this day our daily bread. 12 ’And forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors. 13 ’And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us
from evil. [[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.]]’ 14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your
Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
We
begin the second part of “The Disciples Prayer” today, which will have requests
in it as opposed to the first part which did not have any requests. Here is a short quote from MacArthur’s book
“Jesus’ Pattern of Prayer” “All the elements of the Disciples’ Prayer focus on
God. Even the petitions that relate to
us really depend upon Him. It is He who
must give our daily bread, He who must forgive our trespasses, and He alone who
can lead us not into temptation.
“The
prayer is primarily an act of worship, and engagement in the process of
sanctification.
“Prayer is designed not to
change God, but to change us.”
I
like the part about prayer being an engagement in the process of
sanctification. Sanctification has three
parts, first we are sanctified when we become believers in Jesus Christ, and
next we are continually sanctified as we walk with the Lord, as it is the Holy
Spirit’s desire to make us more and more like Jesus Christ. Finally when we get to heaven we will be
completely sanctified. The middle part
is the most difficult part as we are still in this earthly body with the old
nature and the flesh that fight against us.
As we become more and more like Jesus Christ then this will affect our
prayer life, and our prayers will be more mature and more complete so that the
things that we pray about are more in line with what God desires us to pray
about. As MacArthur writes prayer is
primarily an act of worship, and worship is what we all desire to do to help us
be conformed to the image of Christ.
We
will now look at God’s Provision which is found in Matthew 6:11 “Give us this
day our daily bread.”
Living in the United States we are blessed with an
abundant supply of food. However since
the beginning of this year with the problem of the Covid 19 things have changed
much around the world, including in our own country. I have a friend who lives in Bangladesh, a
missionary friend who has lived his whole life there and they have a great deal
of problems with people not having enough to live on, even having enough to
eat. Now if we in our country and most
of the Western world have plenty of food to eat why should we ask God for what
we already have in such abundance? This
must have a deeper meaning to it. This
part of the Disciples’ prayer, like every other part, extends beyond the first
century to all believers, in every age and in every situation. We have seen that in this pattern for prayer
that our Lord gives all the necessary ingredients for praying. MacArthur states “We can see five key elements
in this request for God’s provision: the
substance, the source, the supplication, the seekers, and the schedule.” Lord willing we will begin to look at these
five elements in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to say that perhaps not thanking the
Lord for the food that He provides each day for me that I could do a better job
in that area. Oh yea I usually take time
to pray, thanking God for my food, but I just don’t want to make this a habit
without meaning, but something more than that.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord more fully for things that are
not in my control.
11/24/2020 10:22 AM
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