That title is for all you MC Hammer fans.lol! Just a quick entry today to let everyone know that In His Service Ministries is now an offical 501c3 non profit organization. I have been blessed to have many speaking engagements and a 2 week trip in November to Ghana Africa. If your church or organization is looking for a speaker and a time of worship feel free to contact me at 717-515-0913. I have a new study ready to go on the Bride and the Bridegroom as well as the two other studies that have been well received, the Cannanites and Rebuilding the Walls. These are exciting times we live and I am blessed to be alive in this time.
In His Service and Under His Mercy!
Brian
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Shall a Man Rob God? A different idea
Keeping with my tradition of searching for truth in the scriptures I have to visit a most often quoted and in my opinion abused scripture. Malachi 3 is used to beat people into tithing money to a church or an organization. It has been used to bully people and guilt people into handing over 10% of their income to the church. I am not going to teach on the tithe and how we should support our churches today in this blog entry but to just hint that God was not talking about money here.
Let's go back and set a foundation. God created everything. We know the Earth is the Lords and it is also his footstool. We know he is the same yesterday, today and always. God in the creation week looked and saw everything was good except one thing. He said it is not good for man to be alone! Spiritually we know it is not good to be alone. God knows this very thing and has created mechanisms to bring his people together to celebrate with each other the fullness of who He is.
The tithe was a celebration and a feast all together. It was a way God provided for the sons of Aaron but also to draw close and gather the people he called his own together to celebrate and worship! Today we miss that part. We have made it all about money. Will a man rob God? Right before that the Lord charges that he never changes and that his people have constantly failed to obey his commands, laws and decrees. They had moved from this celebration to "religion" or a phariseeical approach to giving.
When we do the letter of the law without the spirit of the law we Rob God! We rob ourselves too! Those that fear the Lord talk with one another, pray with one another and celebrate the God that is inside each other with love. Remember Paul taught on this another way by comparing our corporate spiritual organization as a body? Pauls inspired of the Holy Spirit reiterates that it is not good for man to be alone and that we have need of one another. We have need for fellowship and need of encouragement and prayer. When we try God and not do what he has commanded and then complain we rob God of His Testimony on the earth as we are the current representation of Christ alive on earth today. How many have something the world would buy? Even have interest in?
Its not about money! Its about obedience to the decrees and laws of God in the spirit they were and still are meant to be followed today. When we disobey God we Rob him. And its not about the 10% you may or may not feel compelled to put in the plate. Its not about how many books you read or how many home groups or seminars you attend. It is letting Yeshua Jesus Christ be the focal point of who you are and what you do and what your world view is. It is all about him and zero about you. When we serve him with wreckless abandon and foresake all others we then become the bride of Christ and no longer the flirting woman who changes with every season. I encourage you today to re-think on how much we have robbed God and to come to Him in a pleasing manner.
In His Service and Under His Mercy!
Brian Winograd
Let's go back and set a foundation. God created everything. We know the Earth is the Lords and it is also his footstool. We know he is the same yesterday, today and always. God in the creation week looked and saw everything was good except one thing. He said it is not good for man to be alone! Spiritually we know it is not good to be alone. God knows this very thing and has created mechanisms to bring his people together to celebrate with each other the fullness of who He is.
The tithe was a celebration and a feast all together. It was a way God provided for the sons of Aaron but also to draw close and gather the people he called his own together to celebrate and worship! Today we miss that part. We have made it all about money. Will a man rob God? Right before that the Lord charges that he never changes and that his people have constantly failed to obey his commands, laws and decrees. They had moved from this celebration to "religion" or a phariseeical approach to giving.
When we do the letter of the law without the spirit of the law we Rob God! We rob ourselves too! Those that fear the Lord talk with one another, pray with one another and celebrate the God that is inside each other with love. Remember Paul taught on this another way by comparing our corporate spiritual organization as a body? Pauls inspired of the Holy Spirit reiterates that it is not good for man to be alone and that we have need of one another. We have need for fellowship and need of encouragement and prayer. When we try God and not do what he has commanded and then complain we rob God of His Testimony on the earth as we are the current representation of Christ alive on earth today. How many have something the world would buy? Even have interest in?
Its not about money! Its about obedience to the decrees and laws of God in the spirit they were and still are meant to be followed today. When we disobey God we Rob him. And its not about the 10% you may or may not feel compelled to put in the plate. Its not about how many books you read or how many home groups or seminars you attend. It is letting Yeshua Jesus Christ be the focal point of who you are and what you do and what your world view is. It is all about him and zero about you. When we serve him with wreckless abandon and foresake all others we then become the bride of Christ and no longer the flirting woman who changes with every season. I encourage you today to re-think on how much we have robbed God and to come to Him in a pleasing manner.
In His Service and Under His Mercy!
Brian Winograd
Thursday, November 19, 2009
What are you Hungry for??
I am not looking for sympathy but I feel like I am on the island of misfit toy's sometimes in my walk with God. In some circles I walk in I am the most liberal and in others the most conservative. I am too academic for some and looked down on by others. I'm too "free" or pentecostal for some and to "uptight" for others. I'm too Jewish for some and not Jewish enough for others. Get my point???
This morning I was thinking to myself that I am for the most part, flaws, frailties and all the person God has created me to be in this time. Don't hear pride or too much self confidence here but I believe the person of Jesus Christ who began a good work in me Will continue to do so until I look and act like he wants. For I and you were created by Him and for Him and for His pleasure. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And listen to me....God don't make junk!
I know that in my walk with God I am always letting the "light" of Jesus penetrate me and expose the darkness in me that sometimes I was not aware of. I am always taking personal inventory of my walk and more importantly studying to know what it is I am supposed to be doing and whom it is I am supposed to be. You see and this is a point that is far lost in the church, if I call Jesus Lord, I am not my own. As Paul said it is no longer me that is living but Jesus living in me.
So here is my biggest study and struggle and why I feel like a misfit. Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments. Pauls first reaction to the blinding light of the Holiness of Jesus when he was thrown from his horse was this....LORD WHAT WILL YOU HAVE ME DO? I don't hear that cry from the people in today's church. I don't hear that cry from the church leaders, elders and pastors. What I do hear is God BLESS ME IN WHAT I WANT EVEN IF ITS NOT YOUR WILL!! That is so opposite of the correct attitude we are to have and why I feel so alone in the church.
I also feel alone in that people excuse away the commands of God and yet confess and claim almost God Like capabilities and have this special gift from God that they can act in anyway they chose. I have asked men to come close to me and pray and seek God together and reason together as the word of God say's and for the most part that plea has gone unanswered. There is not a hunger out there except when people want to ask God once again to bless them. Matthew 5:6 says and this is Jesus talking,"Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be FILLED."
I'll say this and agree with the Bible again that there is none righteous except for the Lord. So we are to hunger and thirst after Him and we will be filled;we will be satisfied. In the day Jesus spoke these words there was a lot of physical hunger so the appeal to the natural hunger and equating it to being filled and satisfied meant something to the origination hearers more than it does to the western church goer. There are so many things that we hunger and thirst after and 99% of it has little to nothing with Jesus. I'm hungry! I'm thirsty! I'm hungry and thirsty to know God as he defines himself and not a way I can make myself feel good about him and justify what I do and still call myself a believer. Again, Jesus said if you love him to follow after him with all you are and deny yourself and pick up your cross. These are the basic truths of our faith and yet where are they being taught and followed in our church culture??
Please hunger and thirst for the things of God in the way he has designed them and not in the way that is pleasing to your flesh designed by a man. Find others that are just as hungry and seek Him, reason together and pray. If you are near to my location of Southern York County Pa. I invite you to do that with me. To seek Him together, pray and hunger and thirst after His righteousness. I hope there are others like me looking for something different. There must be or I am alone on the island of misfit toys!
In His Service!
Brian
This morning I was thinking to myself that I am for the most part, flaws, frailties and all the person God has created me to be in this time. Don't hear pride or too much self confidence here but I believe the person of Jesus Christ who began a good work in me Will continue to do so until I look and act like he wants. For I and you were created by Him and for Him and for His pleasure. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And listen to me....God don't make junk!
I know that in my walk with God I am always letting the "light" of Jesus penetrate me and expose the darkness in me that sometimes I was not aware of. I am always taking personal inventory of my walk and more importantly studying to know what it is I am supposed to be doing and whom it is I am supposed to be. You see and this is a point that is far lost in the church, if I call Jesus Lord, I am not my own. As Paul said it is no longer me that is living but Jesus living in me.
So here is my biggest study and struggle and why I feel like a misfit. Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments. Pauls first reaction to the blinding light of the Holiness of Jesus when he was thrown from his horse was this....LORD WHAT WILL YOU HAVE ME DO? I don't hear that cry from the people in today's church. I don't hear that cry from the church leaders, elders and pastors. What I do hear is God BLESS ME IN WHAT I WANT EVEN IF ITS NOT YOUR WILL!! That is so opposite of the correct attitude we are to have and why I feel so alone in the church.
I also feel alone in that people excuse away the commands of God and yet confess and claim almost God Like capabilities and have this special gift from God that they can act in anyway they chose. I have asked men to come close to me and pray and seek God together and reason together as the word of God say's and for the most part that plea has gone unanswered. There is not a hunger out there except when people want to ask God once again to bless them. Matthew 5:6 says and this is Jesus talking,"Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be FILLED."
I'll say this and agree with the Bible again that there is none righteous except for the Lord. So we are to hunger and thirst after Him and we will be filled;we will be satisfied. In the day Jesus spoke these words there was a lot of physical hunger so the appeal to the natural hunger and equating it to being filled and satisfied meant something to the origination hearers more than it does to the western church goer. There are so many things that we hunger and thirst after and 99% of it has little to nothing with Jesus. I'm hungry! I'm thirsty! I'm hungry and thirsty to know God as he defines himself and not a way I can make myself feel good about him and justify what I do and still call myself a believer. Again, Jesus said if you love him to follow after him with all you are and deny yourself and pick up your cross. These are the basic truths of our faith and yet where are they being taught and followed in our church culture??
Please hunger and thirst for the things of God in the way he has designed them and not in the way that is pleasing to your flesh designed by a man. Find others that are just as hungry and seek Him, reason together and pray. If you are near to my location of Southern York County Pa. I invite you to do that with me. To seek Him together, pray and hunger and thirst after His righteousness. I hope there are others like me looking for something different. There must be or I am alone on the island of misfit toys!
In His Service!
Brian
Monday, September 28, 2009
How's the View?
I am overwhelmed today in the goodness of God and what he has provided for us! I have an awesome privilege of marrying a couple later this afternoon and I had a chance to hang out with their families last night at the rehearsal dinner. Observing the different families and the conversation it was obvious in an instant that God was showing me something. Have you ever noticed that people talk about any situation from "their point of view"?
Don't you love it when an answer comes your way that starts out sounding like this....Well, from where I sit or from where I stand or from how I see it...blah blah blah.? LOL! Probably not if you are like me. For so long I have been searching and seeking Gods point of view from the scriptures but then in an instant that spiritual light bulb lit up last night.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus! I think that is what Paul said in Ephesians 2:6 (if not I need to look it up) ... We are seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father in Heaven right now and never take advantage of that vantage point. What is the view from there? What does our situation that we are so burdened with look like from the seat of authority? What point of view do we have and have not understood that we are at Abba's ear and better yet his face to seek a heavenly position to our earthly condition? The passage does not say we will be one day at that place BUT are PRESENT TENSE are IN HIM IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS!
We can change the view from looking far out from earth to heaven and hoping we can get something to fall on us like a dog waiting for a crumb to fall from the table or we can change our "Amish" thinking and accept this fact that we In Christ have the best access and viewpoint ever. Better than all the wisdom of this earth! Better than all the advise of "religion" and systems of man! Better than seeing ourselves as that lowly dog waiting for a crumb! We need to train our Spiritual eyes and ears for the view from on HIGH! Having eyes to see and ears to hear! Isn't that what Jesus kept saying? Now it makes sense that part of his victory on the Cross was not just for Salvation, Justification and Sanctification but a seat at the table right now. On earth as it is in Heaven! WOW! Thank you Jesus! I pray you help us today see and hear from your seat down to earth and that we learn this mystery of your kingdom and apply it to our lives.
Hows your view today? Look down from the seat of Jesus at your life, your problem, your issues, your loved ones and see it from a different vantage point!
Don't you love it when an answer comes your way that starts out sounding like this....Well, from where I sit or from where I stand or from how I see it...blah blah blah.? LOL! Probably not if you are like me. For so long I have been searching and seeking Gods point of view from the scriptures but then in an instant that spiritual light bulb lit up last night.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus! I think that is what Paul said in Ephesians 2:6 (if not I need to look it up) ... We are seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father in Heaven right now and never take advantage of that vantage point. What is the view from there? What does our situation that we are so burdened with look like from the seat of authority? What point of view do we have and have not understood that we are at Abba's ear and better yet his face to seek a heavenly position to our earthly condition? The passage does not say we will be one day at that place BUT are PRESENT TENSE are IN HIM IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS!
We can change the view from looking far out from earth to heaven and hoping we can get something to fall on us like a dog waiting for a crumb to fall from the table or we can change our "Amish" thinking and accept this fact that we In Christ have the best access and viewpoint ever. Better than all the wisdom of this earth! Better than all the advise of "religion" and systems of man! Better than seeing ourselves as that lowly dog waiting for a crumb! We need to train our Spiritual eyes and ears for the view from on HIGH! Having eyes to see and ears to hear! Isn't that what Jesus kept saying? Now it makes sense that part of his victory on the Cross was not just for Salvation, Justification and Sanctification but a seat at the table right now. On earth as it is in Heaven! WOW! Thank you Jesus! I pray you help us today see and hear from your seat down to earth and that we learn this mystery of your kingdom and apply it to our lives.
Hows your view today? Look down from the seat of Jesus at your life, your problem, your issues, your loved ones and see it from a different vantage point!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
How low can you go?
An old rabbi said to his students,"In days of old men used to see God". In which one student replied why is that not so today? The rabbi answered,"Because men don't know how to bow down that low anymore".
Jesus said in the best sermon ever on the Mt. of Olives in Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We are to proud! Americans are loud, proud, arrogant and self sufficient. We rely on ourselves and put the trust of all into the hands, intelligence and capabilities of men more than the power of the kingdom of heaven. Humble is not a word that is put into action.
Jesus is telling us that we must take on the attributes of the kingdom of God and that those things we have learned from this world are in total contrast to "the way". Watch our good friends the tv preachers and they will tell you that you are little gods that have so much power, authority and glory that you can create things as God did by just speaking. Never seaking, never hearing and never getting into that lowly position that all those things can happen.
I believe in the power of Pentocost and the work of the Holy Spirit. I fear that most of what my eyes have seen in the "Pentocostal" movement has been driven by human emotion and not the sustaining power of God. We are in my opinion at the point where the Prophet Elijah was before he confronted the so called prophets of Baal. Here is what the Bible says...And Elijah came to all the people, and said,“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
People, stop wavering between two opinions. Stop being tossed to and fro by the tickling of your ears and emotional appeals that look like there is the power of God in it. How low on the knees is the person having spiritual input into your life???? Maybe they are a dynamic speaker, or maybe they can sing really well or maybe they can stir things up and bring so much emotion into a service that you are moved to Feel something but your life is UNCHANGED! Let me tell you something that I've said 100 times before. You can not have an encounter with God and stay the same. So after all is said and done if you are unchanged it was probably not the power of God moving but something in your mind, will or emotions.
How you can get the wisdom to discern the difference is again in that lowly position our friend the rabbi told his student. Get on your face and pray to your God. Stop chasing the Hot air baloon waiting for it to land on you to get some excitement. God is exciting enough if you find Him right were you are....In your prayer closet. How low can you go? Hopefully right where God wants you to be!
In His Service and Still Under His Mercy!
Brian
Jesus said in the best sermon ever on the Mt. of Olives in Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We are to proud! Americans are loud, proud, arrogant and self sufficient. We rely on ourselves and put the trust of all into the hands, intelligence and capabilities of men more than the power of the kingdom of heaven. Humble is not a word that is put into action.
Jesus is telling us that we must take on the attributes of the kingdom of God and that those things we have learned from this world are in total contrast to "the way". Watch our good friends the tv preachers and they will tell you that you are little gods that have so much power, authority and glory that you can create things as God did by just speaking. Never seaking, never hearing and never getting into that lowly position that all those things can happen.
I believe in the power of Pentocost and the work of the Holy Spirit. I fear that most of what my eyes have seen in the "Pentocostal" movement has been driven by human emotion and not the sustaining power of God. We are in my opinion at the point where the Prophet Elijah was before he confronted the so called prophets of Baal. Here is what the Bible says...And Elijah came to all the people, and said,“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
People, stop wavering between two opinions. Stop being tossed to and fro by the tickling of your ears and emotional appeals that look like there is the power of God in it. How low on the knees is the person having spiritual input into your life???? Maybe they are a dynamic speaker, or maybe they can sing really well or maybe they can stir things up and bring so much emotion into a service that you are moved to Feel something but your life is UNCHANGED! Let me tell you something that I've said 100 times before. You can not have an encounter with God and stay the same. So after all is said and done if you are unchanged it was probably not the power of God moving but something in your mind, will or emotions.
How you can get the wisdom to discern the difference is again in that lowly position our friend the rabbi told his student. Get on your face and pray to your God. Stop chasing the Hot air baloon waiting for it to land on you to get some excitement. God is exciting enough if you find Him right were you are....In your prayer closet. How low can you go? Hopefully right where God wants you to be!
In His Service and Still Under His Mercy!
Brian
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
And Forgives us our debts
Hello again everyone. We have been looking at how we should pray as exampled to us in Matthew 6 commonly known as the Lords Prayer. In the last blog entry we stated that Jesus did not institute a new prayer for us to repeat mindlessly but rather a manner in which to pray. We discussed in little detail what each section means to me and how it reminds me of certain elements I bring to my prayer as I think on this section of Matthew 6 and our Lords words.
We left of in the part of the prayer of give us this day our daily bread and we will pick it up from there.
1. And forgive us our debts..... Yes! We can't stand before a Holy God with unrepentant sin in our life and expect to be heard. The prayers of the righteous accomplishes much. We are not in a right relationship with God while we are knowingly disobeying his will and claiming the act of the cross once again into our lives. We need this forgiveness as a lifeline for our spiritual health. Think on it this way if you will. We can eat all the organic whole foods for our natural bodies but if our colon is blocked and full of disease we will not gain the nourishment from it and still remain sick. Without forgiveness flowing in our life we are spiritually constipated. Oh No! Did he really say that? What this church generation needs is a spiritual enema!! And the medicine is a daily dose of forgiveness. Forgive is Father once again and once again keep us tender to quickly come to you and others as we sin.
2. As we forgive our debtors.... This is a part people look past in prayer and their daily christian walk. We cry out to God and ask for forgiveness and our bread for tomorrow and yet we do not truly forgive others of their trespass against us. In the same manner you forgive others is the manner in which your Heavenly Father will forgive you. Houston we have a problem! This is where we become sickly and diseased as believers is becoming deceived in thinking we are alright when we are filled with the poison of unforgiveness or the old I forgive you but I won't forget what you did syndrome. Which one of us wants our God to forgive us in that manner??? We are to take the example of again the cross by learning from these words...."Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Think and chew on that for awhile and then ask yourself if things are not flowing in your life like they once did could it be because you are holding on to hurts, pains, issues that your should have gotten rid of years ago. Maybe its yourself you need to forgive but let me encourage you to be free in Jesus is to be free indeed of all that junk.
3. Lead us not into temptation.... I hate that English version! God would not lead you into temptation. Jesus was saying that we should pray for God's strength to accomplish his will and to not yield into temptations. The fact that this comes right on the heals of forgiveness of others would clearly say to me that the temptation to ignore this part of the prayer is strong. Why? It is very difficult to die to yourself and confront others who you need to ask them to forgive you or the other way around. Also we need the Holy Spirit to guide us through and protect us through times of tempting. It's like us saying today, "Don't go down that road". IF we are diligently seeking him first and living a disciplined life we can pray for God to go before us an keep us from the very things our flesh will struggle with today.
4. But deliver us from evil..... In the times when we do face evil and the evil one GOD DELIVER US!! God fight for us! God protect us! Be our strength and smash the mouth of our enemies. God I need you when I am tempted to cover me like you did the doorposts of Israel with the saving blood so that this spirit of death would pass over me. Deliver me from the evil one and teach me to rely on you in times when darkness closes in.
5. For thine is Kingdom and Power and Glory Forever, Amen! That speaks once again that all Praise and Purpose for this life should be aimed at the one who holds it all together. Live for him today and forever.
I hope this breakdown of this prayer model has encouraged you and challenged you to think differently when you do pray. Go out and practice today in your prayer closet and with somebody else. Get a prayer partner and magnify the name of Jesus today.
In His Service!
Brian
We left of in the part of the prayer of give us this day our daily bread and we will pick it up from there.
1. And forgive us our debts..... Yes! We can't stand before a Holy God with unrepentant sin in our life and expect to be heard. The prayers of the righteous accomplishes much. We are not in a right relationship with God while we are knowingly disobeying his will and claiming the act of the cross once again into our lives. We need this forgiveness as a lifeline for our spiritual health. Think on it this way if you will. We can eat all the organic whole foods for our natural bodies but if our colon is blocked and full of disease we will not gain the nourishment from it and still remain sick. Without forgiveness flowing in our life we are spiritually constipated. Oh No! Did he really say that? What this church generation needs is a spiritual enema!! And the medicine is a daily dose of forgiveness. Forgive is Father once again and once again keep us tender to quickly come to you and others as we sin.
2. As we forgive our debtors.... This is a part people look past in prayer and their daily christian walk. We cry out to God and ask for forgiveness and our bread for tomorrow and yet we do not truly forgive others of their trespass against us. In the same manner you forgive others is the manner in which your Heavenly Father will forgive you. Houston we have a problem! This is where we become sickly and diseased as believers is becoming deceived in thinking we are alright when we are filled with the poison of unforgiveness or the old I forgive you but I won't forget what you did syndrome. Which one of us wants our God to forgive us in that manner??? We are to take the example of again the cross by learning from these words...."Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Think and chew on that for awhile and then ask yourself if things are not flowing in your life like they once did could it be because you are holding on to hurts, pains, issues that your should have gotten rid of years ago. Maybe its yourself you need to forgive but let me encourage you to be free in Jesus is to be free indeed of all that junk.
3. Lead us not into temptation.... I hate that English version! God would not lead you into temptation. Jesus was saying that we should pray for God's strength to accomplish his will and to not yield into temptations. The fact that this comes right on the heals of forgiveness of others would clearly say to me that the temptation to ignore this part of the prayer is strong. Why? It is very difficult to die to yourself and confront others who you need to ask them to forgive you or the other way around. Also we need the Holy Spirit to guide us through and protect us through times of tempting. It's like us saying today, "Don't go down that road". IF we are diligently seeking him first and living a disciplined life we can pray for God to go before us an keep us from the very things our flesh will struggle with today.
4. But deliver us from evil..... In the times when we do face evil and the evil one GOD DELIVER US!! God fight for us! God protect us! Be our strength and smash the mouth of our enemies. God I need you when I am tempted to cover me like you did the doorposts of Israel with the saving blood so that this spirit of death would pass over me. Deliver me from the evil one and teach me to rely on you in times when darkness closes in.
5. For thine is Kingdom and Power and Glory Forever, Amen! That speaks once again that all Praise and Purpose for this life should be aimed at the one who holds it all together. Live for him today and forever.
I hope this breakdown of this prayer model has encouraged you and challenged you to think differently when you do pray. Go out and practice today in your prayer closet and with somebody else. Get a prayer partner and magnify the name of Jesus today.
In His Service!
Brian
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Give us Today the Bread we need for Tommorow!
I was at my wife's uncles funeral the other day and something struck me as curious. The "Lords' Prayer" as found in Matthew 6 is known by the saved and unsaved alike. The minister leading the service led everyone in the prayer and all the people knew it word for word. It made me wonder and think why we are so eager to fall back into wrong practices.
OK Brian what are you talking about? Jesus said to pray in this manner; not to repeat this example of prayer. He further said to not pray like the heathens by vain repetitions. I love my brothers and sisters in the main stream denominations and the Catholic Church but repeating this prayer is in direct contradiction to the warning of Jesus right before he spoke it. I would like to share some of my thoughts of pray in this manner and what it means to me.
1. Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name..... This part of the example of prayer should have sounded familiar to the original listener and readers as this followed the Hebrew prayer of Kaddish which exalts the greatness, splendor, majesty, power and holiness of Father God. It is to settle us and turn our focus rightly towards the author and finisher of our existence and faith. To remind us that only through the adoption as son's through Christs act on the cross can we even communicate with God and come boldly before the throne of grace. It changes our attention off us and towards heaven as it says in Colossians. So for me and when I pray this part of my prayer is to shift my eyes, my thoughts and my entire being towards God.
2. Thy Kingdom come thy will be done as it is in Heaven..... I take this personally and to heart. I know the rebellion in heaven has been dealt with and that as it is in heaven come into my life, my kingdom here on earth. In other words I pray that the same authority and power that overcame the evil and rebellion against God in heaven, that same power come into my life and make it so in my life even now as I live and breathe here on earth. The same evil one that came against the throne of God is also trying to attack my kingdom and even though I am forgiven of my sins by the act of the cross the stain of those sins in my soul (intellect, will and emotions) needs to be overcome. That is nothing in my own strength I can accomplish so Jesus is saying here to invite the power of the Holy Spirit to empower and quicken your mortal soul and body from the consequences of sin. To have his government set up in my life by my life being yielded to his loving perfect authority.
3. Give us this day our daily bread......Or better translated to mean give us today what we require for tomorrow. This again was understood to the hearer of the day as workers labored all day to get paid daily at the end of the day. They took their daily earning to buy what they needed to sustain themselves for tomorrow by most likely buying graines to make bread. The method of weighing the grain was by either pressing down the wheat or shaking the wheat into the container to fill it completely. We are promised to get the required grace from God pressed down and shaken together for the day we are to face. Remember the Bible tells us that we do not go through more than what God says we are able to endure. The key though is that we must make room for the grace in our life daily to receive it. Put yourself into the shoes of again the listener here. When he went to the market to get his wheat he probably said give me a container full of wheat. He had of coarse to pay for it from the work he just got done that day. We must work out our salvation daily and not take it for granted. We can't receive from the storehouse of heaven unless we put in the work to seek him first.
Well this post is getting a bit long so I will break it up into a part two. If you have any questions, complaints, gripes or discussions I would love to hear your input.
In His Service!
Brian
OK Brian what are you talking about? Jesus said to pray in this manner; not to repeat this example of prayer. He further said to not pray like the heathens by vain repetitions. I love my brothers and sisters in the main stream denominations and the Catholic Church but repeating this prayer is in direct contradiction to the warning of Jesus right before he spoke it. I would like to share some of my thoughts of pray in this manner and what it means to me.
1. Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name..... This part of the example of prayer should have sounded familiar to the original listener and readers as this followed the Hebrew prayer of Kaddish which exalts the greatness, splendor, majesty, power and holiness of Father God. It is to settle us and turn our focus rightly towards the author and finisher of our existence and faith. To remind us that only through the adoption as son's through Christs act on the cross can we even communicate with God and come boldly before the throne of grace. It changes our attention off us and towards heaven as it says in Colossians. So for me and when I pray this part of my prayer is to shift my eyes, my thoughts and my entire being towards God.
2. Thy Kingdom come thy will be done as it is in Heaven..... I take this personally and to heart. I know the rebellion in heaven has been dealt with and that as it is in heaven come into my life, my kingdom here on earth. In other words I pray that the same authority and power that overcame the evil and rebellion against God in heaven, that same power come into my life and make it so in my life even now as I live and breathe here on earth. The same evil one that came against the throne of God is also trying to attack my kingdom and even though I am forgiven of my sins by the act of the cross the stain of those sins in my soul (intellect, will and emotions) needs to be overcome. That is nothing in my own strength I can accomplish so Jesus is saying here to invite the power of the Holy Spirit to empower and quicken your mortal soul and body from the consequences of sin. To have his government set up in my life by my life being yielded to his loving perfect authority.
3. Give us this day our daily bread......Or better translated to mean give us today what we require for tomorrow. This again was understood to the hearer of the day as workers labored all day to get paid daily at the end of the day. They took their daily earning to buy what they needed to sustain themselves for tomorrow by most likely buying graines to make bread. The method of weighing the grain was by either pressing down the wheat or shaking the wheat into the container to fill it completely. We are promised to get the required grace from God pressed down and shaken together for the day we are to face. Remember the Bible tells us that we do not go through more than what God says we are able to endure. The key though is that we must make room for the grace in our life daily to receive it. Put yourself into the shoes of again the listener here. When he went to the market to get his wheat he probably said give me a container full of wheat. He had of coarse to pay for it from the work he just got done that day. We must work out our salvation daily and not take it for granted. We can't receive from the storehouse of heaven unless we put in the work to seek him first.
Well this post is getting a bit long so I will break it up into a part two. If you have any questions, complaints, gripes or discussions I would love to hear your input.
In His Service!
Brian
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