Note: If you are not familiar with the Lectio Divina/ meditation style of preaching PLEASE LISTEN to the mp3 FIRST before reading the script.
Today we are going on a journey to be with Jesus. And I want you to use your thinking and your imagination; to involve yourself in the journey. So take a position which is comfortable for you and close your eyes so you are not distracted. See yourself where you are, right now. Now imagine that a taxi has pulled up outside, and it is waiting for you. You grab your things, say goodbye, and go out and get in the taxi. As you close the taxi door you tell the driver to take you to your favorite place to relax, and the taxi takes off. Looking at the seat beside you, you see all the things that you have brought with you and all the things that you were thinking, musing or worrying about. They are safely with you. So you sit back and relax and watch the scenery go past as you travel to your special place. As you are getting closer, the taxi driver says, don’t worry about taking all your stuff with you, I will be waiting for you when you are finished so you can leave all your stuff safely in the car. Then looking out the window you see you are almost there! The taxi stops and you get out. Walking away till the taxi is out of sight, you find your favourite place to be. It is a beautiful day. The sun is warm, the breeze is gentle and cool, and the sky is blue.
Hear the voice of Jesus saying, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 20:28)
Jesus is here, here with you.
Jesus is here, now, with you.
Jesus is here.
Think what he would be like if you could actually see him.
Picture Jesus if you can,
Look at his hands and feet.............. the marks of love are there.
Jesus is here. Jesus is here. Jesus is here, with you.
Welcome him
Worship him.
And Jesus says to you:
When you are praying,
when you are talking to me or God
when you are seeking to connect with us through words or thoughts
do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do;
Do not say prayers you have learned that you do not understand, as though God speaks a language foreign to you.
Do not simply say prayers because you think those are the words God wants to hear when those words are empty of meaning for you, for then it seems like you are a stranger to God.
Do not let your prayers be mindless, emotionless, repetitive babble as though you did not know God personally.
So do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do;
for the Gentiles think that they will be heard because of their many words.
No, I am not saying don’t ever pray for the same thing twice, but those who do not know God seem to think they can get God to listen to them and do what they want simply by throwing lots of words at Him, even when they don’t believe or understand what they say.
Those who do not know God personally seem to think He is unable or unwilling to understand or sympathize with their real thoughts and feelings so they throw lots of rote learned phrases His way in the hope that it will impress Him.
Their empty words say they don’t really believe God is real or cares.
Do not be like them,
Do not do what they do.
Choose to act like God is real and cares, even if you have doubts at the time.
Share with Him what you really think and feel, even if you think He wont be impressed.
Be real and truthful in your conversations with Him.
for your Father
God your Father
The Father whose hands formed you in your mother’s womb
The Father who would hold you under his wings like a mother eagle holds her chicks.
The Father who loves you so much he sent his only Son, me, to die for you.
Your heavenly Father
knows what you need before you ask him.
Unlike any other Father you have known, God knows you intimately and personally so well, that he knows exactly what you need at any one time, before even you know, before you ask him. He knows you so well that he knows what is on your mind and in your heart, so you cannot fool him with empty words. By praying with words which have no meaning for you and where you are at, you are lying to God and yourself. So don’t treat God as someone who doesn’t know you, for he knows you better than you know yourself. Because of my sacrifice on the cross you no longer have a need to hide from God behind empty words. Come to him with all your thoughts and desires, and be prepared to listen to Him and His reasoning and plans for your life. You will be surprised just how well He knows you and how much He loves you! Please don’t shut God out with babble.
Pray then in this way:
I don’t mean memorize this as a prayer and say it by rote
I mean pray with these things in mind
Seek to have this sort of heart when you pray
Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
Our Father...
it can be so hard for people to speak of God as their Father!
There are so many less than perfect examples of fatherhood in humanity!
And even the best human parents have hurt and sinned against their children.
But God is your heavenly Father.
The Father that lives and rules and defines heaven.
The only Father that IS the perfection you always needed in a parent.
The only Father whose love never fails.
The only Father who is always faithful, good and right and just and forgiving.
The Father who planned you, specifically you, to be born.
The Father who provides for your every need, even down to the power for you to take your next breath.
God is the Father that sent His only Son, me, to die on the cross so that you could live with Him as his child now, and for eternity
In a world that is a lot less than perfect it is hard to believe in a perfect Father so seek to know God as your Father.
Ask Him to open your eyes to how he works in your life, taking care of you and others.
Ask Him to reveal His Father heart to you.
Eph. 1:17-19 I pray that God, the Father of glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the working of his great power for all who believe.
Ask God to show you how He is the heavenly Father you have always been looking for so that you can honestly say:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
May God’s name, not just the word God, but all that God is, be revealed to all and worshipped and honoured by all as holy.
May God’s holiness; his purity, love, goodness, faithfulness, rightness, justice and all the ways he is different from us, be held sacred, be honoured and adored by all.
May our lives, as we live out God’s will, bring honour and glory and praise to God in all his holiness.
When we can truly see the holiness of God in this world we will know that we want His holiness in our lives, ruling our lives, filling our lives.
And then you will be able to honestly pray:
(Father) Your kingdom come.
For when you know God as your heavenly Father, when you see his holiness for the wonder that it is, you will understand what His kingdom will be like – holy, just, good, loving and full of grace, and you will want it now too.
When you know God as your heavenly Father you will want God’s kingdom in your life now, as much as you can get of it.
When you know God as your heavenly Father You will want God’s kingdom now, and for eternity.
And through the power of my death and resurrection, through the power of God’s Holy Spirit living in you, that is available to you today and every day.
And you will also be able to say with meaning:
(Father) Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
When you know God as your personal heavenly Father you will see that God’s will is good and pleasing and perfect; just and right and loving and full of grace.
And you will want all the earth to live in that will and to live that love.
When you know God as your personal heavenly Father you too will want all the earth to do God’s will just as all of heaven does; freely, openly, spontaneously and joyfully.
Rom 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Song: “Forever in Your Loving Embrace” by Amanda Wilson verses 1-4
With God as your heavenly Father it is also natural to pray
Give us this day our daily bread
It is so easy for you in this world to think that you EARN in order to feed yourselves and your families, but God your Father makes that all possible for you.
When you know God personally as your Father you will begin to see that everything good you have comes from the hand of God.
Ask God to show you the way that he looks after you and you will not want for tomorrow, you will not be concerned for tomorrow, neither will you be concerned for the things you don’t need.
When you see the way your Father loves you all you need to do is simply request what you need for today and you will know God as the provider and sustainer of all life.
And when you know the Father heart of God you will naturally pray
And forgive us our debts,
Living in God’s love, as you learn His ways, His thinking, and see Him in action, you will begin to understand the magnitude of the debts which all humanity owes to God.
When you are with God and see His glory face to face, like Isaiah you will find yourself saying, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips and I live among a people with unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!” But you do not need to be afraid for like He did for Isaiah, God will take a coal from the alter on which my blood, the blood of God’s Son was poured out as a sacrifice for your sin, and use it to cleanse you of your sin, without harming you in any way.
When you know God personally as your Father His forgiveness of all that you have done wrong will become very important to you, at least as important as the food you eat each day.
And when you have seen the magnitude of your debt to God, and experienced His forgiveness, the wrongs others have done to you, the sins of others against you will loose their power over you.
Not only that but God will show you how you can use the power of His forgiveness to make it possible for you to forgive others for the wrongs they have done to you.
Just as God sets you free from sin, you will able to share that freedom with others.
God’s forgiveness will become an active and living force in you and you will be able to pray:
forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Then you will find true freedom from sin and death, a freedom that will be evident in your life for all to see.
With God as your heavenly Father, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane you can pray
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
“If it be possible let this cup pass from me”
For you will know the love your Father has for you and how He will do all in His power that you might grow and prosper as His child.
Just like Jesus you will know you can take all your cares to God.
And with the knowledge that you are God’s child, you can confidently pray
but rescue us from the evil one.
In the light of God’s love and forgiveness you will know that only God can rescue us from the plans of Satan.
Through my death on the cross and resurrection God your heavenly Father has given you access to the power to be rescued from all the temptations of Satan.
And because of what I have done on the cross, you can be confident that nothing that Satan throws at you can separate your from the love of God; not death or life, angels or rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate you from the love of God.
And God your heavenly Father alone provides that surety.
For if you forgive others their trespasses,
If you use the power and the forgiveness God has given you to bless and forgive others
if you share God’s great gift of forgiveness and life with others
you will see God’s forgiveness in action and be confident that
your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
and you will find enormous power and freedom to live as a child of God
The joy of overflowing forgiveness cannot be contained
but if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
God’s forgiveness cannot be used selfishly. It is simply not possible. You cannot contain and restrict God’s forgiveness by your refusal to forgive others for then you would be saying that God cannot empower you to forgive others. Then you would be saying that my death on the cross brought you forgiveness and freedom but denied it to others. So if you struggle with forgiveness for others, ask God to forgive them for you through you, and stand back and watch Him work. And then you will see the miracle of the cross at work in a mighty way. Then you will see the kingdom of God in action on earth through you! The you will know the great power and love of your Father God working in and through you! But be warned that if you harden your heart to prevent yourself from forgiving others, you will be hardening your heart to God and refusing God’s forgiveness for yourself as well.
These then are the principals of Christian prayer
Song: “Forever in Your Loving Embrace” by Amanda Wilson verses 5-6
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
