The Lord's Prayer - Part 3

The Lord’s Prayer - 3

January 23, 2022

Matthew 6:9-13

Last week, I read you a statement from the book, Absolute Surrender. Written by Andrew Murray in 1897. He wrote - - -

“God gives Christians the Holy Spirit with this intention: every day should be lived in the power of the Spirit.

The great question for us to ask God as we examine ourselves is whether our Christian life is lived more in the power of the flesh than in the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is the weakness of the church of Christ. It is all in that one word — flesh.”

That’s a daunting statement from Murray and I’ve really been reflecting on this for the past few weeks. And it’s not only daunting - - - it’s haunting. Think about all you and I do on our own power. No, I don’t ask God what socks I should wear, or should I eat this or that. I think God has supplied me with the basic knowledge and wisdom to make decisions like that.

But as it pertains to drawing closer to Jesus and being the person, He’s called me to be - - - that’s troubling. I don’t know where you’re at, but as I look around, in this building and all over, we’re in serious trouble because we’ve moved further and further from God. We give a lot of lip service and I want to see us be very intentional about moving more towards Jesus.

One other thing I have learned about prayer, which I got from a devotional I watch, is how expectant are you when you pray? That means when I pray for something I believe it, I believe God is going to bring healing or wholeness or whatever I’m asking. In some ways . . . it’s praying with confidence and boldness. It’s not a kinda hoping prayer. It’s believing and trusting prayer. Make sense?

So, we’ve been looking at the Lord’s Prayer as a means of connecting with God. I believe this is missing in the universal church. I believe using the power of the Holy Spirit is critical, it’s crucial as we seek to experience the power and the presence of God. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3 — —

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

16 that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I know we’re talking about the Lord’s Prayer, and maybe this is why it’s taking us 3 weeks to move through these 5 verses, but sometime this week . . . would you stop and reread this last part of Ephesians 3. Drink it all in. Bathe in the words of Paul about who God is.

We pray that we would be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit! WHY?

So that Christ may dwell in our hearts. And because of His love for us and our love for Him, we would have the strength to comprehend (drink in) the knowledge of the love of Christ which surpasses all of our knowledge . . . because it’s by faith, as we’re grounded in Christ that we experience the love of God through the Holy Spirit. And because of all this we can do far more than we’ve ever imagined, because of God’s power working through us, not our power working through God.

That’s where my heart’s at right now. I just wanted to share that! I want you to be passionate about who Jesus is in your life and make His presence real and visible to your family, friends and wherever you go.

OK, that leads us back to the Lord’s prayer, Jesus said - - -

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father 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.