The School of Prayer Part 8: The Lord's Prayer Continued

Thanks for joining us, friends, on the Line of Fire. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. We are continuing in the School of Prayer.

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If you're already going to your frontline newsletter, then you're also getting these weekly updates as well. We continue talking about the Lord's Prayer. Again, everything starts with God being our Father. If you have been forgiven of your sins through the blood of Jesus, if you have received the love of God through the cross, you are now a child of God.

You are now a son or daughter of God. He's not out to hurt you. He's out to help you. He may discipline us in His wisdom. He may bring us through difficult times because our faith to grow and to deepen our trust and to develop our character. He may do all these things, friends, but, but the reality is He is for you, not against you. If you are in a right relationship with God through Jesus, He is for you, not against you. He's out to help you, not hurt you. Relate to Him as Father.

You say, yeah, but my earthly father, he was alcoholic. He beat me. He said, come on over here. I don't know if he's going to give me a hug or if he's going to slap me.

Okay. That's not your heavenly Father. I don't know my Father. He abandoned the family.

I was six months old. I've never met him. I don't know if he's alive or dead. How can I relate to God?

These are valid questions. So that's why we have the Bible. First, that you go to the scriptures, you go to the scriptures, you go to the scriptures, you go to the scriptures. You ask God, Lord, help me to get a true picture of you.

Remove the wrong pictures I have of a father. Help me get a right picture of you as you really are, who you really are. Help me to take hold of that.

Make it real to me. Renew my mind, Lord. Help me to renew my mind through your word. And then as you relate to him and you see his blessing and you see his goodness, as you sing songs of praise to him, what kind of God is he?

What kind of God is he? Let him reveal himself to you through his word and through your walk with him so you can come to him in conference. So the first foundation of prayer is to develop an intimate relationship with God. If you're praying simply as a religious obligation or just to change things, you're missing the first foundation.

So yes, we pray in times of crisis, but we pray to our Father. And then he says, hallowed be your name. May your name God, the God of the universe. His name pronounced variously by some Yahweh traditional pronunciation, Jehovah. Traditional Jews refer to him as Hashem, which is literally the name. But we're talking about the God who created the universe, the only true God. Hallowed be your name. So the first concern in prayer is not our needs, our burdens, our own life, or even the needs of the world.

Our first concern is God himself. Now, for sure, there are plenty of times in crisis where you just cry out, God help. God, I'm going to cry. I need help. I'm struggling.

I don't know what to do. Jesus is not saying this is the only way to pray. Look through the Gospels. Jesus prays other prayers. Look in John 17, the lengthiest prayer we have from the words of Jesus. He prays other prayers. Look at the prayers that Paul says that he prays. Look at other prayers in the Bible. Look at the Psalms, which are prayers and songs given up to God in times of crisis, one after another after another after another after another.

Yes, yes, yes, all absolutely true. This is not the only way that we pray. That's why I say you can either pray these words daily from the heart or use them as a form of prayer, a pattern of prayer, but ultimately, ultimately, ultimately, the first concern as we're praying, the great overall concern is that God's name would be regarded as holy, that the world would recognize who he is. You can pray the same for the name of Jesus because it is through him that the world will ultimately come to know God. Lord, may the name of Jesus be exalted. May the name of Jesus be reverent. May people come to honor and glorify that name. May it be regarded as sacred by this world.

The world that blasphemes God, mocks God, doesn't believe in God, uses his name in vain. May the flip thing happen. May the ultimate opposite happen that his name would be regarded as holy.

Now, here's the thing. This will ultimately happen when Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom on the earth. This will ultimately happen when we see the fullness of the kingdom of God unfold in the future after Jesus returns.

But we can pray for it to be happening along the way. Scholars have recognized in interpreting the Lord's Prayer, biblical commentators, preachers and teachers have understood that this is something that we're praying in an ongoing way. There is a now today prayer and we're praying this in an ultimate way. So may his name be hallowed.

May his name be hallowed. May the world recognize who God is. So to the extent that we're hungry for the glory of God, to that extent we're praying according to the heart of the Father. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, whatever you do, do for the glory of God.

To see God glorified is to see the real thing. God in our midst. So you can pray this for your church community. God may your name be hallowed. May your name be regarded as holy in our midst. You can pray it for your region.

Lord there's so much godlessness here. May hearts be turned. May your name be recognized as holy. You can pray for your own family.

Sometimes when I pray this regularly as a pattern I would start with the whole world and then I'd go to America, Israel, pray for specific nations and ultimately come down to our own community, our school, our congregation and then ultimately my family and then ultimately my own life. Lord may your name be found and recognized to be holy through each of us. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

Your kingdom come. We are asking God to do what he desires to do. We can get so caught up in this life that we forget there are things that are much more important. Much more important than our job. Much more important than our health. Much more important than the economy. Much more important than the latest sports scores. Much more important than whatever is happening on the internet.

We get so caught up with so many other things we forget there's something more important. Your kingdom come. We are not to just soak in all the negative news of all the bad stuff happening and come away with despair. Rather we should be praying that every day the kingdom of God is advancing. When I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the Hebrew word for healing, Rafah, and concluded that its ultimate root in the Semitic languages, its ultimate root meaning is to restore and make whole out of which the various meanings come into the Hebrew Bible and the other Semitic languages.

Restore and make whole is the ultimate word. I did a lot of studying about divine healing and teaching on that and then I followed so my dissertation was finished. I got my doctorate in 85. Then in 95 I published the monograph Israel's Divine Healer. Israel's Divine Healer. And I dug even deeper into other literature about divine healing and miracles right through the New Testament. And there was one tremendous comment that I read, I think it was by Professor Fuller if I'm correct from many decades ago, that he said that the exorcisms of Jesus, this may be a close paraphrase if not exact, the exorcisms of Jesus represented the beginning of the end of Satan's reign. The exhortations of Jesus represented the beginning of the end of Satan's reign. In other words, in other words, as Jesus began to drive out demons and heal the sick, the kingdom of God was being displayed as he did that.

And this was now announcing to the devil it's over for you, it's over for you if it's over for you. The beginning of the end of Satan's reign. So consider this, in Luke the ninth chapter, Jesus sends out the twelve and he tells them go into a house city, preach the gospel, then heal the sick.

Right? Preach the gospel. The kingdom of God has come near you and then heal the sick, drive out demons. This is the visible demonstration of the kingdom of God breaking forth in this world. Then in Luke ten he tells the seventy, go, heal the sick, drive out demons and announce the kingdom of God is here.

So the first proclaim and then demonstrate, the second demonstrate and then proclaim. Wow. Utterly amazing.

Utterly, utterly amazing. So you say, okay, what's that got to do with us praying the Lord's prayer? Every time a sinner gets saved, the kingdom of God is advancing. Every time someone gets set free from satanic power, the kingdom of God is advancing. So invisibly, all over the world, for two thousand years now, with visible effect in front of our eyes, but invisibly for two thousand years, the kingdom of God has been advancing, advancing, advancing, advancing. Think, in the first days as the gospel was going forth, there were thousands saved. It was quite a few years before there were millions saved.

Now we're talking about billions. The kingdom of God continues to spread. Every day light shines in darkness and truth is revealed about who God is and someone comes to really know him. The kingdom of God is expanding. As redemption comes and families are put back together and other things happen, bringing broken lives together, the kingdom of God is advancing. The kingdom of God is advancing. The kingdom of God is advancing. It's beautiful, it's wonderful, but we're praying for the ultimate manifestation of the kingdom. When there'll be no war on the earth, when there'll be no injustice, when there'll be no pain, when there's no more sickness or disease, where sin is ultimately obliterated, we're praying for the kingdom of God to fully arrive. So it's advancing the earth daily. Every day as we pray, prayers are being answered and we're praying for the ultimate arrival of the kingdom of God and it's going to be absolutely beautiful and we in the Lord will get to be right in the middle of it.

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You keep getting this broadcast out. I want to read to you from the book of Isaiah, the 25th chapter. It's an exquisitely beautiful passage and it's a picture from the prophets of what it looks like, what it looks like when the kingdom of God comes on this earth and this is what we're ultimately praying for and believing for.

Isaiah chapter 25 beginning in verse 6, reading from the new Jewish version, the Lord of hosts will make on this mount for all the peoples a banquet of rich vines, a banquet of choice vines, of rich vines seasoned with marrow, of choice vines well refined and he will destroy on this mount the shroud that is drawn over the faces of all the peoples and the covering that is spread over all the nations. He will destroy death forever. My Lord God will wipe the tears away from all faces and will put an end to the reproach of his people over all the earth for it is the Lord who has spoken. Yes it's beautiful when God heals a sick person.

It's an extension of his compassion and love also often the way he reveals himself to them. So many have come to the Lord through healings and miracles but ultimately we're going to die. Ultimately there's going to be sickness on the earth until Jesus returns and sadly there's going to be poverty. We do what we do to help the poor. There's going to be poverty. There's going to be starving children. There's going to be needs on the earth. There's going to be agony, pain, the fruit of human sin. So much hardship in this world. There will be natural disasters.

They will end when Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom on the earth. He will intervene. He will rule and reign and that's ultimately what we pray for. Sometimes when you're despondent, sometimes when you just think, there's just so much suffering around me.

How can this be? No, the day will come when he will wipe every tear from every eye. Know that and that's what we pray for. Abba, our Father, Father in heaven, you're not just here and you're in heaven. You're ruling and reigning with all power and all wisdom and all might. Nothing is outside of your sight.

Nothing is outside of the scope of your vision. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, some say this means that whatever the will of God is in heaven should be the will of God on earth. There's no sickness in heaven. There should be no sickness on earth. There's no poverty in heaven.

There should be no poverty on earth. Now, I appreciate those sentiments and that mindset and I do believe that divine healing is something that God has promised us in this world. Obviously, we will physically die but he's promised healing. I believe that when Jesus paid for our sins, he paid for everything for our full redemption from this to eternal resurrection life. So, I believe that.

I believe all that. So, I believe in praying for the sick. I believe praying for the sick, we're praying in accordance with the will of God but that's not what Jesus is saying here. There's no death in heaven. Does that mean there's no death here? There's certain things, there's no sexual activity in heaven.

Does that mean there should be no sexual activity between a husband and wife here? There are other things that don't exist in heaven that are not for the here and now on the earth. But what this means is this, that in heaven, God's smallest, tiniest desire is instantly obeyed by the angels and carried out. Whatever God wants is instantly done. So, the same way his will is being carried out in heaven, may it be carried out on earth. Now from there, you may take out from that a belief in divine healing and a belief in eradicating poverty and other things like that. By all means, go for it.

Go for it. But what he's saying is, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth the way it's done in heaven. How is God's will carried out in heaven? Perfectly. 100% of the time without fail.

God's will is perfectly carried out 24-7. That's who he is. That's what he does.

Let me say it again. That's who he is. That's what he does. His will is carried out 24-7 perfectly, perfectly. Lord, may it be the same way on the earth. May people obey you. May your church obey you.

May I obey you. We should pray that people would be obedient to the will of God. And, as we align ourselves with the will of God, we pray that it will be carried out. We pray that righteousness will come, that justice will come, that truth will come. That the will of God will be carried out on the earth. So, we pray for it progressively. Each of these prayers we're praying in an ongoing way, progressively until that perfect day when Jesus returns and these things will fully come to pass. Then he says, verse 11, Give us today our daily bread.

Now, you might be surprised to know that there are many different interpretations of exactly what this means. Daily bread. Is it the bread for the next day? Is it eternal bread?

What does it actually mean? But, in Matthew 6 25, Jesus says not to be anxious about our physical needs. So, in context, Jesus is talking about the most basic needs of life. We should not fear or be anxious for them. We should be able to trust God for our provision. Now, Paul writes to the Thessalonians, If someone doesn't work, shouldn't eat. In other words, if you choose not to work, we're just waiting for the Lord to return for him to supply. No, don't eat then. Don't eat.

Ephesians 4, Paul says, Okay, the one that used to steal, don't steal any longer. Do something useful. Work with your own hands. So, we are to work, but there's only so much we can do. We do what we know how to do and we trust God for our daily provision. So, we use wisdom with finances. We avoid foolish decisions like going into debt to support luxurious living.

But, if we honor the Lord, if we repent of foolish decisions and ask him for wisdom and grace to make our way out, we can trust him, Lord. Every day, meet my needs. Every day, our daily bread. Whether it's spiritual bread that you need or whether it's physical food that you need. And we're not concerned with what happens in the world around us. We're not concerned and weighed down with the economy.

Yes, it may be that we have more and the economy is better and less when the economy is weaker. But, either way, we can trust God through the storm. And either way, we know as we give and we honor him that he's generous and gives back to us and blesses us and helps us and draws near to us. So, Lord, you know my needs. You know my family needs. You know I'm honoring you.

You told me not to be anxious, so I'm asking you to provide what is needed for today. And then, forgive us our debts as we forgive those indebted to us. Debt in Hebrew and Aramaic can also have the meaning of sin. So, in this case, we're asking him to forgive us for our debt of him.

The Greek word, aphesis, which is forgiveness, can mean release from debt. So, we are released from the debt of sin. Now, this is not a prayer of salvation. This is a prayer of relationship. In other words, Jesus saves us from our sins once and for all.

We don't get saved from sin every day, but it is a rule of life, 1 John 1.9, that if we confess our sins, in Greek this is ongoing, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, this is the prayer of relationship. Not the prayer of salvation, but the prayer of relationship.

This is the prayer that says, Father, I know you've saved me. I know I'm washed with the blood of Jesus. I know I have eternal life. If I were to die, I'd be with you forever. I thank you for that.

I know that. Lord, I've sinned. I spoke evil of someone the other day.

Lord, I had these wrong thoughts. Lord, I committed to pray and I've been negligent. Whatever it is, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive us our debts.

Forgive me for what I've done. Wash me clean and you receive it and you go on as we forgive those indebted to us, meaning those who have sinned against us. I want to focus on that and do a whole broadcast on the subject of forgiveness. Why Jesus says it's so important to forgive. Why he ties it in with prayer. When you stand praying, forgive. When you stand praying, forgive. Why is it so important and why does he say if you don't forgive others, the Father won't forgive you? Again, this is not in terms of salvation.

This is in terms of relationship. That's really big. Unforgiveness can really hinder our prayers. But how do we forgive?

So we're going to finish off the Lord's Prayer and then take up the important subject of forgiveness of sins. We come back on the Line of Fire broadcast. Remember, if you're looking for us on podcast, we switch the name a few months back to Courage in the Line of Fire.

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