What Now? The Kingdom

Has life improved over the last week? Has a little less stress and a little more confidence in the future become your reality? Probably not. They speak of a new surge in the Covid19 pandemic. New government restrictions and a limited Christmas celebration. It is all for our good, so they say. The cacophony of voices can drown out that still small voice of, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." In my last post I spoke of assurance we can find in a common prayer that many of us have memorized. It is recorded for us in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. A reminder that God is our heavenly Father. He has a perspective that we can lean on and a love we can trust. Our heavenly Father is not unaware of our situation. We are welcome to call Him, Abba, and rest in His arms of comfort and protection. In the times and situations we find ourselves in we may adopt a, sort of, bunker mentality. "Keep your distance and just let me hide away until it is all over." However, that attitude may well be self defeating when it comes to God's answer to the "What Now?" question. God's prayer not only gives us comfort it also gives us purpose.

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done", is the request we are to make of the Lord God Almighty. It is a thought provoking phrase. If I do not pray will that prohibit the coming of His kingdom? And what of God's will? In the long run can we ever escape His will? I mean, isn't God going to do what He desires to do? As sovereign Lord doesn't He have this all worked out in advance? If I sequester myself in my basement would it make any difference? That odd tension between God's will and my responsibility never seems to go away. Paul's question to the Romans's in 10:14 comes into play when we think of hiding in our attics. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" We are the answer to the "how." Praying, like faith, takes action if it is going to be effective. James uses a bit of an edge as he directs those scattered to have a faith that works. James 2:16, "One of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what good is it?" If you are praying for God's Kingdom to come you need to be doing things to advance His kingdom now, day by day. Covid or not, government edicts or not, we are to be actively advancing His kingdom. We still have a purpose. We still have responsibilities.

To accomplish this we simply have to do God's will. That, in and of itself, could fill a significant number of posts. Knowing and doing God's will has been a means of selling a plethora of books while leaving many a weary believer feeling inept or discouraged. Jesus asks us to pray that God's will would be done, "on earth as it is in heaven." That is supposed to be helpful. However, I have yet to visit heaven or have viewed a valid documentary on exactly how heaven works. I do imagine it runs smoother and more in tune with God's will than our current situation here on earth. Fortunately the Lord has given us a book on establishing His kingdom readily available to most of us. We need to be well versed in His Word if we are to know His will. Let me just give a few hints that may be helpful. We should be those who live by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is a bit easier to know. The Apostle Paul was directed to give the Galatians a list of nine aspects of the Spirit's fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Each day, even each moment, allows us to put this fruit on display. Our responsibility is to incorporate these various aspects of Spiritual fruit into our lives. It is fairly easy to imagine that being in glory would reflect these attitudes so we can both, do God's will, and advance His kingdom, as we live out Spiritual fruit.

Society is fragmented and hatred has spread like a cancer infecting millions. Sacrificial Godly love is the cure. We are surrounded by anxiety and fear so showing joy and peace would be a kingdom response. How about those lines with angry people joining in the odd contest of toilet paper hording? Could a bit of patience and self control put God's kingdom on display? Our communities could obviously use some gentleness and kindness. That just leaves the opportunity to weave a bit of faithfulness and goodness into our interaction with the local representatives of humanity. With that we are on our way to doing God's will and helping to get a little of His heavenly kingdom into our earthly realm. Could that be doable? We could even start tomorrow with minimal training. We simply need to make the choice to produce spiritual fruit instead of the world's corruption. It is one simple step forward that does not require governmental approval or the "right" person in the White House. 

What now? How about coming confidently to our loving heavenly Father, trusting in His care. Then we might start praying for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done. We could go about advancing His kingdom a little each day. There are lots of ways to be obedient. If you need a place to begin, living out His Spiritual fruit might be a place to start. It certainly couldn't hurt.

The Lord's Prayer Is Not For You

As the New  Year begins we may have determined that we need to enhance or begin a stronger prayer life. A few months ago we took time to look at the "Lord's Prayer" recorded for us in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. We considered the prayer phrase by phrase and, hopefully, gained a few insights as how to come to the Lord and how we might offer prayer to the God Who longs for us to come to Him. Having given this a little more thought there are a couple of additional things to consider that we have overlooked. In our Western culture we may well see the prayer as one given to us as a model or type of prayer to copy as individual believers. That this is a prayer just for me and about how I can address the needs in my life. It is certainly true that there is personal application and direction for my prayers here, but was that really the intent of the disciple's question or the Lord's response?

Luke 11:1 records the introduction to the prayer given, "Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” The request was one that would give them a prayer uniquely from their Rabbi, just as other Rabbis had given their disciples prayers to recite. Part of the tradition of rabbinical instruction was that of prayers to recite. John the Baptist had his disciples and he had taught them prayers to recite as a group. The request was not, "Teach me to pray", but "Teach us to pray." Shared prayers of the Hebrew community was common. The reciting of morning prayers and evening prayers among the Jews continues to this day. The Lord gave Moses a specific prayer of blessing for Aaron and his sons after him to recite over God's people.  “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26). It is a blessing still proclaimed today. It is a prayer of blessing for the whole community not just an individual. The prayer the Lord gave His disciples reflects that. "Give us this day", "deliver us", "forgive us", (emphasis added). It is not about me, it is about us.

If we take this to heart it could bring some changes to our prayer life in the year to come. If you have not, take a little time to memorize the prayer. Many assemblies already recite the prayer regularly and repetition is a good way to memorize. If this is the case you have a bit of a head start. Consider keeping this prayer in mind as you pray for those around you. That they all would recognize the intimacy of the Father with you. That they all would see God's daily provision and live in anticipation of His coming Kingdom. That they would be bold enough to offer a plea to be rescued daily from evil and testing that can damage our confidence in the LORD. As we integrate this community prayer into our prayer for the community we will become less focused on ourselves and more on those around us. That blessing for Aaron and his sons is another prayer to add to your memory and draw from as you come to the Lord in prayer. The disciples were not looking for an individual prayer but for a prayer to share. A prayer to recite together and to draw from as they prayed for one another.

One final thought. Many of us in the evangelical community shy away from reciting prayers as a congregation. The fear is that they might become routine and lose their meaning. That somehow "liturgy" is a bad thing. It is just repetitive words that lack individual passion. Yet, God's people have been reciting prayers for generations and generations. The "Shema" is certainly a positive passage that pretty much all Jews know. It comes from the first word "hear" in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength." Not a bad reminder. Add verses 6 through 9 and we have a purpose for life and direction to pass onto generations to come. There are other doxologies God has given us from Romans 11:33-36, Philippians 4:20, 1 Timothy 1:17, and Jude 1:24-25 to name a few. Perhaps we would do well to fill our hearts and minds with the prayers and praises of Scripture to recite as a community or to use as we pray for the community. In so doing we may discover that our prayer lives become a bit less egocentric and bit more about those around us and those we come to call brothers and sisters in Christ. Why not wake up in the morning and proclaim God's blessing upon your community or quietly remember that He is able to keep us all from stumbling. Remember that prayer the Lord gave His disciples, was not just for you, so don't keep it to yourself.

God's Leading Me Where?!?

Have you ever asked God for direction? Have you asked Him to lead you in the right path, to make the right decisions? Most of us have, be it direction for a job, school, church to attend, place we should live, even who we should marry. We are encouraged to ask, to pray for direction even to follow David's example in Psalm 25:4, "Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths." It seems reasonable that we would want to be on the right path. Asking the Lord to keep us on the right path is a pretty common request. However, have you ever thought about asking God to not lead you? In this series of posts we have been considering the instructions Rabbi Jesus gave to His disciples. The phrase we consider today is an unusual request. The disciples are instructed to ask God, their Father in heaven to not do something.

The phrase is, "And do not lead us into temptation" (Matthew 6:13a). Why do we specificity need to ask God to NOT lead us into temptation. Why would God lead us there? I thought James wrote that this couldn't happen? James 1:13 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." If God does not tempt anyone, then why are we instructed to ask Him to not lead us there? Perhaps a look at the Greek words will shed some light on this apparent dilemma. The Greek word translated "lead" is eispherō, It means to lead or to bring in. It appears only seven times in the New Testament. Here in Matthew 6, and in Luke 11, the other version of the Lord's Prayer, where it is translated lead. The other five instances the word is translated "brought" as in Luke 5 where they "brought" the paralyzed man to Jesus. Either way Matthew's record of this prayer is that God would not lead or bring us into temptation.

The real help comes from understanding the word translated "temptation". This is the Greek word, peirasmos. It does indeed mean temptation; however, it is also commonly translated test or trial. A test or trial may be a positive thing or a negative thing. It depends on where it comes from and how we respond. Satan brings temptations to wound us and to draw us into sin. We are not exempt from these things. Messiah had this experience. Luke 4:13 records the encounter between the Lord and the devil in the wilderness, "Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time." This temptation was meant to harm. Peter gives us another perspective. 1 Peter 1:6, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials." We rejoice in spite of the trials that come upon us. James takes it a step further telling us, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (James 1:2). It is through trials or temptations that we grow in patience and strength in the Lord. Peter tells us that these trials are to be expected. "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you" (1 Peter 4:12). Trials are God's way of bringing us to maturity. Resistance will build our "faith muscles". It is through these kinds of temptations that we gain strength as we trust and depend upon the Lord.

We cannot void these faith building experiences. They are God-designed to help us grow in faithfulness and patience as well as having the experience to help others as they travel down their path with the Lord. Our experience can help them in their spiritual journey. This is the positive aspect of those trials and temptations. Yet, we all know that we have weaknesses that can tempt us to stumble. Those temptations can lead us into wrong thinking, wrong decisions and sin. James made that clear. It is, therefore, wise to ask the Lord to protect us from exposures to those weaknesses, those temptations. Lord as you lead me through this day do not let my path wander into areas where I will fall into destructive temptations. Instead deliver me. Which is what we will look into next week.

Temptations, trials, and tests will come. Count on it. The question is what will you do with it? We want to depend upon the Lord and know success and victory. However, some times the best victory comes from avoiding the battle where we are vulnerable to fail. Asking our Heavenly Father to not lead us toward paths of temptation but to protect us and lead us in the paths of righteousness is a prayer worth praying.