Current topic: Introduction to Salt of the Earth – a study worth reading.
Good morning.
I’ve mentioned a number of times in these messages that I personalise scripture passages when I pray. When we pray the Word of God, we pray right into His will and our prayer is much more effective. If we pray the passages that the Holy Spirit gave us (rhema) in the first person i.e. from our own perspective, we commit ourselves.
If we say: ‘I’m going to the cinema tonight, would you like to come with me?’ it depicts a formal approach where you invite a person with whom you have a rather superficial relationship. If you say: ‘Let’s go to the cinema tonight; what do you say!’ it shows intimacy where you know one another well.
“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father,’” (Galatians 4:6, also see Romans 8:15). “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him,’” (John 14:23). If we live by the Holy Spirit and obey Jesus, our Father in heaven is not a formal God somewhere out there, far away. He is then our Abba, our Daddy.
The Lord showed me something from the Lord’s Prayer. In this prayer we address our Father. Based on our relationship with Him, this prayer could either be formal and distant or it could be intimate and personal. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” (Matthew 6:9, 10). In the 1953 Afrikaans translation it says ‘let’ your name be hallowed, ‘let’ your kingdom come and ‘let’ your will be done. The Lord asked me: ‘Where should My name be hallowed, My kingdom come and My will be done in the first place?’ It should be in our hearts. If the Lord is holy to you, if His kingdom is reality in your heart and if you’re perfectly in His will, you are a formidable soldier to Him, aren’t you. Who is the best whatever - be it a soldier, a professional or a maidservant? Isn’t it the person who believes in what they’re doing, who are convinced of the cause?
I’ve therefore learned to pray: ‘Father, let your name be hallowed in me and through what I do, let your kingdom come in my heart and through what I do and let your will be done in my life and though my actions. I.e. wherever we go and in whatever we do, the Lord must be visible. Lord, let your name be hallowed, your kingdom come and your will be done in the hearts of those who observe and hear me. Let this happen when I pray for someone, when I witness to people and when they witness your miracles such as healing and deliverance.
Galatians 4:6 above says the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts calls out Abba Father or as Romans 8:15 puts it: “... you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” We need to have the Holy Spirit active and alive, living in us. This happens when we invite Him in and obey the Lord Jesus (John 14:23 above).
We should live and breathe the Kingdom of God. We are only sent to this world as missionaries from the Kingdom – we don’t belong to this world and therefore should not act accordingly. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you,” (John 15:19).
Lord, please become my Daddy so I could be completely focused on you.
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