The Lord's Prayer - 24 June 2018


Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be Thy name: we lift our hearts in thankful delight that you gladly call us your children, and have pleasure in being known as our Father! We are thankful that for your own name’s sake you have saved us in your Son Jesus; you are now saving us; and when Christ returns, we shall be saved! Therefore we pray…

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven: Oh may we always serve you here as we will one day serve you there. May kingdoms, nations and countries – to include these United States of America, Qatar, Romania, Russia, and Rwanda – let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5.24); that none would pervert the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow (Deuteronomy 27.19); that none would oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, or devise evil against another in their hearts, but rather that all would render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, (Zechariah 7.9-10). Further, we pray…

Give us this day our daily bread: look upon our worries, concerns, wants and lacks, and provide all that we need. Look upon those in pain, hurting, suffering, sick or sore, grieving or distressed….send daily help, fill them with daily hope, and daily raise their hearts. Also, we ask…

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: help us with changes of heart and attitude, to be ready to forgive those who ask; and just as ready to own up to our peculiar sins and faults and ask those we’ve wronged for forgiveness. And since your Son has said, “blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God” bring us to the place where we can be effective peacemakers between estranged people. Additionally, we ask…

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: we ask this for ourselves, our families, our congregation, Country Estates Baptist Church, Crestview Baptist, Crosspointe Baptist, Crossroads Baptist, all of our congregations in the Hills and Plains Presbytery, and for your church throughout the world. We ask this so that we may bless those who persecute us; bless and not curse; that we may rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep; that we may live in harmony with one another, not be haughty, but associate with the lowly and never be wise in our own sight; that we may not repay evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all; that where possible, so far as it depends on us, we may live peaceably with all, not avenging ourselves; so that we may not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12.14-21). And so we lift up our voices and hearts to declare your praise and say…

Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Ah, Lord! We are Animated by Anger and Anxiety, Fear and Fury..."

Image
I hesitate to put this out there because of the combative environment we are in at present. But I think some souls will take courage from this, and some will also join with me as we get to the end of this little composition. I am struck by the words of God in Zechariah 8. As he rehearses the waywardness and faithlessness of his people in the past, he clearly declares that he " set every man against his neighbor " (8:10). That got me thinking long ago. I started putting the pieces together and realized that one of God's acts of judgment is division, setting a man against his neighbor. That's what happened when he divided his people into the northern tribes and southern tribes (see 1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of Solomon's turning aside, allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the God of his father, David, the Lord brings about a rift in God's people. And this pattern of divisive judgment runs throughout Scripture. On the other hand, truthful unity is the g...
Read more