Model Prayer

 

Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. The bold parts are the prayer. The other parts are just some explanations.

Our Father (God has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us)

Which Art in Heaven (God watches over us from heaven, but at the same time He is with us wherever we go.)

Hallowed be Thy Name (His name is Holy, and we must keep His Name Holy)

Thy Kingdom Come (Our God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Just as a king rules over his subjects, God rules over the whole world. He wants to be the Lord of our lives. We must give ourselves to God so that His kingdom can live in our hearts.)

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven (God made the earth and all its many people. He knows what is best for this world. We need to let go of our selfishness and let God do His will in everything.)

Give us this day our daily bread (This is the part where we bring our specific needs to God and believe His promises that He will hear and answer.)

Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors (We must grant forgiveness to others so that we can receive forgiveness from God)

Lead us not into temptation (If we yield to temptation, it will lead us into sin. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death. We need to pray everyday that God will put his armor of protection around us to fight against temptation.)

But deliver us from Evil (If we have yielded to sin, there is deliverance from Sin through Jesus. Jesus shed His blood when He died on the cross.)

For thine is the Kingdom, and the power (God has never-ending power to do all we ask of Him in prayer, if we trust him and obey him.)

And the glory for ever (God's glory will last forever and ever)

10 Commandments

 

Exodus 20:1-17 

• And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 
• Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 
• Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 
• Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 
• Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
• Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
• Thou shalt not steal. 
• Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
• Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. 

The Ten Commandments in the New Testament

• Have no other gods before me                                        Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

• Do not make idols or images                                             First John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.  Amen.

• Do not take the name of the Lord in vain             First Timothy 6:1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

• Remember the Sabbath Day                                                 Acts 13:42-44  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

• Honor your father and mother                                             Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

• Do not Kill                                                                              Romans 13:9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

• Do not Commit Adultery                                                       Galatians 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

• Do not Steal                                                                              Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

• Do not bear false witness                                                     Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

• Do not Covet                                                                         Colossians 3:5-6 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

It is clear that the commandments are still valid today. The key to obeying them is to love God. When you truly love God, you will have a desire to obey His commandments. 

Erasing of Women

 In Afghanistan women are being erased from public life, The Taliban are creating 1 law after another that is causing the disappearance of women from public areas. Everyone can plainly see that this is wrong. 

In many other places women are being erased in a different more progressive way. Women are being replaced by men who say that they are women. We no longer have women's sports. It is amazing to me that in the name of equality we are taking away from women the very thing that women fought so hard to achieve. Even the understanding of the meaning of the word woman causes many problems. It was not so very long ago that women were proud to be women. They were proud of their achievements. They knew who they were. 

The erasing of women can happen in many ways. Some are obviously cruel and inhuman like in Afghanistan. Others are disguised and the damaging effects will take longer to come to light. 

The questions to ask are why doesn't the world like women and what can be done about it. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. However, without women none of us would be here today. 

Women are important. Women everywhere need love, understanding, respect, and appreciation. Women need safe spaces that are only for women. Women need the right to choose the life that they want. Whatever the choose may be, that choose should be respect and honored. Women need to be heard. The opinions and thoughts of women are worthy of consideration.  

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House of Prayer

  Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. Isaiah 56:7

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bough in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 21:13-13. 

The house of God is supposed to be a place of prayer. However, a quick look at the current state of affairs makes it clear that most churches are anything but a house of prayer. There are so many churches that seem to put on a show. Other churches seem to emphasize programs. Programs are not bad or good. It depends on the program. However, anything that replaces prayer as the main event is a problem. 

The apostles prayed about everything. 

 

Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Acts 1:24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

Acts 6:6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

Acts 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

Philippians 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

Philippians 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Notice that prayer was essential to the development of the early church. Prayer should be essential to our lives as well. 

Preacher Qualifications

 

This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 1 Timothy 3:1-7

These scriptures explain the qualifications of someone who wants to be a pastor. Unfortunately, not all preachers understand the implications of these scriptures.

• Blameless 
• husband of 1 wife
• vigilant
• sober
• good Behavior
• given to hospitality
• a teacher
• not a drunker
• not greedy
• patient
• not a fighter
• not covetous
• if he has children, they are well behaved 
• not a new Christian

Many years ago, my dad was beginning to attend church regularly. That is until one fatefully Sunday. This Sunday my parents arrived to see the pastor and another man having a fist fight in the parking lot. My dad saw, exclaimed how bad that was, and left. He stopped going to church. He did not regularly attend church after that for many years. Thankfully, he did come back before passing. 

Please, if you see a man, who claims to be a pastor, behaving badly don’t give up on God. God gave the rules on how to select a pastor. It is people who choose not to listen and obey. God gave these rules for a reason. The preacher, in my dad’s case, had chosen to settle a disagreement by brawling. He completely ignored the part about not being a brawler. In addition, his behavior on that day was bad, not good.

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Thinking Problems

 

Do you have troubling thoughts? Do you think about bad things? 

If you answer yes, then it is time to learn how to drive away bad thoughts. The devil likes to trouble you by sending thoughts to your mind. However, even he can be defeated by throwing scripture at him. 

Here is the best scripture I have found for defeating bad, depressing thoughts. 

Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

You may not be able to control the thought that passes by, but you can decided whether or not to dwell on it. A wise person once said, "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your head." That means you can choice not to entertain bad thoughts. What I like to do is quote the above scripture until I have defeated the bad thought.  

What is the reason?

  My grandpa used to tell a story about one of his most memorable sermons that he preached. This sermon was inspired by an event that happened the night before he preached the sermon. In his story, he said that he got up to preach and said, "I beat the fire out of my wife last night, and I did right." The congregation gasped according to him. He then asked the congregation how many believed that he did wrong. Everyone raised their hand. He went on to explain that he did right, and it is not what you do as much as it is why you do it. He then explained that it was cold last night when his wife took a shower. After she got out, she put on her gown and backed up to the space heater. Her gown then caught fire. In her fear, she ran. He had run after her, caught her, and put her on the ground to beat the fire out of her. If he would not have beat the fire out of her, she could have died. He then asked then again if he had done right. Everyone agreed that he had done right. 

In the Bible Jesus implied that you could do things outwardly correctly but still not be right with him. Let's look at a few scriptures.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Matthew 23:27-28

According to this they appear righteous unto men, but they are full of sin. They are so busy trying to follow all the rules that they forget the most important. 

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Matthew 15:7-9

It looks like it is a heart issue. Just doing things is not good enough. 

 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23

From this we get that you must have a relationship with Jesus. Just keeping commandments and doing good will not get you to heaven. You cannot work your way to heaven. 

That is not to say that obeying the Bible is wrong. Jesus also said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. 

Now let's look at the teaching of Paul. 

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. I Corinthians 13:1-4

Charity is translated love in many Bible translations. Jesus pointed out that they were doing things, but their hearts were far from him. Paul teaches that we need love. 

Jesus likewise teaches love.

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:36-40

We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. I John 4:6-8

If what you are doing for God is not based on love of God, please examine your motives and heart. You don't want to hear at the end of time, depart from me, I never knew you. 

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