Teach Us To Pray

Recently we finished a series of sermons based on the Lord's Prayer.

We called our series, "Teach Us to Pray."

The title of the series comes from the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray.

If there was ever anyone who could teach us to pray, it is Jesus.

We used the Lord's prayer recorded in Matthew's Gospel. We also used the King James version. 

Our reason for using this translation is simple: this is the way I memorized the Lord's Prayer as a kid. 

When I try to quote the Lord's Prayer from a newer translation, I end up messing it up and confusing everyone. So we memorized the KJV as a church.

Below is a short summary of our 6 week series. I hope it challenges you to begin daily interacting with God through prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

1 – 9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

We start our prayer with thanksgiving. Thanking Him for who He is.

2 – 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

We are asking God to establish His reign and to reveal His will.

3 – 11 Give us this day our daily bread.

Our Father wants us to rest in His daily provision and depend on Him to take care of us in every area of our lives.

4 – 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

God wants to forgive us and He wants us to learn to forgive others the same way He forgives us.

Remember: You will never have to forgive someone more than God has forgiven you!

"Forgiveness isn't saying they were right, forgiveness is freeing me from the hurts of my past, and empowering me to live free."

5 – 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

God wants to help us overcome temptation. Ask God to make you strong in the face of temptation and to help you live a pure and holy life.

"Why does God test us? To see what’s in us? No, he already knows.

He tests us so that we might know what is in our hearts." John Bevere, A Heart Ablaze, pg. 49

“God TESTS us to make us STRONG… the enemy TEMPTS us to make us WRONG!

6 – 13 For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Our priority in life should be to build His kingdom, through His power for HIs glory. Anything less means we are living for our on glory and not His.

It is my desire that the people who follow me as I follow Christ learn to have a habit of daily intreating with God. I believe that we need to make spending time in prayer a daily priority.

Jesus prayed often. If prayer was a key for Jesus life, it should be a key for our lives too!

I hope this blog entry has helped you in your pursuit of knowing God.

Just Thinking...

Just wanted to take a minute and write about something I saw as I was reading my Bible today.

Isaiah 43:11 NLT "From Eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done."

As I read this verse I stopped and just sat in awe.
God is B-I-G, big! And powerful. Yet just as big and as powerful as He is, He is also personal and cares so deeply about us that He holds us in his hands.

Check this next verse out.
Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much. 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

He loves us so much!

Just taking a minute to share something that caught my attention.

You Can't

The following Blog Post from Perry Noble a few weeks ago has really been challenging me.
Thought I'd share the post. I hope it challenges you too.

You Can’t

Posted: 08 Sep 2011 03:55 AM PDT

You can’t expect to be understood AND obedient.
You can’t do what God wants you to do and avoid conflict.
You can’t expect God to always make sense (it won’t always work out on paper!)
You can’t get to the next level without sacrifice.
You can’t follow Jesus and remain the same.
You can’t make a significant impact in the world if you are always playing defense.
You can’t honor God by trying your best to be someone else.
You can’t play it safe and please God (Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6)
You can’t avoid the tough decisions and make progress.
You can’t expect to impact the world if you are attempting to answer questions no one is even asking.
You can’t fail if you are doing WHAT God has called you to do!

Saw this on Twitter today from John Maxwell and wanted to share it!Joe

Quitting is more about WHO you are than WHERE you are.

By John C Maxwell

Back in December, I wrote about the importance of starting well. In the comments, many people agreed with me, but they also pointed out the critical nature of continuing after you start. They were right. Like I said at the time, starting and finishing are the two covers of the book. The main part – the pages – represents the day-to-day labor needed to achieve your goal.
Unfortunately, in many ways starting is the easy part. Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.”
What about you? Are you merely a starter? When the enthusiasm for a new idea fades, when the passion cools, when the odds against you increase and the results diminish, when it looks as if success is impossible, will you maintain your intensity and keep going? Are you tenacious?
Consider the fact that Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he succeeded. Oscar Hammerstein produced five shows that were flops on Broadway before staging Oklahoma, which had a record-breaking run of 2,212 performances. Thomas Edison failed in his attempt to create a workable lightbulb 10,000 times before creating one that finally worked. To achieve your dream, you need to be able to keep going when others quit.
To develop tenacity, keep in mind that…
Quitting is more about who you are than where you are.
Everyone faces difficulty when working toward a dream. And if someone fails, he can make excuses for what went wrong, how the unexpected happened, how someone let him down, how circumstances worked against him.
But the reality is that the external things do not stop people. Those who achieve their dreams don’t have an easier path than those who do not. They just have a different internal attitude about the journey. The great artist Leonardo da Vinci once declared, “Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed on a star does not change his mind.”
The one who achieves the dream sees the journey differently.
Instead of thinking, “Not enough people believe in me. I’ll never make it,” he says,

“My belief in myself is enough; I can make it.”

Instead of, “It’s taking too long to realize my dream,” she reminds herself,

“Dreams are realized one day at a time.”

Rather than, “Enough is enough! I’ve taken enough hits!” she declares,

“I’ve come too far to give up now.”

Instead of, “I don’t have the strength to hold onto my dream,” he tells himself,

“Hold on a little longer. The darkest hour comes just before the dawn.”

Novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe said, “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
And I love how H.E. Jensen expressed an achiever’s way of thinking: “The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee.” The only real guarantee for failure is to stop trying.
So when things go wrong, when the obstacles seem too great, when the difficulties get to be too much, when your dream seems to be impossibly far away, your job is to simply keep going. If you stop, it won’t be because of what happens around you. It will be because of what happens in you. Choose to see things differently. Success is probably closer than you think. Just keep moving forward.

Just a thought or two...

Just a thought or two...

Luke 1:26-38

Mary was the instrument God used to fulfill His promise.
Mary questioned the particulars, but she never questioned the promise.
Mary accepted the honor and the reproach both as God's will for her life.
God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

I'm glad God is a God who always keeps His promise!

Encourage Yourself

Last week my friend, Pastor Randy Snow, shared a devotion from 1 Samuel 30:6 which says, "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."

I'm not going to recap Randy's devotional, just believe me when I say it was excellent.
Every since that day I've been thinking about the last part of that verse: "...but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."

There's a lot of stuff happening in my life right now, and I'm sure in your life too. Many days fly by and it seems we get little or nothing accomplished. Often it's easy to become discouraged.
1 Samuel 30 tells of an account where David and his men had been dealt a hard blow, and when the people became discouraged and afraid, they decided to take things out on their leader.
But notice David's response to his own discouragement and the threats of the people... "...but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."


He encouraged himself in the Lord. He found reasons to rejoice, to be happy, to trust in the Lord his God.
We must daily trust in the Lord. We must daily give Him praise, in good times and in bad.
 
I've also been thinking of the words of the prophet Habakkuk, Habakkuk 3:17-18 says, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

The Joe Mayo translation, "Even though nothing is going right, even though I'm broke and not sure how things will work out, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

We must daily be encouraged in the Lord our God. He is our hope!
I heard a statement years ago that I think applies here, "If that don't light your fire, your woods wet!"

"David encouraged himself in the Lord... I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

Maybe today has been one of "those" days for you. Maybe it's been one of those weeks, months or years.
Encourage yourself in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord.

Earlier today I listened to a sermon by Missionary Mark Buntain. At the end of the sermon he said, "I do not pray for an easy life. I do not ask for an easy road. I only pray for consistent, righteous, faithfulness, humility, honesty, sincerity and obedience to the divine Word of God."

Pretty powerful statement!

Be encouraged. God good, He is faithful and He is our hope.
Rejoice in Him.

1910

Earlier this week, I recieved this as an e-mail from my friend Billy Ray.
Thanks Billy Ray!


1910 Ford Model R

THE YEAR IS 1910

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
************ ********* ***********
The year is 1910
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!

Here are some statistics for the Year 1910:
************ ********* ************
The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.

Fuel for this car was sold in drug stores only.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower !

The average US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per hour.

The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year ..

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,

A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard.'

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

The Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars ....

The population of Las Vegas , Nevada , was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school..

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.

Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the
stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health' ( Shocking? DUH! )

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help ....

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !

I am now going to forward this to someone else without typing it myself.

From there, it will be sent to others all over the WORLD - all in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

IT STAGGERS THE MIND!