The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Friday, June 01, 2012

A Model of Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as [ it is ] in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.


When Jesus, at the request of His disciples, told them, 'In this manner, therefore, pray', it should be clearly evident that He was not saying that they must pray these exact words, but that they should look for, and therefore work for, His will to be done, and His Kingdom to come 'On earth as [ it is ] in heaven'.

Eschatologically speaking; Jesus was speaking directly to those present, in reference to the 'heavens and earth' of the Jewish, or Old Covenant ( 'first covenant'-Hebrews 8:7 ) economy, for it was in the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the demise of that sacrificial system that the last vestiges of the first covenant were destroyed forever and the Kingdom of Jesus the Christ was fully implemented. This Kingdom, prophesied in places like Daniel 2, was to be a progressive Kingdom, gradually filling the entire creation. 

Although the above is true; we can still model our prayers accordingly, realizing that though His Kingdom has come 'On earth as.......in heaven, and He has forgiven the sin of His people, we are His servants, His ambassadors, you might say, to bring His Kingdom to bear, through bearing the same fruit in our own lives, acting as He taught us!


As we implement these principles, first in our own life, then the life of our family and the larger covenant community, the Church, and through all of the above, in the realm of civil government, or politics, then, and only then, will we see the blessings for which Jesus taught us to pray. This is not to say that 'Heaven' has not been brought to earth, for this happened at the Advent and Revelation of Jesus, the Son of God; as God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel ( 2:35b ), 'the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth': this is/was God's doing, but it is through us, 'living stones' ( I Peter 2:4-6 ) and 'a kingdom of priests' ( Exodus 19:6 ( Revelation 5:10 ) that He has chose to advance His Kingdom!

Forgiveness=Love, Love=Forgiveness


Jesus began to teach them how they ( we ) should pray, by telling them first of all, that we should give Him due reverence ( 'Hallowed be Your name' ), then most holy and humble deference ( 'Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
' ), then allows for petition, both for necessary sustenance, and necessary protection.

Forgiveness is an integral part of love, as you may have heard, and from a human standpoint especially, this is true; if we cannot forgive those whom we are to love, we will not truly love them, even if our actions toward them show a 'kind' of love.The Love that God showed us, however, WAS Forgiveness itself! It was through His forgiveness of the sins of His people that God showed His Love for us, and through His Love that He showed His forgiveness. 'We love Him[b] because He first loved us' ( I John 4:19 ); it was because of this Love, embodied in Jesus the Christ, and the forgiveness of our sins, that we are enabled to forgive, and thus to love!

We then acknowledge why we revere Him, and acknowledge that it is His Kingdom, His alone the power, His alone the glory. Through our forgiveness of our brother ( sister, father, mother ), we show the Love that He showed us, and thus His Kingdom is advanced!

Let us continually seek the glory of His Kingdom, acknowledging that it is only through His Love, His Forgiveness, and His power, that we can work to do this. Let us forget our own glory, our power, our own strength, for aside from His; we have none!  

In His Name,
Charles Haddon Shank

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