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Showing posts from September, 2021

Always On Guard

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     We are coming to the final phrases of the prayer that we know as "The Lord's Prayer."  A precious gift from Jesus, this model prayer leads our hearts to a place of alignment with the will and heart of our Father God.  Many of us know this precious prayer by heart.  If you don't, I challenge you to commit these four verses to memory.  At times when words fail us, the words of our Savior will direct our spirits to a place of peace, calm and strength through whatever storm we are facing.   As Jesus closes this His time of instructing us in prayer, He directs us to request deliverance from temptation and evil, or "the evil one (NIV)."  As Pastor Rob reminded us recently, Jesus was tempted by Satan and gave us the perfect example of combatting the attacks of Satan with Scripture. If you missed that message, click here .  Jesus experienced every temptation that would be presented to us. He was sinless in His humanity and y...

Forgiveness

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mybible.com   After Jesus teaches us to request our daily physical needs from the Father, He directs us to ask for forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the foundation of our open communication and relationship with a Holy God. It defies His nature to come before Him with sin in our hearts.   biblepic.com Now this is NOT referring to salvation.  However, this is referring to our relationship, or our fellowship with our Father.  Note here in "The Lord's Prayer" that we must forgive first, before we can expect to receive the forgiveness of the Father.  Our hearts are not open to receive forgiveness when we are harboring bitterness toward another.  Once we release that, we are in a position to request the restoration of our relationship with the Father.  Only then can we experience the full reality of the grace He freely pours out to us.   This forgiveness is not limited to certain sins.  There are no qualifications listed here.  We m...

Trusting His Plan

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credit: abstractiondesigns.blogspot.com   As we continue to follow the directions of Jesus regarding prayer, we come to two convicting phrases:  "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10, ESV) Asking for God the Father to establish His Kingdom on earth acknowledges His power and sovereignty over all.  While I give lip service to God's power over all, I was convicted during this study to ask myself: Do I truly ask God to rule and allow His Kingdom to be established in my everyday requests?  He wants us to hand over our marriages, our children, our goals and desires to Him in complete surrender to His Kingship.  Ouch. Living our lives in submission to the Holy One demands that we live, act and pray with the realization that He has a plan for each of us, and it is good! Further, His plan for us plays an important role in His Kingdom Plan for all of the universe.  Mind blowing.   It's easy to forget that w...

Resources For Your Christian Walk

  Promise Ministries Church Type A Christian Revive Our Hearts Blue Letter Bible