Monday 15 April 2013

The Forgotten LIne


The Forgotten Line
Read Matthew 6:9-13
     “May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.”                                                                                                         Matthew 6:10(ncv)
I admit I’m at times a bit of a control freak. I like to be in charge. I have at times preconceived ideas on how things should be. I think we all do.
It just seems to be human nature that we want things done our way.
I think that’s why so many people who pray forget Matthew 6:10.
Now, I’m talking to Christians here.
In my over thirty years as a Christian I’ve heard a lot of prayers. Especially, if people want something from God, or bad times are upon them. They tend to want the solution to the problem, to work out their way.
Some things asked for, I think, are justified. Who wouldn’t want a sick loved one or themselves restored to full health.
I remember people praying for my mother-in-law who was dying of cancer to be healed. 
They prayed and prayed, yet she died.
The family grieved deeply. Some of those who prayed for her couldn’t understand why she died, after all she was only in her mid-fifties. Others blamed God.
My wife confessed privately to me that her mother didn’t die. God healed her. You see, people are eternal beings and God was calling her home, to a place where pain and suffering were no more. He knew there was no cure here on earth for her, so he called her home.
My wife and I have always prayed, “Your Will be done.” It was something we learned early in our Christian walk.
It was the same words Jesus is quoted as saying in the garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus knowing what was about to happen to Him prayed
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; 
yet not my will, but Yours be done.” 
Luke 22:42.
We live in a so called  “fallen world”. A world living far from the ideal God has set out, filled with all kinds of evil.
Sadly, all too often, bad things happen to good people and for whatever reason, God lets them happen.
God simply asks man to have faith in Him, no matter the circumstance.
We must remember that it is God who is in charge and that it is His will that must be done, which is not always what we would like to happen.
Remember the Christian walk is all about God and His love for mankind.
So when we pray, let us look to the example of Jesus when He said,
“This, then, is how you should pray: 
“ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, 
 Your kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
                                                                                   Matthew 6:9-13

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