Lords Prayer

When you are feeling lost, alone and needing help all you have to do is ask the Lord for help.  One of the best and most known prayers is the Lords Prayer and if you don’t know what to say, just say the Lords Prayer.  Matthew 6:5-13 teaches us how to pray the Lords Prayer.

“When you pray, don’t be like those show-offs who love to stand up and pray in the meeting places and on the street corners. They do this just to look good. I can assure you that they already have their reward.

 When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you.

 When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask.

 You should pray like this:”

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

Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.

Amen.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

The extra mile

The phase “going the second mile” has found its way into our modern jargon. It has its roots in first-century Palestine. The Romans had conquered much of the known world. One of the marvels of their conquest was a vast system of super highways which they had built to and from their conquered territories. There were over 50,000 miles of these Roman roads throughout the empire. At each mile was a stone marker. The New Oxford English Dictionary calls them “guide stones.” These guide stones pointed direction, determined distance, warned of dangers and each one of them had the miles to Rome etched upon them. This is where we get the phrase, “all roads lead to Rome.”

If a soldier forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles. (Matthew 5:41)

A Roman soldier could compel a Jewish man or boy of one of the conquered lands to carry his backpack or burden for a mile. The Jewish boy or man was required by law to carry this soldier’s burden for a mile. The origin of the mile comes from the Latin word for 1000, mille, because originally a mile was the distance a Roman soldier could march in 1000 paces. Most Jews wouldn’t carry the burden one pace  further than the law required them! This law caused terrible resentment among the Jews toward the Roman government

Can you imagine how the Jews felt when Jesus said, “Go the second mile?” No doubt, the audience said, “He must be jesting.” “Does he really expect us to do more than the law requires us to do?” In essence, Jesus was saying that his disciples need to do more than what the law is required of them. No one likes to be made to do the work of others, at the very least; we are apt to complain, argue, or simply refuse to be so used. Being compelled to engage in “community service” by law or by might is demeaning and perhaps unjust. But Jesus tells us to take the sting out of the situation by being willing to carry such a burden an extra mile in a cheerful attitude.

If we call ourselves Christians, then we need to understand that we are required to live in the second mile. when we chooses to carry the burden for a second mile, then we take control of the situation. When we live in the second mile, it moves us from slaves to masters. The first mile is the “have to” mile, but the second mile is the “I want to” mile.

• To love your neighbor is the first mile – to love your enemy is the second mile
• To bless those who bless you is the first mile, – to bless those who curse you is the second mile
• To do good to those who do good to you is the first mile – to do good to those who hate you is the second mile
• Praying for those who pray for you is the first mile – praying for those who despitefully use you is the second mile

The first mile is that which is required of us. It is the mile that is mandated for us. We live in a world where many do not even make it to the first mile marker. That is, they do not even do what is required of them. Jesus went the second mile for all of us. What does it mean Living in the Second Mile? It means to rise above the instinctive desire to strike back, get even, or settle the score and to meet evil with good. It means to swallow pride and abandon self-interest. It means to be slow to anger and quick to forgive.It means to live by grace in the face of the unfair.

Jesus went much farther than the second mile for you, He went as far as anyone could go. He went all the way to the cross to be our sin bearer and died for you and me.

Unbreakable

The rope-makers of the ancient world discovered that a rope made of a single or a double strand of thread could be broken so easily; however, a rope made of three strands was not so easily broken. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).  A person by him or herself, without fellowship, support, and love, is like a cord of one strand – they are not very strong. Each strand alone is no good without being woven around each other, when the 3 strands bind together they are unbreakable!  Two people who support and love each other, like a rope of two strands, is stronger. A three-stranded cord, however, is even stronger, this sort of fellowship can endure the trials of life’s journey.  In ancient times, rabbis said, “When two sit together and exchange words of torah, then the divine presence is among them.” Hear it from Jesus’ perspective: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).

One of the purest forms of worship is study. When we sing or pray, we give God our words. When we study, we receive God’s words. What a great privilege it is to hear, understand, and do the words of God! It is important to have friends to encourage us along the way. We understand the value of relationships between friends. The wise man said, “A friend loves at all times”  (Proverbs 17:17a). But we also have the need to be to become more like Jesus. Again, the writer of Proverbs declares, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

We all need people who will challenge, encourage, and hold us accountable to be better people tomorrow than we are today. We know we need to be godly people. We know we need to be like Jesus and “go about doing good.” Yet how often do good intentions come and go with no results?

I want to encourage you to find friends who will be supportive and challenging to your spiritual life. The disciples did that for each other. We need it, too.  Never yield to the temptation of listening to the enemy tell you that it is no use. But seek HIM with all your heart, lay down your sin and pride and know that it isn’t about you. It’s about your devotion to God and one another, and about what God is doing, and able to achieve among you.

As you are woven in an unbreakable cord of three strands, nothing in all the world an beyond will be able to separate you and each other from the love of God.

The Secret Is

If you believe Rhonda Byrne, author of the bestselling book The Secret, “The shortcut to anything you want in your life is to be and feel happy now!” According to Byrne, this has to do with something called the law of attraction. If you think only about things that make you happy, she says, happy things will be attracted to you.

Sounds easy enough.

However, the Bible says that “the secret” to life is something very different. It has to do with “the law of the Spirit of life” that sets us free from “the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2), not with the “law of attraction.”

According to the apostle Paul, the most important thing to know is “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). To those who are concerned with happiness now, this is indeed foolishness (v.14). They do not recognize the power of God in what appears to them as weakness.

The Lord created us with a desire to know what is secret. In His wisdom, He kept certain things hidden in mystery for a time (v.7). But now, through His Holy Spirit, He has made them known. And the secret He reveals has nothing to do with having happy thoughts in order to obtain happy things; it has to do with having the mind of Jesus Christ (v.16).

One did and one didn’t

What one are you?  Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left (Luke 23:32-33).  One of the criminals hanging there threw insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The other one, however, rebuked him, saying: “Don’t you fear God? Here we are all under the same sentence. Ours, however, is only right, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!” Jesus said to him, “I tell you this: Today you will be in Paradise with me.” (Luke 23:39-43)

When the one criminal ask Jesus to “remember him” he was asking for salvation knowing that his sentence to die on the cross was a just-one.  He never had the chance to know Jesus or worship him but Jesus told him Today you will be in Paradise with me.  One criminal made fun of Jesus and the other wanted to be forgiven, they both had noting to gain and was just hours from death.

No matter what you have done, it’s never too late to seek forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into your heart.  So, what side side of Jesus are you on?  Are you making fun of Him or do you believe He is the Messiah?