In the next few posts I plan to cover what is commonly called "The Lord's Prayer." Actually it is not the Lord's prayer but His instruction on HOW to pray. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray he answered them to be praying in this way:
"Our Father, Who is in the heavens: Your name must at once be made holy;" This translation is closer to the real meaning in Greek.
The first thing that we must pray is that Father's name is made holy, or honored as holy. Today, is Father honored or dishonored among His people? I shamefully say the later. To honor the Father's name is more than just words, it's living. I hear this "prayer" prayed so much, but in a religious way and those who pray it often are among the first to dishonor God in their living.
Is is an honor to Father to hold grudges? Is it an honor to Father to harbor unforgiveness in our hearts? Is it an honor to Father to complain, murmur, curse others, vindicate the self, succumb to sickness, live off of anti-depressants, borrow ourselves into oblivion and such things as these? There is no honor here, yet many so-called Christians live just like the unbelievers giving Father no honor or glory. We respond to crisis just like the unbeliever. When we need something, do we pray to God, believing we have received or run to Visa or Mastercard? When we are ill, do you run to the doctor or medicine cabinet first? I am all for doctors, but they are not our first line of defense against sickness...Jesus is! When we are depressed, what do we reach for? The bottle? Some drug? What happen to coming to our Source for what we need? What happened to declaring God's word?
No wonder Jesus addressed the Father's name being honored as holy! The religious leaders of His time did not honor God, but rather dishonored Him. Until the Father's honor is addressed in our lives, we can forget the rest of the prayer!
My prayer daily is that Father's name would be honored as holy in my life and in the life of His elect. It is high time we, as believers, restore Father's honor by living according to His word and demonstrating that what He promised is true.
Many Christians make God look like a liar and irrelevant in their lives. They claim salvation but live lives that do not demonstrate that salvation is present with them. They walk as the unbelievers walk in the vanity of their minds instead of by the Spirit residing within them. They live in worry, doubt, and fear and the result is an unholy living and mockery to the Name of our Father!
Saint's ARISE! NO MORE EXCUSES! Take your stand! Bring honor to YOUR Father by repenting and allowing God rule in your live. Let Him be magnified in and through you. Believe and TRUST in His word. This is the only way to truly honor Father as holy. This is the first thing that was on Jesus' mind when He was instructing His disciples on HOW to pray and it must be the first thing on our mind as well.
May our Father be honor as holy among His people...all His people from this day forward.
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