By Every Word

The Lord’s Prayer 04

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Jul 192010

Luke 11
2) And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
KJV

Did you ever realize how deep this prayer was? I hope this is touching those who read to understand the concept of this model prayer taught to us by Jesus.

The next few words in this prayer are “Hallowed be thy name”. So we have established this corporate prayer, we’ve acknowledged Who we are praying to and What He is (Source and Sustainer), and where He is, Heaven.

Now this is where we usually mess up. We come into His courts and say “Gimme this, Gimme that, Gimme those, I need this, Why don’t I have that?” And God says to this…

Psalm 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
KJV

Where is your praise for the king? You don’t enter into a king’s court, before His throne without offering up your praise, your worship, gratitude for Who He is, and blessing Him. People in the old days bowed before king’s. They would bow and blow kisses when His chariot rode by, because they knew everything they had belonged to him. The land was his that he let them farm, the water was his that he let them drink, and everything else within the king’s borders was the sole property of the king. God is Lord (owner) over all the earth!

Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
KJV

He evens owns the people in His kingdom, and so He is responsible for them.

Listen to this very carefully…

God is not increased in stature, made God, or made King by our praise, worship or acknowledgment of Him. He is king by creation rights- He is king no matter whether we worship Him or not. Therefore praise and worship does not benefit the king… It benefits the worshiper!

When my son tells me how much He loves me, it doesn’t make me anymore his dad than if he didn’t. But, it does bring more of my attention on him. When he is good, and obedient, and listens to what I have told him- I notice it! I recognize him with my attention and affection. I want to buy him things and make him happy. We all do this. Do you buy things for your children, and give them whatever they want when they are disobedient, backtalk, don’t listen and run all over the store? NO! You get them in line… QUICK!

So it’s important to realize Who God is, and what He has done in your life. Then when you enter into His courts, into His presence, in prayer- you enter with praise and thanksgiving. This is the fastest way to get in the king’s favor. You bless Him and lift Him up! Tell Him how thankful you are and show Him how much you love Him!

I heard Myles Munroe explain a good example of this one time. He said “If I give you $100.00 and you say ‘Thank You’, so I give you another $100.00 and you say ‘Thank You’, and I give you another $100.00- what are you going to keep doing? Saying ‘Thank You’!”

Don’t enter His courts with requests and petitions of your needs without giving Him the praise, honor and glory He is worthy of! He is the King! You tell Him ‘Hallowed, Holy is Your name!’. Build Him up and get in the favor of the King!

The Lord’s Prayer 03

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Jul 162010

Luke 11
2) And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven…
KJV

It’s important to remember where the Father is- in heaven. Not on earth, but in heaven. Why was this important enough for Jesus to clarify in this prayer? Because right now what you need you don’t have. Everything you need, use, want, or desire is a resource of some kind. A resource can run out- you need to know the Source… and the Source is in heaven. What you need right now, you don’t have, so you need to tap into a Source that is from another place.

Remember God put us in the earth and He is in heaven. So earth is the outpost, but our home government is in heaven, which is where all of our needs are supplied from.

Philippians 4
19) But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Remember He’s the King of glory. So call upon Him today- your Source, your Sustainer- Who’s in heaven.

Can you see heaven right now? Go outside and look up… can you see it? Scientist have used telescopes to peer at galaxies billions of light years away but have yet to see the edge of space, which is reportedly expanding at almost the speed of light, much less heaven!

2 Corinthians 4
18) While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
KJV

Hebrews 11
3) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
KJV

WOW! Everything that was ever made came out of the invisible. Everything in the universe that can be identified from matter, antimatter, dark matter, dark energy and everything that has not even been discovered yet was made by the invisible God, Who is in heaven, which is not seen. So if everything came from the not seen, we need to know where that is… and that is in heaven. All of our answers, all of our needs come from the Father which art in heaven.

The bible says God “calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). So if we are made in His image, be like your Father- in your prayers, in your words- don’t look at the situation and draw conclusion- look at the situation and draw from God! Begin to call those things which are not as though they were! Activate your belief system, your faith! SPEAK IT INTO EXISTENCE! From the invisible to the visible, from “Our Father which art in heaven!“

The Lord’s Prayer 02

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Jul 152010

Luke 11
2) And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven…
KJV

So here is where Jesus began to teach the disciples how to pray. He says Our Father.

This is a corporate prayer. He’s not just my Father, or your Father- He’s our Father. Sometimes we get so caught up with prayer being about me, me, me- that we forget we are praying to the government of Heaven. We are sending up a petition from a member of the body of Christ. This word, “our”, builds unity into our prayer.

Acts 20
35) I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
36) And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.
KJV

Our brothers and sisters sometimes are weak and our prayers help to lift them.

Romans 15
1) We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
KJV

Ought means- you should do this, I expect you to do this, you better do this.

Look at how much is in this one word- ‘Our’. When we begin prayer like this it’s no longer just me, I am praying as a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven and I am praying a corporate prayer that includes all of us, which builds all of us and strengthens all of us.

Next, remember who you are praying to. The Father. This is so many things in one word. The word Father in the Hebrew is ABBA which also means source and sustainer. He is Source, Sustainer, Government, ABBA! Why is this important? It’s important because we are recognizing who He is to us at the start of our prayer. We don’t make Him Father God, He’s Father God no matter what- so it’s important that we acknowledge Him as Our Father. That’s all we can do- acknowledge Him. So when we begin our prayers we’re recognizing Him and saying “Our Source, our Sustainer, our Father”.

Please don’t miss this… A source is this.

Source: anything or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained.
Dictionary.com

When you call Him Father- you are recognizing Him as where everything that you need comes from. You are stating that everything that has been obtained, will be obtained, or can be obtained, can only come from Him.
When you call Him Father you are declaring Him your Sustainer- that means what keeps you and maintains you is Him alone! Praise God! That is a powerful statement!

I have to add this in here right now…

John 4
23) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

This use of spirit is very important. It is not capitalized so it’s not talking about the Holy Spirit, which is always capitalized. This word is lowercase and refers to “attitude and awareness”. You cannot worship God or pray effectively if your mind is not on what you’re doing. Your attitude has to be towards the thing, aware of what you are saying and who you are saying it to in order to do something in spirit.

So when you are calling on Him, Our Father, BE AWARE of what you are saying. When you understand these truths of these two short words, praying aware with an attitude of understanding- you’re calling upon the government of Heaven, Source and Sustainer of all things, in a corporate prayer from the body.

This is going to add so much to your prayer life- because we can only do something effectively, when we have understanding.

[Just as a side note: I am not teaching, to be so restrictive, that it’s wrong to say “My Father”. It’s just important for us to understand that we pray for others and that Jesus was showing it’s not just about us. What good is it, if I’m blessed and my friends and neighbors aren’t. Sure, they can pray- but we lift up the weak in faith in our prayers. We’re supposed to pray for one another. It’s not just about your blessing, your needs, your wants- it’s about the kingdom. It’s not about one citizen having all the wealth and all the health, it’s about His kingdom having wealth and being in good health. When we look at a country in the world and we see a few in power and living well, but most of the country is in poverty and sickness- there is something wrong. But when the entire nation thrives- wow how awesome. “What is it with those people, they are all in good health, all have their needs met, they all have joy, they all are blessed.”]

That’s Kingdom!

The Lord’s Prayer 01

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Jul 142010

Luke 11
1) And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Don’t read the bible too fast, otherwise you’ll miss important parts of God’s word. Look what His disciples asked Him.

‘Teach us how to pray’.

Now me personally, before learning this, I would have said “Teach me how to heal the sick, teach me how to open blinded eye, teach me how to make a pillar of fire come down from heaven, teach me how to walk on the water, teach me how to raise the dead…”

But no… they asked Him to teach them how to pray. This shows that prayer is something that needs to be taught. Do you know how to pray?

“Well, I just talk to God”

No, no, no… That’s not what Jesus taught. I will show you in the next few posts as we discuss the order of prayer. It was so important that the disciples asked Him- how to pray.

A Prayer For Uganda

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Jul 122010

Two suspected Islamist bombings occurred in Uganda today. As of this writing 64 are suspected dead. Everyone who reads this post today- take 60 seconds right now, and say a prayer for those in Uganda. This is a tragic event. Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters of someone were killed today. Life will be even harder for those individuals who have survived them- they will play this over and over in their mind.

Pray now… it will make a difference…

Purpose of Prayer – Lesson 1

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Jul 092010

This is message 1 of the Kingdom Study Series on Prayer. In this message we explore the question “Why do we pray?” We first have to review God’s purpose which will open up questions we have all asked our self. There is a reason for prayer… as kingdom citizens, it’s time we discover what it is. Understand the purpose of prayer, and you can finally pray with purpose.

Murder

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Jul 062010

I was talking to a Pastor friend the other day and discussing with him about prayer and the mind. See, I did something wrong.

I committed… murder. That’s right, I… committed… MURDER.

Now that I have your attention let me explain before S.W.A.T. breaks down my door.

I must start off by explaining something very important for kingdom citizen’s to understand. In law there is an idiomatic antithesis between “the letter of the law” and “the spirit of the law”.

The letter of the law is when you take and obey the literal wording of the law.

The spirit of the law is when you interpret what the original authors of the law intended by the law.

This is so important for us to grasp and understand when we read the bible. Let me explain a real life analogy that I used recently. If I am with my son about to cross the street, I tell him to ‘hold my hand’. Now the letter of the law would interpret from this that he is to hold my hand no matter what. Regardless of circumstances he must never let go, because he must obey the literal wording of what I have said.
The spirit of the law though interprets that the reason I want him to hold my hand is because I don’t want him to get hit by traffic. Both would accomplish the same purpose in most circumstances- but what if while crossing I faint and fall in the street unconscious? If my son holds to the letter of the law, he cannot let go of my hand for any reason, putting him in danger. But if he understands the spirit of the law then he’ll know I didn’t want him to get hit by traffic and so he will let go of my hand and get to the safety of the curb… and hopefully get me help! When we read the bible we must know and understand these two contrasting views- it’s important to know both.

Now let’s look at the bible when Jesus explained the contrast between the two.

Matthew 5:21-22
21) Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22) But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment

and this…

Matthew 5: 27-28
27) Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28) But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

This is revelation right here. See, there is a difference in what “we say” and what “He says”. Verse 21 of Matthew 5 Jesus is saying (paraphrase) “Look, you say if a man kills a man he is a murderer- BUT I say, if you even hate your brother you have committed murder.” See the problem with the way the pharisees taught was- by the time they realized they had done wrong it’s too late… someone’s dead or a marriage is wrecked. But the spirit of the law is that you have already committed murder in your heart if you hate your brother, or committed adultery if you look upon someone to lust after them. We have to understand God’s laws in order to obey them. If we think we have to kill someone to violate the law, but God’s intent is even the thought of it, then we never repent because of our ignorance. Our understanding has to be of the spirit of the word- so when we have these thoughts we’re convicted in our heart and can turn quickly and change our thinking.

Now, back to my charge. Sometimes it can be hard to pray for your enemies. I’m not talking about the occasional incident of someone who won’t let you yield onto the highway and you blow your horn at them- I’m talking about when you’re tested constantly for a season by someone who is in your life every day. This could be a friend, a neighbor, a boss, etc. You try to be the peace maker but it can feel like they want to destroy you, at least in the season. Now Jesus says to pray for our enemies and do good to them who despitefully use you. Sometimes we can feel like we’re doing this- but is it your words or your heart?

See in my situation with my words I was saying “Lord, bless them and help them- they need you God…”

But somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I was praying “LORD! REIGN DOWN BLOWS UPON THEIR HEAD WITH BOLTS OF LIGHTING FROM THE HEAVENS!”

This is funny now, but it’s serious. I was trying to pray and concentrate on what I was saying but somewhere in the back of my thinking, though I tried to hide it from myself, I was thinking “Well, God will understand what I really mean.” Sometimes we get the idea because we’re saying one thing that God will do the other thing because of our words… how incorrect. I realized then I had committed murder in my heart because of my aggravation of the situation. Now this whole scenario took place in about the span of 30 seconds… but that’s enough. It’s my understanding of the spirit of God’s word and my seeking of the kingdom and His righteousness that causes me to turn. I love Him, and if I love Him I will keep His commandments.

So… are you guilty of murder? Is there someone you have let get to you? You’ve tried to cover it up by praying for them with words only… but your heart has been resonating something else. Get rid of it now. Repent before that hate turns to bitterness. It’s not kingdom and you lock up heaven when this is in your heart. God CANNOT answer your prayers or release great things in your life when you hold the keys to earth and lock up heaven. It’s His word and His law, so He must follow it. (Matthew 5:24)

Release it now and unlock -(loose)- heaven again in your life.

Entangled

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Jul 022010

This is very important.

Make sure you understand this and remind yourself of it at all times.

You’re in a kingdom… God’s kingdom… that is, if the Spirit of God is inside you.

If you’re an American, Cuban law does not apply to you, while you’re in America.
If you’re Japanese, Russian law does not apply to you, while you’re in Japan.
If you’re a Dominican, Haitian law does not apply to you, while you’re in Dominican Republic.

When you’re in America you don’t even think about the consequences of North Korean law do you? No, because you’re in America.

Now if you are a diplomat from your country, say an Ambassador- you represent your home country. So when you travel to another country, you can not be prosecuted or charged according to their law because you have “diplomatic immunity”.

We are Ambassadors for Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5:20. Therefore we being “in the world are not of the world” and are not subject to the normal law that can come against us while here because of our diplomatic immunity. (Romans 8:33)

This can be be laws of sickness, disease, disability or disadvantage. Many people get these and think they have to deal with it. This is confirmed by a doctor. You can believe that, or you can choose to believe and remind the affliction that you’re under a different law.

The world may say, you have to put in lots of time and follow the corporate ladder to get to the top. You can believe that, or you can choose to believe your countries laws. Speak to the job situation and say “If God can bring a man out of prison to be the 2nd highest power in all the land in one day, He can do it for me too.” Then pray, believe God, and do your work.

We have to remind our self of God’s word. Remember it is the standing truth that everything measures up to. You don’t have to fight for it, you don’t have to force it… it just “is”. His word determines outcomes and judgment. His word determines everything.

We have to remind our self of who we are with God and what kingdom we are from. Remind our self of what benefits and law God has given us then live under that. It is so easy to get preoccupied with life’s tragic events. We can feel injustice sometimes, but remember to behave your self wisely and stay in alignment with His word. Sometimes we pray for a situation and it doesn’t turn out immediately the way we want it to and so we try to push it, force it. Not because of rights, but because of anger. This cannot be- we must remove our self from the current status of the situation. This is why- If we are His and we are in His kingdom, then everything is going to be alright… right? But sometimes we let the enemy snare us into living under the world’s laws- and that’s where satan has power. Not in those that live in the world, but those that “believe” they are under the power of this world’s laws. It’s mentality. If you “believe” something, that’s what it is to you. So if what you’re believing is not of the kingdom- repent (change) your mind, your thinking. Don’t be entangled with the affairs of this world.

Remember that nothing can stand against God’s kingdom, nor you… if you’re in His kingdom.

What If

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May 042010

What if we were concerned more about our relationship with God than our relationship with people? We seem to have this backward most of the time. We spend hours with people and very little with God.

If we looked at the kingdom for what it is, the government of Heaven, than we would want to stay in right standing with our home government. We would want to keep our relationship with the government healthy. After all if you are not getting your intelligence daily from the government- what do you know?

We are after all ambassadors for Christ…

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