- 22 hours ago
In our daily meditations, we study Jesus' teachings to His disciples, as found in what is commonly referred to as The Sermon on the Mount, in chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew. Yesterday, we began examining the prayer that Jesus taught them in Matthew 6:9-11. It is possible that the disciples' prayer was intended as a model or an outline for our prayer life. We noted that the prayer consists of five parts and discussed the first two. Today, we will explore the other three parts of the prayer:
3) Give us today our daily bread.
a) At this point in your prayer, thank Him for His provision for you and your family. Then, pray about your work, which God uses to provide food for you and your family. Ask for direction and wisdom in what you do for Him.
b) Use this time to remind God of His promises of blessing. Request that God expand your influence and open doors of blessing.
c) Seek specific guidance from Him on how to manage your time, energy, and money for His kingdom purposes. Be receptive to the Lord’s promptings about helping others with material support.
4) Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Our time of prayer now focuses on being in a right relationship with God and others. The Lord makes our forgiveness conditional on our forgiving others. Grace has not reached the depths of our hearts if we have not forgiven others. The overflow of God's forgiveness in our lives is so abundant that we, in turn, want to forgive others and release them from any obligation to us. If we have not genuinely forgiven others from our hearts, we have not fully comprehended what it cost God to forgive us.
a) In asking God to forgive us our debts, we are to allow our lives to be inspected by God and be completely honest with Him about our sins. David prayed for God to “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).
b) Confess your faults to God. Ask Him for specific strategies to overcome your sinful nature. Job wrote this about his plan to overcome his sensual lower nature: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl” (Job 31:1). He carefully considered specific strategies to overcome, so go and do likewise!
c) During this time of introspection, ask God to reveal anyone you have not forgiven, such as someone who may have hurt you. Ask Him to work in you so that you can genuinely forgive from the heart. Pray for God’s blessing on those who come to mind.
5) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
a) Ask God to free you from every occult influence or curse directed at you due to your desire to live a life that pleases Him.
b) Pray that the armor of God will be upon you. At this time, you may want to request God to buckle the belt of truth around your waist and for His righteousness to serve as a breastplate over your heart. We need our feet fitted with readiness to carry out the Gospel of peace, a shield of faith to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one, the helmet of salvation to protect your mind, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, to be powerfully used in you and through you (Ephesians 6:13-17).
c) Pray that when temptation and trials of your faith arise, you may stand firm and not fall into compromise.
Conclude your time of prayer with an acknowledgment of the One you live for and to whom you are committed. Finish with a song or a psalm of praise.
Prayer: Father, please keep teaching us how to live free from all occult strategies against me and my family. Amen. Keith Thomas
This meditation is from the complete study found at the following link: https://www.groupbiblestudy.com/engsermon/4.-the-heavenly-rewards-of-the-believer