- araratchurch
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
“In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV
Jesus, having just been baptized by John the Baptist, now had an appointment to keep. Before beginning His public ministry He would face a time of testing by the devil in the wilderness.
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.”
Luke 4:1-2 NKJV
Yes, after 40 days of fasting in the severity of the wilderness, the Lord was approached by the devil who put him through three temptations. In each case, the devil‘s motive was to get Jesus to do what h
e said, rather than remaining true to the will of the Father.
If you are familiar with the story, you will know that Jesus countered the devil with the word of God. He did not try to argue with the devil. Rather, He used the word to dispatch him.
Temptation is common to mankind. Jesus, taking on our form, was subjected to all things to which we are subjected. But He did not sin.
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Hebrews 4:14-15 NKJV
Because Jesus remained steadfast in His obedience to the Father in all His temptations, those of us Who believe that His blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness, can confidently ask Him to help us when we are facing temptation.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
Make no mistake, the Lord is not dangling things in front of us, trying to trip us up.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
James 1:13-15 ESV
Now, the Lord may lead us into a time of testing. He does this to help us practice what we have learned, to purify us, and to help us learn to trust Him for strength to endure. Additionally, we can be sure that He will give us a way to escape temptations unscathed.
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
I Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
For today we consider the portion of the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Do not lead us into temptation.”
Child of God, the Lord wouldn’t suggest that we pray for something that we didn’t need. We are human beings living in a fallen world. Outside of Christ we have no hope of overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil with the accompanying temptations. Indeed, the word of God tells us this:
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8:6-8 NKJV
But thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, He has provided a way for us to be cleansed from all sin and be led by his Holy Spirit into all righteousness.
Additionally, as we have been discussing, the Lord is able to keep us out of temptation and/or out of sin in the midst of temptation. We need only to ask Him, believe Him, and obey Him.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
20 “In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV
Jesus told a parable about a king who decided to balance his books. In this process a servant was brought before the king who owed him a great amount of money. Unfortunately, this man’s debt was much greater than he could repay. Therefore, the king ordered that he, his wife, children, and all his possessions, be sold to pay the debt.
Facing such a terrible plight, the servant begged the king for mercy, promising him that if he gave him more time, he would eventually pay back the whole debt. At this point, the king not only granted him mercy but forgave the whole debt.
Sadly, as soon as the forgiven servant left the presence of the king, he found someone who owed him money and a very different scenario presented itself.
““But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.”
Matthew 18:28-30 NLT
It’s hard to believe that this servant who had been forgiven so much, would turn around and do to someone else what he begged not be done to him.
The bad news for this unmerciful servant was that some of the other servants saw what he had done and went and told the king about it.
““When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.”
Matthew 18:31-34 NLT
As we see, the king then subjected the unmerciful servant to the same judgment he exacted on his debtor. Jesus then offered this commentary on the parable:
““That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.””
Matthew 18:35 NLT
One of the Beatitudes given by Jesus stresses the importance of showing mercy.
“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.”
Matthew 5:7 NKJV
James makes clear that the way we are judged will be based on the way we judge others.
“For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
James 2:13 NKJV
Today we consider the portion of the Lord‘s prayer that says, “as we forgive our debtors.” Yes, as we noted yesterday the Lord wants to be merciful to us. But He wants us to understand that His mercy is contingent upon our showing mercy to others.
Indeed, after sharing the model prayer with His disciples, the Lord warned that their forgiveness was contingent upon whether they forgave others their trespasses.
““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV
Child of God, if we expect the Lord to be merciful to us, we must be merciful to others. Otherwise, we have set a standard that will come back to bite us!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
“In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV
David had done the unthinkable. He had fallen into sin. And now—to cover his sin—he had ordered circumstances that would lead to Uriah‘s death.
The Prophet Nathan had just confronted David with his sin by offering a scenario illustrating what he had done. Upon realizing the severity of his failure, David turns to the Lord for forgiveness and restoration.
“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.”
Psalms 51:1-3, 7-8, 10, 12 NLT
If you are familiar with the story, you will know that the Lord did forgive him. There were consequences; but the Lord forgave him.
“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
Psalms 51:17 NLT
Indeed, David knew that he would be forgiven because he knew the nature of his heavenly Father.
The great news is that David’s heavenly Father is also our heavenly Father. The Lord wants to forgive us. He wants us to start each day with a clean slate.
Imagine if we never bathed our bodies, brushed our teeth, practiced basic good hygiene, what a mess we’d be in and may suffer because of it.
Yet, we may let the circumstances of life, and yes, our own failings, our own sin, pile up in such a way that we’re always facing every new day with residue from the days, months, and years, we’ve lived before.
For today’s portion of the Lord‘s prayer we consider: “And forgive us our debts.” Bear in mind that this is said after asking for daily bread. And, as we discussed, our provision is on a daily basis.
The Lord then instructs that we ask for forgiveness. This is also done on a daily basis to make sure there’s nothing between our soul and our Savior, to truly be able to start each day with a clean slate before God.
Child of God, don’t live another moment without asking the Lord to forgive you. You don’t have to worry about whether He will forgive you or not. As John said:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I John 1:9 NKJV
Remember, God wants to forgive us!
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18 NLT
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!