Tag: Prayer

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A Fly in the Ointment

  JUNE 15

MATTHEW 6:12_as we forgive our debtors.

MATTHEW 6:12_as we forgive our debtors.

When God pays your sin debt, the kicks you used to experience in sin begin to disappear. If they don’t, then in the words of the great Miss Clavel: “Something is not right!” (Madeline – Ludwig Bemelmans).

You sin because it supplies some kind of satisfaction. It may be physical, emotional, or financial. When it no longer produces satisfaction (which is the nature of sin), you sink deeper into it. The deeper, the harder to come out.

When redeemed by the Savior, sin begins to lose its hold. There is no joy in sin for the saved. Just when things look good for the debtor, Jesus adds another piece to the pattern: a fly in the ointment.

Jesus’ prayer causes vertical forgiveness, from God to you, to be based upon horizontal forgiveness, from you to your offenders. This means God forgives you in the way you forgive those who wrong you.

I declare! Jesus just won’t let you get by with anything!

It takes a lot of love to hold people to accountability.

If you confess, repent, and ask God’s forgiveness, why should that have anything to do with those who wronged you? They need to do their own confessing, don’t they?

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is: your offenders and their confession is between them and God, but you forgiving them is between you and God.

A clear sign you have been redeemed is you want to forgive. Old sins lose their grip and hard hearts soften! 

PRAYER

Great Redeemer, Thank You for not only saving me, but changing me. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                               

Christ redeems me—He changes me!

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All the Time!

 JUNE 14

MATTHEW 6:12_our debts…

Your sin debt is too great. You will never be able to pay. It will remain in God’s ledger for eternity. To pay the debt according to the law keepers, you will have to keep every law, on your own—no indwelling Holy Spirit’s power. Humanly impossible!

To pay the debt according to Jesus, you will have to have a pure heart—likewise impossible! This looks like some kind of double jeopardy. You need a solution that can overcome the impossible! Where can you find that? Oh, wait! You have a key!

Use the key, unlock the treasure chest, and discover something incredible. The Messiah Savior has already solved the problem! He gave His life to cover all your debts. Only Jesus could do it because only He is the perfect Son of God. 

To make things even better, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart. The Spirit draws you further and further away from sin and causes you to hunger for holiness. Your taste for sin diminishes. When you do sin, the Spirit sends conviction. You humbly ask the Father for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 (KJV), “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!

PRAYER

Holy Savior, Thank You for paying my sin debt which I could never pay.  In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ is the Savior—He saves me!

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You Owe

JUNE 13

MATTHEW 6:12_our debts…

A debt is an amount of money you owe. It can also be some type of work you owe someone. Any way you look at it, it comes out the same way—you owe. 

You have acquired or promised something you have not completed, or paid. Payment must be made. Until the payment is received, it remains in the ledger as a debt. That debt is attached to your name. It will remain attached until it is Paid In Full.

Unfortunately, debts are made, circumstances in life happen, and the debt becomes difficult to pay—sometimes it may appear to be impossible.

The word debt here can be translated as sin. If, as the Pharisees, you link forgiveness with law keeping, you may feel you have it in the bag. Knowledge of the laws covers it all. Acts 3:19 (KJV) sees it another way, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

There is action here—repent. Repentance is to turn from a continual act of sin and let Jesus help you not to commit it again.

This verse adds to be converted. To be converted is to admit you can’t live or do right on your own. God does the work, the blotting out, and sends refreshing.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus,  I confess I am a sinner and only You can renew my heart. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ covers my debts—He will send me refreshing!

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Any and All

JUNE 12

MATTHEW 6:12_And forgive us…

If Jesus taught no more than the first three words of this verse, He would have taught a vital part of prayer.         

The Scribes and Pharisees saw life as a set of laws. They had the laws down pat, snug in their hip pockets (if they had hip pockets). They knew the rules, and kept them, why would they need forgiveness? That is, if all that mattered was rule keeping.

Jesus taught life as more about loving God and each other. He taught to give more than receive. This kind of life causes me to see my weaknesses and failures which leads me to my knees to ask God’s forgiveness.

Psalm 51 (KJV), “1 Have mercy upon me [King David], O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”

King David asks forgiveness for his sin. He also acknowledges something very important: his sin was primarily against God.

Any and all sins are against God. 

PRAYER

Forgiving God, I know when I have wronged Your people I have wronged You. Forgive me and change me!  In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ desires to forgive—He wants me to ask Him!

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To Be Filled With Jesus

JUNE 11

MATTHEW 6:11_our daily bread.

Not only does Jesus teach you to pray, Give us this day, but He adds, our daily bread. This prayer gives strong emphasis God is present with you daily, and cares about your needs daily. 

The need Jesus concentrates on is food. Jesus knows you need food. He has no problem with you asking for it in prayer. Jesus created food. After that, He created animals and man with the daily need for food. If God had created the other way around, Adam would have been one hungry fellow!

Creation is an example of God’s thought pattern, and organizational skills. He created the supply before the demand. More intelligent design.

In John chapter 6 (KJV), Jesus adds another twist to our need for bread. “33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Have you ever thought of adding to your prayers to be filled with Jesus each day? Start doing that—to be so full of Jesus you don’t hunger for the temporary things of the world.

 PRAYER

Bread of Heaven, This day meet all my needs by filling me full of Jesus! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ is the Bread of Life—I want to be filled with Him!