Theme for week: Prayer Teaches Us About God
November 12, 2021 Friday)
The Model Prayer given to us by Jesus (Matthew 6:8-11 KJV): “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.”
The Model Prayer teaches us lessons about God: We are relatives of God (He is our Father). We are reverent before God (His name is holy). We are relevant to God’s will (Thy will be done). We are recipients of God’s gifts (Give us..bread). We are redeemed by God’s love (Forgive us our debts).
The closing petition in the model prayer is “Forgive us our debts,” or, as I learned it as a first grader in 1937, “Forgive us our trespasses.” Forgiveness of our sins by our Heavenly Father is conditioned upon our forgiving sins against us by others.
Billy Graham had a story about a good old country boy who was saying good night to his sweetheart. For the very first time, they kissed each other as they parted. He then jumped high, clicked his barefoot heels together, and ran home, As he crossed a field of crops he was seen smiling and shouting, “I ain’t got nothin’ agin’ nobody now!” Touched by love, he was willing to share it with others.
We who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord are willing to thank Him for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus made it clear that acceptance of God’s forgiveness for ourselves results in our own forgiveness of others.
God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to die on the Cross for our sins. When we accept Him as our Savior, He gives us a new life. We become new creations. Not only are we given assurance that we will go to Heaven when we die, but we are given a new outlook on life, We now want to worship and adore our Lord and we are enabled to forgive anyone who has hurt us along life’s way.
We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, born again, and have been given a desire to love and serve our Lord.
God’s love in Christ has reached us; now we want to show others how much the Lord loves them by loving them ourselves.
AN EVENING PRAYER
Author: C. Maud Battersby
Music: Charles Gabriel
1911
If I have wounded some poor soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive.
If I have uttered idle words in vain,
If I have turned aside from want or pain,
Lest I offend some other through the strain,
Dear Lord, forgive.
Forgive these sins I have confessed to Thee,
Forgive the secret sins I do not see,
Guide me, love me and my keeper be,
Dear Lord, forgive.