Intimacy Balanced By Reverence

Four times in Jesus' teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount He taught us to pray to "our Father". When He speaks of prayer elsewhere in the Gospels He also often makes intentional effort to point out the 'Fatherhood' of God. Indeed, when He prayed in John 17 He referred to God as Father at least 6 times. This repeated emphasis on the "Father" is a call to intimacy in prayer - a deep and abiding intimacy with God.
But in His model prayer He balanced this intimacy with the phrase "who art in Heaven." It was as intimate as a child with a father, but was also an intense reverence for the Almighty God to whom He prayed. He taught us to pray with a deep recognition of the authority and sovereignty of God.
As I have studied this model prayer this week I have come to understand that this intimacy balanced by reverence is the key to the whole prayer. It is because of our intimate relationship with the Father that we come to Him seeking His power, blessings, and aid. It is because we reverence Him as God of Heaven and Earth that we seek His honor, glory, and His will to be accomplished on Earth. The Master has taught us to pray with a great sense of intimacy and reverence - may we ever learn of Him how to pray in like manner.

Seeing Is Not Always Believing

"Seeing is believing," or at least that is how the old saying goes. But is it really true? Is the only thing required for us to believe something is that we are able to see it? This is often the argument against faith in God - God seems to be hiding. If only we could see Him we would believe Him. But is this really the case? In the Exodus account Pharaoh witnessed many infallible proofs concerning the reality of God. At first he tried to explain it away with the talents of Egypt's magicians, but soon their magic reached its limit while the power of God continued to manifest itself. Still Pharaoh refused to submit to the authority of God. It would seem that the problem was not so much with the evidence, but with the decision that Pharaoh made based on that evidence.
I believe that this is still the case today. I do not believe that there is a lack of evidence when it comes to the reality and power of God - on the contrary there is overwhelming evidence. But when all is said and done it comes down to what we do with that evidence. We either choose to accept it or reject it. But be sure, it is not a question of evidence, only a question of choice!

My Own Kingdom

I am becoming increasingly aware of my obsession with my own personal kingdom - I am obsessed with all things me! This obsession with my own kingdom is the primary hindrance to me being fully engaged in Christ's kingdom. I have known about this spiritual disease for some time now, but for some reason I am more aware of its manifestations today. It can be anything from my overwhelming desire to defend myself - as if my reputation was most important - or it can be my preoccupation with the goals and agendas I have created for my self. Either way, I am way too focused on my kingdom for me to be able to live for His. Today I pray for the ruin of the 'me' kingdom so that Christ's Kingdom would dominate my life today.

New To The Blog Scene

Well all the cool kids are doing it - everyone is developing their own blog. So in my quest for 'coolness' I have created my own. What will become of it? Who knows, but I hope to be able to share the love and life of Christ through this powerful tool.
And every now and then I might give a plug to them awesome Sooners!
PK