Will we be satisfied with little nibbles of bread for ourselves, or will we beg for loaves because someone is needing a miracle? The door may be shut now, but we keep knocking. We keep asking. Do you have the resolute boldness that goes beyond normal restraint, with no sensitivity for what is proper like Jesus taught us to pray that never gives up, never quits? We have nothing to offer others without Jesus, without hungering after Jesus for the loaves, the overflow to offer the people around us. “Lord, teach us to pray without ceasing!”
Luke 11:1–22, Matthew 25:6, Matthew 11:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:17
If it is possible . . . nevertheless. On earth as it is in heaven involves submitting our on earth preferences to His in heaven will. Jesus dealt with sorrow in the midst of God’s will. Just like Jesus, it is possible for us to be right where God wants us, and still experience struggle, anguish and grief. It doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. But it is when we do what Jesus did. Jesus, dealing with the flesh, went a little farther, fell on His face and prayed to God. He gave God His own preference, and submitted and chose God’s heavenly will. Do you have a “nevertheless” in your life that says, “Not what I want, but what you want God?” Are you praying for the will of God to be done in your life, or are you just praying trying to convince God to do what you want done?
John 8:29, Matthew 26:37–46, Matthew 6:5–13, John 4:34
If our prayer time is only trying to convince God to give us what we want, we’re not praying the way Jesus told us to pray. He taught us to pray the will of heaven to be done on the earth, not the will of earth to be done in heaven. His will is transformative and can take something that is and make it something different. God can transform our situations from what it is in the natural to what it can be in the supernatural. Our prayer, our worship and our faith matter.
Matthew 6:5–13, Matthew 15:21–28, Matthew 4:3
Earth is the the transformative object in Matthew 6, and Heaven is the model for earth to become like. Jesus came to be a representative of heaven’s principles and values that we align with. We have a Father in heaven, and He and His Kingdom is our reality that rules over the earth. He is God. He is Holy. Jesus said for us to pray to our Father that His Kingdom (way, system) come & His Will be DONE. Christianity is a Kingdom, and we serve its King. He is King Jesus!
Colossians 1:13, Exodus 33:13, John 5:19, Matthew 6:8–13, Matthew 12:25–26
Like the children of Israel called to a place of promise, everyone of us, by His Word are called to something, and God places each one of us in a calling for a purpose. We cannot let our comfort keep us from what God has for us, but instead be separate from the world and walk in the plan of God for our lives. Everyone of us goes through a time where we don’t feel like we measure up, we’re not good enough, but God’s plan and purpose needs who you are, and where you’ve been placed.
Numbers 13