I have found many people get stuck on asking for "finished" blessings, rather than the means for that blessing. Sometimes, God giv

Give us today our daily bread. (Matt. 6:11) I hope you're enjoying this series of blogs on a very interesting, very insightful set of instructions that Jesus gave his disciples to show them how to have true relationship with God. So many in our day and age don't know how to tap into relationship with the Father, but Jesus shows us how in Matthew 6:9-14, or what is known as The Lord's Prayer. To read past articles about the Lord's Prayer, click HERE. Today's article continues

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10) Today's article outlines specific Kingdom exercises to talk to God about on a regular basis. These exercises will allow you to partner with God to inject Kingdom qualities into your relationships, finances, and so forth so that others will experiences the Kingdom of God right now through you. Remember from last week that we are called to be God's Kingdom agents. To read last week's article, click HER

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10) In the article before this one, I explained how Jesus shares with the disciples how they can pray so as to have a close and intimate relationship with God like the one he has with the Father (Matt. 6:9-13). One aspect of this prayer is to address God's desire to have His kingdom appear in our world. To read the full article, click HERE. Today's article deals with the tangible expressions or realities

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10) In what is often referred to as the “Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus shares with the disciples about how they can pray so as to have a close and intimate relationship with God like the one he has with the Father (Matt. 6:9-13). One aspect of this prayer is to address God’s desire to have His kingdom appear in our world. There have been lots of books written discussing God’s kingdom, like its features, when it

Proverbs 15:8 "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight" This proverb notes a significant difference between relationships with God and ritualized religion. It was assumed by many Jews that the sacrifice of an animal – especially a whole burnt offering – was the height of worship; the most pleasing act any Jew could perform for God. In this proverb, God says through the mouth of Solomon that God looks much deeper

In his book Exposition of the Gospel according to Matthew, William Hendrickson says, "In ancient times the name was not generally regarded as a mere appellation to distinguish one person from another, but often rather as an expression of the very nature of the person so indicated, or of his position, etc."[1] A name was more than just a way to tell one person apart from another; one's name declared who that person was -- what they were all about! If the goal of Matthew 6:9 is

In Matthew 6:9, Jesus tells his disciples to “hallow God’s Name." What He is really telling them is to spend time in the spiritual exercise of Worship. Earlier we learned we need to change our focus from ourselves to God, since too much of our lives is spent focused on what we think, what we want, our problems, our perspective, our solutions, and so on. Instead, we need to exercise our spiritual, mental, and emotional muscles by focusing completely God - by lifting up His maj

Today, I want to take a deeper look at what Jesus is actually asking us by telling us to spend time hallowing the name of God. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:9 to ask God to hallow His name and we are the answer to the request. Yes, God will exalt His majesty in answer to this request, but we must participate by focusing on God and allowing ourselves to lift Him high in our thoughts. We find many examples of this in the Lord's Prayer, this “model prayer” Jesus gave us to interact

So much of this world tries to distract us from thoughts of God. Have you noticed that much of our thoughts consist of our own plans? We constantly think about what we are going to do with this issue, or what we think about what someone said, or how we are going to react to what that family member did, or what we want in regards to something. It is all about us! Our own natural inclinations are self-focused, but if we are going to have a great relationship with God, we must b

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,” Matthew 6:9 We have come to the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer. It is the first thing that Jesus asks his disciples to interact with God about. Millions of people say this phrase “hallowed be thy name” every day and miss what Jesus is really asking His followers to do. So what is he really asking us to do when he said this? It is not just to say the phrase “hallowed be thy name.” He is as

Last time we learned that Jesus’ example of praying to God the Father began with a posture of relationship: Father-Son, Father-Daughter. This is how we can get to a deeper level of intimacy that Jesus talks about in Matthew 6:6-10. Now remember this is what the disciples heard Jesus doing with God the Father and God the Spirit. He was here on earth as the perfect man living His life completely dependent upon the direction and guidance of the Father and the Spirit. He did not

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven,...” In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus sets an example for His followers about how to have an intimate and non-formalized relationship with God, just as He has with God the Father and God the Spirit. One of the things the disciples observed about the relationship between God the Father and God the Son was that it was intimate and close. It was not formal and distant, as was typical in how the Israelites understood and addr

In the religious world of the time of Jesus, everyone realized that a relationship with God was practiced through particular, often formalized, spiritual disciplines and/or exercises. Jesus wants His followers to have an intimate and non-formalized relationship with God, just as He has with God the Father and God the Spirit. He tells His followers on repeated occasions to practice different spiritual exercises in their conversation with God, which was different than what was

Imagine if you had just heard someone pray to God in the most authentic, transparent, and intimate way. The disciples did when they heard Jesus pray to the Father according to Luke 11:1. In the same way as they, you would have just witnessed a man who got answers back from God and conversed with Him in a real relationship. Sometimes we are so aware of the fact that Jesus is God Himself that we fail to realize that He also lived His life on this earth as a man so that He could

The Lord's Prayer is one of the most common Scriptures in the world. (Luke 11:1-4) Thousands of people have memorized this prayer and have no idea they are reciting from memory one of the most powerful key's to intimacy with God. There are secrets in this prayer that will unlock a whole new depth to your spiritual life. Jesus teaches in this "prayer" a whole new way of approaching God and living for Him. One of the first things that we need to be aware of is that to speak of

Lord, regardless of how I feel right now, the truth is that you are my thoroughly capable caretaker, my most devoted friend, and my infallible guide. You want nothing less than the absolute best for me. You love me more than I love myself and can take better care of me than I can take of myself. I'm struggling. You're so invisible; it's impossible for me to see you in this darkness, so please help me to sense your presence in a tangible way. Right now, as an act of my will, I