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In The Garden Daily Devotional
Series: A Walk Through Matthew - Prayer (Mathew 6)
"It's TIME to Pray"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh
Read Matthew 6: 9-13; Jeremiah 31
Scripture Text: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name. " Matthew 6:9 (KJV)
We started off yesterday's devotional with the
question,
"What gives us the right as individuals to call on
the Name of The Lord and expect that He will hear
us?"
We answered that basically by Jesus own words in
John 3:16...
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life."
But there are other places in the scriptures that
use whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Mark 16:16
"I am the door: by me if any man enter in,
he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture."
John 10:9
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Acts 2:21
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved." Rom 10:13
We could go on and on here with these great promises
of God RECORDED - Can I say that again... RECORDED
IN THE SCRIPTURES! That's important to hear! These
are not just Wayne Clabaugh's words, they are the
WITNESS OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT to men who had not
just an association with but they a RELATIONSHIP
with Jesus Our Lord.
Now, I just want to say here that if you have never
accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I will tell
you how you can become a member of the family of God
before this devotional time comes to a close today.
But, let me remind you that God Created You. On that
association alone, you have the right to pray to Him
even now - simply because HE IS YOUR FATHER! HE
CREATED YOU! Yes, it was your Earthly father and mother who
"procreated" you after the fashion that God designed,
but it is God alone that places the soul within
every human being from the moment of conception. So
you can pray to Him just on the basis of association
alone.
Having said that, think about your current life
experiences. If you are one of those fortunate to
still have a job and have worked in that job for
several years, you take on a sort of association
with that company. You don't own the company and
they don't own you, but you have an association with
them that often makes you use terminology like, "my,
we, our" or words like, "we don't do things like that
at my company". We have a tendency to speak as
though the company in some way belongs to us... or
that we belong to the company. It's an association
that gives meaning and purpose to what we do.
Everyone wants to have purpose. So even though we
may not be able to sign checks, or hire or fire
people for job openings - we somehow "relate" to
that company as "our" company.
This is the way that a lot of Christians feel. They
feel that since they have an association with
Christ, they are saved and that they should be
satisfied. Just give me my robe and crown, and we'll
call it even. But friend, in Christianity.... that's
not all there is to it; and most people know this.
That's why even though they go to church and pay
tithes, and participate in all of the church
functions, they feel they have met all the requirements
for complete joy and fulfillment. Yet, there is a
continuous gnawing in their heart that there is
something they are missing in their church, so they
attend and eventually join another. But soon that
church fails to bring them fulfillment, so they
begin looking for another. There are those who sing
and dance in the Spirit on Sundays and are
devastated the rest of the week. I believe that this
is the reason many Christians are struggling today;
because they have an association with God The
Father through the church, but that's the extent of
it. But becoming an Heir with God the Father,
through Jesus the Son, is not just an association.
In order to be family, there has to be "like-blood".
There's a great deal of difference between being an
Heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ, and being
in association with them. The missing link is here
in this prayer that Christ taught us to pray - yet
we seldom do. The missing link is found in one word:
Covenant.
"Prayer is the Soul's sincere desire uttered or
unexpressed, The motion of a hidden fire that
trembles in the breast."
James Montgomery wrote the
song from which this is in excerpt, almost 200 years
ago, yet the impact of those words still move men
today. I believe it was because he had more than
just an association with The Father, he was in
Covenant with Him, through prayer.
The reason most of us live defeated lives is found
in the
difference of the word association and Covenant.
Association
with God The Father, and Christ the Son, and even
God The Holy Spirit saves us, and brings us into the
family through the blood of Christ; but Covenant is
what gives it all life.
You see, association may go as deeply as the
"Spirit" of man, but it seldom touches the "Soul" of
man. Let me explain.
While the Spirit expresses appreciation and even
dislike for the events of an association, the Soul
of man is the driving force behind what is done
about that association. The Spirit of man may "join
in" or take part in a worthy cause, but the Soul of
man "becomes the cause", or often conceived or gave
birth to the notion of a particular cause. Therefore
to have an association with God the Father, and
Jesus The Son, and to be even filled with God The
Holy Spirit is only the tip of the ice-berg. There
needs to be (beneath the surface of association)
the
promise of Covenant; reaching down deep and grasping
onto the very soul of man. We can never truly
discover who and what we are in God, until we enter
into Covenant with Him. That's what Prayer is all
about, and that is why you and I can say,
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name." Matthew 6:9 (KJV)
It is not just by association, but if we are living
a life of covenant and relationship - we are truly
sons and daughters of God - He is our Father, and
Lord of Our Lives.
Let's pray.
My Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.
I love you This Morning O God, and I give you glory
for the association of Creation and Creature, for
the association of Believer and Loving God, but I
thank you even more for the fellowship of Love and
healing and grace and mercy through Jesus Your SON.
Now if you haven't accepted Jesus yet, and you want
to here's where we're going to Plug In to that
saving Grace together, shall we? All you need to do
is to repeat the prayer I'm praying and believe it
from your heart, and you will be saved. Just say...
I do believe this morning that you are God! I
believe that you loved the world so much that You
gave Your Son Jesus to die in my place, and that His
blood became the propitiation or the replacement for
my sin, and because of His death, resurrection, and
ascension, I too will live eternally with you. I
receive you into my life today Father... I repent of
my sin, and leave it at the cross of Calvary. I am
forgiven! I'm set free from the burden of my past!
I'm SAVED! In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
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