SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2020 9:37 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The Content of Prayer”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
6:7-8
Message of the verses: “7 “And when you
are praying, do not use meaningless
repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they
suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be
like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.”
True Content:
Sincere Requests Matthew 6:8
The
above title is what we will be looking at in today’s SD, as I mentioned in our
last SD that there are two sub-sections under the main section of “The Content
of Prayer,” and this is the second one which comes from the 8th
verse. I also mentioned that after this
sub-section we will be going into the first part of what is mistakenly called “The
Lord’s Prayer.” Notice verse 9a and how
our Lord continues on the theme of prayer:
“9"Pray, then, in this way:”
When
we think of prayer to our Father we do not have to badger or cajole Him for our
“Father knows what we need, before we ask Him as seen in this verse. John MacArthur quotes Martin Luther who said “By
our praying…we are instructing ourselves more than we are Him.” “So we see that the purpose of prayer is not
to inform or persuade God” as MacArthur writes, “but so come before Him
sincerely, purposely, consciously, and devotedly” as quoted from John Scott in
a book entitled “Christian Counter-Culture:
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount.”
So
exactly is praying? We could say that praying is
sharing the needs, burdens, and hunger of our hearts before our heavenly
Father, and even though we know He already knows what we need, He is the One
who wants us to ask Him. MacArthur
continues on this subject “He wants to hear us, He wants to commune with us,
more than we could ever want to commune with Him—because His love for us is so
much greater than our love for Him. Prayer
is our giving God the opportunity to manifest His power, majesty, love, and
providence (cf. John 14:13).” “"And
whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son.”
We have written about this in the past as we
looked back at what may have happened in eternity past as the Triune God
planned in advance how angels, humans, and animals would be created on one
little planet, and then as if an afterthought “He created the stars too.” The purpose for this was to bring glory to
the Second Person of the Godhead, our Lord Jesus Christ, and when we pray to
our Father who knows what we need and He answers our prayers then His Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified, and that is a part of what was planned in
eternity past.
MacArthur
goes on to write “To pray
rightly is to pray with a devout heart and with pure motives. It is to pray with single attention to God
rather than to other men. And it is to
pray with sincere confidence that our heavenly Father both hears and answers
every request made to Him in faith. He
always repays our sincere devotion with gracious response. If our request is sincere but not according
to His will, He will answer in a way better than we want or expect. But He will always answer.
“It is reported that D. L. Moody
once felt so surfeited with God’s blessings that he prayed, ‘God stop.’ That is what God will do with every faithful
believer who comes to Him as an expectant child to his father—smother him in
more blessings than can be counted or named.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my thought that the more that I know
God the better I can pray to Him, for knowing Him shows me how to pray to
Him. God is not a grandfather figure
where we can go to Him with our requests and He will automatically answer, for
what we may be asking Him may not glorify His Son, which according to John
14:13 tells us we must do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord with all of my heart that He knows me and always wants the best for me.
10/29/2020 10:14 AM
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