Today's Word

‘Our Father in Heaven, help us to honor your name . . . ’ Matthew 6:9(CEV)

Today's Reflection: Working in the Yard

Have you been praying the Lord’s Prayer? I so much hope that you are growing in prayer and that part of your growth is praying what we call the Lord’s prayer. We pray, “hallowed be Thy Name” which means “Reveal who You Are” or “May Your Name be kept Holy” or “we honor Your Holy Name”. And in doing so we ask to the mean through which that happens. 

My dad was a landscaper. He loved beauty.  When he conceptualized a landscape plan you could see him fully “into” his work and when the plan became reality you could see how happy and proud he was of his work. All the incredible hard work had been worth it for him.  

This week I received the following email which gave me chills as a read it.

Jeff, As you talked about in your sermon yesterday, I also have come to recognize that it is this earth that will be transformed into the new earth and future heaven much as I shall be transformed. What occurred to me Sunday as you preached, was that this means that landscapers and gardeners have a much more important role than I may have previously appreciated. I mean, could they be like pastors for the land? Helping it to be transformed into the wondrous beauty it shall become.

What a beautiful picture and thought, “pastors for the land”.   Land  “transformed into the beauty of what it shall become”. Exactly, exactly, exactly!  

And with that we’ve learned how to differentiate between beauty which is an objective thing (beauty is not in the eye of the beholder) and corruption of it. Beauty is that which anticipates, foreshadows, points toward God’s new heaven and new earth. It can be discerned by asking “Is that which I am beholding a vehicle through which I see a beauty from God and Jesus Christ?” Or does that which I behold corrupt the beauty that comes from God? (see Philippians 4:8).  

I love trying to make my yard beautiful. I am never satisfied, but that’s because perfection comes in the next life. But I can anticipate it now. With my shovel, digger, rake, hoe, and potato hook I can be a “pastor of the land transforming my tiny section of it into an anticipation of the wonderous beauty it shall become!!!” Wow!

Prayer
 
“Lord, thank you for beauty and thank you for showing me that not all that is called beauty is beauty. Lord, please lead me to honor your Name, to be a vehicle through which you can be revealed, and to use my time and energies in such a way that what I do reveals you, even in working on my yard. In the Name of the Author of Beauty, Jesus Christ, Amen”

Today’s Word

‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name . . . . ’Matthew 6:9

Today’s Reflection: How do I do “hallowed be Thy Name” when it’s too hard to do?

Like a cell phone God has placed a “chip” inside us that is always seeking a connection. The great commandment of Jesus is to love God and love people. That’s connection. Adam and Eve were one, “naked and unashamed” (Genesis 2:25). The fig leaf was off which meant they knew each other and were known by each other from their hearts and did not have any fears.

However, it is exactly that, connection with God and others that was broken in Eden and we started to hide and we started to cover up. . Ever since every human being has sought connection, but in disconnected ways. The brilliant Christian psychologist, Rollo May, commented that modern mankind has taken the fig leaf and moved it from the genitals to the face. Where we’re very open with our bodies now and we think that that’s going to give us intimacy, what we hide is the windows to our souls. And that is the story of everyone because all of us went through that fall.

What is it that will lead me from false, sinful connections to godly ones?

God’s most powerful tool is biblical community . . . healthy, open, consistent connections with God and other believers, especially a small number of them whom you can trust and be real with. Without that your “connection chip” will always seek out connections which are weak and break. Avoid . . . .

Isolation: It leads to quick fixes which intensify loneliness





Connections based on neediness which leads to being used





Connections based on your being good enough. You'll never measure up.




Seek. . . the 5 bar connection: God and other Christians. Check in with God and other Christians regularly. Be honest. Talk about your struggles. You can't overcome them alone. Take the time and trouble and rish being honest. Ask these other believers for God's help in "hallowing His Name."





Prayer

"Lord, at this very moment I am connecting to you. Help me to do this more often and lead me to other believers with whom I can talk about real life, real struggles in a real way and be genuinely heard. In Christ's Name" Amen.

Today's Word
                                      
‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. . . . ’ Matthew 6:9

Today's Reflection: New York's New Gay Marriage Law
   
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are radicals. We are asking for God to replace the kingdoms of this world with His Kingdom. This prayer asks for everything to be changed. Yes, it is even political. God wants to restore everything, the whole shebang. 

One simple but HUGE thing is that when we understand who God is, and how, therefore, the world is created to work, then we know how to live individually and together on God’s planet. Here’s God 101: God is three in one, three persons, fully committed, permanently one in self giving love and fully happy in “Their” love. God is a community, a family. The image of God is found in Genesis 1:27, a man and a woman. What’s the first thing he “did with them”? He merged them, Genesis 2:24.25, a total merger of body, soul, spirit, mind, emotions, commitment, permanence, with creative power to reproduce. One man, one woman, total merger, the image of God, self giving, total package, oneness, never to be broken apart. The implications of this are innumerable. 

The Bible uses one man one woman marriage as the picture of the image of God and the picture of the restoration of the cosmos (Revelation 21:2 is just one example). It seems to me that if any church or group of believers were to change this picture, then that group would be reconfiguring the image God, which is idolatry of a special sort, a kind which creates a different god.   Further, it seems to me that it’s really good for a society to maintain the biblical definition of marriage, because if God set it up that way then it must be good for people. Civil unions in a secular society for the purpose of just treatment under the law are one thing, but removing what God set up marriage to be is another. No society can expect to stand when it removes the cornerstone of its foundation. 

One final word: I do not think homosexuality is simply a choice. Hardly any gays were heterosexually oriented one day and then just woke up the next and decided to be gay. It’s much more complex than that. Nor is there any room for Christians to demean those who are gay. Gay jokes and imitations never honor the Lord and they demean God’s children. Personally I would love our church to be filled with gays and lesbians who know where we stand on the issue, but feel so loved and accepted by God and the church family that they can’t stay away. If you follow the actions of Westboro Baptist Church on the news you are witnessing believers who are violating “hallowed be Thy Name” in the worst possible way.

Prayer

Lord, please forgive for any thoughts, attitudes or behaviors of mine which have demeaned others. Make me an instrument of salvation and protect me from self righteous indignation. Jesus nailed it when he said, ‘ When you condemn others, you condemn yourself’. Lord help me to be able to articulate to others your desire for marriage in such a way that Your heart can be heard through me. In Christ’s Name. Amen”

Today's Word

'Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. . . . . ’   Matthew 6:9

Today's Reflection: Honor God with the Sexual Part of You
 
Someone once said that “Hallowed be Thy Name” means that I should start each day asking God’s help in living today in a way that my actions ‘make God look good to others’. That’s not a bad way to look at it (as long we define ‘good’ correctly).

How can I make God look good today? One huge way, is to honor God with the sexual part of me. John 3:16, 17 and Acts 3:21 together tells us that God project is to heal, restore, repair, resurrect all of creation including us. . . . re-merge heaven and earth, re-merge God and people like it was in Eden. And to restore the way that our bodies are created to merge. The first sex is recorded in Genesis 2:23-25.   It was a merger of body, soul, spirit, emotions, commitment, permanence, common future, common lives. A new creation happened. Two became one, not momentarily in the sex act, but one as in ontological oneness. They became together something new which was never to be separated. This means that any sex act that merges one body physically with another, even if only a brief “physical only” hook-up is playing with fire. To separate sex out from the rest of the total package actually can’t be done. The rest goes with it, either in the way it is supposed to (in marriage, the word we use for total package male female oneness) or in a way that “dis-integrates” you and your partner and misrepresents God.Why does it misrepresent God? Because the Bible is full of pictures of marriage as being the picture of everything that God is, and is about. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are permanently one, and fully self giving. Revelation 21:15 use marriage as the final picture of everything God is doing – the full final permanent merger of all things!

Prayer  

“Lord, may your name be hallowed today in the way that I speak, joke about or allude to sex. Please help me to keep my thoughts focused on my love for my spouse and off all the ways that society bombards me with the message that sex is just an act, rather than the physical outworking in marriage of the inner reality that you are making all things new and one.
Lord, help me to be an agent of yours who communicates to an increasingly broken world that “total package sex” (marriage) is a picture of the image of God. Amen”

Heaven, My Body, Food and Exercise

(Yes, the following scriptures are the same as yesterday, but that's because they are so important, so I really, really hope that you reread them!)

Pray like this:  ‘Our Father in Heaven . . . . ’    Matthew 6:9
   
“It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, (being clothed with renewed body) that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there's no resurrection, "We eat, we drink, the next day we die," and that's all there is to it. I Corinthians 15:32(MSG)
 
“You know the old saying, 'First you eat to live, and then you live to eat'? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body! 

God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body. You wouldn't take the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.  

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one."   Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never "become one." 

There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.

God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
I Corinthians 6:13-20(MSG) 

Reflection

Everything I decide to do with my body is a spiritual decision which is either preparing me for my next life, first temporarily in heaven, and finally embodied in the New Creation.

Live today in a way that anticipates your tomorrow. If tomorrow (my life in the resurrection) is intended to be full of vitality, energy, intelligence and joy in a re-created and new body, then I should live and act now in a way that prepares for that. That means I should eat right, eat what brings health, not sloth. I should exercise so that my body is alert, able to connect with others and God and creation in a way that an unhealthy body cannot.

Perhaps an image can help. When I prepare for a career, that future career changes my present entirely. I study, train, learn, behave, arrange my schedule all around the future for which I am preparing. When I have a vacation coming up, I look forward to it, slim down, get healthy, plan my itinerary . . ..the future event reorients how I live today.

Our lives on this planet in these bodies are brief. The last 40 years of my life have lasted no longer than the flicker of a candle. They are temporary. Their purpose is preparation for eternity.  

“So, if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.  
Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.  
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life.  
When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Colossians 3:1-4(MSG)

Prayer

“Father, I need your help to treat my body, not as a commodity to be consumed, used, and one day be discarded, rather as a gift from and dwelling place of you. Please give me a spirit of self discipline which is undergirded by the understanding that my physical health enhances my ability to connect with you and others. In Christ’s Name. Amen”

Heaven and Sex

Pray like this:  ‘Our Father in Heaven . . . . ’    Matthew 6:9
   
“It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, (being clothed with renewed body) that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there's no resurrection, "We eat, we drink, the next day we die," and that's all there is to it." I Corinthians 15:32(MSG)
 
“You know the old saying, 'First you eat to live, and then you live to eat?' Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body! 

God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body. You wouldn't take the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.  

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one."   Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never "become one." 

There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you."

"God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body."
I Corinthians 6:13-20(MSG)  
 
Reflection
 
Heaven, God’s space which currently surrounds us, will be the temporary resting place of the “you” that lives after your physical body dies (John 14:1-4 where “rooms” means temporary housing). However when God rejoins heaven and earth each of us will be reclothed with renewed bodies. Compared to them our current bodies are as the root is to the flower.

As the scriptures above indicate, there is an implied sense in which our future bodies depend on our care and respect for our current bodies. One area of care which is dismissed as irrelevant to belief these days is sex. Very few people can see what sex has to do with faith in Jesus Christ and God. But the exact opposite is true.

God loves mergers. One day He will re-merge heaven and earth. Every believer enjoys the re-merger of his/her spirit with the Holy Spirit. The re-created earth and my re-created self are both permanent re-creations permanent new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 5:21-32), never again to be separated.

Do you remember what happened when heaven and earth broke apart? Start reading in Genesis 3:14 and keep reading. It’s not a pretty picture. Do you know what happens when a believer chooses disbelieve, thus breaking a permanent bond with God? Read Hebrews 4:4-8. It’s not a pretty picture. Nor is the picture of those who “become one” sexually and then move on to someone else: heartache, fatherless pregnancy and ensuing poverty, venereal disease, children of divorce, a financially burdened and emotionally scared society, women who are used and men who avoid responsibility.

Does it matter if you have sex (the merger of your spirit body and soul and if you are Christian Christ’s Spirit in you) with another spirit, body, soul? Of course it matters. Sex is made for permanency. Every single time you engage in sex outside of marriage, you have violated you body and dishonored the body of the one you claim to love. At the same you are both desensitizing yourself to God and building a groundwork that is incompatible with a new body in the New Creation.

Prayer

“Our Father in Heaven. Thank you for this reminder. I repent of the ways that I have been misusing my body, be it in the use of pornography, sex outside of marriage, a lustful thought life, objectifying the opposite sex, or treating sex in my marriage as an issue of needs and wants instead of as an issue of oneness and a picture of God’s permanent new creation of us as a married couple. Amen”

Why You Should Be Having More Fun Than You are Having Right Now

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

Pray like this:  ‘Our Father in Heaven . . . . ’

. . . .that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?       Matthew 6:7-9

Reflection

Are you enjoying life?
 
Jesus introduced his teaching on the Lord’s prayer by saying “when you pray”, not “if”, but “when”. Prayer is basically “talking to God”, but it isn’t just talking. Listening is more important and that happens by reading the Bible, being attentive to promptings, nudges, thoughts, inclinations, conscience and more, all being guided and corrected by the Holy Spirit. So first, prayer is relying on God for your life. 

Second, God already knows what you need so Jesus must not be telling us to ask in order to give God new information or to pry out of Him what He doesn’t want to give us.
 
Third, heaven, God’s space which is the hidden dimension of our ordinary lives, contains all the resources we need for an abundant life. All we need is available from God. 

Fourth, Jesus follows up his teaching on the Lord’s prayer by telling us to “chill” (see chapter 7). “Are you worried?”, says God, “well, don’t. I’ve got this”.
 
Sometimes people tell me that I’m too intense or think too much or am too serious or don’t laugh enough or that I am often overly anxious. But every once in a while something breaks into me and I lighten up, burdens are lifted and in spite of all evidence to the contrary, life is good, piercingly good, happy, so much so that I will smile, laugh or cry. It happens not when I try to make it happen. Nor does it happen when I ask God to help me to lighten up. Actually it rarely happens in asking God for anything. It does happen however when “heaven ‘interferes’, breaks in” and, contrary to all apparent evidence, I’m at peace because everything’s fine. Whatever it is, God’s “got it”. It’s a trust I cannot conjure up, but one which happens when the whole point of prayer, trust, happens.

Prayer

“Our Father who art in heaven, thank you for a great, great, great life, one which I cannot explain apart from You. Nor can I explain it in a way that eliminates all the questions of pain and evil. Yet it’s real and indeed more real than all the pain and evil which will one day be vanquished. Thank you for moments of real life, life as is really is. Amen”

What is Heaven, Where is It, and Why Does It Matter?

“when you pray, you should pray like this: 'Our Father in Heaven. . .' Matthew 6:9

Reflection
 
Heaven (literally “the heavens”), the space that God occupies, surrounds us (Jeremiah 23:24 and others). At one time heaven and earth were one (Eden), but they were separated (banishment from Eden in Genesis 3). God’s Goal ever since has been to restore the oneness of heaven and earth, to restore all of creation, not to do away with it, but to save it and remake it (Ezekiel 37, Isaiah 65, Rev 21, Acts 3:21, Romans 8,  Matthew 6:10 and more). This restoration began with Abraham (Genesis 12), continued with Israel and culminated in Jesus’ Life (God and with him a bit of heaven on earth), death, bodily resurrection, return to God’s space (heaven which surrounds us) and now continues through people who themselves are restored by the reconnection of their spirit with God’s Spirit when they believe (1Corinthians 1:10-16). Meanwhile when a believer dies, he (without his material body) goes to be with God where God is, God’s space, which we refer to as heaven, which occupies our ordinary world but it still not one with it. Heaven, however, is not final. It is not our ultimate destination. Our ultimate destination is the reunion of heaven and earth. At that point each of us will be given a new body (1 Corinthians 15) and our lives will again be material, real, concrete, yet sinless, and yes will have tasks and jobs to do (2 Timothy 2:12 and others). The restoration will be completed when Jesus comes back (Revelation 22:20)

The implications of this for our lives are huge. Here’s a short list.

1. This planet matters. If God is restoring it, we must work to restore it, too.
2. Our bodies matter. The bodies of ours are inseparable from “us”. Our spirit, soul and body, biblically understood are one and also one with God’s spirit when we believe. And one day God will put all that back together. The idea that the body is bad and spirit good is heresy. We must care for our bodies (1 Corinthians 6). Eating right matters. Exercise matters. Abusing our bodies matters. Sex matters. Each of these bodily activities or inactivity are deeply spiritual.
3. God is happy. God wants us to live abundant, overflowing, flourishing lives (John 10:10). This will happen when the final restoration of all things takes place (Acts 3:21). Yet as believers we have “one foot in heaven and one foot on earth”. We should be living it up. We should be happy. We should know deep in our souls that the worst that can ever happen is not the last thing. the best is yet to come but there’s a sense in which it is already here. Enjoy God and people and yourself! Play!
4. Beauty matters. Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. Rather God is beauty. He defines it. Humans are too easily corrupted and we, by recreating it in our sinful image all too often desecrate it. But beauty exists and in the new creation it will be a display that will be too resplendent to tolerate for those who retain their sin (one of many reasons for recognizing that those who don’t repent cannot enter the final merger of heaven and earth). Therefore a believer’s sense of beauty should grow and his sense that he should add to, not subtract from God’s beauty should grow as well.

More later.

Today's Prayer
"Our Father in heaven, surrounding us right now, recreating the world at this moment, establishing your kingdom on earth as I speak, please lead me to honor you with my body, with my care of the environment, with my ability to enjoy You and others and the Life you have given me. Help me to join you in making all things beautiful in their time. Amen”

Special Follow Up to Father's Day

“when you pray, you should pray like this: 'Our Father. . . .'   Matthew 6:9 

Reflection
 
Following is a devotional from Elizabeth Elliot that Kathy passed on to me. It’s about men and their fathers and I think you will find it worth reading and reflecting on.

“While visiting Columbia Bible College in South Carolina, I found in the library a little book called Father and Son, written by my grandfather, Philip E. Howard. He writes:

'Do you remember that encouraging word of Thomas Fuller's, a chaplain of Oliver Cromwell's time? It's a good passage for a father in all humility and gratitude to tuck away in his memory treasures:

'Lord, I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations. (1) Rehoboam begat Abijah; that is, a bad father begat a bad son. (2) Abijah begat Asa; that is, a bad father begat a good son. (3) Asa begat Jehoshaphat; that is, a good father a good son. (4) Jehoshaphat begat Joram; that is, a good father a bad son. I see, Lord, from hence that my father's piety cannot be entailed; that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son.'

In another chapter Grandpa Howard tells this story.

'A sensitive, timid little boy, long years ago, was accustomed to lie down to sleep in a low 'trundle-bed,' which was rolled under his parents' bed by day and was brought out for his use by night. As he lay there by himself in the darkness, he could hear the voices of his parents, in their lighted sitting-room across the hallway, on the other side of the house. It seemed to him that his parents never slept; for he left them awake when he was put to bed at night, and he found them awake when he left his bed in the morning. So far this thought was a cause of cheer to him, as his mind was busy with imaginings in the weird darkness of his lonely room.'

"After loving good-night words and kisses had been given him by both his parents, and he had nestled down to rest, this little boy was accustomed, night after night, to rouse up once more, and to call out from his trundle-bed to his strong-armed father, in the room from which the light gleamed out, beyond the shadowy hallway, 'Are you there, papa?' And the answer would come back cheerily, 'Yes, my child, I am here.' 'You'll take care of me tonight, papa, won't you?' was then the question. 'Yes, I'll take care of you, my child,' was the comforting response. 'Go to sleep now. Good night.' And the little fellow would fall asleep restfully, in the thought of those assuring good-night words."

"A little matter that was to the loving father; but it was a great matter to the sensitive son. It helped to shape the son's life. It gave the father an added hold on him; and it opened up the way for his clearer understanding of his dependence on the loving watchfulness of the All-Father. And to this day when that son, himself a father and a grandfather, lies down to sleep at night, he is accustomed, out of the memories of that lesson of long ago, to look up through the shadows of his earthly sleeping place into the far-off light of his Father's presence, and to call out, in the same spirit of childlike trust and helplessness as so long ago, 'Father, you'll take care of me tonight, won't you?' And he hears the assuring answer come back, 'He that keepeth thee will not slumber. The Lord shall keep thee from all evil. He shall keep thy soul. Sleep, my child, in peace.'  And so he realizes the twofold blessing of Father's goodnight words."

That story, says Grandpa, came from his own father-in-law, my great-grandfather, Henry Clay Trumbull.  I have a hunch that Trumbull was that little boy, and the father my great-great-grandfather."

Today's Prayer

“Our Father in heaven, thank you for this special reminder that my failures as a parent are countered by your perfect parenting. I also thank you Father for the clear reminder that what I do as a parent matters greatly. Like You, Father, I also know that my role as parent never ends and I look forward to the next thing you want me to be for my children. Amen”

"In Heaven"

“when you pray, you should pray like this:

'Our Father in heaven, may your name always be kept holy.
10 May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need for each day.
12 Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
13 And do not cause us to be tempted, but save us from the Evil One.’"       Matthew 6:9-13(NCV)

*Note: Periodically I will present the Lord’s Prayer in a different translation. Most of us know it from the King James translation (KJV) of 1611. Last week’s translation was the New International Version (NIV). Today’s version is the New Living Translation (NLT) which uses the contemporary language of Kenneth Taylor’s paraphrase, The Living Bible (TLB). I am hoping that doing this will help you to connect with the prayer in a new, fresh, and thoughtful way.

Reflection
 
Where is God? This prayer indicates that God is literally in the heavens (the word for heaven in Hebrew, “shamayim”,which is behind the Greek of the New Testament, is plural. The biblical picture of the residence of God is that the immediate world surrounding us, atmosphere, air, all of it, is where God is. This is not pantheism (God is everything and vice versa), nor panentheism (God is in everything) rather it is simply that God’s immediate presence to all humans is real.

I hesitate to use the following illustration, but I trust that you won’t misuse it. In the Lion King there is a scene where Simba experiences the immediate presence of his Father, Mufasa, from whom he receives affirmation and direction.
“ The immediate presence of his father”. The Lion King’s circle of life is not Christianity. Christianity teaches a beginning and final restoration of all things broken. Christianity is linear, not circular, a very distinct difference from other religions. Nor does Christianity teach that we can channel dead ancestors. That is unbiblical. However, the picture of a believer being aware of and attentive to the immediate presence of her or his “heavenly” (God’s immediate presence as close as the air we breathe) Father giving direction and encouragement is perfectly biblical.

Your Father “in heaven” is, as the biblical says in a myriad of ways, indeed “ever present” . And as Spirit, God’s Spirit “speaks” to your spirit in a multitude of different ways. Yes, your Father is there for you. Read 1 Corinthians 2:10-16
and let it sink in.         

Today's Prayer

“Our Father in heaven, thank you for reminding me that I am part of your worldwide family because you are my procreative Father and my Adoptive Father and I am among the billions whom you love. I also thank you that I am among those who believe and receive your love and have chosen to willing accept you as Father, Abba, Daddy. I realize this is true because you’ve given me the ability to believe and receive--- it’s all You. And Father thank you for the reminder that you are there, here, always encouraging, directing, loving and strengthening. Unbelievable! Yet, I believe. Amen”   

Today's Word - "Father" Part 2

When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray (Luke 11:1), this is what He said; 

"This, then, is how you should pray:
 
  “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
  May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
  Give us today the food we need,
  and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.      
Matthew 6:9-13(NLT)

Today's Reflection  

Father. This is a very, very, very powerful word. It brings images to every human mind, images of love and strength, images of horror and abuse and everything in between. 

It is almost certainly true that the image that each of us carries of God as Father starts with the relationship we had with our earthy biological or adoptive father. If it was a good experience God will look good to us. If our father was critical, we may tend to view God as “mad at me” most of the time, which means your life may end up a perpetual guilt trip. 

But the book of Galatians tells us that each of us has a “heavenly Father”.
 
“God . . .sent his Son to set us free from “slavery to the law”  so that he could adopt us as his very own sons and daughters. This means we are his sons and daughters.  God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, so now we can rightly speak of God as our dear Father. . . we are no longer slaves but God’s own children . . .everything he has belongs to us” Galatians 4:4-7

It seems to me that the journey of the believer starts and ends with believing/trusting that God is your father and that you are his precious child. If you are a parent, begin to envision God as the source of your best instincts as a parent. Envision your love of your child, your willingness to sacrifice yourself, your desire to protect and nurture as only a shadow of the depth and fullness of His love for you. If you are not yet a parent and you find the image of God as father full of baggage, your step will be to place yourself into a loving, faithful community of believers who love you unconditionally and in that communicate to you the Father’s Love.
     
Today's Prayer

“Our Father, yes I accept you as my father. I accept you as my creator, my protector, my corrector, my friend, , my advisor, my provider, my example and role model for life, my teacher and as the One who sacrificed and continues to sacrifice all for me. I love you Father. Amen” 

Today's Word - "Abba Father" Part 3

When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray (Luke 11:1), this is what He said;
 
"Pray along these lines;: 
 
'Our Father in heaven, we honor your holy name.
We ask that your kingdom will come now. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.
Give us our food again today, as usual,
and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
Don’t bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One. Amen.’     
Matthew 6:9-13 (Living Bible Paraphrase)

Today's Reflection
 
You’re asked, “Who is your father?” You answer, “God is my father”. Can you imagine even thinking that?

Someone tells you, “God is your father”. You hesitate, not knowing what to say. The person then says, “I know He is your father because I can see the family resemblance”. Now you really don’t know what to say.

Yet the Bible goes to great lengths to make this very point: the real you is a daughter, a son of God. And, yes, there is a family resemblance. Notice these verses:

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, (a word in the Aramaic language spoken at the time which means Daddy) Father." Galatians 4:6

"When God adopted you, you did not receive a spirit that makes you afraid of Him. . . instead, you received the spirit who tells you that you are God's own and you can call on Him, "Abba, Daddy, Father." Romans 8:15,16

"We have the mind of Christ." I Corinthians 2:16


Today's Prayer

“Father, Abba, Daddy, Pappa, it is difficult even to pray these words. It’s almost too good to be true. Yet what father wants his son or daughter to be afraid of him? Lord help me to receive your affirmation and love in such a way that it causes me to respect and honor and serve you in a way that feeling distanced from You never could. Amen”  

Today's Word - "Father"

When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray (Luke 11:1), this is what He said;
 
"This, then, is how you should pray: 
 
'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.' "      Matthew 6:9-13(NLT)

Note: Periodically I will present the Lord’s Prayer in a different translation. Most of us know it from the King James translation (KJV) of 1611. Last week’s translation was the New International Version (NIV). Today’s version is the New Living Translation (NLT) which uses the contemporary language of Kenneth Taylor’s paraphrase, The Living Bible (TLB). I am hoping that doing this will help you to connect with the prayer in a new, fresh, and thoughtful way.

Reflection  

I think it is astonishing and life transforming to think that you are in reality a son or a daughter of God.

Think about it.  If I spend most of my life not knowing who my father is and wondering what’s “in me” genetically an otherwise and then I suddenly discover that my father is not only alive, but that he’s been searching the world for me, that would do something to me. Then, when I discover that my father is this highly competent leader with abilities beyond anything I’ve ever known, and that I have that very same DNA then suddenly I begin to view myself differently. And when I discover that His resources are unlimited and that I have access to them, suddenly the world opens up to me in a new way. And when I find out that I have a huge extended family who also have Father’s likeness, then a whole new world of “our” (as in “Our Father”) opens up as well.

And there is this one other thing too. When I discover not only all of the above, but then discover that my Father is still alive and present, albeit in a non visible way, and that He communicates to me about how to “live out” this reality in the real (but broken) world He made, then I realize that I get to be mentored, taught, trained, rebuilt into this new person (2 Corinthians 5:17).  I discover that I have a father who wants to teach me how to “live into” who I actually am and into how to “live out” a life actually works this world that He made.

As you pray today take some time to reflect on the implications of this for how you “do” your life.

Prayer

“Lord perhaps the news that I am a daughter or son of yours seems to too good or too far “out there” to be true. But since the record of who you are (the Bible) tells me it’s true, I ask your help to believe it and to allow that belief to direct me today. This I pray. Amen”    

Today's Word - "Our" Part 3

When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray, this is what He said;
 
"This, then, is how you should pray: 
 
'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"      
Matthew 6:9-13(NIV)

Today's Reflection
 
Have you ever been in a huge crowd and taken the time to stop for a moment and to “take it in”?

Doing so usually overwhelms me. Thinking that I am only one of billions is mind boggling. “All these people are God’s children!” Some are lost as prodigals or elder brothers, others are “found”, yet all are His. When I pray “our” to begin the Lord’s prayer, I remember that my life is not about me. It’s about other people. 

I don’t pray “my Father in heaven”, nor do I pray “a Father in heaven”, nor do I begin with “the” or “Almighty” or “Ours and only our”.  Instead I begin with “our”.

Somehow in some concrete way Jesus is telling us to pray in a way that prevents “me” from becoming the center of my own little world. Instead He insists that I discover how to be all about others and connect to them in a way that enhances their lives. This is how God’s name is hallowed. When I give up myself for the sake of another, as Christ did for us, in that act there is both glory for God and, yes, we get God’s best and real life thrown in now.

As you pray the Lord’s Prayer linger over the word “our”. What does that tell you? Who do you think of? Does it prompt you to do something?

Today's Prayer

“Father, please help me today to notice other people. Make attentive to any specific person who may need a word of encouragement, extra help or a prayer. And Lord, please give me the follow through needed to act on what you show me. Thank you, Father. Amen”    

Today's Word - "Our" Part 2

When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray, this is what He said;
 
"This, then, is how you should pray:
 
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."      
Matthew 6:9-13(NIV)
Today's Reflection
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was the German pastor/theologian who left the comfort of Union Seminary in New York to return to Germany to be with his family and countrymen during the time the Nazis were threatening the world. He was arrested and hanged. An outstanding new biography called “Bonhoeffer” by Eric Metaxix is now out and is worth reading.

In his book “Life Together” he writes this about how crucial it is for believers, not dream of Christian Community but to actually live it;

“Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and if we are fortunate, with ourselves.”
“He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter . . . . .”

Prayer

“Lord, thank you for Bonhoeffer’s words. Please Lord, prevent me from being among those who criticize what I see in other Christians. Instead lead me into actual relationship with and among those who disillusion me. And in the process, Lord, give me the gift of becoming disillusioned with myself and therefore finally become a person you can change and grow into the image of your Son. Amen”