[You can listen this with audio assistant] It is a well-known prayer even for non-Christians. However, not many people know that it is basically a prayer pattern and not a mantra that loses its meaning after a while. Many people today pray it automatically. But Jesus the King prays it systematically . Some of the phrases below even need to be updated for the better understanding of meaning. We must see that Jesus Christ showed this pattern to his disciples to give them a framework for their daily prayer. It is a preference & reference too: for Jesus, the key issue is that God's names be known and His Kingdom be here on Earth in the splendour and power as it is in Heaven. In other words - that the Heaven would touch Earth and Gd's restoration would be at work. When Heaven touches the Earth our perspective is restored. We can read in Mt 6:9-13: Our Father in the Heaven: Who dwells in the Heaven in the heavenly Realm, sitting...
Preaching on Mark 9:17-18 Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: “You must become aware of your need, of your impotence, of your helplessness. You must realise that you are confronted by something that is too deep for your methods to get rid of, or to deal with, and you need something that can go down beneath that evil power, and shatter it ... and there is only one thing that can do that, and that is the power of God. And we too, must become aware of that, we have got to feel it until we become desperate. We must ask ourselves how we can succeed if we do not have this authority, this commission, this might and strength and power. We must become utterly and absolutely convinced of our need. We must cease to have so much confidence in ourselves, and in all our methods and organisations, and in all our slickness. We have got to realise that we must be filled with God’s Spirit. And we must be equally certain that God can fill us with his Spirit. We have got to realise that however great ...
(our spiritual and mental hygiene) This article is part of the "Vitalize" pack Our salvation and our adoption has been prepared in advance (Eph 1:4-6) by His love, but our lives continue to go on in this disordered, ungodly world. The Lord Jesus and his apostles take great care to maintain the hygiene of our lives. They never confuse salvation with sanctification . 2Cor 7:1 Therefore, dear friends, since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, completing our sanctification in the fear of God. Let's start with the well-known scene: Remember that Jesus Christ washed the feet of his disciples. During supper,... Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands,... rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel...