Category: Articles

Are you thinking of what God wants?

We all are living in a world where almost everyone thinks about what he wants in life. Both children and adults in today’s world are infected by a disease called “I want”. I am sure you also suffer from this kind of illness as I do from time to time. Those of us who are believers, and who know that God does not want us to be greedy and self-centered, need to think more about what God wants from us than what we want from him.  In the Book of Hebrews 10: 5, the author of the Hebrews, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, exhorts us with these words, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired.”

With those words the writer reminds us of two things:

1. Worship is God’s greatest concern
2. God wants his people to be mindful of what kind of worship pleases God today

Even before the incarnation of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, God required the people in the Old Testament to worship him through the means of the sacrifice and offering of innocent animals.

However, those sacrifices did not have any power to remove the sins of God’s people, but served as reminders of the misery and consequences of sin. The blood of the animals which was poured on the altar at the Tabernacle reminded all the people who came to worship God that sin caused the death of the innocent animals, as it will bring the killing of the innocent son of God Jesus Christ our Lord who became the perfect sacrifice for the redemption of God’s people.  The one single sacrifice of sin which satisfied the wrath of God for lost sinners and fulfilled the demands of God’s Holy Law perfectly was the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Only that sacrifice is the ground for our salvation and justification.

Today, many people try to make themselves right with God or find favor in the eyes of God by offering animals as a sacrifice for their guilt and sin. But Jesus Christ himself, through the writer of Hebrews, said that is not what God wants. Some people try to find acceptance in the presence of God by giving money to the work of God’s kingdom, and by trying to keep the commandments of God as a way to have justification before the Holy God.  But the Bible rejects all those attempts by telling us that no one can be perfect by keeping the law of God and all our righteous acts are considered to be like filthy rags before God’s measurement of perfection.  So what is that sacrifice that can make a person acceptable in the sight of God? It is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  God the Father wants us to come to his presence to worship him through the one and only sacrifice of Christ by which we have been redeemed and cleansed.  Have you been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ? Are you worshiping God depending on the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been imputed up on you by faith?

That is the only sacrifice that reconciles sinners with God and gives repentant sinners a direct access to God the Father for true worship and communion with the Holy God. If you are wondering how this can be, and you also want find out more about the new way that Christ opened for you to have a living relationship and fellowship with your Creator and Redeemer, I humbly encourage you to listen to last Sunday’s Sermon on Hebrews 10: 1-18, titled “The Sacrifice God Wants”.

It is time to think about what your God wants, my friend!

In the love of Christ!

Pastor Zecharias

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior who has washed us with His blood, clothed us with His righteousness, and adopted us as His children!

What are your 10 favorite psalms?

As you consider this answer, perhaps you are listing such psalms as Psalm 23, Psalm 1, Psalm 100, Psalm 46, and Psalm 136. Many might also include Psalm 51. This 51st psalm is David’s prayer of confession to the Lord for his breaking the second table of the law specifically with Bathsheba and Uriah her husband. The psalm opens up in a memorable manner: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (vs. 1-2).

Underlying David’s prayer life and our prayer life are faith and truth. The faith is not in ourselves but in Jesus Christ who is the author of our faith. “For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). We can say that he who comes to God in prayer must believe that God is. More specifically, He that comes to God in prayer must believe that God is who He says He is in His Word.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” We pray this prayer often, but what does it mean to pray this petition with faith and truth?

David’s prayer of Psalm 51 has always intrigued me. Here he cries out to God for forgiveness and asks God to blot out his transgressions, to wash him from his iniquities, and to cleanse him from his sin. Transgression, iniquity, and sin: why does the Psalmist use these words? Surely David is confessing the weight and gravity of his sin, but what does David’s prayer have to do with faith and truth?

David is often referred to in Scripture as a man after God’s own heart. When David prays, he prays with faith. Walking by faith, David’s heart was tuned to the Word of God even though he was a fallen and sinful man. How better do we see that than in the psalmist’s inspired prayer of repentance? He prays not according to his own imaginations of who God is but rather according to the revelation of who God is from God’s Word. “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exodus 34:6-7).

God reveals Himself to Moses as the God who is merciful and gracious, the forgiver of iniquity, transgression, and sin, and David prays to the merciful God asking Him to forgive exactly what He  has promised: iniquity, transgression, and sin. This is the prayer of a man after God’s own heart. This is the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. This is how we should pray to the Lord as we ask Him to forgive us of our sins. We should pray in accordance with God’s Word, by faith, believing that He is who He has revealed Himself to be in His Word.

So praying with faith means praying according to the revelation of God Himself in His Word that He is who He says He is and that He does what He says He will do, and we rest in the knowledge of this truth as we pray. The Lord is Almighty God, holy in all His works, wonders, and ways, perfect in righteousness, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. This is the God whom we come before in our prayers, including our prayers of repentance, and this is our God in whom we believe, rest, and hope, and in whom we have eternal life by His blood.

Now notice also that while we must come before God in faith, we also come before Him in truth. What does it meant to come before the Lord in truth when we pray? Jesus says to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” There is an assumption made by Jesus of Christians when they pray – that Christians themselves will be forgiving others. Jesus says in Matthew 6, “If you  forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

When we come before the Lord seeking forgiveness we must do so in truth, not as the hypocrite who desires something of God but will not grant that same thing to another who seeks it of him.
Remember the parable of the servant who owed his master much and was forgiven all, but threw in prison his fellow servant who owed him but a penny. How much more will God do to us if we ask Him for forgiveness of our sins but will not forgive those who ask for our forgiveness?

Praying truthfully does not mean we must forgive sin against us though the sinner does not ask forgiveness for the sin. God says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” However, if someone comes asking forgiveness for sin, and we deny it, we should not expect God to forgive us – we are playing the hypocrite. Similarly, if someone asks for forgiveness and we grant it verbally but not in action, we should not expect God to grant us His pardon – we are playing the liar.

On the positive side, if we grant forgiveness to those who ask it; if we pray in faith to our God who is the only living and true God; if we receive and rest on Him as our only hope in this life or the next; then we can have great confidence in asking God to forgive us for He has promised to forgive us our sins. It is God’s very character to forgive sinners for He is the gracious and merciful God who forgives iniquities, transgressions, and sins. Do not doubt this, for to doubt it is to make little of Him who is very great. Do not deny this, for to deny it is to deny the truth. Do not reject it, for to reject Jesus Christ, the God-man, is to reject the only way of salvation for sinners. All who come to Him will be saved unto everlasting life.

May the God of all mercy and grace fill us with all joy and gladness, as we confess our sins before Him. For we know that He who is the giver of faith and repentance will in no wise reject that which He has given. We also know that He who sees all  things has defeated sin and death and will surely forgive us as He has promised. Brothers and sisters, cry out to the Lord in faith and truth and He will surely hear you!

Almighty God our Father
There is none great like You for by Your hand all things are and were created
It is a thing too great for us to come before Your presence and live
For we are a sinful people, full of evil, and negligent in doing good
You, O Lord, are the God full of mercy and compassion
Gracious in all Your ways
Perfect in all Your works
Holy in all Your words
You have revealed Yourself to us as the God who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin,
And we have committed such offenses against You
We have broken all Your commandments
Neglecting that which You have told us to do
Pursuing and doing that which You have forbidden
We plead with You, O Lord, to forgive us our sins
Have mercy upon us
Cause Your face to shine upon us
Until that day that You return or call us home, mold us and make us perfect even as You are perfect
Grant to us holy desires, to love that which You love and hate all that which You hate.
Soften our hard hearts of rebellion
Loosen our stiff necks
Reveal to us our sins and turn us from them
So that we may bring all glory to Your holy name
That others may learn from us and exalt the name of Jesus Christ
And that the generation to come might see the marvelous grace of Jesus Christ
Believe in You, repent of their sins, and be saved
We pray this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ our Savior, our Lord, and our God
Amen

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brother and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who is from all eternity to all eternity, who dwelt among us but is now ascended, and who came to Earth and is coming again in all glory and power!

From talking with many people, it seems that God is leading us as a church to grow in our fellowship with Him through prayer. Sometimes in our prayer life it is difficult to understand how the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer directs and enables Christians to make petitions for themselves and others. How does the Lord’s Prayer guide me when praying for health needs? How does the Lord’s Prayer assist me when praying for safety? Can the Lord’s Prayer be a pattern for me when I am looking for a new job? Does the Lord’s Prayer match up with Scripture telling me to pray for our government? Utilizing the Lord’s Prayer as a guide for all of prayer can prove to be a challenging concept.

A few months ago we considered the 2nd petition, “Thy kingdom come.” We saw from Scripture how this petition was not only a petition for the Lord to return, but even more, a petition for the growth of the kingdom of grace, a petition for the shrinking and destruction of the kingdom of Satan, a petition for the bringing to glory of all the saints, and the list goes on. The 2nd petition of the Lord’s Prayer summarizes in one phrase many petitions that are properly brought before the Lord.

Consider the Ten Commandments. The 6th commandment is, “Thou shalt not kill.” Does this mean it is moral then to punch your neighbor? Of course not. The 6th commandment summarizes an entire category of sin in the one commandment. Jeopardizing the physical wellbeing of ourselves or of others, even in non-­?lethal manners, is included within the 6th commandment. Just as the 2nd petition summarizes many prayers, the 6th commandment summarizes many moral duties.

Similar to the 2nd petition and the 6th commandment, when we come to the 4th petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” God is again summarizing many petitions into one so as to give us a pattern and direction for our prayer life.

How then can we pray the 4th petition in our daily prayer lives? First, let us consider what is implied on the surface of this petition. So far in the Lord’s Prayer we have been petitioning the Lord for things that apply to Him: “Hallowed by Thy name,” “Thy kingdom come,” “Thy will be done.” Now it changes to “Give us…” Is this a respectable way to approach God?

What does Scripture have to say about this? Consider the manner in which God reveals Himself to us. God tells us: He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness (Psalm 107:9); He will not suffer the soul of  the righteous to famish (Proverbs 10:3); He gives food to the hungry and  frees the prisoners (Psalm 146:7); and He will supply  all your needs  according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Our God has promised to care for us, yet we do not deserve it. So even as we meditate on this petition in accordance with God’s character, knowing by faith that He will provide for all our needs, we are reminded of His marvelous grace, and this leads to the praise the Lord. The Lord is full of mercy, kindness, and compassion He even gives us our daily bread. Praise be to the Lord God.

It is difficult to pray in such a manner without acknowledging with the psalmist, “What is man that You are mindful of Him?” We are reminded of Daniel who acknowledges, “To us belongs confusion of face…because we have sinned against Thee…to the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness…” (Daniel 9:8-­?9). We are unworthy to receive any good thing of the Lord because of our sin. And yet, He has given us much. So the 4th petition also leads us to repentance.

Second, now with this humble acknowledgement of the glory of Christ who provides and the confession of our own unworthiness to receive any provision from the Lord on account of our sin, we may humbly approach our Savior with our needs. We pray for many things: the health of our own bodies, even as Hezekiah prayed; the healing of others; even all of our concerns and cares in this life. These are very broad categories because this petition covers a very broad array of requests. The Lord who cares for the lilies of the field, will He not so much more care for His people?

We have considered four petitions along with the preface to the Lord’s Prayer and we can notice how in each petition there is a pattern that our prayers can take. And that is the pattern of praising God, repenting of our sins and confessing our unworthiness to enter into God’s presence, giving adoration to God who alone is worthy to receive our praise and who has done marvelous works for the children of men, and we yearn with Him for the desires of our heart.

The pattern is very helpful for us especially as we consider the 4th petition. It is easy for us to fall into a pattern of prayer where we simply ask God for item after item and forget to praise Him for who He is and all that He has done for us. As our minds focus on God and His glory we  are aided to pray to God in faith for the petitions of our hearts with fuller confidence and boldness to ask because we are praying to the God who has kept us and cared for us; we are praying to the God whose power is beyond all our understanding; we are praying to the God whose mercy is greater than the Heavens; and we are praying to our heavenly Father who demonstrates His care for us day by day.

Brothers and sisters, as we pray to our great God for things agreeable to His will, let us pray with great boldness and confidence with all faith, for He who has commanded us to pray these things has all power to bring to pass the petitions of our heart. And as you see the ever present and bountiful hand of the Lord your God at work, give all  glory to God who has not appointed us to wrath but rather to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the Lord!

Almighty and most merciful God

We come before You in the name of Your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ

He who formed the Earth and the Heavens

He who heals all of our diseases

Who forgives all our iniquities

Who showers us with good and protects us from evil

We thank You for Your care and provision for us, a sinful people

We deserve death but You give us life

We deserve poverty but You give us riches

O most merciful God, we thank You for Your goodness to us

And we ask now that You would continue to provide for all our needs

As You have done in the past we ask that You would continue into the future

Provide for us food for our physical nourishment

Provide for us the means to care for our families and ourselves

Provide health for the sick and strength to the weak

In all that You provide us we ask that You would cause us to enjoy and be content in Your provision

And may we faithfully declare Your goodness in our lives to the world around us

In all this we pray that Christ’s name would be exalted

And it is in Jesus Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the name of the only Redeemer of God’s elect, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart oh take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

These final words from the well-known hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” have resonated with Christians for many decades as they reflect the Christian’s life-long war against sin. These words are a confession of our current state. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, praise be to God – and yet we still find ourselves prone to sin.

Paul writes in Romans of the same reality. He confesses that he does those things that he hates and he does not do those things which he loves. And he cries out for deliverance before confessing the salvation he and we have in Jesus Christ.

Similarly, the psalmist writes in many psalms of being in a dry and thirsty land (Psalm 63:1), panting after God as a deer pants for the water (Psalm 42:1) , feeling the enemies without and within drawing nearer to him (Psalm 22:16), the troubles of his heart being enlarged (Psalm 22:17, and even wondering if the Lord’s favor is gone forever (Psalm 77:7). And in every case the deliverance, protection, salvation, forgiveness, and life is found in the Lord his God.

The reality of sin and our tendency toward it is very obvious with just minor reflection on our lives. When we look at the world around us we see the same thing, perhaps even more. Sin is celebrated today as much as or more than ever before in history. Those sins which God hates are celebrated with parades in the biggest cities of the world. Sin and lies are promoted all around us, righteousness and truth are suppressed and mocked. This is the way of the fallen world today.

It has been said before that the world is getting worse and worse and will continue getting worse until the end of the world. When asked for the reasoning behind this conclusion, abortion and homosexuality are often cited as primary examples. And yet, we read in Kings and Chronicles that the kings of Israel and Judah were offering their own children as burnt sacrifices to false gods. We read of whole cities in Genesis and Judges given over to homosexuality. Is there anything new under the sun? The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us definitively that there is not.

The writer of Ecclesiastes concludes the book by saying, “Fear  God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.” The giver of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus Christ, tells us when we pray to say, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

Day by day we feel the weight and burden of sin and temptation. We fall into sin. We see sin abounding around us. And in the midst of this, the Lord tells us to pray. Pray that His will would be done on earth even as it is in heaven.

Some interpreters of this petition will teach a perspective that in prayer we should always acknowledge that the Lord’s will would be done with our requests. Like Jesus praying in the garden, “Nevertheless not what I will but what Thou wilt (Mark 14:36),” this third petition is teaching us to submit to the sovereignty and order of God.

However, this petition exhorts us more directly to pray that we and all the world would do that which God has revealed in His Word. When we pray, Thy will be done, we are praying and petitioning God that He would enable us and all men to glorify Him.

The children’s catechism asks, “How can you glorify God?” The answer, “By loving Him and doing what He commands.” The follow-up question is, “Where do you learn how to love and obey God?” And the answer, “In the Bible alone.” How to glorify God is not a mystery. God has given us His revealed will. He has given us His commandments, statutes, and judgments that we may walk in them and glorify Him. Those who walk in the counsel of the Lord are like trees planted by rivers of living water. They shall flourish whose mind is steadfast in the God.

In Psalm 119, the psalmist confesses over and over again his love for the law (Examples: Psalm 119:97, 111, 113, 174). And his love of the law comes from a hiding of the law in his heart (Psalm 119:11). As we pray to the Lord for His will to be done, we are also praying that God would remind us of His will. We cannot do His will if we do not know His will and so we hide His will in our hearts.
As the angels do God’s will in heaven, so we pray that God’s will would be done here on earth. We pray in this petition that righteousness would prosper, that wickedness would be diminished, and that in everything that comes to pass, God’s glory would be revealed to all men.

Prone to wander, Lord, we feel it, prone to leave the God we love. God has told us that we must pray to Him for the grace to make us “willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things… (WLC #192).” So many times in the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is easy to forget to ask for help from our God who gives it. So often as we look at the world around us it is easy to complain or ridicule rather than pray. God has given us a duty – He has told His people to pray that His will would be done.

May we find grace from God to help us in the time of need as we pray to Him, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” He who has told us to pray this will surely do it.

Almighty and most merciful Father
We are a sinful people living among a sinful nation
Prone to wander from Your statutes, so often we not only do not keep Your law
But we also forget it.
In Your mercy and for the sake of Jesus Christ the giver of all
Forgive us of our sin and enable us and all men to do Your will
As the prophet Ezra made the law his meditation and practice
As the angels obey Your commands and carry out Your will in heaven
So Lord help us to study and practice Your revealed will
To know, obey, and submit to You in all things
We pray likewise for all the world, that all men would delight in Your statutes and judgments
As You have instructed, so we ask that You would cause it to be done.
You are the God who is faithful from generation to generation and from age to age.
So we ask that You would show forth Your faithfulness to us in these our petitions
We pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

Greetings to you in the name of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

In 2008, country music singer Kenny Chesney released a song where the refrain went like this: “Everybody wants to go to heaven, Have a mansion high above the clouds, Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now.” Such is the attitude of the world we  live in, and so this song reached #1 on the Billboard charts for several weeks in 2008 when it was released. Everybody wants to or expects to go to heaven but nobody wants to go now. Why? Well, according to  the words of the Kenny Chesney song, it’s because they are having too  much fun in the present evil world. Far different is the attitude of the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:21 when he says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

This is the contrast between the one who is heavenly minded and the one whose mind is of the earth. The former desires freedom from the present evil age while the latter desires more of this world’s vain promises. But what does Paul mean by “to live is Christ”? Paul continues in the chapter to explain that by living he will be preaching the gospel. He will be building up the precious faith of Christians in Phillip. Many more lost will be brought to salvation. If Paul lives, Paul will advance the Kingdom of Grace through the Spirit and the preaching of the Word. Paul desires for this kingdom of grace to advance and grow. And Paul’s desire is a righteous and necessary desire.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray he told them to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” There are two senses to this prayer: the already (here and now/present) and the not yet (future). In II Peter 3:15, Peter writes, “The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…” Similarly, Paul in Romans 2:4 writes of the goodness, forbearing, and longsuffering of God leading to repentance.

These verses are telling us that the delay of Christ’s return is to show forth His mercy and glory in longsuffering so that more will be saved. And this is to be our prayer. May God bring all His elect to salvation soon. May the Word of God be proclaimed boldly  and powerfully, applied mightily by the Spirit, to the saving of many. God’s tarrying is leading to salvation – Because today is the day of salvation. When Christ returns there will be no more salvation. It’s appointed for men once to die and then the judgment. And more than salvation of sinners, Peter prays for the growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In this prayer for growth of Christ’s kingdom of grace, there is a related prayer, and that is the shrinking, diminishing, and destruction of  Satan’s kingdom. Naturally, when Christ’s kingdom grows by one soul, Satan’s kingdom is diminished by one soul. And so while we pray for the kingdom of grace to be advanced we should also pray that Satan’s kingdom would be utterly and completely destroyed. Here is the present tense of this second petition, the salvation of the world, the sanctification of the church, and the destruction of Satan’s kingdom.

And yet, there is more. For we are to desire and  pray for more in this petition. Peter says II Peter 3 “look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Consider briefly the last chapter of scripture, Revelation 22, the climatic close to the whole of scripture. God has spoken in sundry times and in diverse manners for all of human history. In these last days since He came in the flesh He has spoken to us through His Son Jesus Christ, and in the last chapter of scripture Jesus tells His sheep what to long for, look for, and pray for. But first, He reminds just who He is.

This Jesus, speaking in scripture, is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God. And He who testifieth these things says, “Surely I come quickly.” And the apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, draws scripture towards a close with a short prayer of response to Christ. His prayer must be our prayer, “Amen, Even so come Lord Jesus.”

In Christ is life and joy unspeakable so we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We look for the eternal kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth and so we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” As Simeon and Anna looked for the incarnation and first coming of Christ and were blessed to see His day, so we pray that we would see the second coming of Christ, when Jesus will descend on the clouds with great glory, with the voice of the archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of the LORD, when the dead shall be raised, when corruption shall put on incorruption, when the faith shall be sight! So we pray for this kingdom of glory to be hastened.

As we pray the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, may we be mindful of the present hope, the advancement of God’s grace, the ever shrinking
kingdom of Satan, and the future hope, perhaps even this very day, of the coming of the kingdom of glory. Even so, come Lord Jesus, quickly come!

Almighty and ever-­?living God

What God is there in Heaven or in Earth

As Great as our God?

Among all the  nations of the Earth

Where else can salvation be found but in You?

For You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

We praise You for Your mercy and steadfastness.

We exalt Your longsuffering,

Tarrying even for our salvation.

We pray o Lord, that You would advance Your kingdom of grace

Regenerate the souls of men through Your means

Sanctify Your people through Your truth

And, o Lord, gather all Your elect into Your fold.

Destroy the kingdom of Satan

And we plead with You o Lord

Come quickly!

The Spirit and the bride say “Come”

Jesus who testifies of these things says, “Surely I come quickly”

Even so, come Lord Jesus

We pray this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the name of the Jesus Christ our risen Savior, who thought it not robbery to be considered equal with God for He is God!

Many centuries ago two powerful kings came to fight each other. The first king came to the battlefield with an army of 400,000 soldiers while the second fielded an army totaling 800,000 men. As if the 2:1 ratio was not bad enough for the first king, the second king also had his soldiers arrayed in ambush, half in front and half behind the first army. With such an arrangement, the outcome seemed certain. However, when the battle was complete, some 500,000 soldiers of the larger army lay dead on the battlefield and the remaining 300,000 were scattered. How could this be?

The two kings at war with each other in this battle were Jeroboam of Israel and Abijah of Judah. Jeroboam was a wicked king who had set himself not against Judah but against Jehovah God. As the battle is about to begin in II Chronicles Chapter 13, King Abijah stands on a mountain and shouts to the army of Israel that “Jeroboam the son of Nebat…rebelled against his Lord. And now ye think to withstand  the kingdom of Jehovah…and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods….But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him…O children of Israel fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”

The Israelites rejected this warning and the battle that follows is God’s judgment against them. The reason for this long illustration is not so much that we might learn from Jeroboam’s wickedness, but that we might learn from Abijah’s zeal. King Abijah had great zeal for the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, even Jehovah. He confesses that Jehovah alone is God and urges the Israelites not to fight a losing battle against God.

When Jesus teaches us to pray, the first petition he gives us is, “Hallowed be Thy name.” This word, “hallowed,” is not one we find much in the New Testament. It appears only a few times in the Old Testament. However, the Greek word is used some 28 times in the New Testament and is generally translated “sanctify.” In John 17, the same word is used when Jesus prays to the Father and says, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” and two verses later, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they might be sanctified through the truth.” The word “hallowed” means sanctify, that is to make holy, to recognize as holy, to treat as holy, even to venerate and worship.

When Jesus teaches us to pray “Hallowed be Thy name,” He is teaching us to set His name apart for holy use, to reverence His name, to honor His name, to treat with great reverence, even to worship His name. In prayer, we are then asking God to see to it by His providence that His name might be always highly reverenced and sanctified, by us individually and by all men. Generally speaking, Christ is teaching us that everywhere God makes Himself known, He is to be hallowed. God’s bride the church should not be profaned, human beings made in the image of God should not be cursed, the good creation should not be condemned. You see, this petition goes beyond the reverence of His name generally. However, very specifically, the honor, exaltation, and purity of God’s name is directly in mind in this petition.

In King Hezekiah’s day, Rabshakeh of Assyria came to Jerusalem threatening the city and blaspheming the name of God. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, confessing God’s glory and asking the Lord to open His eyes and see and hear the words of the Assyrians. And what specifically were the words Hezekiah was calling to the Lord’s attention? Isaiah 37:17-­‐20, defying the living God. When Rabshakeh came at King Sennacherib’s orders, he came defying, denying, and mocking Jehovah God. So Hezekiah brings this to God’s attention and asks God to save Judah from the Assyrians’ hands, “So that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, even thou only.” And the Lord vindicates His own name and destroys some 186,000 soldiers of the Assyrians in one night.

The Lord is a jealous God. He is jealous for the hallowing of His name, for the faithfulness of His people, for the purity of His worship. And our Lord has told us to pray for this. Often when we actually come to the Lord in prayer, we pray for many things about our own lives, our health, our friends, our family, our work, etc… and these are good and right things to pray for. However, they should not be the only things we pray for, and often times, they should not be the only focus of our prayer. Jesus tells us first to pray that the name of God would be praised.

In the first commandment given by God at Mount Sinai, He tells us, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” In the second commandment God tells us, in paraphrase, to worship Him according to His commandments, and in the third commandment God tells us not to profane His name. Now in the first petition of the Lord’s prayer, we are learning that God desires us to pray that what He has commanded would actually come to pass. It is proper and good then for us to pray that God would help us and others to keep His commandments – specifically the hallowing, sanctifying, and keeping pure His name.

There is a corollary to this prayer as well. That is, that whoever does not hallow the name of God might repent and if they do not repent that their mouths might be stopped. The larger catechism addresses atheism and atheists specifically in this prayer. That all who deny God would repent and come to saving faith in the only living and true God. That all those who do not repent might be brought to nothing. We can apply here, that in all places of worship where God’s name is profaned, that they might be stopped. It is proper to pray for the end of those places that deny the living and true God as revealed in His Word.

This letter began with King Abijah. As we close, think again what King Abijah did. He declared the name of Jehovah, he glorified and exalted His name, and He called and warned all the enemies of Jehovah to seek the living and true God, to repent and join with the true God rather than oppose Him. When Israel opposed the true God in their position of unquestionable strength, God fought against them and destroyed them. Those who oppose the name of God today, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Jehovah, are facing the same outcome. When we pray that we and all men would hallow the name of the LORD, we are praying for the salvation of all. We are asking God to save many and turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh so that all creatures would bless the Creator and worship Him.

This petition is far reaching. It covers many areas of our prayer lives, from asking God to enable us to keep His commandments, to praying for the lost and the vindication and exaltation of the powerful name of Jesus Christ. May this help us as a church when we pray, to lift high the name of Christ, to exalt God the  Father, and to rejoice in the Holy Ghost.

Following is an example of how this petition can  be prayed in your personal prayer and devotion:

Our Father and ourGod

We come before You in the name of Your only Son Jesus Christ

Praising Your name for it is very great and greatly to be praised

We confess, oh Lord, we  have not given You the honor that is due to Your name

We confess we have made other people and things  to be our desire

We have not worshiped You aright, we have profaned Your holy name

Father, have mercy on us sinners  and forgive us

Enable us to exalt the name of the Lord To bless the name of Jesus Christ

To praise God our Father and the Holy Ghost

When we speak Your name may Your majesty be always on our mind

May we  speak Your name with  reverence and sobriety

We ask that You  would help us to concentrate as we read Your word

And focus our hearts and minds as we worship You

That we might not make trivial that wherein You have made Yourself known

And that we might not give occasion for the world to mock Your name

We ask, Lord God, that You would enable all the earth to hold high Your name

Rather than profane it – that it would be hallowed

Rather than being abused,that it might be sanctified

We long for the day when none will deny the living and true God

And we ask Lord God that You would bring that day about quickly

That all men may know that the Lord God Omnipotent reigns

And there is no other God, save the LORD.

Until that day help us to declare Your glory and the glory of Your holy name

In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Ben Stahl, Elder

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of God the Father who chose us, God the Son who redeemed us, and God the Holy Spirit who sealed us!

Several years ago a colleague from work recounted an experience he had on an aircraft where significant turbulence had him scared for his life. During this experience he said he prayed to every god he could think of, and, sadly, he could think of more gods than the only living and true God, Jesus Christ. In crying out to all the gods he had heard of he thought one would hear and answer him.

In Psalm 121, the psalmist is also looking for help. He lifts up his eyes to the hills from where his help comes. And as his eyes are looking up, the psalmist declares, “My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and Earth.” As the Psalm continues, the psalmist expounds on the help of the Lord. He speaks of the Lord as our foundation, our keeper, and our protector, and the Psalm concludes with, “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

The Lord is the only help of His people forever. For this reason, when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, he says to begin with, “Our Father, which art in Heaven…” How can this be that sinful creatures may approach the Holy God in such familiar language? God has done something for us. He has adopted us as His children. He has made us joint heirs with Christ and on the basis of Christ and His priestly work we may come directly to the Lord God in prayer and call Him, “Our Father.” And we must come to Him in prayer for there is help from no other; for there is no other God, save the LORD.

This title of familiarity in our approach to God is a recognition of who God is and what He has done to draw us to Himself. It is a title that does not first appear in the New Testament but actually begins in the Old Testament. We find in Isaiah 63:16 where the prophet writing the Word of God says, “Doubtless thou art our Father…thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Redeemer, they name is from everlasting.” In Isaiah 4:8, we read, “But now, O LORD, thou art our Father, we are the clay…” In Jeremiah’s prophecy of pleading for God’s people to repent in Jeremiah 3, the Lord says in verse 4, “Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?” And in 3:9, “Thou shalt call me, My Father, and shalt not turn away from me.”

The tenderness, mercy, grace, and longsuffering of our God is so clearly on display in these passages. The context, especially in Jeremiah, is God the Lord pleading with His people to turn away from their sin and repent of their sinful deeds. It is like a faithful father mourning over the sin of his children and pleading with them to repent and come back into fellowship with the family. The father pleads with his children reminding them how he guided them in their youth and they ought not forsake him now. In their youth he protected them and cared for them and does so now. So our Heavenly Father is doing the same. He is pleading: Remember your Father, call out to me and I will deliver you; repent, and I will forgive, for I am your Father and Redeemer.

We see also that our Father, God the Lord, has redeemed us with great price so that we may be His people and He our God. He has adopted us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Is it not a wonder too great for us that the creator of the world, the One who holds back the mighty oceans from overcoming the sands of the shore, this God, would call us to approach unto Him in such a manner? Because God is who He is, as we come before Him as our Father it is incumbent upon Christians to come before Him with reverence and awe. The infinite, eternal, unchangeable Triune God has shown great love and tender mercies to His creation through His Son Jesus Christ; so when we pray to our Father, let us confess His glory, lift high His praise, and honor Him in our prayer.

Secondly, because He is our Father and He is our God, when we pray to Him, we may and should come before Him with boldness and confidence. If, as a child, you had an angry father or perhaps no father at home at all, the thought of approaching your father is a thing of bitterness and perhaps great grief. If you could approach him, you would approach him with great fear and worry and only when you absolutely had to for fear he would lash out at you in anger and rage. If you had a kind father as I trust many, by God’s grace, do have in this life, you can approach your father with boldness and confidence because you know your father loves you and cares for you. If earthly fathers can be approached in such a manner, how much more our Heavenly Father who loved us so much that He spared not His Son, His only Son from death, even the painful and shameful death of the cross so that He might be our life, righteousness, and salvation?

Finally, it is interesting to note that Jesus does not tell His disciples to pray, “My Father,” but rather, “Our Father.” Why? Well, whose Father is He? He is the Father of the elect. The Father of believers. He is the Father of Christians. Many times when we pray and almost always when we pray in public, we are praying with other believers. Even in private we are often praying for other believers. In this preface to the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is teaching us to acknowledge that we are praying with other children of God and for other children of God, by calling out to Him as “Our Father.”

So, how does the preface to the Lord’s Prayer provide guidance and instruction for us in all our prayers, even when not using the script of the Lord’s Prayer? It reminds us of the love that God has for His people, despite our sin. It reminds us in prayer to adore God for who He is; to adore Him for His marvelous glory and for His attributes; to give reverence to Him; and to humble ourselves before Him in prayer. It also reminds us to come to our Father through the Son Jesus Christ (more to come on this in future letters) and to come with boldness and confidence. Praying with faith the Lord’s Prayer to God who taught it to us is an excellent way to come before God with boldness and confidence.

Using God’s Word in our prayers is a proper practice and benefits us in our meditation on the Word of God. It also assures us that our prayers are agreeable to God’s holy will. May this encourage us to come before God in prayer calling upon Him as our Father and adoring Him who made us and saved us. Lord willing in future letters we will see how the balance of the Lord’s Prayer continues to lead us in the whole of our prayer life.

Following is an example of an introduction to personal, family, or corporate prayer that applies the preface of the Lord’s Prayer to our prayer life. Your prayers in no way need be so long, this merely gives an example of prayer to our Father incorporating God’s own Word in His praise, adoration, and reverent thanksgiving!

Our Father which art in heaven,

We praise Your great and glorious name.

For You are our strength and shield, Our ever present help in times of trouble.

Though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the sea,

We shall not fear, for the Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

The Earth is Yours and You made it; The Heavens also are Yours and You have stretched them out.

Who is a God like our God? How glorious are Your mercies toward Your people!

You are the guide of our youth and faithful.

We beseech You in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ to preserve us in Your ways.

Even as we advance from glory into glory.

Ben Stahl, Elder

Greetings to you in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever!

If you are like me at all, you have considered this month how it is that we already wrapped up the first 12th of the New Year and are nearing the end of the first 6th. It seems only yesterday we were celebrating Christmas and New Years with our family and friends. If you grew up south of Atlanta, you may have wondered at Christmas if winter would ever end; if you grew up north of Atlanta, you may have wondered if winter would ever begin. Now, spring is next month and weed killer soon needs to be applied.

So  many constant changes in the life of a Christian, it is often difficult for us to focus on our spiritual needs and, primarily, communion with the Triune God. The disciples were very concerned    with their fellowship with God, specifically their communication with Him in prayer, so they asked Jesus Christ to teach them how to pray. And Jesus, of course, answers them by giving what we commonly call today the Lord’s Prayer.

From personal experience, it can be very easy to neglect the means of grace and communion with God we have been given in prayer. As we go through the months of this year, the focus of these pastoral letters will revolve around prayer; how to pray; how not to pray; how to apply the Lord’s Prayer in our daily prayer life. The goal is that we would grow in our knowledge, love, devotion, and fellowship with our Savior Jesus Christ who tells us in Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful,” and in I Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”

Sometimes Christians do not feel like praying. Sometimes Christians do not know what to pray or how to pray. Sometimes Christians are afraid their prayers will not be good enough. Sometimes Christians just don’t know what the purpose of prayer is and have heard all manner of poor explanations for prayer.

Just the other day on the radio, a minister from a church in California was telling a large church that the way we know that God is true is when He does miraculous things after we pray. This man gave the example of a minister who as a young boy asked the Lord to show His power to him and went over to his little sister with a broken arm, touched her, and his little sister’s arm was healed. This is how God works through prayer, the preacher explained, and this is how you know that God is who He says He is. In the charismatic movement around the world, this is common teaching on prayer.

But in the Word of God, the only infallible rule for faith and life, we find God teaching us something different about prayer. We find that prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God (Phil 4:6) for things agreeable to His revealed will (I John 5:14) in the name of Jesus Christ (John 14:13) with confession of our sins (Psalm 51) and thankful acknowledgment of God’s mercies (Hebrews 4:16, Psalm 136).

This description of prayer, taken from our shorter catechism, describes the primary components of a Christian’s prayer. Christians are to praise God in our prayers; repent to God;  adore God; and
yearn for things agreeable to God’s will. My father always taught me the acronym PRAY as a young child: Praise, Repent, Adore, and Yearn.

Sometimes, as we pray privately during our time of personal devotion, we are able to cover all of these areas of prayer. Perhaps we are able to do so also during our times of family worship as we make a concerted effort to praise and adore God, repent of our sins, and make petitions, requests, and supplications of Him. In I Kings 8:22-­?61 Solomon offers such a prayer.He praises the name of the Lord, “There is no God like thee…(vs. 23)”; he proclaims and adores the power of the Lord, “thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thine hand…”(vs. 24). He confesses sins of the present and of the future in verses 28, 30, 34, 36, 39, 50. He makes supplication throughout the prayer. Much of his supplication is for safety and Solomon yearns for the Lord to hear the cry and repentance of the people.

Sometimes as we pray, we do not have this full structure before us. The prayer is less planned and thought through, but we have a need and bring it before the Lord. Such was the case in Hezekiah’s day as the Assyrians threatened the destruction of Jerusalem in 2 Kings 19:15-­?19. Yet, in this desperation, Hezekiah calls out to the Lord God of Israel and praises His holy name, “You are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth” (vs. 15). Hezekiah makes supplication, he yearns for the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Assyrians and he does so for the cause that God alone may be glorified. “Save us…that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone” (vs. 19).

Sometimes, we cry out to the Lord in faith for deliverance in a moment of trial. Peter did so as he began to sink while walking on the water in Mark 14:30: “Lord, save me!” Sometimes we focus on  the praise of God, such as in the invocation of the worship service. Sometimes we focus on the requests, the supplications. Other times we adore and give thanks to God for who He is and what He has done. And yet other times, we focus on repentance, even as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper.

God has told us much about prayer in His Word, He has ordained much for us to pray, He has taught us how to pray, and He prays and intercedes for us. With these broad categories in mind, in the months ahead, if God is willing, we shall examine how God teaches us to praise His name, repent, adore Him, and make supplication even in the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer which cover in some manner the whole of our prayer lives.

May God see fit to strengthen and encourage us in prayer, to increase our faith in Him, to build us up in love for Him and His church, to take encouragement in prayer from God only, to ascribe all kingdom, power, and glory to Him, and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, to heartily confess, Amen!

Ben Stahl, Elder