“To Jesus prayer is everything; it’s a duty as well as a privilege, a right as well as a responsibility. We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but Jesus wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all.”
oswald chambers, prayer: a holy occupation, p. 7.
Share a Comment: Consider sharing a comment in the box below with something God is showing you either about fasting, prayer, or making room in your heart – as an encouragement to others.
Daily Devotionals: As we step into this next season in the life of our church, we are asking the Lord to help us “Make Room in our Hearts” – for the people Jesus loves, and the people Jesus brings. During these 21 Days, our whole church will be reflecting and meditating on these same thoughts and prayers together, with one mind, guided by and depending on one Spirit.
________________________________________
Engage the Word: Making Room In Our Hearts
Read Matthew 6:12
…and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Connect the Heart
This little snippet of the “Lord’s Prayer” (now getting traction as more appropriately the “Apostle’s Prayer”) gives us a condensed version of what a heart should be like as it prays to God. Jesus tells us who God is, “our Father in Heaven”, and for us to pray for God’s will, His provision, and His guidance. And in verse 12 we get this issue about forgiveness and sin. The ESV translates Matthew’s Greek word ophelilema (“that which is owed”) for sin as “debts.” Some of us grew up instead reciting the prayer using the word “trespasses” which is also pretty useful for describing sin. Trespassing is being where you don’t belong. (eg. jumping the fence into the neighbor’s yard to pick their peaches…logging into that website late at night…going there in your juicy story about someone, …) Even if the neighbors let their peaches go to waste, nobody catches you on that site, or if the person never finds out you said something about them—you are still trespassing because you were somewhere you weren’t supposed to go. On the other hand, not trespassing is being where you should be.
I think instead of focusing on not trespassing, I’ll focus on being where I should be today. I think my heart will be healthier as a result. I may just have less need of God’s and others’ forgiveness. And I might become a little more like Jesus.
Reflect on the Truth
- Where do I “go” where I don’t belong. Do I see it as trespassing or do I justify it somehow?
- How does trespassing affect my heart and my relationship to Jesus?
- Who might I go to for accountability and help in repentance about my trespasses? When I am tempted to “jump the fence”, where might God steer me to be instead?
Depend on the Spirit
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that these thoughts are pointing to. (for example: you may write down, “Jesus, you were tempted in every way, yet you were without sin (Hebrews 4:15), so you can relate to how hard temptations really are. Holy Spirit, help me to discover specific ways to be so focused on becoming more like Jesus that those hindrances to my joy just fall away.”) The Lord can help us discern the path forward – through His Word, His Spirit, His people.
_________________________________
For Prayer
As we conclude our devotional time, pray that we as a church will be known in greater measure as people who diligently seek to become more like Jesus in every way.
Fasting
Please read the first blog post entitled “Why Fast?” This explains what fasting is and why we follow Jesus in this spiritual discipline as together we seek the heart of God.
Previous Posts
To read yesterday’s blog post devotional, please click here.
To read our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting Introduction, please click here.
________________________________________
Some parts of our 21 Days devotionals are adapted using various resources on scripture and prayer like The Bible Exposition Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, The New Bible Commentary, Logos Bible Software and other resources.
Share a Comment: Consider sharing a comment in the box below with something God is showing you either about fasting, prayer, or making room in your heart – as an encouragement to others.
Recent Comments