April 18 Devotion - The Lord's Prayer - Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

After Jesus had finished describing the wrong way to pray, He illustrated the right way to pray by sharing what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer”. Of course, if the Lord’s Prayer is simply memorized and repeated without a faith, commitment and sincerity, it becomes the same sort of babbling that Jesus had just condemned. 

Within the prayer is a sentence we will take a look at today.

10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The Lord’s prayer: Mathew 6: 9-13

‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ means to me: As angels dwelling in heaven follow God’s commandments we should follow His commandments on earth. We should carry out God’s plans on earth the same way it is carried out by the angels in heaven.  We pray for His perfect will to also be done on earth and in particular, in us believers in our lives. We should be furthering His Kingdom here on earth and share the good news of God’s love for humanity with all those we can, so that this world would be more like His Kingdom. Of course we can only do that through the power of The Holy Spirit indwelling in us.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and Your deep, everlasting and inseparable love. LORD, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can follow Your commandments and help further Your Kingdom here on earth and share the good news about Your deep love for humanity because You ‘want all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people.’ 1 Timothy 2: 4-6  God I praise You, revere You, worship You, I stand in awe of You, and glorify Your Holy Name. I declare to the world that Christ is my Lord and Saviour. To Him who is able to keep me from stumbling and to present me before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

April 16 Devotion - The Lord's Prayer - Introduction

Jesus said:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:5-8

Jesus is teaching us and cautioning us not to call attention to ourselves in prideful ways as we practise our faith. The Sadducees and the Pharisees, who were the Jewish religious teachers, were attracting attention to themselves when they were praying instead of pointing to God.  

Jesus also cautions us not to keep repeating and babbling as we pray because pagans did that. God will not hear us just because we keep repeating. Unfortunately we still fall in this trap individually and in groups and in certain churches.

Unlike the Sadducees, we are to believe everything the Bible says, including the miraculous and the afterlife. Unlike the Pharisees, we are not to treat traditions as having equal authority as Scripture, and we are not to allow our relationship with God to be reduced to a legalistic list of rules and rituals.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can pray in the manner that pleases You and builds an intimate relationship with You. Strengthen me Jesus so that I always point to You and give You the glory. Abba Father You know what I need before I ask and I pray that You will help me to pray for the ‘right’ things and to trust Your choice and timing. Help me to pray without repeating words uselessly. I declare to the world that Christ is my Lord and Saviour. God I praise You, glorify You, and lift You up on high. Thank You my heavenly Father for Your abundant blessings and Your deep, everlasting and inseparable love.

Now to Him who is able to carry out His purpose and do infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Ephesians 3:20-21 (AMP) Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

وَعِنْدَمَا تُصَلُّونَ، لَا تَكُونُوا مِثْلَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ الَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يُصَلُّوا وَاقِفِينَ فِي الْمَجَامِعِ وَفِي زَوَايَا الشَّوَارِعِ لِيَرَاهُمُ النَّاسُ. الْحَقَّ أَقُولُ لَكُمْ: إِنَّهُمْ قَدْ نَالُوا مُكَافَأَتَهُمْ. 6 أَمَّا أَنْتَ، فَعِنْدَمَا تُصَلِّي، فَادْخُلْ غُرْفَتَكَ، وَأَغْلِقِ الْبَابَ عَلَيْكَ، وَصَلِّ إِلَى أَبِيكَ الَّذِي فِي الْخَفَاءِ. وَأَبُوكَ الَّذِي يَرَى فِي الْخَفَاءِ، هُوَ يُكَافِئُكَ. 7 وَعِنْدَمَا تُصَلُّونَ، لَا تُكَرِّرُوا كَلاماً فَارِغاً كَمَا يَفْعَلُ الْوَثَنِيُّونَ، ظَنّاً مِنْهُمْ أَنَّهُ بِالإِكْثَارِ مِنَ الْكَلامِ، يُسْتَجَابُ لَهُمْ. 8 فَلاَ تَكُونُوا مِثْلَهُمْ، لأَنَّ أَبَاكُمْ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَحْتَاجُونَ إِلَيْهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَسْأَلُوهُ.

April 13 Devotion - Understanding Christianity - Part 6 - Final part - We are Glorified

God’s Love Pyramid*

*Imagery created by Wagdi Henein

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,… Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 

ايها الاحباء الآن نحن اولاد الله ولم يظهر بعد ماذا سنكون.ولكن نعلم انه اذا أظهر نكون مثله لاننا سنراه كما هو.

29 لان الذين سبق فعرفهم سبق فعيّنهم ليكونوا مشابهين صورة ابنه .

30 والذين سبق فعيّنهم فهؤلاء دعاهم ايضا. والذين دعاهم فهؤلاء بررهم ايضا. والذين بررهم فهؤلاء مجدهم ايضا.

1 John 3:2, Romans 8:29-30

We reviewed the many ways God loves us depicted in “God’s Love Pyramid*” shown above and we saw how God loves us to life. Finally, God shows His love by glorifying us. Throughout our lives we will wrestle with sin, but we are promised that the good work God began in us will be completed.

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

ونحن نعلم ان كل الاشياء تعمل معا للخير للذين يحبون الله الذين هم مدعوون حسب قصده

Philippians 1:6

When God glorifies His children, he gives them inward beauty—called holiness. This begins as a process in this life (sanctification) and culminates when we come into the presence of Christ at our death or at His second coming. When we go to be with The Lord our sinful nature will be left behind and we will be like Him, and with Him, forever.

                                                     

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You Lord that through Your grace You predestined me to be conformed to the image of Your Son, and that when I accepted Your Son Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, You redeemed me, forgave me, justified me, reconciled me, sanctified me and glorified me. God I praise You, revere You, worship You, I stand in awe of You, I lift You up on high, and glorify Your Holy Name. Thank You Father God that Your deep steadfast love for me endures forever. Lord please remove any barrier that stops me from feeling Your love which I only deserve through the atoning blood of Christ. LORD Abba Father, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You continue to strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, and may Jesus continue to dwell in my heart through faith. God I pray to You in the name of Your precious Son; my Redeemer and Saviour; the Lord of my life, Jesus Christ. To Jesus be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion before all time and now and forevermore. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein