Prayer’s First Priority

 Prayer’s First Priority

“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9)

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches that the first priority in praying is to ask our heavenly Father to cause his name to be hallowed. In us. In the church. In the world. Everywhere.

Notice that this is a petition, a request. It is not a declaration or acclamation. It is not an expression of praise, but petition. For years I misread the Lord’s Prayer as if it began with praise: “Praise God, the Lord’s name is hallowed, revered, honored!” But it is not acclamation. It is supplication. It is a request to God that he would see to it that his own name be hallowed.

It is like another text, Matthew 9:38, where Jesus tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers into his own harvest. It never ceases to amaze me that we, we laborers, should be instructed to ask the owner of the farm, who knows the harvest better than we do, to add on more farm hands.

But isn’t this the same thing we have here in the Lord’s Prayer — Jesus is telling us to ask God, who is infinitely jealous for the honor of his own name, to see to it that his name be hallowed, which means honored, revered, exalted as supremely precious? 

Well it may amaze us, but there it is. And it teaches us two things.

One is that prayer does not move God to do things he is disinclined to do. He has every intention to cause his name to be hallowed. Nothing is higher on God’s priority list. But we should ask anyway.

The other is that prayer is God’s way of bringing our priorities into line with his. God wills to make great things the consequence of our prayers when our prayers are the consequence of his great purposes. 

Bring your heart into line with the jealousy of God to hallow his name, and you will pray with great effect. Let your first and all-determining prayer be for the hallowing of God’s name, and your prayers will plug into the power of God’s jealousy for his name.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 19, 2025.

SUBJECT : REPENT FROM YOUR SIN! 

Memory verse: "Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3 vs 19.)

READ: Revelation 2 vs 5:

2:5: Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

INTIMATION:

Repent means “to turn,” implying a change in behavior; to be sorry, with a change of heart. To repent from sin is turning from sin toward God; to make a moral U-turn from sin to God. It’s making a 180 degree turn from the kind of self-centeredness that leads to wrong actions, such as lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, taking revenge, abusing, and indulging in sexual immorality. A person who turns from sin stops rebelling and begins following God’s way of living prescribed in His Word. Repentance happens inside with a cleansing that isn’t seen right away. 

The first step to repentance and turning to God is to admit your sin. Then God will receive you and help you live the way He wants. Remember that only God can get rid of sin. He doesn’t expect us to clean up our lives before we come to Him. To turn to God to receive forgiveness from sins implies turning away from sins. We can’t just say we believe and then live any way we choose, neither can we simply live a morally correct life without a personal relationship with God because that cannot bring forgiveness from sin. God promises not only to cleanse us of our sins but to bring spiritual refreshment. 

Turning away from sin may at first seem painful because it is hard to break old habits and give up certain sins. The hardest part of repentance is changing the attitudes that originally produced the sinful behavior. But God will give you a better way. As prophet Hosea promised, “Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth” (Hosea 6 vs 3). 

Confession of sin and a changed life are inseparable. Faith without deeds is dead (James 2 vs 14 - 26). Confession and repentance must come before receiving forgiveness. Turning from sin must be tied to action. Following Jesus means more than saying the right words, it means acting on what He says. When we are aware that we have done wrong, we should admit it plainly to God rather than try to cover it up or hope we can get away with it. 

Sin leads to more sin, a downward spiral that can be stopped only by repentance and the power of the Holy Spirit to change our behavior. God puts no limit on the number of times we can come to Him to obtain mercy, but we must come in order to obtain it, recognizing our need and asking Him for help. This miracle of grace should inspire us to always sincerely come to God. If there is a recurring problem or difficulty in your life, continue to ask God for help, and be willing and ready to make changes in your attitude and behavior that will correct the situation.

We are rebellious and stubborn by nature. Throughout our lives we struggle with sin. Repentance once a month or once a week is not enough. We must constantly turn from our sins to God and let Him, in His mercy, save us. God sometimes has to break a person in order to bring him or her to repentance. This can be through humiliation, pain, suffering, and defeat. No matter how evil you have been, it is never too late to humble yourself, turn to God, and ask for forgiveness.

Because we have a tendency to sin, only repentance is the true measure of spiritual sensitivity. Repentance means not only confessing sins and asking God to forgive us, but also abandoning our sinful ways. Many people want to add God and the benefits of Christianity to their lives without acknowledging their personal sin and guilt. We must take responsibility for our actions and confess them to God before we can expect Him to forgive us and continue His work in us. But we cannot do this sincerely unless we are truly sorry for our sinful actions. 

True repentance does not end with words of confession—that would be mere lip-service. It must lead to changed attitudes and behavior. Weeping, fasting, and making restitution or apologies (if our sin has involved others) demonstrate our sincerity when we repent. When you sin and are truly sorry, confess this to God, ask for forgiveness, and accept His grace and mercy. Then, as an act of thankfulness for your forgiveness, make the needed corrections. We should not pretend to change as it is dangerous to us and even others around us. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for Your miracle of grace and mercy. You are so faithful and just to forgive my sins when I confess to You, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Give me grace to always come to You in sincerity of my sinful behaviors, and ask for Your forgiveness, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Love’s Greatest Happiness

 Love’s Greatest Happiness

No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. (Ephesians 5:29–30)

Don’t miss that last phrase: “because we are members of his body.” And don’t forget what Paul said two verses earlier, namely, that Christ gave himself for us “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor.” So in two different ways, Paul makes plain that Christ pursued his joy in pursuing the holiness and beauty and happiness of his people.

The union between Christ and his bride is so close (“one flesh”) that any good done to her is a good done to himself. Which means that the clear assertion of this text is that the Lord is moved to nourish, cherish, sanctify, and cleanse his bride because in this he finds his joy.

By some definitions, this cannot be love. Love, they say, must be free of self-interest — especially Christlike love, especially Calvary love. I have never seen such a view of love made to square with this passage of Scripture.

Yet what Christ does for his bride, this text plainly calls love: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church . . . ” (Ephesians 5:25). Why not let the text define love for us, instead of bringing our definition from ethics or philosophy? According to this text, love is the pursuit of Christ’s joy in the holy joy of the beloved. 

There is no way to exclude self-interest from love, for self-interest is not the same as selfishness. Selfishness seeks its own private happiness at the expense of others. 

Christlike love seeks its happiness in the happiness of others — not at their expense. It will even suffer and die for the beloved in order that its joy might be made full in the life and purity of the beloved. 

This is how Christ loved us, and this is how he calls us to love one another.

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 18, 2025.

SUBJECT : SOME ENEMIES OF PRAYER! 

Memory verse: "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21 vs 22.)

READ: Mark 11 vs 22 - 24: 

11:22: So Jesus answering said to them, “Have faith in God.”

11:23: For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 

11:24: Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

11:25: And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

11:26: But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

INTIMATION: 

Prayer we already know is fellowshipping with the Father, and the Master. There are known enemies of prayer. Some of these enemies are very dear 'friends.' We have associated with them for many years, and it will be hard for us to give them up.

The most outstanding enemy is a lack of knowledge of whom we are in Christ, and what He is in us, what He did for us, and of our standing and legal rights before the Throne. All these are embedded in the Scriptures. And the lack of this knowledge is the bane of the believer. The Scripture says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...." (Hosea 4 vs 6). It is in studying and meditation that God’s inheritance to us in Christ is revealed. And until you do, you will never have a prayer life beyond the baby experience.

Another enemy is ignorance of what "Believing" is. The word "Believe" is a verb. It is an action word—it means to act upon the Word. Then believing the Word is simply acting on it. We act upon it as we act upon the word of our governments on taxes. Act on it the way you expect your children to act on your word of right morals to them. There is no believing without acting, and believing means having possession. I possess what the Word has promised. 

For instance, here is a statement of fact, Isaiah 53 vs 4 personalized: "Surely He has born my sicknesses and carried my pains and I have come to esteem Him as the one stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." You just don't give a mental assent to it, rather you act on the Word; you say it out to yourself and others, as if you are the only person Jesus is talking to. You claim it as your word, and eat it as if you are eating your favorite meal. Declare it all the time. If you fail to speak and act on the Word, you are self-deceived. The Believer is a "doer” of the Word and not a hearer only.

Another enemy is praying for faith. It is a delusion to pray for faith or more faith. You can never get it. I have never heard of anyone getting more faith or having their faith increased by praying for it. Why is it so? Because the prayer for faith is a prayer based on unbelief. If unbelief were not your master, you wouldn't need faith. Praying for faith is because you are in doubt of the Father, His integrity, and His Word, hence you are praying for faith to believe Him. It is an absolute proof that you will not get it.

For instance, if a child should say to the mother, "Mum, I want you to increase my faith in you. I have been trying all morning to believe what you said about my birthday being this Saturday is true." It is noteworthy that the mother gave birth to the child and knows the day she gave birth, but the child is trying to believe the mother on the date of birth. That child is insulting the integrity of the mother. 

So when you pray for faith you are insulting the Author of the Word. You don't intend to, but you are doing so. This is the same as acting on the Word and still not believing on the efficacy of the Word. For instance, when you are divinely healed, you feel not to confess it because you still want to wait a while to confirm it is done.

Another enemy of prayer is our dependence on other people's faith. We become unconsciously spiritual hitchhikers. To everyone God has given a measure of faith (Romans 12 vs 3); that faith came when you received the Father's nature—you accepted Jesus Christ. That nature is a faith nature. As soon as it came into you and you became His child, you began to develop that faith. Just as you develop your mental strength by certain mental exercises, and develop your physical strength by certain physical exercises, now you are developing your faith by feeding on the Word (John 15 vs 7).

Our Father did give us a measure of faith because He knows that without it, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11 vs 6). If you have no faith you cannot please Him, even with somebody's faith posturing for you. Many times we have gone to the altar, and to the prayer room to pray for more faith, but to no avail. Your faith is built up when you begin to live in the Word, act on the Word, and take advantage of your inheritance in Christ.

Another enemy is the desire to read about the Bible and about prayer rather than to study the Word, meditate on it, and fit yourself for the highest known and holiest of all vocations. In my considered opinion, it is more than a vocation, it is a privilege, and the rarest of all privileges that have been given to us in grace. Therefore, you "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (Second Timothy 2 vs 15.)

Another known enemy an unforgiving heart. God does not answer the prayer that comes from an unforgiving heart. God will judge without mercy the one who has shown no mercy. Forgiving heart is a condition for answered prayer.

Prayer: Abba Father, my complete trust is in You. You are loving, unfailing and ever faithful. There is none like You in heaven and on earth. In You I live, and move, and have all my being. Blessed be Your holy Name forever. Endue me with the spirit of love that I may have the mind of Christ, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISR THE LORD!

Jesus’s Joy in Marriage

 Jesus’s Joy in Marriage

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor. (Ephesians 5:25–27)

The reason there is so much misery in marriage is not that husbands and wives seek their own pleasure, but that they do not seek it in the pleasure of their spouses. The biblical mandate to husbands and wives is to seek your own joy in the joy of your spouse.

There is scarcely a more hedonistic passage in the Bible than the one on marriage in Ephesians 5:25–30. Husbands are told to love their wives the way Christ loved the church. 

How did he love the church? Verse 25 says he “gave himself up for her.” But why? Verse 26 says, “that he might sanctify” and cleanse her. But why did he want to do that? Verse 27 answers, “that he might present the church to himself in splendor!” 

Ah! There it is! “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). What joy? The joy of marriage to his bride, the church. The joy of presenting the church to himself in blood-bought splendor.

Jesus does not intend to have a dirty and unholy wife. Therefore, he was willing to die to sanctify and cleanse his betrothed so he could present to himself a wife “in splendor.” He gained the desire of his heart by giving himself up in suffering for the good of his bride.

Then Paul applies this to husbands in verses 28–30: “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.” 

Jesus had said to husbands and wives — and everyone else — “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Marriage is an extraordinary place of application. It is not merely “as” you love yourself. But you are loving yourself. When you love the person with whom God has made you one flesh, you are loving yourself. That is, your greatest joy is found in seeking the greatest joy of your spouse.

Jesus Don't Let the Light in Me Die by Light House Studio

 

Every day in the God's Word

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY OCTOBER 17, 2025.

SUBJECT: DO NOT JUDGE OTHERS!

Memory verse: "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6 vs 37.)

READ: Matthew 7 vs 1 - 2; Luke 6 vs 37 - 38:

Matthew 7:1: Judge not, that ye be not judged.

7:2: For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

Luke 6:37: Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven:

6:38: Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

INTIMATION:

To “judge” is to pass sentence, condemn, or punish. It’s to consider and form an idea. To criticize someone for doing wrong. Jesus’ statement, “Judge not,” is not for the right one has to form an opinion or to take notice of, and help correct the wrong behavior of others. Rather it is against the kind of hypocritical, judgmental attitude that tears others down in order to build oneself up. One must always look at others with an attitude of love. The statement is not a blanket statement to overlook wrong behavior of others but a call to be discerning rather than negative. 

If we have all sinned, as the Scripture foretold (Romans 3 vs 23), why then do we have to be judgmental and condemning of others who sin. Whenever we find ourselves feeling justifiably angry about someone’s sin, we should be careful. We need to speak out against sin, but we need do so in a spirit of humility. Often the sins we notice most clearly in others are the ones that have taken root in us. If we look closely at ourselves, we may find that we are committing the same sins in more socially acceptable forms. For example, a person who gossips may be very critical of others who gossip about him or her.

The Bible in John 8 vs 3 - 11, tells us the story of the woman caught in adultery, and the Scribes and Pharisees brought her to Jesus, condemned her and judged her in accordance with the law of Moses, ready to stone her to death. Jesus said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” This is a significant statement about judging others. By saying that only a sinless person could throw the first stone, He highlighted the importance of compassion and forgiveness. When others are caught in sin, are you quick to pass judgement? To do so is to act as though you have never sinned. 

We are always likely to have hidden sin in our lives, sin we don’t even know about because God’s standards are so high and our performance is so imperfect. Therefore, why judge another? It is tempting to judge fellow Christians, evaluating whether or not they are good followers of Christ. But only God knows a person’s heart, and He is the only one with the right to judge. We are to confront those who are sinning, but we must not judge who is a better servant of Christ. 

When you judge someone, you invariably consider yourself better. And that is arrogant. It is God’s role to judge, not ours. Our role is to show forgiveness and compassion. The Bible says, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” (Romans 14 vs 4.) We are all God’s servants. We are accountable to God only, especially in reference to those things that deal with salvational matters. 

Examine your attitude and actions toward others. Do you build people up or tear them down? When you’re ready to criticize someone, remember God’s law of love and say something good instead. Saying something beneficial to others will cure you of finding fault and increase your ability to obey God’s law of love. We long for fair treatment from others, but do we give it? We hate those who base their judgements on appearance, false evidence, or hearsay, but are we quick to judge others using those standards? 

The apostle Paul said, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things.” (Romans 2 vs 1.) This is a confirmation of what Christ said in Luke 6 vs 37 - 38. If we are critical rather compassionate, we will also receive criticism. If we treat others generously, graciously, and compassionately, obviously these qualities will come back to us in full measure, and may sometimes surpass ours. We are to love others, not judge them. The thrust of what Jesus stated in those verses is that we will be dealt with by God in the same manner by which we treat our fellow man. Therefore, when we measure mercy to others, God will in turn measure mercy to us. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of love, that I may love others, and not be critical of them, treating others with compassion and care, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!