Here is an illustration : For decades the
Berlin Wall divided East Germany from the West, and no one expected it to come
down without a major diplomatic or military effort. But believers in both parts of Germany were
praying. Then one day the Lord spoke to Dick Eastman,
president of Every Home for Christ, who was in America. What happened was, while he was in prayer,
Dick Eastman felt the Holy Spirit prompting him with these instructions: I want you to get on an aeroplane, fly to
Germany, go to the Berlin Wall, lay your hands upon it and say five words to
it: "In Jesus' name, come down!"
That was it – end of assignment. Five words and he could go home. That was
exactly what Dick Eastman did…Told his wife and family of his unique
assignment, (I think he must have very understanding wife ) booked a ticket to
Berlin, went to the Berlin wall, laid his hand on the wall and spoke the five
words: In Jesus name come down. … the wall did not come straightaway, but not long after, the wall that has stood
for decades dividing the East Germany from the West was torn down, and the world stood still and gasp, wondering
why? 
A pastor in Romania, serving the Lord and suffering imprisonment and persecutions under the communist government, has been praying everyday for ten years that the biggest stadium in Romania one day will be filled with God's glory, and that a capacity audience of 50,000 people thirsty to hear the good news of Jesus would gather. That was, humanly speaking, an impossible dream, because not even 3 or 4 people were allowed to worship together under the communist rule. Then almost overnight, things changed. The Soviet Union broke apart suddenly by the hand of God in response to the faithful prayers of his servants, and Sammy Tippitt a well known American evangelist was able to share the gospel in that very stadium and thousands turned to the Lord.
But how do
we pray like that ? How do we pray
prayers that shake and change the world?
That was the very question the disciples brought to Jesus as they
observed the way Jesus constantly prayed.
They could see the radiance of Jesus' face as he emerged from a long session
of time alone with the Father. So they
said to him, teach us to pray. Matt.6: 5-13 Then he went on to teach them what we called The Lord's Prayer, which is probably better named disciple's prayer. We haven't got time today to look in detail the Lord's prayer, but it will be an excellent series to preach by our dear Pastor Andrew.
This establishes the basis of our coming to God…. Our Father….. in the language of those days, our Father would probably be translated as Aba … or Daddy….. a term of endearment, and expresses our intimate relationship with God….. We come not as strangers, not as enemies, but as sons and daughters of the living God, and God our father loves to hear the prayers of his children …. A privilege only possible because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross…. John 1:12
My son recently very excitedly told me that our grand daughter Brianna has started to say Daddy – her very very first word….. Now it may or may not be the best pronounced word on earth – but nothing matters – her ability to say da da in a hesitant manner is sufficient to melt the father's heart and opens a whole world of opportunity for her…. In the same way, every time you come to God with stumbling words and incomplete sentences, God will be touched and moved because we say Father, Daddy,….. and God sees us and accepts us because of his beloved Son…..
For us to
call God as daddy, Aba, Father, may not sound like a big deal, but to the
disciples of Jesus day what a revelation : God Jehovah was a holy God, a
consuming fire. No one dares come near.
It is the privilege and often the worrying responsibility of the High
Priest, to come only once a year, carrying the blood of sacrifice for his own
sin and the sin of his own people, as he approaches the Holy of Holies in the
temple. But with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, he has opened a
way for us to approach God, freely and without fear, covered cleansed and
accepted because of Jesus. Our father
in heaven : gives us the perspective
in prayer…This is not just a Father, but a Father in heaven. We come not only
to a Father who loves us, but a Father who rules in power in the heavenlies,
the creator of the myriad stars in the universe, the God who not only causes
the lilies of the field to grow and he also feeds the hungry birds in the air,
a God of wisdom, power and might. A God
who not only loves but who also has the capacity to deal with the issues that
confront us. Sometimes when things are not going well, and we are overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the problem facing us, and we didn't even know what to ask and how to pray, it is good to just come, say Father, or Dad or Daddy, and allow God's love and his peace and his understanding to cuddle you, comfort you. There is no need to say very much. He knows what you are going through and he will open a way for you that you will never dream possible.
When I
watch the movie The Sound of Music, and I watch it many times, one scene that I
really love seeing is the one in which when Maria the governess came back from
the convent after leaving the children suddenly, and she was being welcomed by
the overjoyed and relieved family, little Gretel approached her with not a word
; just raised her little bandaged finger with an expression look at my bruised
little finger, Maria would understand and would embrace her and comfort her and
love her. l. Our Father, too, will
comfort us when we just come like little children with our fears, and concerns
and pain. When we speak of the name of a person, it is not only something to call them by, it is also a characteristic of that person….. It is therefore important to give good and significant names to our children, something that God can bless them with. In fact in scriptures we often read of a person's name being changed : simon being changed to Peter, a rock, Abram changed to Abraham, meaning father of many nations, sarai changed to Sarah, princess, Jacob the deceiver changed to Israel, the Prince with God.
When Moses
met God at the burning bush and commissioned him to go back to Egypt and lead
the people out, Moses said, how can I go and tell them that you have sent me if
I don't even know your Name? (exod.
3:14,15) So God said to Moses : I am who
I am : tell them that I am has sent
you….. " I am " really means that is no past or future…. God is
eternally present…. In the Hebrew scriptures it is represented with a word with
4 consonant : JHWH . This is translated
into Yahweh or Jehovah… which means the eternal existing one…It is a title that Jesus adopted and which was recognised by the Jews. Remember that when the soldiers tried to arrest Jesus and asked who is Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus replied : I am…. And the soldiers fell back as if hit by a mighty force.
Throughout
the NT Jesus also used the I am title to reveal to us what God is like :
remember some of the I am Jesus spoke of himself in John's gospel?
I am the light of the world – driving
out darknessI am the bread of life – driving out hunger
I am the resurrection and the life – driving out death
I am the Good Shepherd – providing guidance
I am the door – providing a security for the sheep
I am the Way, the truth and the Life – providing access to God
In scriptures, we also read about incidents in which God intervened on behalf of his people : and people have linked the name Jehovah is linked with another word :
Jehovah Jireh : the Lord will provide : Gen 22:14 (offer of Isaac)
Jehovah Nissi : Jehovah is my banner Exod. 17:15 (defeat of the Amalekites)
Jehovah Shalom : Jehovah is peace Judges 6:24 (Gideon )
Jehoshua : Jesus : Jehovah is my salvation.
What does it mean to hallow God's name?
To hallow means to honour, to respect, to give glory to, to speak well of his Name. And the Name of God signifies not only what God is called, but also Who God is, his person, his character, his nature his wisdom as well as what he does……
A former president of the US President Theodore Roosevelt had a routine habit : every now and then, along with his friend William Beebe, at the end of the day, after making many major decision for his nation and for the world, he would step outside and look into the night sky, finding a faint spot of light the lower left hand corner of the constellation Pegasus, and one of them would recite : That is Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It is seven hundred and fifty thousand light years away. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our own sun" . There would be a pause and then Roosevelt would grin and said : now I think we feel small enough. Let us go to bed."
This is exactly what the psalmist wrote : O Lord our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens…. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers….what is man that you are mindful of him?
When we come to prayer, let us not rush into God's presence, and rattle off what we need and what we want. God is the majestic God. He is not our servant, and he is not the genie of the lamp, to be told what he must do.
Let us
first acknowledge that He is our Father, because that is
the only basis we can come, and then let us acknowledge his name : i.e. who
he is : his majesty, his holiness,
his power, his mercy and his love, his faithfulness. Let us praise him for what
he does : the wonders of his creation, let us praise him for
the amazing plan of redemption through giving to us his Son. Let us think of the God who is revealed
through Jesus : the one who touches the leper and said I will, be
clean, and who forgives Mary, the
sinful woman who came and wiped Jesus feet with her tears, the one who restores
Peter even after he has denied him.
Let our hearts and our mind be filled with the worship of the Lord of
universe, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we can draw near in faith, Heb 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. If what we have said so far is the preparation for prayer :
We come because of the fact that God is our Father and he loves us to come…. Some of us may be like the prodigal Son who has squandered everything that the Father has given us, squandered every bit of reason that the Father might love him, but when he did come…. The Father is overjoyed to receive him…. Not because of what he has or has not done, but simply because he is the son…. And nothing can change that fact…. As we come in prayer… and God listens and welcomes us…. Because he is our Father…..
As we come we first acknowledge glory and honour that belongs to him…. As we say hallowed be your Name…. the name that is above every other name…. the name that speaks of the eternal self existing one, the great I am, the name that Jesus himself used when he said : I am the light of the world,, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life, I am the way the truth and the Life….. through me and through me alone can you find God the Father…..
Inviting God to come in
Having acknowledged who God is, let us give
him the authority and invitation to work in our lives and in the lives of those
that we love. A book written by Prof
Hallesby gave a very good definition of what prayer is and I think he makes a
lot of sense.
He said : prayer is opening your
heart to God and asking Him to come in. 
Where did he get his idea from? Some of you may recognise the words as coming
from Rev. 3:14-20. Real real prayer according to Professor Hallesby is opening the door of one's heart and let Jesus enter in.
The Initiator of Prayer is Jesus
What does it mean ? Well it means that in prayer we are responding to Jesus..... The initiator of prayer is Jesus.
He sees a need in your life and in my life, he sees a need in your home, in your neighbourhood and in our nation.... And he said: may I come in...... I come with all my love, my power, my healing.... I want to spend time with you.....I want to touch your life and the lives of those around you....would you let me come in ?
So seen in this light, prayer is not a shopping list, it is not telling Jesus what he doesn't know, it is not convincing him of things he doesn't want to do. Rather, it is an invitation for Jesus to do what he wants to do...... Prayer is not a tug of war between you and Jesus.....but if it is a tug of war, you are on the same side with Jesus and guess who will win this tug of war.
This is in fact what the next sentence in the Lord's prayer : " May your kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"
What does it
really mean to pray for God's kingdom to come ?
What is a kingdom…. A kingdom of God is one where God's rule is observed and obeyed. The kingdom of God cannot exist where the kingdom of darkness also exists. If God's kingdom comes then the kingdom of darkness will be banished…… It is obvious that in our world, in our communities, when we read of the many lawless and shocking crimes being committed, the kingdom of darkness is still in control….. and when we pray your kingdom come, we are asking God to establish his kingdom in our world, in our own lives and in our communities – where Jesus reigns as king and his righteousness, justice and peace reign. Where we allow him to rule over us…. In praying for his kingdom to come : we give authority for God to bring in his kingdom, in our own lives, in our communities, in our nation…. We let Jesus to come in.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness… and all these things will be added to you.
When our prayers begin with seeking for God's kingdom the promise is that what else we ask for will be given to us as a matter of course……
Some of you may have seen the transformation that takes place in many communities in the world, including our neighbour country : Fiji. After the coup by George Speight, the Christians in Fiji sought the Lord earnestly, and God's kingdom took over the nation of Fiji, and they saw a revival not only of the people : the prison was formerly a place of horror, of curses and death, but it transformed into a place of praise and worship. Fishes that have disappeared because of the poisoned sea coast suddenly returned, the corals that were dead became rejuvenated, and the people rejoice.
Your will be done : on earth as it is in
heaven…… In heaven: God rules supreme….. what he says, goes. But on earth, because of Adam's sin, believing and accepting the lies of Satan, he has handed the authority and power to Satan. Today, The whole world lies under the power of the evil one….. unless we revoked that authority that Adam gave away….. And when we pray, your will be done……. It is not a passive submission to something that is inevitable, something that automatically happens. It is a matter of choice and decision : We sometimes worry that God will take advantage of us when we sign on the dotted line. No, not at all. It is a glad exchange of the rule of Satan and the pain and the sin and the darkness that he brings into our lives, to the rule of God with the freedom and joy and grace and forgiveness that God gives. How do I know that God will not take advantage of me when I submit to his will ? Well it says that God's will is to be carried out on earth as it is in heaven….. and I don't think heaven is a miserable place. Otherwise, why go there. When God's will is done on earth, the earth will turn into heaven.
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