Clean water

P 3038 Let’s stretch what we understand.

/ DVH

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.]’ Matthew 6:9-13.

I decided to spend some time this morning, looking at something so familiar it becomes easy to just rattle it off without thinking about it. For the purists – yes, I know that that prayer does not necessarily stop there. In some versions it adds – “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”  I really don’t care WHAT kind of other manuscript that phrase came from – any opportunity to Praise God for Who He is should be taken. It’s actually good for US! Just FYI – this prayer shows us the Lord Jesus’ focus – God first!

In Western countries, most of the time, only the poor amongst us have to pray for ‘their daily bread.’ However, in other places in this world that’s the only kind of prayer they pray. They need food, as well as some sort of roof over their head, plus clean water!  Oh, and the poor often pray with great passion for their sick and starving children. They may be forced to throw in a desperate prayer for others to stop dropping bombs on them! That stuff doesn’t apply to most of us. We just go to the supermarket and pick up a loaf of bread without thinking.

Ever since the Lord told me to watch out for the little words, I can’t seem to see anything else – those little words pop out at me like mushrooms in a field. The word for today is “AS!” That’s a little word, big on meaning. Here is  a question…do you think that the Lord has trouble getting His will done in heaven?? No?? Me neither. But it’s pretty obvious to everyone that God’s will is going down the plug-hole in this world. If His will was done, the afore-mentioned starving, homeless, bombed out, physically assaulted poor people would be fed and housed, and safe – automatically!

On we go: my next point is  … And forgive us our debts, AS we also have forgiven our debtors.” That kind of kicks the whole idea that God forgives everyone all the time, in the bucket doesn’t it? One little word, two little letters and it changes the whole ball-game. I checked that out in a whole lot of versions, and guess what … AS is actually the word used everywhere!  ‘As’ explains that the first thing can’t happen without the second.

Yeah, that’s a sobering thought that sent me straight to the knees of my heart to make sure I wasn’t holding anything against somebody else! Being loved is a given but – our forgiveness is conditional. It’s not an optional extra – even if somebody else did something so dastardly we feel can never ever forgive them. We quite simply …  must..

Sin has no power to hold us captive, now we live out our lives under Love’s jurisdiction. Sin can only have power over us when we LET or ALLOW it. It’s a choice. Christians simply must learn the difference between ‘how I feel’ and ‘what God said.” The only power in how I feel, is the power we choose to give it – and yes I am a dud at that too! 

However, we live in another kingdom now, that’s why we pray “Your kingdom come!” WE get to bring it with us! We can choose to stand around in satan’s backyard wondering why we are getting clobbered, OR we can take back the higher ground that already belongs to us. The power, the choice, is now in our hands.

Lastly: ‘deliver us from evil ’ means so very much more than the vague hope that God will stop me from doing bad things! As if the Lord would need to do that – He already thoroughly did it, 2000+ years ago! Now, we have our free-will and His power to help us overcome. We quite simply need to stop ourselves. Sin can no longer hold us captive. Sadly, we will never progress in the Christian life while we choose to give our enemy power over us that he no longer has.

“Deliver us from evil” can also mean: “please Jesus keep me away from those things that are sent into my life to destroy me. Please make me aware of them – keep me alert to the enemy’s tricks. Show me the holes in my life that give him permission to torment me.” Amen.

Let’s learn to stretch what we already think we understand. You and I have probably heard hundreds of expositions on what the Lord’s prayer means, but that does not mean we have exhausted what it can say to us. Press the refresh button in your daily reading – a new fresh revelation awaits us all. Bless you! 👋

P 2818 More Treasure … Part 2.

/ DVH

“Jesus answered him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’”Matthew 22:37-39 TPT.

Let’s put this verse in context. An expert in the law went to speak with Jesus. This man was a serious God-fearing sort of man – but his ultimate aim was to test the Lord’s right to claim who He said He was and do what He was doing. Chapter 23 of Matthew shows Jesus interacting with the religious leaders of the day. These men regarded themselves as the keepers of the true faith, so they stood against anything that appeared to be new. They took their faith very seriously.

We need to remember that Jewish people, even today, are living the way they do to please God and they’ve been living this way for centuries! I found that they have 613 commandments in their faith, and these precious people do their best to obey them … to the letter of the law. That’s devotion. I am not going to comment on what I think about the way they live, I simply want to point out that Jesus took all those commandments from that time, and summed them up in TWO.

It must be very clear to anyone reading this blog that I am not an expert in these matters, as a matter of fact I have no information about what laws were current in those days, I just simply want to say this – I guarantee you that what Christ said — covered them all!  Please do note, that the Lord said the second commandment He gave was like the first. This is my point today, He gave that second commandment weight and importance by what He said in that moment. 

I wanted to write about heavenly treasures today, because I think it is an error to push our families, or the even people around us to one side, and simply say: “I’m going after God first.” Paul himself said we’d be better off not married because marriage produces divided loyalties! When we go after God we may be doing our best to obey the first commandment, but if we are not careful we could be going after the letter of the law – but not what is at its heart. Using the bible to prove any point is like using God’s word as a sledgehammer. His Word is like pure clean water and soap – it is not an implement to bash people. Remember, at the heart of God’s law is always LOVE. And we have a great checklist in 1 Corinthians 13 – so we know what love looks like, and what the Lord Himself is looking for! 

I said all that to explain that we can’t use obeying God as an excuse to dodge our responsibilities. EG: If your kid has blood pouring out somewhere then that kid needs to be your priority. Nor can we gloss over our responsibilities as a spouse or a parent, by making prayer meetings, etc. more important than they are. We cannot let rules discount genuine human needs. And yes, that means we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us …all the time. Sometimes, we may even need to protect our spouse from themselves, because they may say, in a spirit of co-operation … even though they are ill: “I’m OK really – you go.” Think about this subject like this, who on earth can compete with this statement: ‘God told me.’ (??)

I like that word ‘neighbour’ better than ‘friend’ and in some versions it says ‘neighbour.” You can choose your friends, but you can get stuck with your neighbours. Obviously, one of those two things will test us more! And now might be a good time to remember that the word ‘love’ is a verb not a noun! Love looks like something. It looks like food to the hungry. Being included to the lonely. Comfort for the grieving. Undeserved kindness. Love doesn’t have to constantly look after itself because the Lord watches over those who live in Love.

Love also looks like a listening ear, and a big box of tissues to the heartbroken. We must learn to treat people as valuable, because no matter how broken they are – they are incredibly valuable to Him. We don’t get to choose who God will love and redeem … that’s His job! Jesus put a price on mankind that was extraordinary – we are worth His life! His choice increased every single human being’s value.

Faith is personal. That means somebody else can’t give it to you, all they can do is give you an opportunity to embrace it. Everybody around us, on the bus, in the shops, at the beach, at school, at work – every single person is a  treasure to God.  That’s why Jesus emphasised loving our neighbour like ourselves. And I think that’s why He told the story of the Good Samaritan … but that’s for another day. Bye. 👋


“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20.