PASSAGE: Matthew 6:12 - ...and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. PAUSE: Don't rush past this line in the Lord's Prayer! " give us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" We know the words, but do we live that out? Or does your prayer sound more like this: "Forgive me of my debts. And surely you understand I can't forgive So-and-so, because you saw what they did to me." Why do we expect no-strings-attached forgiveness when it comes to our own debts, but then we raise the bar when it comes to our offer of forgiveness? Nothing shuts down our relationship with God and with one another more than unforgiveness! Jesus is reminding us with this model of prayer, that when we remember how much we have been forgiven, we are set free to be radical forgivers of others! Our sinfulness against a perfect, Holy God has been forgiven completely based on nothing we have done to earn it. If you are ever tempted to withhold forgiveness to others, remember Christ's unconditional forgiveness toward you. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we praise You for how much You have forgiven us in Christ. Help us to choose to forgive others every time! Amen.
PASSAGE: Matthew 6:11 - Give us this day our daily bread... PAUSE: If you sat down right now to make a list of things you want and need, what are the first things that come to mind? For me, I tend to think about the big things first. If you look at my kids' Christmas lists, they usually start with the really big wishlist items: a horse, a trip to Australia, etc. What items typically don't make their list? Socks to replace the ones with holes. Groceries for dinner this week. Pencils for school this year. Even though those things don't make the list, they're clearly more important than the wish list items. When we present our needs to God, what does that list look like for you? As Jesus modeled for us in the Lord's prayer, we need to recognize that it's not just the big needs that we should be taking to God. He is our abundant Provider and He invites us to bring our true needs directly to Him in prayer! Keep praying for the big things--the breakthrough, the healing, the miracles, the opportunities-- but don't neglect to ask Him for your everyday needs (food for the day, strength to make it through a situation, patience in the moment). He is our sole provider, and He wants us to lean on Him for all things. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, so often we fret and worry over many of the basic needs in our lives. May we be quick to seek You with all of those needs and then give praise to Your Name as You meet those needs. Amen
PASSAGE: Matthew 6:10 - Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. PAUSE: The ultimate purpose of prayer is not to line God up with our will but to surrender the whole of our lives to His will! God’s “kingdom” refers to His reign and rule as King of the universe. Right now, Christians are living under His rulership, but the world is in rebellion against His rule. Thus, the prayer is for His rule to spread, for more people to surrender their lives to His loving Lordship. Now imagine the level to which God’s will is followed in heaven. 100%! The second line of this prayer is that His will would be followed increasingly here on earth. As Christ-followers we can pray this prayer of surrender to the rule and will of the Father for ourselves, for our families, for our church family, for our country, for the places our missionaries are serving, and ultimately for our whole world. Like Jesus prayed in the garden, “Your will be done!” PRAYER: Heavenly Father, often times we get things all turned around in our prayers to You. We try to get You to serve our purposes rather than surrendering ourselves to Your purposes. Forgive us and use us to serve Your will. Amen.
PASSAGE: Matthew 6:9 - Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” PAUSE: The best place to begin prayer is to put your focus on praising God for Who He is, not on our list of needs and struggles. That comes later! Referring to God as “Father” was rare in the Old Testament but for Jesus this is His primary name for God. Of course, God is the Father and Jesus is the Son. Don’t miss the intimacy of this family language. “Father” conveys not only intimacy but also His authority and care. And since we are “in Christ” God is “our Father.” When we pray “hallowed be your name” we are acknowledging God as Holy and worthy of our honor and praise. Now, there are many ways to praise God for Who He is (think of all His attributes) and for all that He has done (think of His mighty acts in creation & salvation). The key is that in this model prayer, Jesus starts with praising the Father. This keeps our priorities in the right order. God first! When we see God for who He is, it puts everything else in proper perspective. It puts all our needs and struggles under His loving Lordship! PRAYER: Heavenly Father. Help us to keep the eyes of our heart fixed on You. For You alone are worthy because You alone are HOLY! Amen
PASSAGE: Matthew 6:6 - But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. PAUSE: One of the secrets to really connecting to God in prayer is to establish a regular time and a private, quiet place to share your heart with Him. So often we leave prayer for when we have extra time for it or when it's convenient, which is hardly ever! Or we get stuck in the rut of praying the same old prayer and fail to focus very deeply on what we are praying or Who we are praying to. Friend, God intended our times of prayer to be regular, real, and rich! He’s just waiting for us to show up, to speak up. Each of us needs to firmly establish our appointment time to meet with God. This should be daily or at least several times a week! We need to guard this time from all distractions. Then we need to establish where this meeting will take place. A place where we can talk with God without interruption. Join us the rest of the week to take a deeper dive into the contents of vibrant prayer. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we praise You that You know our name and what’s in our heart and that You want to meet with us regularly! Amen.
Join us each day for a devotional in the "Theology Matters" series. Sign up for “Devotional Reminders” in The Chapel app’s notification settings. August 5 - Matthew 6:6 August 6 - Matthew 6:9 August 7 - Matthew 6:10 August 8 - Matthew 6:11 August 9 - Matthew 6:12
PASSAGE: Ephesians 5:18 - And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit... PAUSE: One day my boys were playing with remote control cars, driving them all around the house. Then one of them says, "Dad, mine's not working." I look over to see one of the cars steering wildly around the floor when his remote was left untouched. Somehow, the signal from the other remote began controlling the wrong car. He was unable to control it himself because it was under the influence of another source. Now think about your life, and think about what it is that directs your actions. We are not robotically controlled like a remote control, but we are affected by the various inputs we have in our lives. When we fill our lives with things of the flesh, those things will control our behavior. But when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will guide us. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means to be fully yielded to the control and empowerment of the Spirit in every area of your life. Give God full control of your life! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I yield control of my life over to You! Guide me, change me, grow me, use me, as Your Spirit leads me! Amen.
PASSAGE: Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. PAUSE: The evidence of a changed life is not one that requires rules and laws to keep us in line. Rules can keep us from behaving in ways we shouldn’t, but when we are living a transformed life by the power of the Spirit, there’s no law against such things because they shouldn’t be stopped! The more of these fruits our lives display, the better. God literally desires the life of Jesus to flow out of every believer. This life of beautiful fruit flows as we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control. Examine the fruit of your life—do your actions fall more in line with abstaining from doing wrong things, or an overflow of the right things? PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I want to be a vessel of blessing to others. Produce Your fruit in me by Your Spirit! Amen.
PASSAGE: John 16:13-14 - Jesus to His disciples: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” PAUSE: The Holy Spirit never draws attention to Himself but always points us to Jesus and declares to us only that which is from Jesus! One primary way that the Holy Spirit does this is that several of the disciples that Jesus spoke these words to went on to write several of the books that make up our New Testament Scriptures. They did this writing of God’s Word as they were inspired and “carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (See 2 Peter 1:21). And now that the Holy Spirit has taken up permanent residence in the heart and life of every believer and every church, He continues to focus the spotlight on Christ by guiding us, teaching us, and empowering us to understand and live in obedience to Christ! It is the Spirit that animates the Word and makes it alive to us! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Thank You that after Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended back to heaven You did not leave us alone. You gave of Your Spirit that we could learn and live in the ways of Jesus! Amen.
PASSAGE: Romans 8:13 - For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. PAUSE: One key aspect of our new life in Christ is our new capacity to stop giving in to sin. We make this choice, but the Holy Spirit gives us the power! To “live according to the flesh” simply means you feed and follow your own wants and desires with no regard for God or His revealed Word. But then God saves us through the gospel of Christ and He sets us on a new path with a new destination. Our sins that have been forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ now must be defeated in our daily lives through the power of the Holy Spirit! (Read that sentence again!) Notice this verse says we have a key part to play in this process of defeating sin. The Holy Spirit does not simply take it away. God says “you put to death the deeds of the body by (the power of) the Spirit.” So, I surrender and call upon God for His help and strength to overcome sin. Then I take practical, real action to put that sin to death, trusting God every step of the way. This looks like repenting of my sins, it looks like changing my life choices and habits, it looks like getting rid of the sources of temptation, it looks like starving my fleshly desires and feeding my new life in Christ, it looks like bringing other believers close to lovingly hold me accountable. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I am so glad that Your solution to the sin in my life is not: “just stop that!” because I cannot stop sinning on my own strength. Praise You that Your Spirit gives me Your strength to do it. Amen
PASSAGE: Romans 8:11 - If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. PAUSE: The Holy Spirit is the presence of God that enters and dwells in the life of every believer in order to infuse us with His resurrection power! Friend, if you have reduced the Christian life to some version of you trying to keep God’s commands with your own power and understanding, PLEASE STOP NOW! That’s so old covenant, and Israel’s constant failure in the Old Testament is all the proof we need that it's IMPOSSIBLE! So, God did something brand new, which was His plan all along. God sent His Son to actually defeat and dethrone sin, death and the devil, which Jesus did through the cross. Then Jesus was resurrected by the Father through the power of the Spirit to unleash NEW LIFE in all who believe in Him. This new life is a life that God transforms from the inside out. He gives us a new heart, which not only desires to love God supremely and live for His glory beautifully, but our new heart for Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Power to begin to experience victory over sin struggles. Power to grow in our capacity to love one another with Jesus’ love! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, We praise You for raising Jesus from the dead by the power of Your Spirit and then giving us brand new life by that same Spirit! Amen.
Join us each day for a devotional in the "Theology Matters" series. Sign up for “Devotional Reminders” in The Chapel app’s notification settings. July 29 - Romans 8:11 July 30 - Romans 8:13 July 31 - John 16:13-14 August 1 - Galatians 5:22-23 August 2 - Ephesians 5:18
PASSAGE: Acts 4:12 - And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” PAUSE: How can we be sure that salvation can't be found in any number of religions? Especially when we're following our religious system with great sincerity? Won't God reward me for my efforts? As popular as that opinion may be, it is false. You see, that's the main tenet of all of these other religions -- they all say that salvation depends on your effort in how well you follow its rules. Christianity, however, is the only religion that flips that script. It's the only religion that says NOTHING you can do will earn your way to God. It is the only religion that offers salvation as a free gift apart from your own works. Not only is Christianity unique in its offer, Christ is also unique in the way He followed through with His miraculous claims! When He said He would die and rise again, it actually happened! Salvation is NOT through Buddha, Mohammad, human government, self-effort, good works, church attendance, etc. Salvation is through Jesus alone! PRAYER: Lord Jesus, No one else can save us because no one else sacrificed their life to pay for the sins of the world. Jesus, we bow before You and worship You alone and praise Your beautiful, holy Name! Amen.
PASSAGE: John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. PAUSE: The modern world firmly believes that “all roads lead to heaven.” As long as someone is sincere about following their religious system, surely they will be saved, right?! That's the mainstream opinion of the world, but we know that can't be true. Why? Because Jesus declares, “No one comes to the Father except through Me!” We know logically that two contradictory statements cannot both be true, and yet multiple religions claim to be the only way to God. With that in mind, we need to abandon the idea that "all roads lead to heaven", and anchor our faith in only ONE of these truth claims. With eternity at stake, it's important to have the assurance that we are following the right road, so how do we know that Jesus is truly the right way? Join us back tomorrow as we answer why Jesus is the only name that can save. PRAYER: God our Savior, the “all roads lead to heaven” mindset is a lie from our enemy, the devil. Thank You for providing the One True Way! Amen.
PASSAGE: 1 Timothy 2:5-6a - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all... PAUSE: Who or what can possibly bridge the gap between Holy God and sinful humanity? There are not multiple answers. There is one answer, the One Mediator, Jesus Christ! The animals sacrificed in the Old Testament sacrificial system could not serve as a true mediator between God and man because they were not moral beings and thus their sacrifice pictured but did not accomplish payment for our sins (“ransom”). Jesus alone qualifies as the one acceptable mediator between God and man because He was both fully God and fully man! And not only was He fully man but He alone lived a perfectly sinless life from His birth to His death. Thus, His sacrifice on the cross as a “ransom for all men (humanity)” was an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice before the Father. Friend, you cannot self-save! You cannot mediate for yourself through a life of trying to be “good enough!” Christ is the only One, our Only Hope, our Only Savior! PRAYER: God our Savior, when we could not be good enough or try hard enough to make ourselves right with You, You sent Jesus to purchase us back to Yourself! Praise Your Holy Name! Amen.
