Saturday, September 3, 2016

THE LORD'S PRAYER- THE MODEL EXPLAINED: PART 2

Hallowed by Thy Name
We know all of the great attributes of God – He is all powerful, knows all, owns all and sees all.  2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us that “the Eyes of the Lord roam across the WHOLE earth in search of those whose hearts are loyal to Him”. There is absolutely no doubting that fact.

But the first attribute of God is His Holiness. He abhors sin. He despises it and even turned His back on His own Son – the Lord Jesus – Who had to cry out from the Cross “my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1 and Matthew 27:46).

How do we know this? Well, the greatest Old Testament prophet, who wrote about those times as well as the End Times, was pulled up into Heaven before the Lord Himself in Isaiah Chapter 6. The first thing anyone who has had an encounter with Holy God does is this: fall down at His feet in total surrender and humility. Isaiah did it. John did it.

The next thing that happens to a man, who, in the rare occasion, is recorded to be in the fearsome Presence of Holy God is – the self-realization of one’s worthlessness to be in such a lofty place. Isaiahfalls down (Chapter 6) and knew immediately he was a sinner….that he was notworthy of being there….that he was a man of unclean lips, even as a man of Godand a prophet. We can relate to that today.  We, every one of us, use language which our forefathers – regardless of background – would never use and would even consider untoward.

The Lord took care of Isaiah’s problem with swearing and probably even blaspheming when He sent one of His emissaries to take a burning coal off the altar to cleans the prophet’s inclination towards such speech. God sends the Holy Spirit to convict you and I immediately after we say something we swore we would not say 500 times before. 


What is the connection to the practical matter of us praying to Abba Father, Who is in Heaven? The Knowledge of the Holy – the Holy One of Israel, should act as a check in our spirit as to how we approach the Lord.  Just as we do not take the Lord’s Table or communion in an unworthy manner, meaning with active sin in our lives, we need to be instinctively circumspect in our prayer, following the example of the Messiah Who gave us this prayer. In light of this, let us pray into it:

Heavenly Father, we do not deserve to even be in the same zip code as You. But You in Your love and mercy adopted us, who believe in Jesus as Lord, as Your Children. Lord we are people of unclean lips, and too many times unclean hearts and minds. Purify us, oh God, remove our sin as far as the east is from the west. Wash us with hyssop that we may be clean. Cleanse us that we may be as white as snow. May these spiritual broken bones be healed or done away with that we may stand pure and holy before You, because You are Holy. You are worthy. You are mighty. Forgive  us as we approach in true repentance and surrender all at the Foot of the Cross right now, in Jesus’ Name amen.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY BY AW TOZER FOR FREE!...DOWNLOAD AS A PDF TO TABLET ETC....

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