DISCIPLINE #11 OF 12 - SERVICE

 

THE BMIC BLAST JANUARY 2026

THE LORD'S PRAYER- THE MODEL EXPLAINED: PART 1

Our Father Who art in Heaven
This begins the first in our closer look at the Model Prayer of the Bible – The Lord’s Prayer. To comprehend the context of it,  we look at what led up to Jesus presenting these timeless words as the most famous prayer in all human history.  The Words of what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”  are a larger part of the great Jewish Prayer – The Amidah. I examined this fully in three parts on my TV program, Plumbline (Part 1 of 3 is below in the YouTube video). Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 6:9-13, that this is HOW they should prayer, when they asked as if He (the Lord) would teach them HOW to pray.

To get our minds around what the Lord means, alongside the Jewishness of this prayer, it will be helpful to exegete or go through the words and phrases which the Creator uses to teach His disciples HOW to pray. This prayer is not some magic formula for some to use to punish wayward church members into reciting “xyz”….and five “Our Fathers”.  This is Truth from the Oracles of Heaven for us to examine and enter into an even closer relationship with our God and King – Yahweh. 

In light of this, we begin:
“Our Father Who art (is) in Heaven” – Right off the bat, Jesus is telling us, via His disciples at the time, to Whom ANY prayer needs to be addressed – Almighty God, the Father of Lights.  It is from Him that ALL good things come to anyone who has ever been alive on this planet, since creation.  Please do, let us try and wrap the frail human mind around this for a few minutes!  Please consider this: the Creator and Giver of Life is actually listening to each and every one of His redeemed-by-Christ children (us) and hears our pleas, petitions and yes, our praises! This is not just anybody or some “higher power” as the unsaved calls Him. This is God, Almighty Father, Who said to the Son – Yahweh (the Great I Am) “Let us make man in our image”.

The Father declared man and Jesus spoke Adam into existence, fashioning Adam from dust. Then the Third person of the GodHead –Who never disagree- breathed LIFE into this lifeless piece of dust and the first man came into existence. So let’s get this thing in order once and for all. We are His creation and He does not work for us. Every breath we take, every move we make, He’s been watching us, knowing our next step and still, He loves us and wants to hear our prayer. He is the Ultimate Parent. He sees the horrible and wrong things we do, say and feel and still, His mercy, grace and long suffering last a lifetime. That’s our Father.

If we wish to add the dimension of time to Him, He would have existed for billions of years before Moses recorded the account of Creation and eternity is, well, God knows – how many billions of years! We live on a tiny speck of a planet which is one puny galaxy when we consider the Universe. When we consider the moon and stars and the Heavens….what is man, what is this planet that He would be so mindful of us, that He, in the form of the Son would step down from His Eternal Heavenly Throne for 33 years separated from our Father?

He lives in another dimension. His Throne is in the heavenlies. We have several glimpses of the power and majesty of our Father Who is in Heaven and remains there as Ruler of all. In Isaiah 6 we read in part about the worship and power and share fearsome Presence of God which should cause up to sit up straight right now.  In Daniel 7

, there is an actual live streaming, so to speak of what is going on in the Throne Room of God as we read here. Then the Apostle John was given the tour of Heaven in the End Times,  he saw things which were amazing to behold (Revelation chapter 4). (Click all links to read those specific passages).

The Apostle Paul was taken up into the “third heaven” where the Throne of God resides and given a thorn in the flesh that he may not just stay humble having been there, but also that he would not speak of things which are not mean for revelation at this time. (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

This is the God, our Father in Heaven, to Whom we pray. So right from the start, the very first thing which Jesus is teaching us is this – be VERY aware just to Whom you and I are addressing our prayers.  In light of His Power, Awesome Fearsome Majesty and more, we are therefore supposed to be EXTREMELY careful HOW we pray and WHAT we pray for. When we are not sure about where we are going with this thing, it will be beneficial if we just tell the Lord in all humility, that we have no idea how to pray for a situation and we need help.  That’s it!  We are promised Holy Spirit will translate our prayers up to the Father.

Our Father Who is in Heaven – Who is our Sustainer, Master and Ruler of the Universe. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing and Almighty. He can be depended on. He is to Whom we pray. In the Mighty Name of Jesus, Father, we thank You so very much that You have chosen us as Your people, from the Foundation of the earth that we, who are being saved, can call upon Your Name - You the Mighty God of all the universe, of all creation, Owner of all things, Giver of Life, Mighty to Save and Victorious in the Heavens. Thank You for allowing weak and sinful mankind the opportunity to approach You, under the banner of Prayer, that we may be considered worthy enough, under the Blood of The Lamb, to have our pleas, petitions and sometimes pitiful prayers heard in the very Throne Room of Heaven. Thank You that You see us through the lens of Your Son...that You have taken us from the Pit to the very heights of the Heavens. Thank You for Your all powerful attributes that we may be able to stand firm while resting in the Glory and Might of Your Name and those attributes, in Jesus' Holy Name amen and amen. Thank You, most kind, gracious and wonderful Father in Heaven, amen.

TRUE STORY OF PASSOVER IN DECATUR, ILL.

The Wonderful Passover story of Jesus was shown on Wednesday night March 14, scripture by scripture throughout the wonderful thread woven by God when He gave the Passover to the Israelites, upon their flight from Egypt.

That is the story I was privileged, honored and humbled to share with the wonderful packed house at the First Nazarene Church, Decatur. First Naz is well known for its openness to the foundational truth as well as outreach to the community via Discipleship classes and concerts by well known Christian artists like Casting Crowns, BlueTree and more!

Rather than completely follow the traditional Passover Seder order, which the Jewish people, who follow either the Law under Judaism or Grace under Yeshua (Jesus); I merged about 50% of the traditional portions of the Haggadah (or Order of Service) book and told the Story of Jesus the True Messiah (Yeshua the Maschiach) the rest of the way, from the Bible! It was such a thrill to show, through the customs of the Day to the prophetic from Scripture, how EVERY single element of the Passover relates to EVERYTHING we do in our churches today! I also used Powerpoint as the prohibitive cost of printing scores of books was not an option,

This alone should give us pause to thank the Great God of Heaven for His Mercy in choosing us, we poor Gentiles, to be grafted into the Family of Abraham. From the 10th plague to the Death of the Firstborn on the Cross; from the stripes on the Matzah bread to the cup which Jesus instituted in His Blood (the Communion Service).

Thank you to all who prayed for us. Thank you to the First Naz, Decatur Staff led by Pastor Tim Crump and to Darcy Morr forall her hard work putting together the entire ceremonial dinner. Thanks as well to Chief Petty Officer Roger Priestley (Ret.) for setting this entire project of love up, to bless the good folks of that church. Included in this article posts, are some of the photos from last night.


Shalom and Happy Pesach! I will write more about three key points of this message on Good Friday or the real Passover Date commanded by God - April 6 on our western calendar. Amein.

(photos by Roger Priestley)

THINK ON THESE THINGS - HAPPY FRIDAY!

MOUNT HERMON...mountain of the Bible!

Let Your River Flow!

Mount Hermon is far north of Jerusalem and its rain and snow feed water directly into the Jordan River! While this famous Biblical river is now a mere shadow of itself, the overflow from the Heights of Hermon is still evident.

Psalm 133: 3 calls this flow the "Dew of Hermon"

1. Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2. It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3. It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore....(Psalm 133 ESV)


This "dew" is like God's goodness and grace, which flow all over the land to those who receive His blessings and anointing!


The "dew" is a reminder of a fresh new morning as you step out into your world and realize He has gone before you and prepared a path for you.


You step on the fresh grass outside your door, walk over to pick up the newspaper or open to car door to head off to work...sometimes not mindful He has life itself, right under your feet.


Dew..water...life...and then back verse 2, the Lord talks about PRECIOUS OIL! Oil signifies worship, feasting, celebration in unity. 


When God sent His prophet or priest to anoint someone for a job, or call them to service, the confirmation of that calling was evident in the pouring of the oil on the head of that person. In this case, He talks about Aaron - the first priest of God on earth.


We, who are Christians, are called 'a royal priesthood' here: 

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We all know Water and Oil don't mix. HOWEVER, this is only in the natural realm! 

Psalm 133, verses 2 and 3 PROVE that when God supplies - THEY DO MIX!

The oil of joy and the dew of life are liquid gold, which flow from His Throne - together!

Would you let it wash over you today? 

If you do, you are living the Proclamation from Heaven made in verse 1: Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

When was the last time you looked at a Psalm from the last verse up???!! This short, yet powerful psalm 133, is only 3 verses - yet we see the Supply, Provision, Grace, Wonder, Wish and Wisdom of God Who desires Unity with Him. Not unity with the world's system, but Unity in Christ, for the Glory of His Name.

Amen