Tag: evil

The Model Prayer (Matthew 6:7-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Lord’s Prayer, by He Qi

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (New King James Version)

God knows what we need before we even ask, which means the Creator of the universe has the divine ear inclined to listen to us. The Lord desires, even longs for us to pray to him.

Since this is God’s daily disposition, Jesus communicated for us a model way of prayer which exemplifies the values of Christ’s Beatitudes and reflects the priorities of God’s kingdom.

The Lord’s Prayer is meant to be prayed often, mindfully, and with flavor.

Jesus gave us six petitions to guide us in our prayers: The first three petitions are priorities of God that set the tone for the next three petitions, which are centered in our problems of living in this fallen world.

Addressing God

Jesus gave us instruction of how to address God: “Our Father in heaven.” All the pronouns in the Lord’s Prayer are plural, not singular. We are to be concerned for both our own individual issues, and for the needs of the community, and of the problems of the world.

“Father” is an endearing and relational word. “In heaven” balances the closeness and nearness of our heavenly Father with his sovereign and transcendent nature. Our God is both near and far – a close friend as well as a holy king. So, we address our prayers with a proper understanding of who God is.

First Petition: “Hallowed be your name.”

“Hallow” comes from the root word for holiness; it is to sanctify and set apart. God is concerned that we know the distinction between the Creator is holy, and so, the creatures are also to be holy. 

As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16, NKJV)

Notice the use of the verb: not hallowed “is” your name, but hallowed, or holy “be” your name. Jesus guides us to pray that God’s name would be shown as holy through us by the way we live. The world sees a holy God when God’s people walk in holiness, reflecting the Lord’s benevolent nature. 

Second Petition: “Your kingdom come.”

We live in a fallen world that has come under the domain of dark forces. The unfolding drama of Holy Scripture is that God is on a mission to restore creation to a benevolent rule.

Jesus is the King, we are the subjects, and God’s realm exists wherever his subjects go.  And where his subjects go, they are to pierce the darkness by embodying the good news that King Jesus has overcome the demonic realm and brought us into God’s kingdom. The prayer and proclamation of this good news is of utmost priority to God.

Third Petition: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

God’s ethical will has been revealed to us by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount; the Beatitudes are the cornerstone of his teaching (Matthew 5-7). God’s will is that Christ’s followers be humble; grieve over sin in the world; act with gentleness instead of prideful condescension; hunger for true righteousness instead of legalistic self-righteousness; show mercy; be pure in heart; pursue peace; and, rejoice when persecuted. All of this results in being salt and light in this dark world. (Matthew 5:3-16)

Jesus spells out God’s will in his sermon. Christ’s followers are to:

  1. reconcile with others instead of hold grudges
  2. deal with lust through accountability instead of making excuses for mental adultery
  3. cherish our spouse instead of taking the easy way out when problems arise in marriage
  4. tell the truth at all times instead of shading it
  5. love, not retaliate when personally hurt or insulted.

If God’s will seems an impossible task, that’s because we need divine resources to live a Christian ethic; we need to pray!

The first three petitions are priorities for God. They are asking the same thing – that the full manifestation of God’s reign on earth be realized. 

Therefore, our prayers are not primarily to receive goods and services from God, but for us to render service to God. These prioritized petitions are a desire to see God honored on earth as God is already honored in heaven.

Fourth Petition: “Give us today our daily bread.”

Our bodies enable us to do God’s will, and so we must be concerned for them. Daily, we must have the basic necessities of life to carry out God’s priorities for the church and the world.

In the ancient world, people were paid at the end of each day. Folks also shopped every day at the marketplace for their food because there was no refrigeration. Whenever there was a flood or a drought, it meant much more than high grocery prices; people faced starvation and death.

They needed to trust God for today, and not worry about tomorrow. Even though contemporary people may not always readily perceive their great dependence on God, we still are in divine hands and need faith.

Fifth Petition: “Forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Sin is pictured as a debt. If someone has sinned (trespassed) against us, we must forgive them, thus releasing them from their debt. To forgive does not mean to forget. Rather, we do not hold the debt (the sin) over someone’s head for the rest of their life. 

The person who is forgiven by God is a forgiving person. Our own forgiveness implies that we have done the hard work of repentance through identifying our sin and renouncing it. So, if we fail to forgive, it demonstrates a lack of change on our part. We cannot be forgiven if we spurn God’s freely offered grace. 

Forgiveness is important to Jesus. Thus, we are to squarely face our bitterness. Simply sweeping our hurt under the rug and not extending forgiveness only gives the darkness a foothold into our lives – which is why we are to pray the final petition:

Sixth Petition: “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Just as we must trust God for our physical necessities, we also must trust God for our spiritual needs – which hinge on the issue of forgiveness – our forgiveness from God through Christ, and the forgiveness we extend to others who have hurt or offended us. 

An unforgiving heart is a major temptation to hate, seek revenge, and retaliate. If we have spent days, weeks, months, years, or even decades harboring an unforgiving spirit through anger, bitterness, and avoidance of facing our past trauma, we have embraced the dark side and need deliverance from evil. 

Freedom comes through acknowledging the offense, receiving grace and forgiveness from God, and passing that same forgiveness and grace to those who hurt us. This is not about whether they deserve it or not; it’s a matter of what I need to do.

Conclusion

The truth sets us free; telling our secrets brings freedom. Apart from naming our shame, we will remain bound and in need of liberation. Tell your secrets to God in the prayer closet, and then tell them to a trusted friend(s). We pray, and we act on what God tells us in prayer.  

The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer. That means we use the six petitions of Jesus to frame our prayers in our own words, as well as say the words in our favorite translation of the Bible.

Praying this prayer daily shapes our everyday lives, serves as a guide for how to live, and provides discernment in making life’s many decisions. So, let us daily and in every way make use of our Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father in heaven, the One who is both near and far,

May your Name be shown as holy through us, your people.

May others submit to your lordship and become holy, too.

Help us to know your will and to do it.

We need you God, so provide our necessities for today.

Forgive us of our great and many sins, just as we forgive those who have sinned egregiously against us.

Lead us in paths of righteousness, which shoo the devil away.

For you are the Ruler, the Mighty One, forever full of glory and grace. Amen!

Naming and Forsaking Evil (Psalm 83:1-4, 13-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Deliver Us From Evil, by John Flaxman (1755-1826)

God, don’t shut me out;
    don’t give me the silent treatment, O God.
Your enemies are out there whooping it up,
    the God-haters are living it up;
They’re plotting to do your people in,
    conspiring to rob you of your precious ones.
“Let’s wipe this nation from the face of the earth,”
    they say; “scratch Israel’s name off the books.”
And now they’re putting their heads together,
    making plans to get rid of you….

My God! I’ve had it with them!
    Blow them away!
Tumbleweeds in the desert waste,
    charred sticks in the burned-over ground.
Knock the breath right out of them, so they’re gasping
    for breath, gasping, “God.”
Bring them to the end of their rope,
    and leave them there dangling, helpless.
Then they’ll learn your name: “God,”
    the one and only High God on earth. (The Message)

The psalms are the church’s prayer book. Many of the psalms are laments; and many of them are worshipful songs of praise. And there are also the “imprecatory” (pronounced im-PRECK-a-tory) psalms. To “imprecate” means to invoke evil upon someone; it is to pronounce a curse. 

The reason for the imprecatory psalm is that it is not any person’s place to engage in revenge or retaliation. Instead, for people who are genuinely caught in the crosshairs of evil and have sinful persons dogging them, prayer is their most effective recourse; an appeal to God is their best chance at survival and hope.

Sometimes you have to tell it like it is. There’s a time to do your best in putting up a good face and dealing with people who never stop gossiping, slandering, and trying to get their way. But there is also a time to call such behavior “evil” and cry out to God for help.

There are a lot of folks who consider imprecatory psalms a problem because of their detailed expressions of imprecation, of cursing. Yet, such psalms refuse to put a positive spin on malevolent motives, wicked words, and destructive actions.

Desperate people utter desperate prayers. Their unflinching sense of injustice will not allow them to sugarcoat the villainous plans of corrupt people.

Evil is never toppled with tepid prayers from wimpy worshipers. Rather, nefarious agendas are thwarted in the teeth of specific, focused, and intense prayers directed with spiritual precision and passion to the very core of diabolical forces.

We need not be shy about being real with God, even with praying imprecatory prayers. There really are people in this world, maybe even in your own life, that have malicious intent against you or others. Our job is not personal revenge, but to entrust ourselves to the God who fights for the poor, the oppressed, and the needy against the arrogant and the powerful. Let your prayers, then, reflect your life.

Along with psalms of praise lifted during times of celebration, so imprecatory psalms are not to be ignored but need to be uttered equally loud as prayers to almighty God in seasons of desperate evil.

If you have a gut feeling deep down that wicked people are running amok, then use this psalm as a prayer against the darkness which seeks to envelop the earth.

Jesus Christ will build his church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it (Matthew 16:18). The picture Jesus portrayed is one of faithful believers equipped with righteousness and justice storming the gates of hell, not shying away from it. Baked within the Lord’s words were the promise that evil atrocities will not have the day – that God’s people will not be destroyed or overwhelmed because of demonic and satanic power.

There is a time to flee and then there is a time to engage. I am suggesting that the chief way of mitigating evil is to punch it in the mouth with imprecatory psalms prayed with righteous flavor and focused directly against the powers of this present darkness. Why pray, out of all the things we could do, in order to deal with the evil of this world?…

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)

Spiritual problems require spiritual implements to solve. And the tool of imprecatory psalms is a major way of pushing back the dark forces of this world, as well as the means of spiritual assertiveness against all forms of heinous acts and acerbic words from depraved people and evil systems.

God’s wrath is an expression of God’s love – because God is not okay with evil taking root in the lives and institutions of humanity. Prayer is our privilege of coming to the God who upholds justice and righteousness. For if God is for us, who can be against us?

Almighty God, hear me in the day of my trouble and send help from your holy sanctuary and strengthen my faith. Do not let me amble down the path of temptation, but deliver me from the evil one.

Holy Spirit, breathe your enablement into me and inspire me with a passion for goodness, truth, justice, and righteousness.

Lord Jesus be present with me in your risen power and protect me from harm and from everything that hinders your healing presence in this world. You overcame the forces of Satan, redeemed the world, then ascended to the Father.

Blessed Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Sprit – the God whom I serve: May you be with me and within me; before me and behind me; on my right and on my left; above me and beneath me; and around me always, for the sake of your glory. Amen.

Good vs. Evil (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned. (New Revised Standard Version)

There are two opposing forces which are operating in this world. One is the power of evil, manifested through lawlessness, selfishness, and wickedness. The other power is good, and it is seen wherever there is a concern for the common good of all people. Labors of love for all humanity and right relations with everyone are a demonstration of the peaceable fruit of righteousness existing in the world.

To put it succinctly, a spirit of merciful grace and a spirit of careless judgment both exist throughout the world.

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

The Apostle Paul (Romans 12:9, NIV)

The Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the church in Thessalonica because the believers there were confused. Somebody had told them that the end of the age already happened. Paul sought to set the record straight, that we are still anticipating the return of the Lord and the final judgment of all things.

The great Day of the Lord will not come until the faithless one, the person of lawlessness, the son of destruction, is revealed. Such a person opposes God and has the force of evil behind them. So, who is this person?

The person is not a single individual. Paul was helping the Thessalonian believers understand the actual situation by wrapping the abstract concept of evil into human form, so that they could visualize its reality and sinister nature. In truth, there will be lots of individual humans who manifest themselves through evil intent and actions, until the Lord’s return.

Grace is the operative power which restrains all the evil. A lot of people have questions about God and evil. Why is there so much evil? How come God doesn’t snuff it all out? Is the Lord not able to do anything? What’s going on?

Those are honest questions. And they come from a place of limited human perspective. Let’s turn this on it’s head. It’s not that God is impotent or isn’t doing anything about evil. Think of it this way: When you scoop up a bunch of sand in your hands, there are a lot of sand grains which fall to the ground. If the sand is evil, and the hands are God’s, the reality of the situation is that the Lord has most of the evil kept at bay.

In other words, if God were not involved in this world, at all, we would be living in a real dystopian society – people staying up at night to guard their homes with guns, and anxious folks attacking each other with impunity. As bad as some things are, it could be infinitely worse than it is.

The grace of God is active in restraining evil and providing believers with what they need to not only survive, but also to thrive in this world.

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3-4, NRSV)

A reversal occurs because of God’s grace. The wickedness which exists, especially within the human heart, is dealt with and transformed into a force for good in the world.

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But—when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:3-5, NLT)

Grace is wonderful for those who believe. However, for those who are faithless, grace is inoperative – simply because the wicked consider virtues like mercy and grace as weak and useless; they have no intention of either giving or receiving such drivel.

From a certain angle, it may seem that God is harsh. The Lord hardens hearts, sends powerful delusions, and entertains mysteries which some people will never discover. Yet, from another point of view, these are all necessary divine tools in dealing with unjust humanity and their systems of oppression.

Justice and righteousness are championed by God, and therefore, injustice and unrighteousness will not be put up with by the Lord. And that is a good thing. Love not only gives, but it also protects and withholds. Evil will be dealt with according to God’s good grace and in God’s good time – and not according to a limited human perspective or any person’s impatience.

The time is short, and the time is near; everything shall not continue, as it presently is, forever. This is why the author of Hebrews exhorted people to pay attention to “Today” with a capital “T.” Today won’t be here tomorrow. Tomorrow is the Day of the Lord. So, while it’s Today, we must be responsive.

My friends, watch out! Don’t let evil thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God. You must encourage one another each day. And you must keep on while there is still a time that can be called “Today.” If you don’t, then sin may fool some of you and make you stubborn. (Hebrews 3:12-13, CEV)

We must encourage each other with continued faith and patience until the end of the age. We can do this. We are all in this life together, so let us keep on holding up one another and carrying each other’s burdens. In so doing, we will not be lawless, but fulfill the Law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

Keep on being brave! It will bring you great rewards. Learn to be patient, so you will please God and be given what he has promised. As the Scriptures say,

“God is coming soon!
    It won’t be very long.
The people God accepts
will live because
    of their faith.
But he isn’t pleased
with anyone
    who turns back.”

We are not like those people who turn back and get destroyed. We will keep on having faith until we are saved. (Hebrews 10:35-39, CEV)

May it be so, to the glory of God. Amen.

To Be, or Not to Be (Psalm 28)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Only you, Lord,
    are a mighty rock!
Don’t refuse to help me
    when I pray.
If you don’t answer me,
    I will soon be dead.
Please listen to my prayer
    and my cry for help,
as I lift my hands
    toward your holy temple.

Don’t drag me away, Lord,
    with those cruel people,
who speak kind words,
    while planning trouble.
Treat them as they deserve!
    Punish them for their sins.
They don’t pay any attention
    to your wonderful deeds.
Now you will destroy them
    and leave them in ruin.

I praise you, Lord,
    for answering my prayers.
You are my strong shield,
    and I trust you completely.
You have helped me,
and I will celebrate
    and thank you in song.

You give strength
    to your people, Lord,
and you save and protect
    your chosen ones.
Come save us and bless us.
Be our shepherd and always
    carry us in your arms. (Contemporary English Version)

Today’s Psalm, in the Revised Common Lectionary, is alongside the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers in the book of Genesis. While out caring for the vast flocks of sheep and goats, Joseph’s brothers hatched a cabal against their younger sibling. They tossed him into an empty cistern (a deep water well) and intended to leave him for dead.

But when a caravan came along, heading to Egypt, the brothers decided on yet another diabolical plan. So, they brought Joseph out of the cistern and sold him into slavery. And, if that weren’t enough, the hateful brothers kept rolling out the devious scheming by making it look like a wild animal killed Joseph, so that they could hide their shameful guilt from Jacob, their father.

So, we are invited to view the psalm from Joseph’s perspective of frustration and agony, crying out to God. Then, praising the Lord for listening and saving his life – even if it meant becoming a servant in a foreign country.

Although becoming a slave was certainly not an ideal situation, Joseph faced a desperate need, even death, and the Lord saved him from it. And Joseph was encouraged and emboldened by the reality that God was with him, no matter where, nor what the situation.

Joseph, along with the original craftsman of the psalm, David, gave praise to God for hearing their prayers. Whereas we may get lost in anger and want retribution, perhaps our orientation is best directed toward offering praise to God for being with us and saving us from certain death.

This raises several questions, at least for me, about being in situations where I experience being heard by God, protected from ultimate harm, yet still left between a-rock-and-hard-place:

  • Can I praise God just for being heard and listened to? 
  • Do I really need to be healed or delivered? Or do I actually need to be delivered from the need for deliverance? 
  • What if I don’t get everything I pray for? Am I expecting to receive something God never promised? 
  • Will I offer praise and thanksgiving, even if God is silent? 
  • Is my joy in a relationship with God either conditional, or unconditional?

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (c.1601 C.E.) put the question this way: “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” Hamlet’s soliloquy went on to say:

“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance, to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin [knitting needle]?”

Like Joseph left for dead in an empty cistern, Hamlet was miserable and burdened with a profound lack of power to change his circumstances. So, he reflected on life and death in a morbid and melancholy way. It’s not that Hamlet had suicidal ideation, as much as he meditated on what life truly is, and tried to find some meaning within it.

Unlike Joseph, Hamlet cannot find the courage to deal with his frustration and feels stymied with fear of the unknown. He became lost in the injustice of it all.

If we are blatantly honest with ourselves, we much too often have a particular outcome in mind that we want or expect God to do. 

Our hopes become tethered to God doing something extremely specific so that, if it does not come to pass, or does not come quickly, or doesn’t happen as we want, then discouragement, disillusionment, and even depression may settle down in our souls like a lead weight. 

Like Hamlet, we become lost in the shadows of our thinking and ponder some sort of escape.

So, here is another set of questions I am asking myself: 

  • If my adverse circumstances do not change, can I praise God anyway? 
  • Can I, like David, take joy in simply being heard? 
  • Can I find gratitude in all situations? 
  • Do I only express thanks and praise to God when things are going my way? 
  • Am I open to whatever God wants to do in my life, even if it is not what I would choose? 
  • Do I feel that I am above having to put up with the wickedness of this world? 
  • Am I expecting heaven on earth, or am I willing to suffer as Jesus did? 

I honestly believe the answers to those questions will largely determine the trajectory of our spiritual development, our emotional maturity, our mental thoughts, and our overall religious experience.

I praise you, O God, in the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult, the failures and the victories. You are Lord over all things. You are my strength and shield in every circumstance. When I am weak, then I am strong. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Amen.