DON'T MESS IT UP
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, 'The LORD has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said."
Genesis 16:1-2

Sometimes when I write these devotionals I am triggered by a word or phrase I hear in a song or read in a book. At other times I am inspired by a memory or something going on in my life. It is in these times that God begins to work through that avenue, whatever it is, to prompt me into what is next. And sometimes in these moments of prompting, God shares with me a nugget concerning my future. But it is only a nugget, never anything more. In feeling and seeing these nuggets lately I have come to a point where I am asking God, "Why so little? Why not show me or tell me everything?" It’s funny how we can hear God if we really listen.
I know the answer, even if I do not always want to admit it. The answer is because I would find a way to mess it up. I would follow the steps of Abraham and walk right onto the path of my trying to be God and take matters into my own hand. Take a look at his life with me. In Genesis 15, Abraham, at that time still called Abram, spoke with God about his family line. He was concerned that should he pass, he had no son to give his wealth to. Hearing this heartfelt cry, God responded, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be" (Gen 15:5). God was showing Abraham his future, sharing with him a promise of what was to come.
But like us, Abraham got antsy. Here he was with promise in hand, but time was slipping away from him. When was this promise going to become real? When would the family start being birthed. Years were slipping out of reach and he wasn't getting any younger. Then an idea came about. Sarah, Sarai at this time, offered her maidservant to Abraham so that he could perhaps build a family with her. I laugh at this knowing the outcome, but wonder if I too would have done what Abraham did. Abraham agreed (Gen 16:2). He agreed, slept with Hagar, and a child was born. But the child was a child of contention and eventually both Hagar and Ishmael were forced out from the camp. God had plans for Abraham to have a family, but he stepped out before God. His playing God became his error.
When the time was right, when God deemed it right, Isaac was born. Finally Abraham was holding his heir, his son, his promise. The promise came with lessons spanned over twenty five years, but still it came. And this should be hope for us. You see, there are times when God tells us something and gives us a peek at the promise. But that does not give us the right to play God and force more. It is in these times that we must sit back and allow God to teach us the things we too need to learn so that we do not mess it up. Our promise too will only come when God deems the time. Do not give up on the promise, though. Hold on to it, but let God bring the fullness in his time.
I end today with perhaps an example from my own life. Following my divorce I questioned my next steps in life. I hunkered down with God for a few years, after trying my hand once more at dating, and found that God had a plan still for me. Little by little, as I allowed myself to heal, God began to give more nuggets. Three years back, the nugget He gave me was that I would be married again. He didn’t tell me how I would meet her, what she would look like, or where she would live. He only told me that I would marry again. I could have played God and forced something to happen, but it would have only made a mess. Instead, I waited on Him like He asked of me until, one day, we crossed paths. On June 8, only days from now, I will marry this woman that I know God has picked out for me. I say all this to point out that when we do it God’s way, it cannot be messed up.

WHERE YOU LEAD
“’And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
Matthew 6:13

I am a map-guy. I know we live in a day and age where the GPS can tell us our every turn, but I have to admit I am a guy who loves to look at a map. Maybe this is a trait I inherited from my dad who would study an atlas for hours. Or maybe I am just old school, as I am also the kind of guy how has an e-reader but still prefers an actual book as opposed to the electronic version. Either way, I find myself now days as I saw my dad doing for years, just looking over the map and studying each turn and possible landmark. It isn’t that I do not trust the GPS or have problems listening to ‘Glenda’ give me instructions through her robotic voice, but I want to see it for myself. I want to be sure that the road I am on is indeed the road I need to be on.
Now I will say that even with a map in my hand, I still manage to get lost. This happened just last March when I was returning home from Texas. I knew that the 380 would eventually join me to the I-30. Yet somehow I had gotten lost and had to resort to ‘Glenda’ helping me for a minute to get back on track. While this happened in reality, I find it happens to me spiritually as well. There have been many times when I am following a spiritual map, only to find that somewhere along the way I managed to get lost. Honestly, in these moments I find myself lost because I gave into to the sights, to the temptations. I cannot help but wonder how many temptations I have given into simply because I did not pray as Jesus directed.
To His disciples, Jesus gave instructions on how to pray. In the final piece of this prayer He spoke on temptation and our request to not be led into it. But I have to say that if I am not praying not to be led into it, it seems as though being in it gets easy. And temptation in this verse is more than just putting a plate of cookies in front of a kid, it is the word PEIRASMOS, meaning trials, experiments, and moments of proving. Jesus showed us to pray that we would not be lead, EISPHERO, or brought to, moments of proving, but we would instead be delivered. This word for ‘temptation’, however, is the same word found in I Corinthians 10:13, where we read that no ‘peirasmos’ has seized us except that which is common to man. These temptations are common to man, and they work to capture us. Would it not be wise then to pray that we not be lead to them?
And what is the reciprocal? The reciprocal then is the prayer for deliverance from the evil one. Jesus taught us near the end of His prayer to pray for deliverance, RHOUMAI in the Greek. This word translates as a rescue. We all will find ourselves in moments where we will need to be rescued. Rescued, though, from what? We need to be rescued from the evil one. This is the Greek word PONEROS, translated as labors, hardships, pressures, toils, or perils. We so many times think of this as the devil and his cohorts, but it is so much more than just a person. It is any trap that the person can also lay out to catch us. It is the hard times, it is the vise-grip of life squeezing us, it is the losses, the frustrations, and the flat out pains. In all these moments do we not find ourselves screaming out, “Enough!” At that moment we just want to be delivered. And the great news is God is able to deliver us.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, and in each piece of this prayer His power was spoken. God’s name was praised, His kingdom was spoken and His will was agreed to. Our daily needs were named and provision was made. Our sins blocking us from our blessing were confessed and we also spoke forgiveness to those offending us. And finally the request for direction was made, and deliverance called out for in the moments when we have been trapped. There is so much power in this prayer, and there really is no way I can sit in church and speak these words so monotone anymore. This prayer is a prayer of strength, not of boring hum-drum life. These are the words of Christ, written in red, and dripping with power.

FORGIVENESS
“’Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’”
Matthew 6:12

One of my current favorite songs is Matthew West’s, “Forgiveness.” Allow me to share just a few of the lyrics with you from this song. “It'll clear the bitterness away / It can even set a prisoner free / There is no end to what it's power can do / So, let it go and be amazed / By what you see through eyes of grace / The prisoner that it really frees is you.” These lyrics make me question as does West, do we want to be free? When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, He added a portion concerning forgiveness in both our asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness to others. With this in mind, let us look at a few of the words in this verse.
The word ‘forgive’ is the Greek word APHIEMI, meaning to send away or bid farewell. Another definition of this word is divorce. Jesus instructed His disciples here to divorce ourselves from our debts. But what are our debts? This is the Greek word OPHEILEMA, which translates into that which is owed, legally due, or offensive. Putting these two words together we find that Jesus was stating in this prayer that we need to divorce ourselves from our offenses and what we think is owed to us.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. In fact, in many ways it may be easy for us to seek forgiveness from God concerning ourselves. If that is the easy part, then what is the hard part? I would like to suggest the forgiveness of those who have offended us. It is these people, these OPHEILETES, these who have bound us and offended us, that we also are to ‘aphiemi’. Still, these people have caused us pain, these people have hurt our feelings, and these people have turned on us. Why is it that we are to forgive them? Wouldn’t it be easier for God just to deal with them and rain down a little justice? Believe me, I have given that thought. That is not how God works, though. Our God is a God of love and mercy.
It is this same mercy that we are to extend. And it is for our blessing and freedom that forgiveness must be given to others. As West shares in his song, the person who is freed by us giving forgiveness to others is ourselves. In many ways Paul reiterates this truth in Galatians 5:1 when he writes that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. As such, we should not allow ourselves to become slaves again to slavery. When we fail to forgive others, we place ourselves back in slavery, and thus miss the blessing that He desires for us. Isn’t it time we walk in the blessing? If it is, then it must also be the time in which we walk in forgives, of both ourselves and those who have offended us.

DAILY BREAD
“Give us today our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11

I am a lover of bread. Not quite sure what it is, but I honestly could eat bread every day. I love rye the most, but my top five rounds out with French, sour dough, potato bread, and wheat. So when I hear the words, ‘Give us today our daily bread,’ I honestly find myself getting a little hungry. I love bread so much that I have considered doing a bread and water fast sometime in the future, like Rees Howells once did as he fasted for salvation around the time of the Welsh revival in 1904. But I have a feeling that when we are being told by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer to pray that God gives us today our daily bread, it means more than just a physical snack.
The word ‘give’ here in this passage is the Greek word DIDOMI, and it is translated correctly as a giving, furnishing, or supplying. Jesus’ words to His disciples were in fact the asking that God would supply something for them. In this case, Jesus pushed them to request a specific thing – daily bread. And when was the bread to be given? This day, or SEMERON in the Greek. The word ‘semeron’ translates as this very day. So the pieces are coming together and we see the disciples being instructed to request that God supply this very day their daily bread.
Before we go on looking at the Greek words here, I want us to look at an account in Exodus 16. Starting in verse 4 we read that God spoke to Moses that He would rain down bread from heaven for the people. This bread was termed manna. But along with giving them the manna God also gave them specific directions. Sunday through Thursday they were only to take enough for that one day. On Friday, however, they were allowed to take twice as much as there would be no manna provided on Saturday, the Sabbath. The people went out that first morning and gathered their manna and it turned out that everyone gather the same about, an omers portion for each person. But one of the other rules for the people was to not leave any till morning. Again, it was to be that specific day’s portion. Those who did not obey this command woke up to a stench and the sight of maggots. On the day when they were to take the double amount, some did not obey also. They woke up ready to collect on Saturday and found nothing to be collected. I point this account out because according to God it was a daily portion, with the exception of the Sabbath.
Going back to Matthew’s record of the Lord’s Prayer we find again the words, “Give us today our daily bread.” This request in the prayer seems to match with the account of Moses. The bread from the day before is not to carry us for the week, nor is it even supposed to be left over for a day. It is to be daily. This word ‘daily’ in the Greek is EPIOUSIOS, meaning the necessity for that day, while ‘bread’ is the word ARTOS, meaning a physical bread, but also bread of any kind. In this prayer we are to request that God provide for us at this moment the necessary bread we need. And boy do we need it. Just as our body needs food, so also our spirit man needs food. The great thing is that just as God provided manna for the Israelites, so also He is willing to provide His manna for us.
God, I no longer want to live on the manna from yesterday that has gone stinky and infested, I want the fresh manna. Give me today, God, my daily bread.

YOUR KINGDOM AND WILL
“’your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’”
Matthew 6:10

When I was in college I read a book by Larry Lea titled, Could You Not Tarry One Hour. The book was about the Lord’s Prayer, and how on the night Jesus was betrayed He found His disciples sleeping when He wanted them to be praying. Although it has been over fifteen years since I read the book, one passage still stands out to me each time I read or hear the Lord’s Prayer. He stated that instead of praying, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” we should pray, “Come! Thy kingdom. Be done! Thy will.” As we look more into this passage today, maybe we will see more so what is meant by these words Jesus prayed, and maybe we will see this thought in the way Lea did.
After addressing God as Father, and praising His name, Jesus then instructs the disciples that the prayer should welcome in God’s kingdom and will, both in heaven and on earth. But is it safe to say we just read over these words without giving them any thought? If we make it a point to focus on these words, we first find the term ‘kingdom’. In the Greek this is BASILEIA, meaning royal power, dominion, or rule. This is not to be confused with an actual physical kingdom, but is more powerful. It is a power to rule over the physical. And the next word is ‘come’, which in the Greek is ERCHOMAI. This word is defined as the coming from one place to another, the arriving. In putting these words together, Jesus is teaching us to pray that this all powerful dominion of God should be welcomed from one place to another; from heaven to earth.
The next few words speak on God’s will being done. The term ‘will’ is the Greek word THELEMA, translated as what one wishes or has determined should be done, and more specifically what God wishes to be done by us. Merge this term with the term ‘be done’ and we get a little deeper understanding. ‘Be done’ is the Greek word GINOMAI, meaning to come into existence, happen, or begin to be. Looking at these words in context again, we read that Jesus was telling the disciples to pray God’s wishes come into existence. These two parts together, mixed with the words on “…earth as it is in heaven” show us that our prayer is for God’s royal power to be welcomed, and His desires come into existence on earth and heaven. In simple terms, these two should be manifest physically and spiritually.
So here is the kicker…are they? Is this our prayer when we pray these words? Are we allowing His kingdom to be welcomed? Are we allowing His power to arrive? And are we allowing His wishes to be moved on in our lives? I am reminded of Ephesians 5:10 where Paul states to find out what pleases the Lord. What pleases the Lord is when we do His will, and in order to do His will we must know His will. And in order to know His will we must ask Him His will. Prayer is the asking. It is not a time when we come only with our list of wants, but where we come to Him and question what He desires of us. Let us no longer get this confused and think of God as a buffet to pick from. Let us instead realize and pray God’s kingdom come, and God’s will be done. It is time our kingdom and our will take a back seat to what God wants to do physically and spiritually in and through us.

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,...'"
Matthew 6:9

I would like to spend the next few days dissecting a very well known passage found in Matthew 6. As I was driving to work yesterday morning, with a worship CD playing through the stereo, I found myself entering into a time of praise. I found myself worshipping God Almighty for who He was, is, and will be in the different stages of my life. I found myself hallowing His name. And then, I found myself praying what is titled as the Lord’s Prayer. So it is this prayer that I want us to look at, perhaps a little deeper than we have ever looked at it before. I want us to consider each word within this prayer, starting from the beginning with what exactly it means to hallow our God.
It is often said in counseling circles that we will tend to think of God in the way that we think of our earthly fathers. Although I have had to fight my own mis-conceptions of who God is, I have never really equated Him in the same way as I know my earthly dad. Whereas I respected my earthly dad because of his title, I for a long time only respected God in fear of His discipline. I was convinced that God was waiting for me to mess up, standing watch with a 2x4 ready to knock me upside the head. It wasn't until college that my idea of God as my Father really began to change and I caught the understanding of God as a good God.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus didn't start off with, "Your Honor," or "O Magnificent One." Sure these titles can fit, but Jesus taught them to address God as Father. Of the four Gospels, Matthew is the only one written in Hebrew. Why? Why not Greek as the other three? It is because Matthew wanted the intended people, God's chosen people, to see that He had fulfilled the prophecies. Because Matthew did so, we can see here that this was no mis-translation. The same word in the Hebrew that God addresses himself to David as in II Samuel 7:14-15, is the same word that Jesus instructs us to call God when we pray. ABBA. And guess what. It is also the first Hebrew word when listed alphabetically in the Strong's Concordance.
But still the question remains of what it means to ‘hallow’ someone. Perhaps a better understanding of this word comes from the Complete Jewish Bible’s translation. “You, therefore, pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven! May your Name be kept holy’” To define this a little more still, Webster’s dictionary defines this word as making something or someone holy or set apart for holy use; to respect greatly. It is the name of our Father, our ABBA, in heaven which we are to keep holy. But haven’t we heard this before? Exodus 20:7 commands us in the same way when it states, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
The whole beginning of the prayer that Jesus is sharing with the disciples starts with the honor given to God. He is worthy of our praise. He deserves our praise. And He delights in our praise. Too many times I have heard this prayer chanted in church as a death march, monotone and lifeless. But in understanding God as our ABBA, and understanding the fullness of praise He deserves, how can we continue to prayer these words so lackluster? He is God! Let us then praise His name, hallow and revere His name, and worship Him with all our heart, for He is a good God!

SELF EXAM
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.”
II Corinthians 13:5-6

I do not consider myself to be an old man, but I am getting closer to age forty. With this fact in mind, and the fact that I will be getting married again at some point, I have taken it upon myself to be a little more cautious about my health. Let’s face it, I am not the young whipper-snapper that I used to be. I have had to focus more on my exercise habits, which means I have had to monitor my food intake as well. But I have also had to begin giving myself self exams. I read just this morning that approximately 8300 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year. While it is stated that 95% of these men will survive, it is better to begin being aware of this fact now and looking for the signs. So then, a self exam can be used to notice any lumps or changes in size that could be an early sign of this issue.
While we are all probably more so aware of the physical exams we need to put our bodies through, be it checking for testicular or breast cancer, giving ourselves an oral exam and checking for gum disease, or even just checking our heart rate at periods of rest and activity, there is one additional self exam we should make time for. This exam is the exam of faith. In II Corinthians 13:5-6, Paul hints rather boldly that we should examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith, testing ourselves even in this discovery. This examining is the Greek word PEIRAZO, meaning to make trial of, to ascertain the quality of, or to test. Paul is encouraging us to ascertain the quality of our faith for ourselves.
But then we must also understand the term faith here if we plan to do a good self exam. After all, we need to know just what we are checking for. In the Greek this is the word PISTIS, translated as the conviction of the truth of anything. I once heard a very practical illustration concerning faith that I think would help put this in the proper light for us. When we go to sit in a chair, we have faith that it will hold us up. Why is that? Because over time we have sat and been supported. We have sat in plastic chairs, wooden chairs, steel chairs, comfy chairs, and lumpy chairs, but in probably all cases, we have been supported. This repeated support has provided for us the conviction needed that truth shows the chair will support us. And so it should be with Christ Jesus. Our faith in Him should be based on the fact that He has never left us, never let us fail, and never turned His back on us. We may have been the ones to turn on Him, but He has never turned on us.
So then, Paul’s words begin to make a little more sense. We are to ascertain the quality of our conviction of truth for ourselves. Christ Jesus is in us; He has given us the ability to pass this exam. Unless… As we see in the end of verse 5, we can fail this exam if He is not in us. If He is not in us, we become named an ADOKIMOS, one who is not standing, not approved, or unfit. Paul trusts, ELPIZO, hopes or has confidence, that we are not these type people who are qualified as ‘adokimos’. And that is exactly where we find ourselves. We need to solidify the results of the self exam. We need to determine once and for all if we have been diagnosed as ‘adomimos’ or not. We cannot answer this question until first we take the exam Paul suggests and see just where our convictions lie. We may be relieved and find no lumps spiritually. But we may also be surprised and find concern, or that we are not as healthy as we assumed. Despite the results, we will never know until we examine ourselves. And despite the fact that we may be unhealthy, He is the cure and a faith in His is the medicine. Isn’t it time to know?

STRIKING A DEAL
“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
Acts 5:1-2

Sometime back my children and I were spending time reading the book of Acts before bed. We found ourselves reading a few scriptures in Acts 5, and then spending time discussing. It is in this chapter that we read of Ananias and Sapphira. The story picks up on the heels of Acts 4:32, where all the believers were of one heart and they began to sell their possessions and give the funds to the disciples for the furthering of the message. It turns out that the Holy Spirit moved upon Ananias and his wife, and together they made an agreement to sell a piece of property and give the full sum to the disciples. However, how many know that when the money is not in your hand it is a lot easier to make plans with it? Once the property was sold and the money collected, Ananias and his wife decided to hold some back for themselves.
Ananias took the money to the disciples, minus the portion he held back, and explained that he was giving the full sum to them. However, Peter questioned Ananias, “How is it that you allowed the enemy in so that now you have lied to the Holy Spirit? You have lied not to us, but to God.” With these words spoken, Ananias fell dead. In a three hour timeframe that followed, the body of Ananias was buried and the young men who did so returned to the home. While that was going on, Sapphira, who was unaware that her husband had passed, returned home to meet Peter and the others. Peter posed a few questions to her as well, trying to get her to admit to the truth. When she also lied in saying that the amount they gave was the full amount of the purchase, she too fell dead, in time for the young men to bury her body as well.
As I was reading this to my children, a thought came to mind. How many times have I found myself in the same shoes as these two? How many times have I promised God something but didn’t deliver on. When I was in my addiction I would do this often. I would say things like, “God if you help me fix my car for cheap, I will give up my addiction.” “God if you provide a way for this bill to be paid, find a way to save me in this problem, heal my sickness, etc, then I will quit.” The problem is, even when He did His part I had little to no intention of keeping my part. I tell you, if not for the grace of God, I should have suffered the same fate as Ananias and Sapphira for my offense against the Holy Spirit and God.
The point I tried hard to instill in my children that night in reading this account, is the same point I want to move forward with in my own life. I want my promises to not be empty. I don’t appreciate when people whisper sweet nothings in my ear. What good are they – they are nothings! I would rather someone tell me sweet somethings, and then back up their somethings with the actions they just said. And that is what God is looking for in us. He has too many people telling Him nothings, He wants somethings. I want to be one who moves forward telling Him something, and delivering in full on what I say. I don’t’ want to be one who just strikes a deal with no intention of keeping it, but one who follows through and delivers.