Hubby and I decided to start reading one chapter in the New Testament together every evening. I'll try to write down some thoughts on a more regular basis, to help keep me accountable for meditating and applying God's Word more this year.
In the past few evenings, we've been reading the sermon on the mount in Matthew. Every time I read it, it's so fresh and convicting! I want to read it more often, but I don't want to grow indifferent to it, as it sometimes happens with things we read a lot: we get desensitized to them.
There are so many good things in here. I've been thinking about sanctification a lot recently, about how it happens by us beholding the glory of God and thus getting to know God more and more. As we've been reading the sermon on the mount, I realized that one way to look at it is that it helps us to see how Jesus processed the world as a sinless human. This high standard was followed by Him every single second of every single day. Crazy! because I read it and almost everything in there makes me feel overwhelmed and shows me how much higher God is than me. It's such a precious passage because I feel that I can really see how God thinks in the day to day.
The Lord's prayer is in chapter 6. I've been also thinking about prayer and struggling with it, so reading Jesus' instructions about prayer was timely. What does Jesus pray about?
1.God's Glory, God's name and fame. "Let your name be kept holy"or "Let your name be treated with reverence" (according to the notes in my ESV Bible). Oh, how this desire needs to be the greatest cry of my heart, as it was the desire of Jesus' heart..
2. God's kingdom come, God's will be done, on earth and in heaven. Will I stubbornly hold on to my way when things don't go as I plan or when my choices of thoughts, desires, words, and actions hurt the closest ones to me? Or will I choose to submit to God's will and consider my neighbors more important than me?
3. Daily food. I almost never ask for our daily food, I just take it for granted. We have money in the bank, therefore we can afford food (is my wordly thought process). But that money can be here today and gone tomorrow. Thank you, Lord, for providing for our most basic needs.. Please give us our daily bread so we'd have the strength to live in a way that is honoring to you and doing the good works you have prepared for us to do (Eph 2:10).
4. Forgiveness. Under the assumption that we have forgiven those who have sinned or are indebted to us. Every time I have a forgiveness issue, I try to think about the fact that if I truly understood how much God has forgiven me, I would see how small is my neighbor's sin against me. It doesn't take away the struggle to forgive, but at least I realize that I am in the wrong.
5. Deliverance from temptation and evil. I have the tendency to pray about deliverance from temptation only when I struggle with something on a regular basis or for a few days, but I think it would help my spiritual life if I prayed it more often.
I will add these elements to my prayer at least for a while.. Jesus thought they were important, so I will make them a priority. Jesus thought they are good things to pray about. Maybe they are the bread and the fish in Matthew 7:9-10. Or at least part of it.
In the past few evenings, we've been reading the sermon on the mount in Matthew. Every time I read it, it's so fresh and convicting! I want to read it more often, but I don't want to grow indifferent to it, as it sometimes happens with things we read a lot: we get desensitized to them.
There are so many good things in here. I've been thinking about sanctification a lot recently, about how it happens by us beholding the glory of God and thus getting to know God more and more. As we've been reading the sermon on the mount, I realized that one way to look at it is that it helps us to see how Jesus processed the world as a sinless human. This high standard was followed by Him every single second of every single day. Crazy! because I read it and almost everything in there makes me feel overwhelmed and shows me how much higher God is than me. It's such a precious passage because I feel that I can really see how God thinks in the day to day.
The Lord's prayer is in chapter 6. I've been also thinking about prayer and struggling with it, so reading Jesus' instructions about prayer was timely. What does Jesus pray about?
1.God's Glory, God's name and fame. "Let your name be kept holy"or "Let your name be treated with reverence" (according to the notes in my ESV Bible). Oh, how this desire needs to be the greatest cry of my heart, as it was the desire of Jesus' heart..
2. God's kingdom come, God's will be done, on earth and in heaven. Will I stubbornly hold on to my way when things don't go as I plan or when my choices of thoughts, desires, words, and actions hurt the closest ones to me? Or will I choose to submit to God's will and consider my neighbors more important than me?
3. Daily food. I almost never ask for our daily food, I just take it for granted. We have money in the bank, therefore we can afford food (is my wordly thought process). But that money can be here today and gone tomorrow. Thank you, Lord, for providing for our most basic needs.. Please give us our daily bread so we'd have the strength to live in a way that is honoring to you and doing the good works you have prepared for us to do (Eph 2:10).
4. Forgiveness. Under the assumption that we have forgiven those who have sinned or are indebted to us. Every time I have a forgiveness issue, I try to think about the fact that if I truly understood how much God has forgiven me, I would see how small is my neighbor's sin against me. It doesn't take away the struggle to forgive, but at least I realize that I am in the wrong.
5. Deliverance from temptation and evil. I have the tendency to pray about deliverance from temptation only when I struggle with something on a regular basis or for a few days, but I think it would help my spiritual life if I prayed it more often.
I will add these elements to my prayer at least for a while.. Jesus thought they were important, so I will make them a priority. Jesus thought they are good things to pray about. Maybe they are the bread and the fish in Matthew 7:9-10. Or at least part of it.
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