“God has only one intended destiny for mankind—holiness. God is not working toward a particular finish—His purpose is the process itself.” – Oswald Chambers
Matthew 6:9-13
Pray then like this:
“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 also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
I see that The Lord’s Prayer is the complete prayer for us. We need not add anything to it. If God’s only desire is for us to be made holy, then the prayer makes sense. Our desire and prayer should be to become holy and that all else be a distraction. I think this is why He said seek Him first, all else will be given to us according to His will. This is also why He said He knows what we need before we say it.
So, we are to pray that we draw near to God and dedicate ourselves to Him. We can peacefully pray The Lord’s Prayer if we believe all else will be taken care of, meaning God will either provide, remove or give us strength to endure – a choice that totally is up to Him and part of His plan to make us holy; for this is His only goal.
The more we understand this, the less importance we will be attached to the outcome of the worldly needs we are seeking. We have made prayer too complicated as if there is a formula. God made it simple through giving us The Lord’s Prayer.
We hear people telling us to be more specific in our prayer, why? Does God not know the details? We can’t see what’s good for us to become holy. But He can.
I find it amazing that the personal requests built into The Lord’s Prayer are only these:
To provide my daily bread. Only what I need today to survive.
To keep me from sin and temptation.
And to forgive me as I forgive others.
Here is what I don’t see:
Happiness
Health
Wealth
Vocation
Companionship
Material things
Security
Safety
No, we just need to pray for God to make us holy, that we become fully devoted to Him. To the extent that anything on the list above are a distraction, they are to be eliminated. Should our hearts be truly on God, then He will see to it to provide for these things if it brings Him glory.
We must remember that God is only good and pure and love. His intentions for us can only come from those attributes.
I think God created the kiss method. Keep it simple stupid. (He may not have used the word stupid. Ha ha.)
Just a Thought…
