Hey everbody! I hope you all had an awesome service in church today! I know I did. Todays post is about a thought that came to me as we sang a worship song which had been written based off the Lord's Prayer found in the Gospels according to both St. Matthew and St. Luke. For this post this from Matthew 6:9-!3
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which aet in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
What I want for us to look at specifically is verse 10. The Kingdom come. Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. Notice how the Holy Ghost had Apostle Matthew write "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,"? What did He (the Holy Ghost) mean by "in" Earth? He did not use the word "on" so as to say "on Earth", nor did He use the word "World", so as to say "in the World". So what did He mean. The truth is I do not know except in the manner it has traditionally been taught; in means on.
Now, let us shift to a familiar parable, the Parable of the Sower. In this parable Jesus likens the soils on which the Sower spreads his seed to our hearts. Correct? Okay, now allow me to ask a question. How many times have you said or heard a statement concerning "Head-knowledge"? Or, in other words, where we know in our minds who Jesus is, what the Bible says, about different doctrines and so on, but you or someone you know admits they do not, or did not, have Christ in their hearts? (I pray the latter is the case and since have come to Christ!)
With that in mind let's go back to Matt 6:10, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Replace the word "Earth" with Jesus's soil reference to our hearts, and "Heaven" with my head-knowledge reference. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in our hearts, as it is in our minds. this goes right to what is written in the Epistle of St. James in chapter 1 verse 22, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only," because of what the Bible says Jesus told His Disciples "If ye love me, keep my commandments." You see how it points right back to our heart? We love from the heart. It is written in Ez 36:26, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away your stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." There is another earthy reference to our hearts, but this time it's hearts of stone. God also tells us what His will is: to completely remove the stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. Also, with Nicodemus, Jesus alludes to him having Head-knowledge in John 3:10 "Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Nicodemus was a "Master", a teacher who may have been the equivalent of a Ph.D or like an Harvard professor, who had all sorts of knowledge and perhaps should've been one of Christ's Disciples. Except he lacked one (major) thing, Heart-knowledge. It was hardened to the Spiritual.
Anyway, I'm going to wrap this up by saying we may be able to look at this prayer example in a different perspective. I do not know if this is an acceptable example to be taught but hey, it's out of the box and, I believe, it kinda works. ("Kinda" is not a Theological term, I'm sure.) I do hope it was, at worst, a fun read; and, at best, the Holy Ghost uses it for His purposes.
In Christ's Peace, Joseph
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which aet in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
What I want for us to look at specifically is verse 10. The Kingdom come. Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. Notice how the Holy Ghost had Apostle Matthew write "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,"? What did He (the Holy Ghost) mean by "in" Earth? He did not use the word "on" so as to say "on Earth", nor did He use the word "World", so as to say "in the World". So what did He mean. The truth is I do not know except in the manner it has traditionally been taught; in means on.
Now, let us shift to a familiar parable, the Parable of the Sower. In this parable Jesus likens the soils on which the Sower spreads his seed to our hearts. Correct? Okay, now allow me to ask a question. How many times have you said or heard a statement concerning "Head-knowledge"? Or, in other words, where we know in our minds who Jesus is, what the Bible says, about different doctrines and so on, but you or someone you know admits they do not, or did not, have Christ in their hearts? (I pray the latter is the case and since have come to Christ!)
With that in mind let's go back to Matt 6:10, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Replace the word "Earth" with Jesus's soil reference to our hearts, and "Heaven" with my head-knowledge reference. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in our hearts, as it is in our minds. this goes right to what is written in the Epistle of St. James in chapter 1 verse 22, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only," because of what the Bible says Jesus told His Disciples "If ye love me, keep my commandments." You see how it points right back to our heart? We love from the heart. It is written in Ez 36:26, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away your stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." There is another earthy reference to our hearts, but this time it's hearts of stone. God also tells us what His will is: to completely remove the stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. Also, with Nicodemus, Jesus alludes to him having Head-knowledge in John 3:10 "Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Nicodemus was a "Master", a teacher who may have been the equivalent of a Ph.D or like an Harvard professor, who had all sorts of knowledge and perhaps should've been one of Christ's Disciples. Except he lacked one (major) thing, Heart-knowledge. It was hardened to the Spiritual.
Anyway, I'm going to wrap this up by saying we may be able to look at this prayer example in a different perspective. I do not know if this is an acceptable example to be taught but hey, it's out of the box and, I believe, it kinda works. ("Kinda" is not a Theological term, I'm sure.) I do hope it was, at worst, a fun read; and, at best, the Holy Ghost uses it for His purposes.
In Christ's Peace, Joseph