Fri/Sat Feb 24/25 2012 Prayer 5

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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."

Hi Brothers and sisters, it is a beautiful Saturday Morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. And today we pray for all those workers in the fields of harvest for our Lord Jesus. Please as you pray remember the "Stoner" family in their mission work, and all others who work. Please pray for Danielle (Daughter of Linda Miller) who had her gall bladder removed yesterday. These from the week past. From Rob Campbell who is taking his sweet bride (his words, folks) to the Dennis Rainy Family Life Ministries retreat for couples held this weekend at Hershey. God is good, and they are expecting 1,000 couples, yes, that is a good number, ONE THOUSAND COUPLES. Also pray for these three people from one family. Donna, for grief, Beverly, for depression and Michael, for financial problems. Please also pray for Carol Harris, and others who have been on our prayer list. Also pray for the "office building move".

Praise God, Praise God... The building move went fine, the building is now on location at our property and ready to be part of the ministry. The moving did cost a hundred dollars over the estimate but trust me, the men earned their keep. At this time I would like to thank the Board of the Directors of the Museum of Bus Transportation, who decided to sell the building after the big flood and offered it to us. We looked it over and decided it was a good purchase, they took our offer, and it was moved from one 501c3 (Museum) to our 501c3 (ministry). As stated before, the vision for the building is to have "Santa's" house, a place for children to come and see Santa and Mrs. Claus, meet our elves (ministry team) and learn the real meaning of Christmas before getting a gift. DO YOU HAVE a copy of the book, Santa and the Christ Child? If you do, please let me know. Now let me get back to the Lord's prayer.

Feb. 24/25 2012: Matthew 6:9 - "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art 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."

Today we pick up on the Lord's prayer with:

Thy Kingdom Come: Again this is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, when He said this. "After this manner therefore pray ye:" So we really need to look at what Jesus is teaching us here. Thy Kingdom Come. We are praying for God's Kingdom to come to us, and yes, we are really praying for God our Father in Heaven to send Jesus back to us. Let's back this with some scripture and these words from Jesus and recorded in John 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am." Now I ask you this, when you pray this, BE SURE YOU ARE READY FOR WHEN JESUS DOES RETURN.

Thy Will Be Done: Can you all look at this again, as we are praying "THY WILL BE DONE".  In other words, folks, we are praying for what is best for us, by the standards of God. Wow, that is great, is it not? You and I are praying Thy, meaning God's will be done and not "our" will be done. So often we pray to God asking for things, as in petitions and that is good, we need to do this, but the bottom line is we surely want God's will to be done. Now we know Jesus sets examples for us all the time, and listen to this great example from Jesus. Jesus prayed when He was alone in the garden of Gethsemane, and it is recorded in Mark 14: 35/36 - Going a little farther, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. "Abba Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." In Lehman's Language, Thy will be done, not my will be done. AMEN.

On Earth As It Is In Heaven: All accounts in the Bible tell us that Heaven is a wonderful place and a place where most of us want to go. Now we know in Heaven it is all going to be laid out by God and the will of God, and gosh we even get a brand new body. Jesus has even gone ahead of us to get it ready for us and again I refer you to John 14:3 - "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am." But in this prayer and remember please Jesus wants us to pray this way. On Earth as it is in Heaven. This means to me that Jesus would really like to see earth be to us as Heaven will be. But folks, we need to keep praying that way, but surely when we get to heaven, we will not have things going on as they do on earth. Yesterday when the people moved the building I did not hear one curse word from the workers, not one. Just think, you can't even watch the news on TV without hearing cursing and seeing all the murders, etc. Now as we pray On Earth as it is in Heaven, we need to put feet on those prayers and do our part to keep it the best we can and the best way to do just that is to live each day, walking with Jesus.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread: God has promised us that He would supply all our needs (not all our wants, but He does pretty good even at that).  I feel in this line, as we are asking for God to give us our daily bread, be thankful it is more than just bread. He gives us the air we breath, the clothes we have on our backs, and the water we drink. Also our daily bread we need to know is supplied by God through the hands of others, farmers, workers, helpers, bakers, truck drivers, etc. What an amazing network He has set up for all of us to eat. And yes, He even uses those who support Carry The Light Ministries food pantry to work for Him in supplying this need to others.

And Forgive Us our Trespasses (Debts, Sins): Yes, we need to pray often to have our sins forgiven, we really do. Think about it, folks, and maybe we should all do this. Years ago I found out if you wanted to be serious about losing weight, you needed to write down each thing you ate each day. It might surprise you what all you eat, if you write it down, and folks, if we would write down each time in a day we sinned or had a sinful thought, and we wrote it down it might surprise us. WE ARE INDEED SINNERS. And God will forgive us of our sins, but let's look at the next part. Does God expect us to do some things for this forgiveness, things other than just asking and repenting? Listen up.

As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us: (debtors, sinners) Matthew 5:43/44 -   "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Now listen as I put those last two lines together. This is important, folks, do not downplay this.  And Forgive Us our Trespasses, As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us: What does this mean, well think about it, if you don't forgive someone else then God is not going to forgive you. Let's say it again together,  And Forgive Us our Trespasses, As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us: One more time folks, And Forgive Us our Trespasses, As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us:

Lead Us Not Into Temptation: We are asking God not to dangle those tempting things that are not good for us, in front of us. Would God really lead us into temptation? While I am not sure He would lead us, there are times when He does not block us. Remember, please, God gave us free will.

But Deliver Us From Evil: We are asking God, and remember again Jesus taught us to pray this way, we are asking God, to keep us away from evil, we are asking God to keep the devil away from us. We are asking God to help us not break His commandments and laws.

For Thine Is The Kingdom And The Power and The Glory Forever: Here we are just praying and as we pray we our telling God, Hey God this is Your Kingdom, and You are The Power, and We will give You the Glory Forever. We will praise Your Holy Name and love You. And yes, Earth is God's  Kingdom also, remember He did make it. Look around you, folks, we have messed it up because God gave us free will. People worry about us drilling to get the oil and gas out of the ground that God gave to us to use, but they forget that Kids are a gift of God, and murder the unborn. Sometimes I just do not get it. I am glad I am saved, and that some sweet day God will clear me of this place.

AMEN: At the end of a prayer, means "So Be It." Or Amen might be used when in agreeing with someone else. I think most pastors would love to have an "Amen Corner."

So let's close in prayer today... Saying

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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."

Now go forth and share your blessings, and again thanks for those sending in support for our building and move. Now we will be purchasing paint to repaint the inside, it has been cleaned, but will need painted. God is good, God bless you. Love ya, Pastor Dan.