Well, yet again we return to
those few verses in Matthew chapter 6 where the Lord teaches the
disciples to pray. In the account in Luke 11 they
had asked him, Lord teach us to pray, and a slight variation
on these words is given there. It's the model prayer. It's the
perfect prayer. It's given by Christ to his disciples
in response to their request, teach us to pray. So he gives
them a model prayer, a perfect prayer. These are the things
that teach us how we ought to address God in heaven. What a
high and awesome thing it is for sinful, mortal creatures
to dare to approach God, to address God who is in heaven. and coming
in the right spirit, because we cannot come... so much in
modern religion, in that which thinks it is so right, it's become
so familiar with God, it's lost all fear of God, it's lost all
reverence for who God is, and they breeze, as it were, into
the presence of God in a flippant and light-hearted and jovial
manner, not realizing that they come into the presence of one
who is God over all. God in heaven. This is who we
approach. We need to come in a right spirit.
Teach us the spirit in which to come before God. There's even
a right spirit to come before the Queen of England, or the
President of the United States. Whatever you think of them as
people, there's a right way to do it. and there's a wrong way
to do it. Well, how much more? How much
way, way more is there a right way to come before the God of
heaven? The one who rules in the affairs of man. The one who
is over all things. From before the beginning of
time, he's infinite. He is everlasting. Everlasting
God dwelling in unapproachable light. We need to come in the
right spirit. And we need to come with the
right sort of petitions. The reason for that is this,
because inhabiting, as we do, flesh which is sinful, until
we die, until these bodies die, until we put off this robe of
flesh, as we inhabit sinful flesh, we don't know what to pray for
correctly. We pray for the wrong things. We ask for the wrong
things. But you might ask, why do we need to pray at all? Why
do we need to pray? If you have a right view of who
God is, God is sovereign. God doesn't change. Prayer isn't
going to change the will of God. God is unchanging. How can it
be that God goes, well, I'm determined to do this, but oh, go on then,
they've twisted my arm, I am going to do something different.
No, God doesn't do that. God executes all his perfect
will. And that perfect will of God
cannot be stopped, it cannot be deflected. Is there anything
that we can raise with God that he doesn't already know. Look
what it says in verse 8. Don't be like them. Your Father
knows what things you have need of before you ask him. He knows
it already. He knows it already. Verse 32.
Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.
He knows this. If he knows it already, why does
he need to be asked for it? If his will is unalterable, why
bother praying? Well did you notice in Ezekiel
36 and verse 37, God had spent those 12 preceding verses outlining,
defining exactly what he would do for the people of his choice.
despite all of their idolatry and their backslidings, he outlines
what he would do because they're the apple of his eye, they're
the people of his choice, they're the ones that picture the church,
Zion in all ages, the people redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ for whom he is going to do great things and has done
great things. And if he's promised it and his
will is unchangeable, then why do we need to ask him for it?
Answer, verse 37, I will yet for this be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them. I'm going to do it, but
they will pray to me for it. I am going to do it, it cannot
be changed, but I will have them pray to me for it. You see, God
has a people. We saw it in that chapter in
Ezekiel. It's also mentioned in Jeremiah.
It's mentioned in Zechariah and other places. You get this phrase. It was there in Ezekiel 36. They
shall be my people and I will be their God. They shall be my... That's God and his people together
in communion. God and his people living in
union, communing with each other, communicating with each other.
And it applies in the New Testament too, as Paul tells the Corinthians.
In 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 16, he says to them, believers,
sinful believers, but believers, he says, ye are the temple of
the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them. and walk in them, and I will
be their God, and they shall be my people." Do you see how
it's talking about an intimate communion between God who is
in heaven and his people whom he has redeemed, his people here
on earth now? Intimate communion is based on
communication. You see, God speaks, God speaks
to his people through his word, by his Spirit, and his people
speak to him in prayer. There's a two-way communication.
We have this book, this sure word of prophecy to which we
do well to take heed. To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word of God, there is no
light in them. These are the scriptures that
speak the one message that we need to know, and that is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. For there is no blessing from
God for His people outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ, His
grace in Him, in the redemption that He has accomplished. He
speaks to us, He speaks that truth. We know it not because
we've seen signs and wonders in these days, because we don't.
And if anybody tells you that they do, they're not telling
the truth. God has said, this is it. What
more can He say than to you? He has said, you who unto Jesus
for refuge have fled. How firm a foundation we have.
He speaks to His people, but His people speak to Him in prayer. You see, this communication,
this two-way communication of God speaking to us through His
Word, and His people speaking to Him in prayer, it's a forerunner
here on earth to the perfect, sinless communion that there
will be between God and His people, His redeemed people, in heaven. There, now, the prayers of His
people are imperfect. The prayers of His people are
tainted with sin. The prayers of His people are
tainted with the lusts of the flesh, very often. But there,
there won't be, in heaven, Here, it is a forerunner of that. So
believers are taught and encouraged to pray. Paul writes to the Philippians,
in Philippians 4 verse 6, for what should we pray, Paul? He
says, be careful for nothing, by which he means be anxiously
concerned about nothing. Why should you not be anxiously
concerned about anything? Because God is in heaven. and
you're his child, you're the object of his grace. In everything,
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. Do you have requests? That you
believe her in accordance with the will of God? That you believe
her not contrary to the justice of God? then pray to him. Bring those requests before him.
He says, let your requests be made known unto God. Any requests? Any requests? Well obviously,
the more we can pray in accordance with the will of God, the better.
As Jesus said in John 14 verse 14, If ye shall ask anything
in my name, I will do it. What is it to ask in his name?
That's the important thing. If you shall ask anything in
my name, in accordance with the will and the character of God. That's what it is to pray in
his name. Anything in his name is in accordance with the will
and character of God, but so often we don't know it and we
fall short of knowing it. Often we don't know what we ought
to pray for as we should. And so Paul tells the Romans
in Romans 8, 26, we know not what we should pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. There's, when the flesh fails,
when the flesh asks for the wrong things, oh, there's this comfort,
isn't there, that the Holy Spirit intercedes when we don't know
what to ask for as we ought. When we ask in the wrong way,
if we're truly His, the Holy Spirit asks with groanings which
cannot be uttered in our place. At times, the flesh corrupts,
are well-meant prayers with its sinful lusts. We might start
out meaning the right thing, but we pray for the wrong things. We pray, as James says, you ask
and you receive not, because you ask amiss, you ask in the
wrong way, that you may consume it upon your lusts, that you're
asking for things that your flesh is lusting after, that your flesh
is coveting. that your flesh wants to see
happen. You ask and receive not because
you ask amiss. No, we need to seek more and
more to know what is the will of the Lord and pray in accordance
with His will, in reverence, knowing who it is before whom
we come. Now as we've seen, in Matthew
6, in verses 9 to 13, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches his disciples
to pray. And it's broadly split into two. The first bit that we've already
looked at concerns the name of God being hallowed, his kingdom
coming, and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven.
And then In the second set of petitions, some say there are
three, some say there are four, the third and the fourth you
could easily combine into one, and that's what I think we'll
do this morning, just briefly at the end, but we're asking
for God's gracious provision for our needs while here on earth. So whereas in the first petitions
it was concerning God's name, His kingdom and His will, all
to do with the glory and exaltation of our God in heaven, in ruling
all things according to the counsel of His own will, the second petitions
concern our needs whilst believing in Him here on the earth in the
flesh. Our needs are for bread, for
forgiveness, for guidance, and for preservation. And as I say,
we'll lump guidance and preservation together. But His purpose, God's
purpose, God's eternal purpose, is to bring every redeemed sinner
to eternal glory. That's His purpose. This is the
will of Him that sent me, said Jesus in John chapter six, that
of all that the Father has given me, of all the people, in sovereign
grace, in election before the beginning of time, of all that
the Father has given me, I should lose nothing. That every single
one of them, how would they be lost? They'd be lost if they
were found guilty of sin on the day of judgment. How are they
saved by not having any sin? How is that sin taken away? In
the decree of God, it's taken away in the sacrifice of His
beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore the sins of His people
in His own body on the cursed tree. He rules everything to take us
to eternal glory. We know that, Romans 8, 28, for
we know that all things work together for good to those who
love God, who are called according to His purpose. And nothing can
thwart His intentions. So again, I would ask, why do
we need to pray then, if it's all going to happen, because
that's his purpose. I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel, by the church, by my believing people,
to do it for them. Even though he's going to do
it and his will will not be changed, God says, I will have my people
pray to me about this. That's what it is. He will have
his people pray for these things, even though he orders everything
for the good of his people to bring them to eternal glory,
to that heavenly bliss. freedom from sin, even though
he has decreed that he will do that, he will yet be inquired
of by his church. We must pray for these things.
He encourages us to pray. You know they say in all human
relationships, the problem is when communication breaks down,
when there is no more talking, It's absolutely fundamental to
contented marriages, to good business relationships. It's
fundamental, it's communication. So it is that God, who will do
all his perfect will without us speaking, yet he will be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. So the first
of the petitions that concern us in our life here on earth
is verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. You see how economical it is
with words. You know, if it was a typical
English language novelist, Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread would
be about four or five chapters. You'd have a hundred pages of
writing, wouldn't you? They'd just spin it out. It's
so economical with words. He gets the meaning across. What
do we need to ask for? Give us this day our daily bread. When he's talking about our daily
bread, he doesn't just mean a slice of Mother's Pride or whatever
is your favourite plastic loaf from the supermarket. He's not
talking about that, not just that. It encompasses everything
needed for earthly human life. Everything that we need. Basic
food, clothing, shelter, In asking God, we acknowledge dependence
on his providence to live. We need God to provide. We don't just take it for granted,
we acknowledge that we need God to actively give us air to breathe,
and water to drink, and food for our bodies, and shelter and
clothing, all of these, you say, well isn't that rather an unspiritual
request in this prayer which is about coming in a spiritual
right way, you know, let those who worship God worship Him in
spirit and in truth, for God is a spirit, isn't this rather
an unspiritual request? Is it not superior to ask for
light from God's word? Oh Lord, give us light from your
word. Well, yes, we do ask for that
because we read when Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4, verse 4,
he quoted to Satan those words in Deuteronomy, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God. So isn't it rather unspiritual
to ask for the things, the necessities of this life? Not at all. Not at all. God created us physical
beings, with physical needs, in an environment created, sustained,
to supply those needs. Physical creation is very much
part and parcel of all that God has created. It's not just a
kind of just a mechanical sideshow, it's absolutely part and parcel
of everything that God is and God has created and God has provided
for all to sustain life, here and now. Look at verse 26, Behold
the fowls of the air, For they sow not, neither do they reap,
nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they? He causes the whole created environment
to provide for the life that's on this created environment in
verse 30. Wherefore, if God sow clothed
the grass of the field, he says the lilies, they've arrayed more
gloriously than Solomon in all of his finery. If God so clothed
the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? Do you not feel a pang of conscience
when you read those words? To know how much of our time
is taken up with thinking about what we shall eat, and what we
shall drink, and what we shall be clothed with. He says, for
after all these things do the Gentiles seek, the unbelievers,
the godless unbelievers is what that means. The world around
us, the world that thinks materialism is the sum total of life. They
think that a man's life consists in the abundance of the things
that he has. After all these things do the Gentiles seek,
but your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these
things. He knows what you have need of.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
these things, these necessary things, shall be added unto you.
Therefore take no thought for the morrow. That doesn't mean
be careless and profligate and wasteful. It means take no anxious
thought for tomorrow. Don't think that tomorrow is
going to be put right by the strugglings and the strivings
that you exert to try and make sure it's right, because it's
all in the hands of the living God. We do what Nehemiah did. You know, Nehemiah, when The
rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, when they came back from the
captivity, was in danger of being overrun by the heathen all around.
And what did Nehemiah do? We prayed to our God. and we
set a watch, and we set a watch. Yes, he was responsible, they
set a watch, but he knew that their success was entirely in
the hands of God, and that all things would be worked out according
to the eternal purposes of God, and the thing would be accomplished
because it was all part of God's sovereign grace, showing the
way in which he saves his people from their sins. So has he not
promised? that he will keep his people?
Psalm 37 and verse 25. I've been old and I've been young,
but I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread. Yes, we've got that assurance
that God will provide the needs of his people. He won't see them
begging bread. But true believers do suffer
hardships. The Apostle Paul said that in
his missionary journey, 2 Corinthians 11, 27, describing his experience,
he said, have you ever been in weariness? Well, he said, I've
been in weariness often and in painfulness and in watchings,
anxious watchings, you know, thinking that somebody is about
to fall on him and take him away and stone him to death. In hunger
and in thirst, didn't God promise he wouldn't see you begging bread?
He'd experienced hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness. In Hebrews 11 where we have the
description of the gallery of faith, you know, by faith this
one and by faith that one, and towards the end of that chapter
11 in verse 37, Paul writes, they were stoned,
they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain
with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,
being destitute, afflicted, tormented. And the time is coming, you know,
we who live in this prosperous world, that is having its presumption
shaken, I hope it is, by this current crisis, by this current
coronavirus crisis and the lockdown. And every day that goes on, be
in no doubt, the damage that's being done to prosperity and
the economy as everybody has got so used to it, the damage
that is being done is absolutely colossal every day that comes.
Do you know what God's word says about the end of times, in the
kingdom of Satan, in the kingdom of this world, in Revelation
13 verse 17, it says that no man might buy or sell, trade
in this world, go shopping, get delivery slots from the supermarket
or wherever it might be, save that he had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name. In that Revelation
13 picture of the kingdom of Satan, in the days in which we
live, it's as if you had to have the mark of the beast is the
philosophy of godless Antichrist. It's the philosophy that the
righteousness of God is of no consequence whatsoever. It's
the philosophy that we can build a worldwide union without any
thought for the things and the justice and the righteousness
and the name of God. And if you don't go along with
that philosophy, this world, this kingdom of Satan, the Word
of God tells us, will make it very difficult to trade It will
be difficult to go to work as a Christian, as a teacher. A
Christian science teacher will have his income removed from
him because he will not bow to the philosophy of this kingdom
of Antichrist. There are difficulties experienced
by many now, and we have this, not so much a warning, but a
kind of be aware that. Days like this are coming if
they're not already here in places. So it's right that we ask God
daily for the necessities to sustain us in this day. Give us this day our daily bread. Daily there, the word is not
very easy to translate from the Greek. It doesn't mean you know,
just, because it already says, give us this day our bread. Give
us the day, the bread we need for this day. It's enough already. It means give us the bread that's
coming to us. Give us the necessities of this
life that are coming to us this day. We don't pray for riches. We don't pray for riches. for
luxuries. God allows his people to have
riches and luxuries at times in history. He does. He allowed
Abraham great riches. Job was allowed great riches.
Solomon was arrayed in glory and riches that the world had
never seen before or since. But God can give riches also
to the spiritual destruction of those who receive them. You
know, you think so many of the rich of this world. and they're
utterly poverty stricken as far as the knowledge of eternity
is concerned. They have no knowledge of it whatsoever. They have no
interest in it whatsoever. So Jesus says in Luke 9, 25,
what is a man advantaged if he gained the whole world and lose
himself or be cast away? What is a man advantaged if he
gained the whole wide world and yet lose his soul in hell? What would you sooner have? Great
riches here and now and put up with the suffering of hell? You
know nothing. You know not what you ask for.
God sometimes gives riches as a judgment. He does. He gives
riches as a judgment. A judgment for people to feel
that they have no need to seek for him and find him while he
may be found. No. In what we do, we who Trust
God, we who profess belief in God in what we do. God's provision to us, God's
daily provision on which we depend, is not on a big salary or a fat
bank balance. You just think how the current
lockdown is impacting the economy and jobs. Really, people daily,
now, minute by minute, are losing their jobs. Debt is building
up. There's looming poverty. Think
of these things. Think of Job as I've already
mentioned. Think of him in a day from riches with a big family
and happy to nothing in a day. Why did God do that to him? Because
he loved him with an everlasting love. It was all for his eternal
good. I pray that in this time some
will be brought to realise that life does not consist in the
abundance of possessions. You know, there's a great principle.
Paul mentions it in his epistles. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. Oh, that is such a lesson for
us to learn. And think in these times, God
is teaching us what it is to do without day-to-day, face-to-face
contact with this. learn. There are other means,
we learn just to trust him all of the time. Godliness with contentment
is great gain. Give us this day our daily bread. But then In the next verse, verse
12, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, or
trespasses, as Luke's account says. Sins, because sin is a
debt. Sin is a debt against the justice
of God. It's a debt owed to the justice
of God, which demands that the soul that sins, it shall die.
Why do we need, as believers, to ask for forgiveness? Hasn't
Christ justified his elect? hasn't he? It says that we're
justified from all eternity. It says that he is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. It says that it's all done. He brings those whom he justified
in eternity, he pays for their sin with redemption in time at
Calvary, and then by regeneration of the Holy Spirit brings them
to know it. Is not the legal standing of God's saints in Christ
exactly what it says in Jeremiah 50 verse 20, you know that verse
well? In that day, in that day of judgment, the sins of Judah
and of Israel shall be looked for, shall be sought, And Judah
and Israel means the church, the Zion of God, the sins of
the people of God shall be looked, and they shall not be found.
They shall not be found. There won't be any. Why will
there not be any? Because Christ has taken them
away. He has nailed them to his cross. He has paid for them at
the cross. His precious blood has washed
them away. The law of God that demands justice
for sin is satisfied because of that. So why do we need to
pray for forgiveness? because while we're still in
the flesh, we remain sin, and we need daily to ask for forgiveness. We need daily to repent of it.
We need daily to seek to mortify it. Look at 1 John chapter 1,
verse 7 of 1 John chapter 1. If we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. and the blood
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we
have no sin in the flesh now, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. How can he be just to forgive
us? If we're sinners, because if
we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, how can He be just
to forgive us our sins? Does He just wink at our sins?
Does He just sweep it under the carpet? No, He's just to forgive
us our sins because He punished those sins, He paid the debt
of those sins in the blood of Christ at the cross of Calvary.
That's how He's cleansed us from all unrighteousness. If we say
that we've not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not
in us. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. I want you not to sin. But if, when, any man sin, we
have an advocate. with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, and He is the propitiation. This is how He's
just. He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole
world. That doesn't mean everybody that ever lived. That means His
people throughout this whole world. There's also the account
in John 13 of washing the disciples' feet. And I find this instructive
because you see, you know it was the last supper and Jesus
got up from the supper and put a towel around himself and poured
water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and
to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. And he came to
Peter, Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you going
to wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do now you know not, but you shall know hereafter.
Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. I am not
having you, my lord, bend down to wash my feet. And Jesus answered
him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter
said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head. Jesus said to him, he that is
washed, he that is bathed, he that is already bathed, needs
not save, he only needs to wash his feet, but is clean every
whit, and ye are clean, but not all. What he's saying there is,
The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. The sacrifice of Christ at Calvary
has paid for the sins of His people, but there's the daily
defilement that goes on. That yes, Christ paid for, but
as a daily thing we need to ask, forgive us our debts, forgive
us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us.
We're washed from head to foot in the redeeming blood of Christ,
but daily there's a need for repentance and asking of forgiveness
from sin. And that's such a blessed thing
to be in. We need it. We need to know that daily we're
forgiven from our sins. What a blessed thing it is. Psalm
32 verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. But did you notice that there is a condition placed
upon this? As we forgive our debtors, forgive
us our debts in the same way that we forgive our debtors.
Do you forgive your debtors? Do I forgive my debtors? Does
Jesus really mean this? that what he says in verses 14
and 15, if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father
will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
Does he really mean it? I think the fact that it's expounded
in verses 14 and 15 says yes to that question, underlined
and with exclamation mark. Yes, of course. It's not that
our forgiving others qualifies us for God's forgiveness. but
our forgiving of others is an essential sign of the grace that
has forgiven us our sins. We're repentant sinners, and
he forgives repentant sinners. Not for our repentance, but he
gives us a spirit of repentance over our sin, and forgives it.
And in the same way, we forgive those that repented their wrong
to us. When someone's sorry, yes, you
forgive them. You forgive them. Do you know, I often see people
that have been the the victims of terrorism, and they've lost...
Do you forgive the terrorists that did that? And my answer
to that is absolutely not. Do you know why not? I mean,
they sound so pious when they say, yes, I forgive them. No,
I don't forgive them. I don't forgive them. Why not?
Because there's no repentance. There's no repentance at all.
God's forgiveness goes hand in hand with repentance. We forgive
those who repent for their wrong to us. So for example, Jesus
underlines this in the parable of the unmerciful servant in
Matthew 18. He talks about the servant who was forgiven by his
master an enormous debt that he never could pay and then he
goes out and he's unmerciful with somebody who owes him very
little and how angry God is at that. We need to take this to
heart. This is the true attitude of Christian experience. This
is what Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 4, verse 32. He says,
well, verse 31, let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor,
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and
be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive others that trespass against us. Be ye therefore followers
of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and given himself a sacrifice for us. Well, I'm
going to be very brief now. Verse 13, lead us not into temptation,
and deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the
power, and the glory forever. Amen. The desire of all true
believers is to be free from sin, from its guilt, from the
debt of the sin, from its ongoing commission, for we know that
when we would want not to sin at all, we know that sin is always
with us. The desire is always to grow
in grace and knowledge of Christ, for He is everything we need. Is that not what this is saying?
Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Knowing God in Christ and knowing everything He is, He is everything
that we need. He is everything that we need.
He will keep us in this life and He will take us to eternal
glory. But as we walk through this life, we daily ask for God's
grace to keep us from temptation to sin. We will be tested and
tried, that word means that too, but this is temptation to sin
that comes to us from Satan, and we need God's grace to keep
us from falling into that sin that we're tempted to commit.
and keep us from the deception of the evil one who seeks to
devour believers. How does he devour? You know,
he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
How does he devour them? He takes their faith away from
them. He takes their confidence in God away from them. He causes
them to look at other things other than the finished work
of Christ. And we ask God's grace to be kept. kept. Deliver us not into temptation,
lead us not there, give us grace not to go there and not to fall
into it. Deliver us from evil, deliver
us from the clutches of Satan who seeks to destroy us. In all
these things we acknowledge our utter dependence on God and so
we daily ask for his grace to be conformed to his will, and
equipped for his service until he carry us home to his eternal
kingdom in glory. So as we commune with God in
prayer. Let us seek by His grace to conform
our wills and requests to the pattern He has taught us. Our
Father 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 forever. Amen.