Give Glory to God
A famous evangelist from the 19th century put it well when he said, "Prayer honors God, it dishonors self."
The Pharisees were noted for prayers that were designed to bring glory to themselves. They wanted people to notice that they were at prayer. Even by the way they dressed and acted they were desiring the glory of men. Of course, it is easy to condemn them. They are a convenient target especially since they lived 2000 years ago and are really incapable of defending themselves.
One of the troubling things that we find in our generation is the general disregard for the Bible and its message. I realize that I am definitely out of synch with this society. I am not a pluralist nor do I have a strong desire to be politically correct. For example, you have to be careful about how you use the term "Blackberry" which is actually a high-powered cell phone and pocket computer. Already some members of the African-American society have taken offense at the name. In my history the term "blackberry" referred to a fruit on the vine that made great jam, jelly and ice-cream topping. I did not see any racial connections with it.
We find other teachers, usually claiming to be Christians, who tell us that we can demand things of God. Especially noteworthy is the health and wealth gospelers who are telling people God owes them and all they need to do is ask for it. In other words God can be manipulated to meet my own desires and wants. I come from the old school that says we do not demand anything from God. Everything we have comes from God to begin with, and we are never to demand anything. Even in prayer, we are in the asking mode, regardless of how desperate we might be. James reminds us in 1:5-8 and 4:1-4 about this.
When we see Jesus we realize that in his prayers his concern was for the glory of God. Three things should be evident in our prayers:
- Who God is
- What God wants
- How He can be glorified
- "Those who teach otherwise are not preoccupied with the extension of Christ's kingdom or the glory of God's name but with the enlargement of their own empire and the fulfillment of their own selfish desires. Such teaching attacks the heart of Christian truth—the very character of God."
Jonah learned how to pray in the belly of a great fish. Jonah may have thought that he had the right to demand that God deliver him from the disaster he had created for himself. Instead he chose to give glory to God.
1 1Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God afrom the stomach of the fish,
2 and he said,
"I acalled out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the 1depth of bSheol;
You heard my voice.
3 "For You had acast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current 1engulfed me.
All Your bbreakers and billows passed over me.
4 "So I said, 'I have been aexpelled from 1Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again btoward Your holy temple.'
5 "aWater encompassed me to the 1point of death.
The great bdeep 2engulfed me,
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 "I adescended to the roots of the mountains.
The earth with its bbars was around me forever,
But You have cbrought up my life from 1the pit, O Lord my God.
7 "While 1I was afainting away,
I bremembered the Lord,
And my cprayer came to You,
Into dYour holy temple.
8 "Those who aregard 1vain idols
Forsake their faithfulness,
9 But I will asacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will bpay.
cSalvation is from the Lord."
The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.—Daniel chapter 3, see especially vv. 13-18.
There is not a hint of demand. These boys were innocent of disobeying God, but they about to die for their faithfulness. Why not demand the protection of God? Note again vv. 16-18.
Daniel in the lions' den. Entrapment involved. But Daniel does not cry out to God to demand that he be delivered.
And with that we are going to begin considering the various parts of the Lord's prayer, because it is a prayer designed to bring glory to God.
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