From Matthew 6:9-13 / Praying then like this: Recognition and reverence; Looking to the fullness of God’s plans and purposes as the ideal sought; Personal submission to God’s will and the benefit of it as universal; Personal lack and dependency confessed and met in Christ; Personal and corporate guilt – met in Christ; Personal refusal to rely upon self and recognition of self-deceit and and the enemy – to be met in Christ. 1. Recognize who it is you are praying to – Your Father and Christ’s. Revel in the relationship. Let it sink in that Christ’s death has purchased this place for you. The Father will hear you as really as He will Christ Himself. Note that your Heavenly Father offers what earthly Fathers so often fail at: a. Safety. You are always safe with Him as your Father. He will not leave. He is not peevish. You can speak freely, un-guardedly, without any pretense. b. Acceptance. Even when we fail Him, He does not reject us. He receives us. There is no hint of keeping us at arm’s length. He knows our every quirk and oddity and is not put off by it. He delights in His children. c. Approval. Even though He cannot approve of all we do – He approves of us AS His children. He owns us as His – happily so. He encourages us when fall. He is as excited at our successes as we are – more so. This is MY child! “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” – is ours by extension – for we are IN CHRIST. And note how all the pronouns are: Personal, Plural. Note the Position of the One to whom we pray. He is ruling and reigning over all. 2. Revere His glory in your own heart and mind. Nothing more reveals the and mind of Jesus than this petition. And as His slaves – we are to be about His business -engaged in His priorities and pursuits. And this is HIS passion – that the universe would be restored to the place where every sentient being knows, and loves His Father even as He does. This is reconciling all things to God in Christ. As Paul unfolds so powerfully in Romans, it is man not honoring God AS God which is at the very bottom of all human rebellion, sin and the destruction which follows it. Oh for that day when every creature will once again truly honor God as is fitting His glory, and our creation. 3. When we see Him “as He is” we are transformed to be like Him. What a goal! To have our whole beings – and thus the universe – slaves of His love. Governed by grace. 4. Can there be a more glorious existence imaginable than for His will to be absolutely carried out without challenge or opposition of any kind?

5. More of Christ TO us. 6. More of Christ THROUGH us. 7. More of Christ IN us.

Father – I want to know you in such a way – that the preciousness of who you are becomes my all consuming passion: and that others would come to know you as I have. Hallowed be your name. So then – help me find you out! Have first PLACE in my heart – Be my highest PRIORITY. Be my highest PASSION. Be to me all of life’s PROVISION. Let no earthly thing draw me more than you, and no earthly thing frighten me above you. Hallowed be your name.