Lord’s Prayer

Lord’s Prayer Series – Who Is Our Father?

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In order to know our proper relationship to our fellow men on earth, we must first learn our proper relationship to those who dwell in another place, which the Bible calls heaven.

The Bible makes it very clear that there are many other intelligences in the universe besides human beings that are wiser and stronger than those living on earth. In Revelation 12:12, it says, “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Notice, it says, “rejoice, heavens, and you that dwell in them!” So, there are other intelligences that dwell in heavenly places. In the very last chapter (22) of the book of Revelation, it says in verse 16, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

There are not only angels of heaven, but there are angels who have fallen from heaven, who left their first estate. You can read about that in II Peter 2, and also in the book of Jude. Jesus talked about these evil spirits. In fact, there are many conversations between Christ and evil spirits recorded in the gospels. “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’ ” Luke 10:17–19.

We see that there are both good and evil spirits. The angels of heaven, God’s angels, are spoken of like this in Hebrews 1:14: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

There are angels of God who are attempting to help you to walk up the narrow way and to be saved at last. There are also evil spirits that in the last days will succeed in deceiving almost the entire world. We read in Revelation 16:13, 14, “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs [miracles], which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

Above all of these spirits, both the good and evil spirits, there is a spirit that rules over them. One of the most important and one of the most wonderful sermons of Jesus is recorded in John 4. Incidentally, this most wonderful sermon was given to an audience of one who was an outcast in her city, the woman at the well of Samaria.

Jesus spoke to her about true worship, where we should worship, and how we should worship. He told her, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23, 24.

We have just read that there are many spirits in the universe. There are good spirits and evil spirits that have fallen and are in this world rebelling against the government of God, but there is one Spirit that is above them all. Jesus said, “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

How do you worship God? It is necessary to worship Him in spirit, which is with your heart and with your emotions, with your feelings, and also with truth, with your intellect, following all that the Bible teaches. When Jesus was on earth one of the aspects of worship that He practiced daily was prayer. Jesus was a man of prayer. The Bible says that sometimes He prayed all night. Once after He had finished praying, “It came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples.’ ” Luke 11:1. In response to this request, Jesus gave to His disciples what we call today, “The Lord’s Prayer.”

There are millions of people around the world today who repeat the Lord’s Prayer, either morning or evening, or sometimes several times a day. Unfortunately, there are many who have learned the words and repeat it without thinking or realizing what they are really saying. We will consider here the first phrase, the first short sentence of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:2–4 KJV.

The opening address is, “Our Father Who art in heaven …” If your prayer is going to be effective, your prayer needs to be addressed to your Father in heaven. This identifies your heavenly Father as the object of true worship, the One Whom you worship and the One Whom you are addressing.

There are people today who pray to all sorts of things. Some people pray to saints; others pray to famous people who have died; and some people pray to angels. But the Bible does not teach any of these manners of prayer. Jesus did not teach His disciples to pray to angels or to saints. He taught them to pray to our Father in heaven.

This salutation, when you think about it eliminates all other gods as undeserving of worship, leaving no room for the worship of any creature or any other being. Today in our rebellious world there are many gods and many lords and much false religion. The apostle Paul said this in I Corinthians 8:5, 6, first part: “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things.”

Paul recognized that there are many gods and many lords, but those are all false gods except one. We as Christians have only one God, one Lord. There is only one true God Who only is to be worshiped by all created beings. In the Bible we are strictly forbidden to worship anyone or anything else. This is so important that in the second commandment, which happens to be the second longest commandment, we are told not to worship anyone or anything else.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:4–6.

The second commandment emphatically forbids the worship of any other god, saints, or angels, or any creature, even pronouncing a curse on those who do this. Angels of God will not allow any human being to worship them.

In Revelation 22:8, 9 the apostle John records that he was overcome with the glorious things that he saw: “Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’ ” Revelation 19:10. So, we are forbidden in the Bible to worship any other God. We are not to worship any angels and we are certainly not to worship any human being.

One time at God’s direction the apostle Peter went to see a man by the name of Cornelius who had not yet heard the gospel. He had just been told by an angel that he was to send for a man called Peter who would tell him what he and his household needed to know to have eternal life. When Peter came in to talk to Cornelius, he was overjoyed that in his presence was the man that he had been told would come to him and teach him. The Bible says that Cornelius fell down to worship before Peter but what happened?

The Bible says, “As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.’ ” Acts 10:25, 26.

Notice that the apostle Peter would not allow a human being to worship him. An angel of God would not allow anyone to worship him. The Bible pronounces a curse on anyone who worships the creature instead of the Creator. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

“Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen.

“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, [and] sexual immorality … .” Romans 1:18–29.

Notice the curse that is pronounced on those who worship the creature instead of the Creator. And God gives them over to a debased mind, and they become filled with all unrighteousness and do those things that Paul says are worthy of death (verse 32).

In heaven, everybody worships the Creator. Revelation 4:10, 11 describes a worship scene in heaven. “The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.’ ”

Here is revealed God’s right to be worshiped, because He is the Creator Who created all things and it is by His will they exist. It is His power to create that makes the eternal Father worthy of worship and adoration by the heavenly universe.

Something else that we need to understand about God is that He is not part of the creation that He created. He is separate from His creation. We understand from the very first sentence in the Lord’s Prayer, which says, “Our Father Who art in heaven …” We understand from this statement that God is not a part of the creation of this world, but rather, His dwelling place is in heaven, a distinct and separate place from where we live. Heaven is just as real as the earth, but it is a different place. For that reason we cannot obtain the help that we need and desire by looking to the earth. Rather, we must look to heaven to find the Source of blessing and all the things that we need.

In the Bible times there were people who understood this very clearly and explained it in explicit language. Notice what John the Baptist said: “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” John 3:27.

He clearly understood that you cannot receive anything unless God permits it or allows it. Notice what the apostle James says about this very same subject in his book: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17.

Because it is impossible to obtain the help that we need from this world we need to look to heaven to receive the blessings. This statement, “Our Father Who art in heaven,” expresses at one and the same time, both God’s nearness and His distance from us. God is near us because the apostle Paul says in Acts 17:27, 28, “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”

At the same time, the expression, “Our Father Who art in heaven,” expresses the fact of His distance from us. Notice what it says about this in Ecclesiastes 5:2: “Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.”

Again, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the Lord.” Isaiah 66:1, 2.

So, the Lord says you build Me a temple, you build Me a church, you build Me a house, but I made all those things that you made for Me. I made them Myself. Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. We should never forget that the God we worship is as high above us as the heavens are above the earth. Therefore we must not be guilty of thinking or addressing Him as an equal. This was the cause of the fall of Lucifer.

Isaiah 14 describes the desire of Lucifer’s heart and the cause of his fall. He wanted to be God Himself, though the Bible is very clear that no creature can ever become God. Lucifer wanted this position. Isaiah 14 says, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ ” Isaiah 14:12–14.

Lucifer wanted to be like God. He wanted to be equal with God. Unfortunately, this same desire, this same spirit, has been manifested millions of times among the descendants of Adam and Eve. For this same reason Eve fell. The devil, impersonating a serpent, said to her if she would eat the fruit of this forbidden tree she could be like God (Genesis 3:45). She fell for that idea and people have been falling for it ever since. They want to be their own God, in charge of their own lives. They do not want to look to heaven for help but want to control their own affairs.

God understands this feeling and He rebukes it in His Word. “These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes.” Psalm 50:21.

The Lord says, “You think that I’m just like you, but I’m not.” The expression, “Our Father Who art in heaven …” is the very foundation of the whole Lord’s Prayer. It conveys to us God’s tender regard for us. And it should also convey our feelings toward Him. The first utterance of this model prayer brings the worshiper to the house of God and the gate of heaven where all of His temporal and spiritual needs can be supplied. However, not every person in the world can truthfully pray it and honestly claim God as their Father.

God wants to be your Father; He wants you to become His child. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right [or the authority] to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” John 1:12.

Friend, have you been given the right to become a child of God so that you might truthfully call Him Father. Jesus would like to adopt you into His family if you will accept Him as the Saviour and Lord of your life. And when that happens, then you will be given the authority to become God’s child and you will be able to say, without telling a lie, “Our Father Who art in heaven.”

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Claiming a Relationship with Others

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To be successful in our relationships with others we first need to know our own true identity and our relationship with our heavenly Father.

In Isaiah 63:9 and 10, the prophet describes the history of the children of Israel who were God’s professed people. He says, “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.”

Notice that while ever God’s people were obedient they were protected, saved, and delivered by the Angel of His Presence. The Bible describes angels as beings that are both stronger and wiser than human beings. An evidence of this is found in 11 Kings 19:35: “And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.”

However, concerning the righteous, the Bible says, “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” Psalm 34:7. Angels are both wiser and more powerful than man. The book of Ezekiel reveals that angels are subject to receiving directives and have greater awareness and knowledge than humans. Whenever prayers are sent to God, directions are given to the angels concerning the answering of those prayers.

Malachi said, “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers?” Malachi 2:10.

The disciples often heard Jesus praying to His Father and came to Him saying, “ ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples.’ ” Luke 11:1. The prayer He taught them is what we call today the Lord’s Prayer.

Contrary to what some people know, this prayer was not given to the world, but only to the disciples of Jesus Christ in answer to their request for not everybody can truthfully claim God as their Father but would be lying. The Bible says in Matthew 13:38 that, “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.”

Jesus once told the religious leaders of His time that they were children of the devil. “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’ ” John 8:42–44.

Since sin entered this world the devil has claimed it as his own and when we are born we are not born as sons of God but children of the devil. This is affirmed often throughout the New Testament.

Paul said, “You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [the devil], the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Ephesians 2:1–3.

Writing to the Ephesian church, he said that we were by nature the children of wrath, just as the others who are not Christians. That being the case, how is it possible to tell if a person is a child of God or a child of the devil? The Bible gives a very strict rule by which that can be determined.

John speaks very plainly on this subject. He said, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and He cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” I John 3:4–9.

Clearly, then, a person born into this world is by nature a child of wrath. By committing sin he/she declares to the universe that he/she is a spiritual son of the devil for “He who sins is of the devil” (I John 3:8) unless he/she has been born again. This was the essence of what Jesus told Nicodemus: there is no other way to enter into the kingdom of heaven except to be born again. The born again Christian is then adopted into a different family, the family of God.

Paul explained this in Galatians 4:4–7: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

If you have been born again, born of the Holy Spirit, then you are no longer a child of wrath but have become a son of God. A person who has not been born again has no right to claim God as his father, for that person’s father is the devil. The person who is living in sin has no right to say the Lord’s Prayer and call God his Father because he is a child of wrath, a spiritual child of the devil.

We have read what John and Paul said about this, but notice what Jesus said to Nicodemus: “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time in his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ ” John 3:3–7.

It is clear that to be born again is a requirement to enter the kingdom of heaven. You must receive what the apostle Paul calls in Galatians 4, verse 5, “the adoption as sons.” The apostle Paul repeats this concept often in his writings. Notice how he describes it in Romans 8:14–16: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

The fact that the first century Christians could now call God their Father and not just address Him as the Infinite, or Eternal, or Most Powerful One in the Universe, was considered a most precious privilege. He was acknowledged as Someone who had a fatherly interest in them. Right after His resurrection, Jesus told Mary Magdalene, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” John 20:17.

But how can a person who has been born a child of wrath and destined to destruction be born again and receive a new heart and a new spirit and receive eternal life and avoid his destiny of everlasting destruction? John explains this miracle in his opening remarks in his book where He wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it.

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light that all through Him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” John 1:1–11. Jesus talked with them long about the fact that they would not receive Him. In John 5:40, He said to the Jews, “… you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

Again in John 8:47, He said, “He who is of God hears God’s word; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

Many times Jesus told the people of His time that they were going to lose their soul, lose eternal life because they would not receive Him. But then, there is a most wonderful promise in John 1:12, 13. It says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Those who receive Jesus and accept Him receive the right to become the children of God. They receive a right to be adopted into God’s family, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, to be born with the Holy Spirit, to have a change of heart, to have a changed mind. When a person is born again of the Holy Spirit he begins to live a holy life. When the Spirit of God leads a person, he will live in harmony with the words of God.

Paul said, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Hebrews 2:9–11.

If you are being sanctified, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is working a change in your life giving you the right to call God your Father and Christ your elder Brother. To be sanctified simply means to be made a holy person. This is not complicated. A holy person is not necessarily anybody special, but simply a person who lives in harmony with God’s law.

If you are living in harmony with God’s law, then you are a holy person, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul was very specific about this when writing to the Hebrews. He said, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14.

When a person is born again it is the work of the Holy Spirit to make him/her into a holy person, giving him/her the right to call God, “my Father.” If people would think this through, there would probably be fewer people to glibly quote the Lord’s Prayer. It is a profound thing to call the God of heaven your Father. The apostle John drew this to the attention of the Christians. He said, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:1–3.

The greatest privilege that any human being can have is to receive what the apostle Paul calls, “the adoption as sons.” To be born again, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, to receive the Holy Spirit into the life, to have a new spirit and new mind is promised to all who accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Having this new relationship with God also brings us into a new relationship with other people in this world, recognizing that we are all brothers. I John 4:20, 21, says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God Whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

The most wonderful thing that you can have is to be adopted into the family of God so that you can call God your Father. The value of sonship in God’s family can only be estimated when considering the price that has been paid for man’s redemption. Have you been born again?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Scandalizing God’s Name

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A father is shamed when his son scandalizes the family name thereby bringing the family name into disrepute. But many people who are called by the name of the God of heaven scandalize His name and bring His name into disrepute by their conduct. Unbelievers see Christians with behavior worse than their own. Therefore, the Christian religion has very little force in the world.

Throughout the Bible the number seven has special significance for God. In the Hebrew Bible the very first sentence, Genesis 1:1, has seven words. There are seven Hebrew words in the first commandment of the ten that were handed to Moses on the mount (Exodus 20:3). In the fourth commandment, there are seven commands (Exodus 20:8–10), and in the tenth commandment there are seven things mentioned that we are not to covet (Exodus 20:17). The number seven appears throughout the Bible and in the book of Revelation it is repeated significantly.

It should not be a surprise then that the Lord’s Prayer contains seven petitions. The first of these is the phrase, “Hallowed be Thy name” (Matthew 6:9). This petition comes first because reverence is the very gateway into the divine presence. Reverence is the first step in approaching God because in that way we place ourselves in a proper attitude toward Him.

We place God where He rightly belongs by exalting Him above all earthly things that can claim our loyalty. It is the person who approaches God with reverence who finds God. One cannot find his way into the audience chamber of the Most High with a flippant or irreverent attitude. When Moses was speaking to the Lord, he approached Him with humility. He humbled himself because only the meek and the humble can enter into the secret chamber of the High and Holy God.

The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. The book of Isaiah tells us that it is the meek person who is going to find God. “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15.

When Jesus gave the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, the very first one that He gave was, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Actually, this is a reference to what is written by Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 66:2: “ ‘For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the Lord. ‘But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.’ ”

It is the person who is humble and recognizes that God is Someone to be reverenced, the one who will properly approach God who will be received by Him and gain an audience with Him. We cannot properly approach God unless we recognize His holiness and His holiness is in His name. In the Bible, a person’s name and a person’s character are virtually synonymous. The wise man, Solomon, said, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.” Proverbs 22:1.

Today when we say that somebody has a good name, we mean that the person has a good character or reputation. When Moses was called up into the mountain he wanted to know God’s name. “And he said, ‘Please, show me Your glory.’ Then He said, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’ ” Exodus 33:18, 19.

And then the Lord said to Moses, “ ‘You cannot see My face: for no man shall see Me and live.’ And the Lord said, ‘… I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see my back part.’ ” Exodus 33:20–23. “Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.’ ” Exodus 34:5, 6.

Here the Lord proclaimed His name, “… merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.” Verses 6, 7.

All of these adjectives are descriptions of God. They are part of His name. Therefore they should never be used in a flippant, careless way, making an epithet or trying to make the point to somebody. When Moses heard this, he … “made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.” Verse 8. When the prophet Isaiah predicted when Jesus would come, he said that His name would be called Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6). The Bible contains many names of God to describe His character.

What does the name of God mean to you? We use names to distinguish one person or object from another. The mention of a person’s name always brings to mind the character or the nature of that person and causes a certain character image to be registered in our thoughts. We usually come to dislike the names of those whose characters are distasteful to us.

On the other hand, a noble character always glorifies the estimation of that name of a person who bears it. Our attitude toward any person’s name depends on our knowledge of the character to which that name is attached. God’s name is a revelation of Himself, a manifestation of who and what He really is. It stands for His matchless character. The purpose of the Scriptures is to reveal God’s character to man. This purpose was completed by the incarnation of God in human flesh through Christ.

When Jesus was on earth His disciples sometimes became impatient with Him. The night before He was betrayed, the day before He was crucified Jesus told them that they should not be troubled; He was going to go away but He was going to prepare a place for them. Then He would come back and receive them to Himself. He told them, “Where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ” John 14:4–6. And then Jesus told them that they did not really know Who He was. He said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Verse 7.

When He said that, Philip said, “ ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’ ” Verses 8–11.

Notice, when Jesus came into the world, by His life and also by His death, by His teaching and by His miracles, He revealed the character of the Father to all the inhabitants on this fallen planet. He made the name of God complete. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” Philippians 2:9.

The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name,” is inseparably connected with the invocation, the address, because we cannot hallow God’s name unless we are His sons and He is our Father. Holiness in man can only be attained through a union of humanity with divinity. When we understand that and can truly call God our Father, then we begin to understand the unfathomable love of God in making us His sons through the death of His Son. And then we can cry, as the apostle Paul said, “Abba, Father.”

The chief delight of a true son is to honor and magnify His Father’s name that he also bears. The hallowing of the name of God must include the holiness of our own characters.

If we are born again Christians, we are members of His family and we bear His name. So our first desire should be to protect His name by conduct that is appropriate or fitting for a son or daughter of God.

God’s name, His family name, should never be polluted by sin and folly. Just as the delight of an earthly father centers in the character development of his children, so God delights in the character development of His children and He is glorified by His children when they reflect His image. When Jesus was facing the great trial at the end of His life in Gethsemane and Calvary, He said to His Father, “ ‘Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.’ ” John 12:28.

God’s name was glorified by the life of Christ, by His miracles, and by His teaching and it was going to be glorified again by His death. The love of the deity for a lost world in rebellion was demonstrated, as Paul says, “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” Romans 5:10.

It is not unusual today for the name of God to be mentioned maybe 15 or 20 times in a prayer. But this practice has a tendency to bring the name of God down to the level of common names and should therefore be discarded. The third commandment (Exodus 20:7) forbids the taking of false oaths and common swearing. So, it also forbids our using the name of God in a light and careless manner without regard to its profound significance.

If we mention God’s name thoughtlessly or irreverently in common conversation, or frequently repeat His name, we make Him altogether one like ourselves and God rebukes this kind of behavior. Notice what the Lord said about it in Psalm 50:21. “These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes.”

We dishonor Him if we use His name in a light or flippant manner or repeat it many, many times. If we are born again Christians, by virtue of the new birth of the Holy Spirit, we have a right to call God our Father. It is also our privilege to bear His name, His image. If you take upon yourself the name Christian, then you are bearing the name of Christ. This is an exalted privilege. In all respectable families whose members are proud of their family name, they make every possible effort to defend and protect it. The family name of God, His family name, should stand for the character of those who profess to serve Him. A good reputation is taken in vain if one brings a disgrace upon the name of his family by unbecoming conduct.

A professed Christian who is not like Christ, whose conduct is ungodly, takes God’s name in vain and is guilty of breaking the third commandment. The children of Israel were warned about this. “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’ And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:2, 12.

The apostle James wrote of rich people who despise and oppress the poor. “Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?” James 2:7. Thus we see that a name has significance only when applied to a person’s character. If your character is out of harmony with your name, your name is a falsehood or a lie.

To hallow God’s name, the person who prays the Lord’s Prayer must be a revelation of His character, a reflection of His image. The Bible describes a people who are alive when the Lord returns. They have God’s name, His character, in their minds. “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1.

Only those who reach this standard of character, with their Father’s name, His character, in them, will receive the seal of God. The apostle Paul describes the condition this way. He says, “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from all iniquity.’ ” II Timothy 2:19.

If you have taken the name of Christ and call yourself a Christian, the Bible says you are to depart from all iniquity. Otherwise, your name is deceptive. You are claiming a name that does not really belong to you. What did it mean in ancient times, recorded in II Chronicles 6, when the Lord declared that His name was in the sanctuary?

This has reference to the fact that the Ark of the Covenant containing God’s law was located in the sanctuary. God’s law is a transcript of His character. Therefore, it is a manifestation of His name, a revelation of His nature. A word study in the Bible will find that every characteristic of God that is revealed is also a characteristic of His law.

The Bible says that God is true. It also says that His law is true. God is holy and His law is also holy. God is righteous and His law is righteous. In fact, concerning the law it says it converts the soul. So, the law of God is a description, a transcription of His character.

In the New Covenant, the law of God is written upon the fleshly tables of the heart so that we may do by nature the things contained in the law. (See II Corinthians 3:3; Romans 2:14.)

Those who have this experience will have the Father’s name written in their foreheads. It is evident then that only born-again Christians can call God their Father and truly offer this petition. Only born-again Christians can really say, “Hallowed be Thy name.” God’s name is hallowed when those who are called by His name reveal His character in the world. A person who has an unconsecrated heart has no right to pray this prayer, for it belongs to His sons and daughters. We must join the family of God through a spiritual birth before it becomes our privilege to pray this prayer.

Friend, has your life been changed? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Have you been born again? When you commit your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, when you acknowledge Him as your Lord and Saviour and choose to follow Him and obey Him in all things, then the promise is that you will receive the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will give you a new heart, a new mind and a new character. (See Romans 8.)

When you pray and say, “Hallowed be Thy name,” you ask that it may be hallowed in this world, hallowed in you, through you. God has acknowledged you before men and angels as His child if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and been born again. We need to pray that we might do no dishonor to the worthy name by which we are called.

God sends His children into the world as His representatives. In every act of life, we are to make manifest the name of God. This petition, this prayer, calls upon Christians to possess His character.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Thy Kingdom Come

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In the 19th century it was widely believed and taught that this world was getting better and better and that we would eventually set up a Utopia here on this planet. But sadly, the facts regarding the last hundred or so years have proven very clearly that the world is getting worse and worse, morally. The question on the minds of many people today is, “What will be the end of this?”

The Bible record is very clear on how this world will end. In Revelation 11:15–18, it says, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’ And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.’ ”

There is coming a time when God is going to take to Him His great power and reign. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and at that time, He will destroy those who are destroying the earth. This final triumph is encompassed in one simple phrase from the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come.”

The kingdom within is the work of the gospel of transforming grace in each individual heart. In the request that God’s kingdom should come, we first ask that heaven with its dominion of grace, peace, joy, and righteousness might rule our hearts right now.

It is also a petition that we may know now an experience in translation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son. The apostle Paul wrote about it to the church at Colossae. “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed [translated] us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Colossians 1:12, 13.

We can never be translated physically into the kingdom of glory at the second advent of Christ unless we have been translated spiritually into the kingdom of grace before He returns. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come,” we are asking that we might receive that kingdom into our hearts now while we are in this evil world.

The pen of inspiration describes it this way: “By the life we live through the grace of Christ the character is formed. The original loveliness begins to be restored to the soul. The attributes of the character of Christ are imparted, and the image of the Divine begins to shine forth. The faces of men and women who walk and work with God express the peace of heaven. They are surrounded with the atmosphere of heaven. For these souls the kingdom of heaven has begun.” The Desire of Ages, 312. “As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. … All that human nature can bear, we may receive here.” Ibid., 331, 332.

When we say, “Your kingdom come,” we are asking that the principles of the kingdom of heaven, the grace and the righteousness of the kingdom of God’s dear Son come into our heart now. When this happens, we will then become the recipients of every other blessing that God has in store for His children. We are promised that we will receive whatever we need in this world. We will receive pardon of our transgressions. We will have guidance of our footsteps and deliverance from evil. We have a word in the English language for that experience—Christendom. Christendom is simply a contraction for Christ’s kingdom. There can be no kingdom without a king, a throne, a territory, a dominion, and subjects over whom to rule. The kingdom within involves enthroning King Jesus in our hearts, to have complete dominion over the kingdom of the individual life.

The apostle Paul in one of the shortest descriptions of the work and effect of the gospel in all the New Testament described it this way: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.

There is no other way for Christ’s kingdom to come and for the final restoration of the kingdom to be given to the children of this world than for His grace to first enter our hearts and have complete dominion over our souls. In Revelation 3:20 we are given a sad picture of the Christian church in our time. Notice what Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

The church here described is the modern Christian church, the last of the seven churches. Christendom today is keeping the King of heaven outside the door. He will not force His way in. The kingdom of God cannot come into our hearts unless the King is invited in. Is it any wonder that the church today that keeps the King outside knocking on the door asking for admission has its condition described in the following language? “ ‘I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew [vomit] you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing”—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.’ ” Revelation 3:15–18.

Jesus is described to the last church, the church of Laodicea, as standing outside the door, outside the door of your heart, knocking, asking for permission. He is polite and will not force an entrance, but He’s knocking at the door. He says, “Are you willing to open the door?” Why will people not open the door to Jesus? It is the darling sins that people are not willing to give up, though they know Jesus cannot come into their hearts while they do those things that keep the door shut. While they continue in their sins Jesus stands outside knocking.

If you want to be saved you must be willing to give up your sins and let Jesus come into your life. In Revelation 3:21, Christ says, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

So, what does the coming of the kingdom involve? Some people think it simply involves the prosperity of the church. Millions of people have interpreted the text that way. To others it simply means the transformation of character; when a person is born again and has a new heart and his character is transformed.

To others the coming of the kingdom means the overcoming of evil. And to still others, the coming of the kingdom refers to the second advent of Christ to reign as the king of glory.

Actually, the coming of the kingdom of heaven includes all of these. It includes the results of the first as well as the second advent of Christ. The spirit and scope of the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer is very broad. We do not become citizens of the kingdom of God by natural birth, as in earthly kingdoms, but rather by spiritual birth and a voluntary surrender to the sovereignty of the King of heaven. Have you been born again? Have you actually become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven? Has the kingdom of heaven come into your heart or is the Lord’s Prayer just a meaningless phrase or a religious ritual that you recite?

When the kingdom of heaven comes into your heart and life, both you and other people will know something about it. Jesus refers to this experience as a new birth, being born again. When a baby is born it is the beginning of a new life with new relationships. The same is true with the spiritual life. It is the beginning of a new life with new relationships. Birth is never of our own origin. Never is it brought about by our own power. We cannot give birth to ourselves, either physically or spiritually. That is why Jesus said, “You must be born of the Spirit.” Each of the apostles talks about this in different language over and over again. Peter talks about it. John talks about it. James talks about it. When the subjects of God’s kingdom are born again of the Holy Spirit that person will demonstrate his citizenship by his conduct. The laws of the kingdom of heaven, expressing the will of the King of heaven, will govern his or her life.

Citizenship in the kingdom of grace is obtained on the basis of grace rather than works. But the citizen demonstrates his citizenship by what he does. If he has really been born of the spirit, he will eat, and drink, and talk, and act according to the ruling principles of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, the inward character and the outward life will be in harmony with heaven, for they cannot be separated.

Jesus, the King of heaven came to this world to establish His kingdom at a time when the pagan Roman Empire ruled the world. Their laws governed civilization. To be a Roman citizen was considered the greatest of earthly privileges. And into this atmosphere of pomp, and power, and earthly glory, Jesus came unheralded by blasts of trumpet or by marching armies. His kingdom, in contrast with all that had preceded it, was set up without bloodshed or violence. His weapons were faith and righteousness. His conquests of human hearts were accomplished by the power of love. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish, as He said over and over, was different from all earthly kingdoms.

The general Napoleon is reported to have said about the kingdom of Christ, “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I founded great empires. But upon what did the creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded His Empire upon love and millions would die for Him today.”

If you are a member of Christ’s kingdom, it is His plan and purpose to raise you to sonship and rulership. His promise is, if you overcome, you will sit down with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. (See Revelation 3:21.)

The citizens of the kingdom of God are made up of all races, all classes, and all nationalities. They are bound together in love and unity by ties that are closer and stronger than blood kinship. There have been many efforts by various earthly kingdoms to amalgamate various races and nations into a single unit, but these efforts have all failed. In God’s kingdom “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:11.

God’s kingdom is perfect and eternal because it is founded on perfect and eternal principles. The Bible says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” Hebrews 1:8.

It must be evident to all genuine Christians that our greatest need is the answer to this petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come.” Has that kingdom come into your heart? What we daily find our need of is a ruler, and a ruler loving enough to give us all confidence in Him. Firm enough to support us when we are weary, and compel us to the right path when we waver. Powerful enough to do what man cannot do, to change our hearts and deliver us from evil. Such a ruler God offers to us and such a ruler we choose when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.”

The answer to that prayer “Thy kingdom come” will have a final and complete answer when Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom. The kingdom of grace in which we are living today will be replaced by the kingdom of glory. You will never be a citizen of the kingdom of glory in the future world unless you are a citizen of the kingdom of grace in the present world. There is no such thing as a person living like the devil in this present age and then inheriting eternal life in the future age.

If your life has been one of sin and you would like to have eternal life, come to Jesus and repent. Say, “Lord, I want a change of heart. I want to receive the Holy Spirit. I want to quit living like the devil and come into harmony with Your kingdom and the laws of Your kingdom. I want to be born again.” Jesus never turns away anyone who comes to Him with repentance. You can be a citizen of the kingdom of glory. The plan of redemption will be consummated.

The earth someday will be burned up, cleansed of sin and sinners. In II Peter 3:10–13, the apostle said, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

This earth is going to be recreated. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’ ” Revelation 21:1–5.

That is what you look forward to when you say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come.” It is indeed coming. Will you be ready?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – His Will on Earth

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Christians believe that someday God is going to set up a kingdom, an everlasting kingdom of righteousness in this world and that war and violence and evil of all kinds will be abolished forever. But the question is, “What would be the requirement for a person to become a citizen of such a kingdom?”

The third petition of the Lord’s Prayer is “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This is the climax of the first division of the Lord’s Prayer, that part which looks toward God and heaven and has to do with things divine. Each petition follows in its proper order. First we recognize the God of heaven as our Father. We ask then that His name, that is, His character, might be hallowed in us, which is accomplished when His kingdom is established in our hearts. That is why the next petition is, “Your kingdom come.” When His kingdom is established in our hearts and He reigns as King in our lives, then we will be doing His will. The evidence of God’s rulership over the dominion of our souls is our complete submission to His will. This petition is inseparably connected with the one that immediately precedes it. Praying for the coming of the kingdom of heaven implies a willingness to submit to the will of the King. Before we can enter the kingdom of heaven in its final and glorious phase, the principles of the kingdom must enter our hearts and have dominion over our souls.

When this desire is our experience, every provision is made for the fulfillment of the divine will. Our obedience to the will of the King, to the laws that govern His kingdom, is the evidence that you and I are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The coming of the kingdom of grace into our hearts transfers our citizenship to the kingdom of heaven. But right now, we are still living in a revolted world where God’s will is almost universally disregarded. Earnest prayer is needed to be able to completely submit to the sovereignty of the King of heaven. Perhaps there is no petition that we need to make more often than this because we find this petition difficult to be fulfilled in our lives.

In this world we have a hard time learning the lesson of complete surrender to the will of God—a very severe discipline for many people. The purpose of the gospel is to give us victory over the spirit of rebellion that reigns in this world and governs the human race. Rebels cannot enter the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God cannot enter them. The kingdom and dominion were lost by Adam and Eve by disobedience, and only the obedient will be allowed to enter paradise restored.

When people presume upon God’s mercy while knowingly transgressing His law, they are actually trifling with their eternal destiny. It doesn’t matter what my profession of good works might be; if I am not doing the will of my Father in heaven, if I am not obedient to Him, I will have no right to be a citizen of His kingdom. Jesus made this exceedingly plain in the very same Sermon on the Mount where the Lord’s Prayer is recorded in Matthew 5. At the end of the sermon, Jesus made the following, astounding statement that many people still today have not paid attention to.

He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me at that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” Matthew 7:21–23.

In the Day of Judgment these people have an argument with the Lord. It is recorded in both the Old and New Testaments how dangerous it is to have an argument with the Lord. How can we think that we know more about anything than the Lord knows? How can we think that we know what is right and that He is wrong? How can we think that He is deceived and we know better? And yet, so often, that is the way human beings act now and will act on Judgment Day. Those referred to here are not atheists or infidels. They are not agnostics or people who do not claim to be Christians. Rather they are people who do claim to be Christians because they call Jesus Lord.

They believe they should be saved. They have prophesied in His name. They had the Holy Spirit and even cast out demons in His name. They knew they had the Holy Spirit because of the miracles and wonders they had performed. What could possibly have gone wrong?

But Jesus says, “I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” They are not loyal subjects of His kingdom because they do not keep the laws of His kingdom. They break the commandments; they are lawless and are practicing lawlessness. The Bible says that in the last days the idea that you can break God’s law and practice lawlessness and still be saved is going to be the great deception that will take the whole world captive. You can read that prophecy in II Thessalonians 2:1–12.

In the very heart of the prayer is the petition or request, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is no such thing as really being a true Christian without seeking with all your heart to do the will of God. After Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 7:21–23, He followed with a story about the two builders, one who built his house upon the sand while the other built his house upon the rock (verses 24–27). He said that if a person hears these sayings of Mine and doesn’t do them, he will be like the man who built his house on the sand, and when the storm and the flood came, it was all swept away. But the one who hears these sayings of Mine and does them, he’ll be like a man who built his house on the rock and when the flood came, the wind came, and the rain came, the house did not fall because it was established on a rock.

We must consider how the house of our character is being built day by day. Is it being built in harmony with the instruction that Jesus has given in the gospels or are we building on sand? Jesus said if you hear truth and do nothing about it, your character is being built on sand and it will not stand the storm that is coming that will examine and test every man’s work to see what it is like.

What Jesus was in this rebellious world, His disciples are also to be. Jesus lived in this world for more than thirty years in human flesh, and the Bible says in Hebrews 4 that He was tempted in all points just like we are and yet was without sin. His submission to the will of His heavenly Father was so complete that His heavenly citizenship was never cancelled or even questioned or interfered with in the slightest degree. He fulfilled the divine will while He was on earth just as He had when He was in heaven before He came to earth.

The change in environment did not alter His relation to the law or the government of God. The character and the conduct of Christ while He was on earth remained unchanged during His entire earthly pilgrimage. In John 6:38 Jesus gives the reason for His coming to this earth. He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

Jesus said in John 5:30: “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” In other words, the purpose of His life and what governed His every action was not to please Himself but to do the will of the Father.

He had no other reason for being in this world, and in fulfilling this purpose Jesus was preeminently successful. Notice what He says to His Father just before He was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” John 17:4.

All the efforts of Satan to turn Him from His purpose had been thwarted. He finally said just before He died upon the cross, “It is finished.” He had perfectly performed the will of the Father. Every day of His life He fulfilled the will of His Father. Every day of His life and in His prayers at night, He sought and received directions for the following day.

Jesus is our example. He came to this world from heaven to show us the way from death to life, to show us the way out of darkness into light, to deliver us from the dominion of evil to the sovereignty of righteousness. And because of the completeness of the provision that He made for us, no earthly circumstance can excuse you or me from the same kind of submission to the will of our heavenly Father. For such obedience Jesus asks us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus never asks us to do something that is impossible. It might be impossible on our own, but it is never impossible with His help. All of His commands, all of His promises will be fulfilled in us if we accept them by faith and cooperate with the heavenly agencies. Complete provision has been made so that God’s will can be done on earth just as it is in heaven. In fact, the time is coming when the Lord’s Prayer is going to be answered. God’s will is to be perfectly done here on this earth.

The time is coming when there will be no more war, or violence, or evil of any kind in this world.

How can the kingdom of God be established in this world so that war could be a thing of the past? The petition is, “Your will … as it is in heaven.” How is God’s will performed in heaven? Notice what the Bible says in Psalm 103:19: “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.”

Notice that the angels, the beings in heaven, perform God’s word. They execute His will perfectly. The sovereignty of God is the sovereignty of law and order. His will is defined by His law. Actually when you think about it, the will of any king or government is made known to the citizens of that nation by the laws that have been enacted. There can be no kingdom without law.

The kingdom of grace, therefore, spoken of in the Bible, must also be ruled by His law. Some people are confused upon this point. They think that somehow grace abolishes the law or does away with the law. But the gospel does not abolish or alter any principle of the law. In fact, not in the least particular is the authority of the law broken down by the gospel. Jesus was very emphatic about this. He says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.” Matthew 5:17. Jesus knew that people would get confused by the devil’s lies that grace abolishes law. Jesus said, “Don’t even think that.” Jesus came to establish the kingdom of grace by His death on the cross of Calvary to pay the price of our sins. But He says, “I didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets.” Notice how He talks about it in Luke 16:17: “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” A tittle is not a whole letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is just a part of a letter.

Remember Who is saying this. It is Jesus, the One Who not only created all things, as you can read in Colossians 1 verse 16, but He upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). The sun, the moon, our world, our solar system, the innumerable heavenly bodies that spin in countless cycles and circles through space are all held in place by the word of His power. This person, the One Who does that, says that it would be easier for the heaven and earth to pass away than for part of a letter of the law to fail.

The more you think about it, the more intense that statement appears to be. He says that He would destroy the universe before He would allow even a part of a letter of His law to be done away (Luke 16:17). Read it a number of times and you will begin to be awestruck by what Jesus is saying and the extreme value that He places on His law. The modern teaching that grace supplants the law and that faith is a substitute for practice is a fallacy.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31. Notice, faith does not do away with the law; grace does not do away with the law; it establishes the law. This is a most emphatic denial of the idea that the exercise of faith would make void the demands and authority of God’s law. Not only that, but the apostle Paul says that through faith the law is established. In other words, it is through faith that the binding claims of the law are made certain or established. It is the purpose of the gospel to set up the kingdom of heaven in us and with it, the law of the kingdom expressing the will of the King.

The Bible defines sin as the transgression or violation of God’s law, or lawlessness (I John 3:4). The mission of the gospel is to take away sin so that we may come under grace, the unmerited favor of God. Paul drives home this question in Romans 6:1 with a very strong statement. He says, “Shall we continue in sin (continue transgressing the law) that grace might abound?”

Then he answers the question, “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” In the light of such a clear statement in Romans 6:1, 2, how can anyone say that the gift of grace takes away the necessity of the law? The very work of the kingdom of grace is to establish the law of the kingdom of heaven in our heart. In II Corinthians 3:3, the apostle Paul explains how that under the old covenant, the law was written in tables of stone, but under the new covenant, “It is written not with ink in tables of stone; it is written by the Holy Spirit in the fleshly tables of the heart.” Literal translation.

In Hebrews 8:10, quoting from the prophet Jeremiah, Paul says that “under the new covenant the law is written in our heart by the Holy Spirit.” Literal translation. Let it never be forgotten, that we cannot be saved by law without grace any more than we can be saved by grace without law.

In this petition we are asking that our obedience shall measure up to the obedience of the unfallen beings in the heavenly universe. Your will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

This prayer is not just a prayer for the future; it is a prayer to be fulfilled in your life, now, right here in this evil, sinful world that is in rebellion against the God of heaven. It is in this world, in this environment of sin and evil that we ask for God’s name to be hallowed. It is here that we ask for His kingdom to be established. And it is right here in this world that we petition in the Lord’s Prayer and ask for His will to be done.

This prayer is going to be answered. The question is, “Is it going to be answered in your life?” Will His will be done in your life, “on earth as it is in heaven”?

Bible texts are from NKJV unless otherwise noted.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Crosses Into Crowns

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What is the single most decisive factor in determining your eternal destiny? Some people believe that it is belonging to a church or religious organization where you have a membership. Others believe that it is the theology or philosophy that you adhere to or espouse. The question could be asked, Could you go to the right church and still end up being lost?

As human beings we often excuse ourselves from perfect obedience to God’s will because we live in such an evil age and are surrounded by sin. But notice what the apostle Paul wrote to the early Christians in Philippi, the city in which he himself had been met with abuse. He writes, “That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:15.

He recognized that theirs was a Godless generation but still admonished the believers to be blameless and without fault and to shine. The Lord’s Prayer asks that, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

One must consider how God’s will is performed in heaven. His will is obeyed with perfection, with constancy, in fullness, with joy and thankfulness. All the unfallen worlds are loyal and obedient. This planet is the only world in the whole universe that is in rebellion against God’s law.

The purpose of the gospel is to conquer the one fallen world. To ensure its success God sent His Son who offered His life to pay the price of our sin and bring the world back into harmony with heaven. When the gospel has completed its mission and God’s eternal purpose has been fully carried out, Jesus prayer for “God’s will on earth” will be answered. At that time the entire world will be in complete submission to His will. There will be no more war or violence, no more sickness and no more pain or death because sin will be no more. The earth will no longer be in isolation, quarantined because of the disease of sin but in harmony with the heavenly universe that is governed by God’s moral law.

When we look up at the heavens at night and see the heavenly bodies they appear to be still because of the great distance from earth, but when astronomers study them taking accurate measurements they see that they are moving at very great speeds. This planet circles the sun making one revolution every year. After each revolution the earth loses 1/10,000th of a second of time. The precision with which the heavenly bodies follow their prescribed course through space is mind blowing.

The strict obedience of the heavenly bodies to the laws that govern them is no greater than that obedience of the celestial beings that inhabit those other worlds. This same perfect standard of obedience is what we ask for ourselves when we pray that His will be done on earth.

Angels of heaven perfectly obey the Father’s will considering it their greatest pleasure. The service they perform is not performed as drudgery or as legality but in love for their Creator.

Love for God makes their allegiance and obedience a joy. Jesus desired that same relationship for His disciples. He taught them to pray that their obedience might be of the same high order. Unless obedience is prompted by love it is not recognized or accepted by God. Paul said that it is the love of Christ that constrains us to do His will and keeps us from doing evil.

On the night Jesus was betrayed He said to His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. If you do not love Him it will be impossible to keep them. Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. … If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” Verses 21, 23, 24. To keep God’s commandments is a response of loving Him. There are many who profess to love Him, but without the response of obedience their love is not real. The motive that underlies each action determines the value of obedience.

God holds in high esteem the service of love and when this is lacking, no matter how much form of godliness we may have or how many rituals or ceremonies we perform, they are all worthless. John said, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” I John 5:2, 3.

Loyalty to God should be a delight. It is never a burden or a sacrifice to help or to serve a person that we love. That is why the apostle Paul said, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10. So many misunderstand that verse thinking that if they love there is no need to keep the law but love fulfills the law when those who love God obey Him.

We keep the first four commandments as an expression of our love to God. We do not serve other Gods, worship idols, or swear, or break His Holy day. The last six demonstrate how I conduct myself with my fellow man if I love him. If I love my parents I will not dishonor them and if I love my neighbor I will not lie to him, steal from him, run off with his wife or kill him. The love that I have for God and my neighbor is seen in my response to them as reflected in the law. That is why love is the “fulfilling of the law.”

God has promised to write His law in our hearts. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Hebrews 8:10. This is the new covenant.

Some people think that because they are not Jews they are not part of Israel but if you are not a part of spiritual Israel you will never be in the kingdom of heaven. Paul says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26–29.

According to the apostle Paul, all Christians are of Abrahams’s seed and are part of spiritual Israel. Paul told the Corinthian church that the law was not to be written just on tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart. That is what made Jesus different than other people. The principles of God’s law of love within His heart motivated all of His actions.

In Psalm 40:7, 8 is a divine prophecy concerning the Messiah. It says, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of Me. I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart.’ ”

Jesus did not do God’s will because He had to. He said, “I delight to do Your will.” Why? “Because Your law is written in My heart.” That is the essence of righteousness by faith. The prophet Isaiah said, “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law.” Isaiah 51:7.

These people know righteousness because the law is written in their heart. This is the new covenant promise that brings salvation from sin and they find that obeying Him is no longer drudgery but a joy. God’s commandments are no longer seen as a list of don’ts written on cold stone but a set of guidelines that when followed are a joy, protection from a life of misery and sin and become something in which to delight.

Conversion is all about receiving a new spirit; the things you once loved you now hate and the things you once hated you now love.

The experience enjoyed in heaven where God’s will is done with rejoicing and pleasure is the experience that is available through the new covenant. “Thy will be done” is like the gospel itself. It has a negative meaning to those who refuse to accept it and is positive to those who have a desire for something better than this present world has to offer.

Many people recognize that it would be a most wonderful thing if God’s will was done right now. So why is it so difficult? By nature, man is self-willed and stubborn. The Bible describes us as being obstinate, stiff-necked, with a brow like brass and a neck like an iron sinew (Isaiah 48:4). It seems as if it is almost impossible to change us from our mindset and turn us from our course. Whether it is right or wrong we obstinately and stubbornly carry out our own will and want to do as we please.

After receiving some manufactured goods that needed to be assembled, a man once told me that directions had come with the package but he said, “I did it my way.”

That is the experience of the majority of people. Regardless of the consequences we want to stubbornly carry out our own will and do as we please. The will of man is invariably opposed to God and his own salvation causing a Spiritual warfare to be fought. The greatest battle encountered is the warfare against self and the surrender of the will. It is the human will that is the most decisive factor that will either open or shut to us the gate to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of glory. It may be called the hinge on which the gate of destiny depends.

God created man as a free moral agent with the power of choice. It is the greatest gift given to man and the choices he makes will determine his eternal destiny. Multitudes, while hoping and desiring to be saved, never come to the place of surrendering their will to God and will be lost because of it. The Lord will never force the will of any man for love cannot be forced; it must be given freely.

Some Christians hope that God will somehow work out His will for them without any cooperation on their part but that is a futile hope. The doctrine of predestination or foreordination is often an excuse for human indifference and indolence. Our will must come into harmony with God’s will and our lives must come into conformity with His character and in this work we have an important part to act. In Revelation 22:17, it says, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires [or whoever wills, or whoever wants to], let him take the water of life freely.”

That is an essential part of the gospel invitation, “… whosoever will.” The benefits of the gospel, the issue of the conflict with sin, whether you will be saved or lost depends completely on the action of your will. God will never violate your choice. By refusing to surrender to God, you will be outside salvation, outside the city of God and outside the domain of His will. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” John 7:17.

Have you surrendered your will to God? Can you say with sincerity, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 literal translation. The devil would trick you into believing that God is a demanding tyrant but that is a lie. His will is that none would perish but that all would come to His saving grace.

The way to the kingdom of heaven is to surrender your will to His will and He will turn your crosses into crowns and the curses in your life into blessings. He wants to lead you out of darkness and bring you into light so that He can take you from death to an everlasting life of joy and happiness. The choice is yours!

Bible texts are from NKJV unless otherwise noted.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Whose Way, Yours or Mine?

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Whether a person is two or seventy-two, it is not uncommon to hear him or her say, when talking about receiving instructions, “I want to do it my way.” But there is a time when that is dangerous. In fact, it could be fatal.

The third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, as recorded in Matthew 6:10 KJV is, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” This petition is the climax of the first division of the Lord’s Prayer, the part that looks away from the earth, toward God and heaven, and has to do with things divine.

Each petition follows in a proper order. First of all there is a salutation. The God of heaven is recognized as “our Father” and then we ask that His name be hallowed in our lives. His name represents His character. When we ask that His character be hallowed in our own lives, it can only be accomplished when He is made the king of our lives.

The next petition is “Your kingdom come.” The evidence of God’s rulership over the dominion of our souls is complete submission to His will. The third petition is “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This petition is not separable from the one that immediately precedes it. To pray for the coming of the kingdom of God implies a willingness to submit to the will of the King. Before we can enter the kingdom of heaven in its final and glorious phase, the principles of the kingdom of heaven must have dominion over our souls.

The Gospel’s Provision

By the gospel every provision has been made available to fulfill the divine will. The evidence of citizenship in any kingdom is obedience to the will of the king and the laws that govern that kingdom. The coming of the kingdom of grace into our hearts transfers our citizenship to heaven. Since we are still living in a world that is in rebellion against the government of heaven, we are living in a world where God’s will is almost universally disregarded. Therefore, it is necessary to pray most earnestly for a complete submission to the sovereignty of the King of heaven as the evidence of our heavenly citizenship. Perhaps there is no petition that needs to be repeated more often than, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

In heaven, the will of God is absolutely supreme and is never violated. Those desiring citizenship of that kingdom must first learn the lesson of complete surrender to that will. This is severe discipline for human beings who live in a rebellious world. Therefore, this is one of the hardest lessons to learn.

The purpose of the gospel is to give victory over the spirit of rebellion that rules the human race today. Rebels cannot enter the kingdom of heaven nor can the kingdom of God enter them. The kingdom and the dominion of Paradise were lost through disobedience (see Genesis 3). It is only the obedient that will be permitted to enter Paradise restored. The person who insists that they will make their own decisions and live the way they choose will never enter the kingdom of heaven where the will of God is supreme.

Several thousand years ago Lucifer, the leading angel of heaven, violated God’s will. He chose to rebel against God’s government. He wanted to become like God and believed he would be a superior ruler. The record of his rebellion and how it started is recorded in Isaiah chapter 14, in Ezekiel 28, and in Revelation 12. “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:7–9.

The person who presumes on God’s mercy while knowingly transgressing His law is trifling with his or her eternal destiny. It matters not what profession he may have or how many good works he might do. He will never have a passport to heaven while living in disobedience to God’s will.

Jesus made this very plain when He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” Matthew 7:21–23. His statement was then driven home in verses 24–27 by a parable of the two builders. He said that the one who heard His words and did not do them would be like a person who built his house on the sand. When the storm came with the flood, his house was demolished.

Many times Jesus emphasized that those who are not obedient to the will of His Father cannot be His disciples. What Jesus was in this rebellious world is what His disciples are to be. Jesus spent over 30 years in this world as a man. “[He] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15 KJV. He fulfilled the divine will on earth, just as He had in heaven before He came to earth. The change He experienced in environment did not alter His relationship at all to the law or to the government of God.

The character and conduct of Christ remained unchanged during His earthly pilgrimage. Speaking once about the purpose of His advent, Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me.” John 6:38.

His chief ambition, the first object He sought to accomplish, was to do His Father’s will. Again, He said, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” John 5:30.

To do His Father’s will was Jesus’ reason for living, the reason He was born. This was His life. Coming to the end of His mission, just a few minutes before He entered the Garden of Gethsemane and went to His final trial and crucifixion, He prayed to His Father, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” John 17:4.

The Father gave His Son a mission to perform in this world and Jesus declared that He had performed that mission. In fact, His very last words before He died on the cross were, “It is finished” (John 9:30). My mission is finished; I have fulfilled Your will in the earth.

Jesus Our Example

Jesus came to this world to show us the way from death to life, from darkness to light and to show us the way out of the dominion of evil into the sovereignty of righteousness. Because of the completeness of the provision that Jesus Christ has made for every one, there is no earthly circumstance that can excuse us from the same kind of submission to the will of the heavenly Father as Jesus Himself performed. For such obedience Jesus taught us to pray.

Remember, Jesus never asks us to do that which is impossible. All of His commands we will find to be promises and enablings. He has made full provision and will enable us to do what we are commanded if we accept the command with faith and choose to follow.

The sovereignty of God, as does any earthly sovereignty, involves law and order. Today, many people cringe from that idea and it seems that they would rather have anarchy or some kind of disorder, failing to realize that there could never be happiness, joy, or peace in this world without it. Heaven is a place to be desired because it is a place of peace.

God’s Will Defined

The will of any king or government is established by law and is made known to the citizens of that country by the laws that have been enacted to govern the kingdom. Since there can be no kingdom without law, the kingdom of grace must also have a rule of law. God’s will is defined by His law—the Decalogue. The gospel does not in any way alter or abolish the Decalogue or lessen its authority.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle [the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, or even a part of a letter of the alphabet] will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17–19.

Jesus made a more emphatic statement about the law in the gospel of Luke. He said, “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. Considering Who said this, the Creator Who made all things in heaven and earth and upholds all things by the word of His power (see John 1:1–4; Hebrews 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16), it would be difficult to use stronger language than He used.

Consider the starry heavens at night with the millions of heavenly bodies traveling through space at such tremendous speed and what keeps them on their course. Jesus Christ is the One that holds all things together by the word of His power. It was He, Who upholds all things Who made the statement that He would destroy the whole of creation and start again before He would change even part of a letter of His law. (See Luke 16:17.)

The modern teaching is that grace in some way supplants the law and we have no more need to be concerned about it. The idea that faith is a substitute for practice is a fallacy. Notice what the apostle Paul said about it: “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Romans 3:31.

This is a most emphatic denial of the idea that the exercise of faith makes void the demands and authority of the law of God. Furthermore, Paul affirms that it is through faith that the binding claims of the law are established. It is the purpose of the gospel to set up the kingdom of heaven in our hearts and with it the law of the kingdom expressing the will of the king.

Sin, according to the Bible, is the transgression or breaking of God’s law (1 John 3:4). The mission of the gospel is to take away sin so that we might be under His grace, the unmerited favor of God. But Paul again drives this question home with another question: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Romans 6:1, 2.

Notice what Paul is saying here. He says, Shall we continue breaking God’s law so that grace may abound and we can just keep asking for forgiveness—sin more and more and get more and more forgiveness? Certainly not! He goes on to explain in the rest of Romans 6 how we should live. He concludes, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” Verse 12. In light of such clear Bible statements as these, how can anyone say that the gift of grace takes away the necessity of God’s law? Actually, the very work of grace in the heart is to establish therein the law of the kingdom of heaven and to reflect obedience to that law in the life so that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.

When we are born again, we are brought into a new covenant relationship with the heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit writes the precepts of the law, not on stone, as in the old covenant, but on the fleshly tables of the heart (see II Corinthians 3).

When the law is written in the heart we will do by nature the things in the law. One man once wrote, “The moral law, written on perishable tables of stone and confirmed by the thunders of Sinai is now written on the imperishable tables of the heart and confirmed by the thunders of Calvary. … Therefore, no subject of the government of Christ dare continue in sin that grace may abound. Grace thunders against sin as loudly, or even more loudly, than does law. … Let it never be forgotten that, while we can not be saved by law without grace, no more can we be saved by grace without law. While we cannot be saved by morality without Christianity, no more can we be saved by Christianity without morality.”

How is it then that grace thunders against sin even more loudly than it thunders from Sinai? This is because Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). The reason that Jesus had to go to Calvary was because neither the law nor the penalty for breaking the law could be changed. Because of sin, the penalty had to be paid. You and I could pay it, but the penalty, if we pay it, is death (Romans 6:23). If we pay our own penalty we will die and never wake up.

But Jesus went to Calvary to pay the penalty for sin so that all who believe on Him could be forgiven of their sins and live, so that the sinner could receive grace and be forgiven. Even though we have sinned, Jesus died so that our hearts could be changed and be brought into harmony with God’s will again. The people that go to the kingdom of heaven will be people who keep God’s law, who do His will, just as it is done in heaven. They will have learned that to “do it my way” leads to death. They accept the gift of salvation paid for them on Calvary’s cross and willingly submit to the will of the Father, praying that His will be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Surrender Your Will

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Inside the heart or mind of man there occurs tremendous conflicts. The greatest of these is over the issue of control. The eternal destiny of each one of us will be determined by the outcome of this battle.

The majority of Christians do not realize what, in fact, they ask for when they pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, God’s will is supreme. There was only one time that His will was challenged and subsequently violated. For the sake of peace and harmony, Lucifer, who became Satan, was cast out. An account of this war in heaven is recorded in Revelation 12:7–9, which tells us that the devil and his angels fought against Christ and his angels. The controversy that began when our first parents sinned in the Garden of Eden is still raging today between Satan and his followers and Christ and His followers. When we pray that God’s will be done on earth, we are asking that our obedience to the divine will should measure up to the obedience of heavenly beings and those who live in the unfallen universe.

At times we are inclined to excuse ourselves from perfect obedience because we live in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation (Philippians 2:15). Heaven recognizes the challenges we face, but our extremities are God’s opportunities, and He never asks of us to do anything according to His will without providing the power needed to accomplish it. The beings in heaven perform God’s will cheerfully, with constancy and perfection.

This world would be a different place if His will were done here. When the gospel has completed its mission and God’s eternal purpose has been fully carried out, the entire world will be in complete submission to His will. Then the earth will again be a part of heaven and God’s moral law will be perfectly obeyed in this world as it is in the heavenly universe.

Some astronomers have said that the earth, in making its yearly journey around the sun, takes a little over 365 days. In each revolution, one ten thousandths of a second of time is lost. The heavenly bodies fulfill the will of God with precision. The strictness of their obedience, however, is no greater than that of the celestial beings.

The Bible describes the measure of obedience by the unfallen beings in heaven:

“The Lord has established His throne in heaven,

And His kingdom rules over all.

Bless the Lord, you His angels,

Who excel in strength, who do His word,

Heeding the voice of His word.”

(Psalm 103:19, 20).

To do God’s will is the greatest pleasure of the angelic host, as well as the highest service that can engage their powers. They do not render this service with a spirit of legality but because of the loving relationship they have with their Creator. Their allegiance to Him is a joy and this is the relationship for which Jesus told His disciples to pray.

Indeed, when you study obedience in the Bible, you will find that the only obedience that God accepts or even recognizes is that which is impelled or prompted by the motive of love. On the night of His betrayal, Jesus affirmed that when He said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15.

It is the love of Christ that constrains us to obey Him, to follow Him and to do His will. Love keeps us from doing evil. Obedience, therefore, is not just a test of discipleship or citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. It is also the evidence of whether we really love God. Jesus said, “ ‘He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and Manifest Myself to him.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s Who sent Me.’ ” John 14:21–24.

It is not the greatness of the work that you do for God that counts but the motive behind the act that determines its value. It is the service of love that God highly esteems. When love is lacking, all you have is a form of godliness. All of the rites and ceremonies of religion may be performed, but it is an offense to Him when performed without the service of love.

The disciple spoken of in the gospels as the disciple that Jesus loved defines our love to God and man like this: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” I John 5:2, 3.

When motivated by love, the service is never drudgery, something that you have to do, or a list of do’s and don’ts. When you are in love with the Lord, His will is your delight. This is why Paul wrote at one time, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10.

To love God with all my heart, soul, and mind is to refrain from following any other god. This is the first commandment. In respect for Him, no one will bow before or worship an image or an idol. That behavior is forbidden in the second commandment. I will not dream to take His name in vain. That is covered by the third commandment. And I will not work when he says to rest, which is the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:3–11).

When asked which of the commandments was the greatest, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The second commandment is, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30, 31 literal translation). If I love my neighbor as myself, I will not dishonor my father and mother. I will not kill him or steal his wife. I will not steal his goods or possessions or lie to him. I will not covet what belongs to him. Instead, I will be glad for what he has that he can enjoy. God’s love abiding in the heart reflects in the way a man responds to his neighbors. It is called the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Love for God is the fulfilling of the law. The principles within the Decalogue become a man’s motivation. Jesus’ life demonstrated the law of love. Concerning the Messiah, Psalm 40:8 says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart.”

With the law of God written in His heart, it was Jesus’ delight to do the will of His Father. That delightful obedience to the law, which is written in the heart, is the very essence of what is called righteousness by faith, or being born again. Isaiah 51:7 says, “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is My law.”

This is the new covenant experience of Hebrews 8:10, which actually quotes from Jeremiah 31:33: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

If you claim Him as your God, then His law must be written in your heart. Paul said the same thing in Hebrews 10:16–18: “ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.”

Is that your experience? Is the law of God being written in your heart and in your mind? The evidence that you have been born again is having received a new heart by the action of the Holy Spirit. He writes the law of God in your heart. As a result, you want to do what is right and pleasing to God.

Salvation by works is an attempt to meet the demands of the law written only on stone. But, in the new covenant, the law is written not on stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart (II Corinthians 3:3). The difference between the old and the new covenants is the difference between seeking justification by works of obedience to an external law written on tables of stone and seeking justification by faith when the law is kept due to a change in the heart.

It is never what you do that saves you; it is Whom you know (Jesus). Then, Whom you know changes what you do as Paul wrote in Romans 8:1–4: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

When we surrender our will to God, we commit our talents to Him to be used for His glory. Submission to His will includes willing obedience to the commission to do our part in spreading the final warning message to the world before Jesus returns. God has given to every man his work. The Bible does not teach that everyone will accept the truth and be saved, but it does say that the gospel is going to be preached to all nations as a witness so that they have an opportunity to make a decision.

The place of the greatest struggle in the Christian warfare is the surrender of the will. By nature, man is stubborn and self-willed. Man is described by the prophet Isaiah in the Bible as being obstinate, with a brow like brass and a neck like iron sinew (Isaiah 48:4). It seems almost impossible to change the mind of man or to turn him from his course, because he obstinately carries out his own will and does as he pleases, regardless of the consequences.

One person said, “The will of man is invariably opposed to his own salvation and to God.” But it is the human will that either shuts or opens the gate to the kingdom of God. The will might be called the hinge on which the gate of destiny swings.

Because we were created free moral agents with the power of choice, the Lord will never force our will. Jesus said, “If anyone wants [wills] to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” John 7:17.

Today, there are many professed Christians who hope that God will work things out without any cooperation or effort on their part. This is a futile hope. The doctrine of predestination, or foreordination, often becomes an excuse for human indifference and indolence. Our wills must be brought into harmony with God’s will and our lives must come into conformity with His character. In this work we have an important part to act.

Revelation 22:17 says, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

The benefits of the gospel and the issue of the conflict with sin depend completely upon the action of your will. God will not save you against your own will for that would be a violation of your choice. It was over the surrender of the will that Jesus had to fight that terrible battle in the Garden of Gethsemane. Would He yield Himself to be scourged, to be crucified, to die for the sins of the world, to go through that awful night and day of torture? Three times He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42.

Likewise, the greatest battle that is ever fought in our world, the greatest battle that can ever be fought by man, is the surrender of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love.

It is therefore our greatest need to understand the true force of the will. There are many people who will lose eternal life while they are hoping and desiring to be saved because they do not now choose to be Christians.

The Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas, “ ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’ ” (Acts 16:30, 31). Believe means to make a commitment. Choose Jesus as the Lord of your life and Saviour from sin. He never loses a case that is fully committed to Him.

The power of decision is the power that governs your life and in the end, your eternal destiny. Joshua said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” Joshua 24:15 KJV.

Have you chosen to serve the Lord?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – Daily Bread

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Throughout life there are basic needs that must be satisfied. Some are needed on a daily basis while others are only needed once in a while. The majority of a person’s time is spent in doing what they believe is necessary to supply these needs. However, there is one need that many people neglect. Consequently it is not satisfied.

Once we understand Who it is that we petition when following the outline of the prayer the Lord taught us in Matthew 6 and recognize God’s holiness, He invites us into His presence as His children. We can enter into that hallowed atmosphere honoring His holy name and desiring His will to be done on this earth as it is in heavenly places.

After making God’s kingdom and His will our first consideration, renouncing ourselves of our own will and become faithful citizens of His kingdom, then everything in the Father’s house belongs to us. The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, clearly understood this. He said, “Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours.” “And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” I Corinthians 3:21, 23. He also said, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:16, 17.

If you have renounced self and become a citizen of the kingdom of God and pray that His name be honored and His kingdom established with His will done here, you can ask with perfect confidence and expect that today you will be given what is necessary for your daily need. Some things are required daily while others are only needed occasionally or even once in a lifetime. Bread or food is needed daily to sustain physical health. The word translated daily bread, which occurs nowhere else in the Bible means necessary or essential bread. Thus we are asking that God give us that which is needful, that which is necessary for our sustenance today. It is a reference to Proverbs 30:8 KJV, which says, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.” The marginal reading is “food of my allowance,” or for my needs.

The first petition is that the Lord will give what is necessary for our sustenance today. It does not include what we may need tomorrow, or next week, or next month, but only the daily requirement. This is not a selfish request that we would have all of our wants supplied but rather that we would receive only what we need. In this world today there is often a great difference between necessity and want. We are not promised luxuries or abundance. This is forcefully illustrated in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The parable talks about a man who had super-abundance, more than he needed, but he did not use his abundant supply to help others.

Luke writes, “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.” Luke 16:19–21.

This story presents one of the great anomalies, one of the great paradoxes in human life.

People say, How can this be? The poor pray and pray, but God blesses the rich. Friend, if God has blessed you with riches, it is so that you may be a blessing to those that do not have what you have. In this story the rich man did not do much to relieve the suffering of the poor man, who ate the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham. Have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.’ ” Verses 22–24.

In the future life, the tables will be turned and things will be totally opposite from the way they were in this world. In the parable it appeared that while he was alive, the rich man had everything and Lazarus had nothing. But Lazarus was saved and the rich man was lost. If God has blessed you with riches, it is to give you an opportunity to bless others. However, this rich man did not do that and lost his soul. The Bible here records the two unanswered prayers that were prayed when it was too late. It says, “ ‘… beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ ” Verses 26–29.

Notice the message here: if you are not convinced to do what is right by what is written in the word of God, then no miracle will convert you. The Bible says that in the last days the whole world will appear to be converted on the basis of miracles, but they will find out too late that these miracles were performed by the power of evil spirits. (See Revelation 13–18.) It is not miracles that the world needs today to find the truth and to save one’s soul. What we need, said Abraham in the parable, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ” Luke 16:31.

We’re living in a time when it is easier than ever before in world history for anyone who wants to know truth to obtain a copy of the word of God and to read it. And yet we are living in a time when there is more ignorance of the word of God than in any other age except perhaps during the Dark Ages. Has God blessed you? If so, He has blessed you so you can help someone else that is in need. We are not in this world to please ourselves.

It was not the purpose of Jesus to please Himself. He told a number of stories to teach this principle. He said, “ ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought with himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’ ” Luke 12:16–19.

This man decided he had so much wealth he was ready to retire in luxury. “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ ” Verse 20.

It may come as a surprise to many that in this world, we do not actually own anything. People work hard to accumulate things, but the Bible says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” I Timothy 6:7.

While here, we are just stewards or managers. The Lord is testing us to see how we will manage His goods. Jesus said that if you have not been faithful with the goods that belong to somebody else, how could you be trusted with more? Those who lay up treasure for themselves are not rich toward God (Luke 16:11, 12).

In western countries today the danger is not in having too little but in having luxuries and super-abundance. Having an abundance of earthly possessions is more dangerous to spiritual health than being poor like Lazarus, a beggar, and not having enough. A study of Christian history reveals that even in the time of Christ, and ever since that time, the gospel has had its greatest success within the poorer social classes.

Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23, 24. It says that when His disciples heard that, they were exceedingly amazed because they had been taught that the rich were rich because God had blessed them and favored them. Many Jews felt that spiritual riches had given them worldly riches and that the Gentiles were destitute of both and therefore left out of the plan of salvation.

But Jesus told them it is the one who has the most that is in danger of losing his soul. He said, “For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37.

Our danger today is not that we won’t have enough but that we will have more than enough and mismanage the Lord’s goods properly. God supplies you with a surplus so that you will have something with which to bless somebody else. How are you managing the Lord’s goods that are in your control?

A story is recorded in the Bible of Jesus’ providing food for a multitude of people. He was preaching to them in a desert place and many hours had passed and the “5,000 men with women and children” were hungry. The disciples suggested that the crowd be sent away into the villages so they could buy food, but Jesus, unwilling for them to go fasting that they might faint in the way, told the disciples to provide something for them to eat. The disciples asked how they would be able to do that. One of the disciples said that ten month’s wages wouldn’t buy enough food to feed the multitude. Another disciple said he had talked to a lad that had five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what would that be among a multitude? Jesus instructed that the people be told to sit down. They could then watch as the little boy willingly gave his small lunch to Jesus. After the Lord had given thanks, He began to break in pieces the bread and the fish. The disciples passed it out to the people and the whole multitude, estimated at between fifteen and twenty thousand, were fed from five barley loaves and two small fishes. “So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’ ” John 6:12. Twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered.

“The people were so excited by the miracle they had witnessed that they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” John 6:14.They wanted to crown Him king.

The principle laid here is that we should manage well the resources the Lord has given us. Just because the Lord worked a miracle to feed all those people didn’t mean that they should be wasteful with what was left over. We cannot conscientiously pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” if we have been wasteful with what we have had. The Bible has many strong lessons against wastefulness.

Another famous story that Jesus told was about a man who had two sons. “The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” Luke 15:11–13. This son had plenty, but he wasted it. So often that happens when the Lord gives us more than we need. Instead of conserving and using the excess to be a blessing to those around us, we often practice luxuriousness and wastefulness.

What about the person that wastes his Lord’s goods? “He [Jesus] said also to His disciples: ‘There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.” ’ ” Luke 16:1. At the end of that story Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon [in managing the goods that the Lord has given you in this world: real estate, property, wealth, money, all those things, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” Luke 16:10–12.

Has the Lord given to you your daily bread? If not then you need to pray and ask for it because it has been promised to you. But what if you have more than you need? Are you using the Lord’s goods that have been committed into your hands wisely, or are they being wasted?

By limiting our request to the needs of today, it develops in us a child-like trust and dependence upon God to supply all of our need, for He is able. The apostle Paul said, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:18. Our Father is very rich and He has the means, the ability, and the resources to supply every need that we have. But as we read in the stories in the Bible, often times we find that when He gives someone more than is needed, instead of using it and managing it wisely, it is either wasted or not used to bless others.

The Lord’s Prayer teaches a lesson of simple dependence upon God for daily needs. We can have confidence knowing that He will supply all that is necessary for both our temporal and our spiritual needs.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Lord’s Prayer Series – The Lord’s Provision

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Lust as body function suffers without adequate food, water, and rest, when the spiritual needs are not satisfied the spiritual condition also suffers and becomes weak.

God desires that His children will trust in Him as children trust in their earthly parents to supply all of their needs. After recognizing God as our creator, honoring His name in every activity of life, and requesting that His will be done in our lives, then, as citizens of His kingdom we have a perfect right and every confidence to begin that series of petitions which involves our needs. Our first requirement is for our daily bread, not what we need for next week or next month, or even for tomorrow, but that we will have what we need for today to sustain our physical and spiritual lives.

The Bible gives a very powerful illustration of God’s attempting to teach His people to simply trust Him to provide for their needs when the children of Israel went through the desert on their journey to the Promised Land. The Bible says there were 600,000 men besides women and children (Numbers 26:51). Thus there is no doubt that it was a very large company of possibly several million who passed through the barren and desolate wasteland where there was no vegetation or source of water. It would be natural to be concerned about how the food and water were to be provided.

God had a plan and rained down manna from heaven daily, but the Israelites complained about it. The Lord told Moses that He had heard the complaints and they would have more to eat than they knew what to do with. The next day, the Bible says, “So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: “Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.” ’ And the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. And Moses said, ‘Let no one leave any of it till morning.’ Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.” Exodus 16:13–21.

God provided manna for them every day. They gathered only what they needed for that day and any excess would spoil. Their needs were supplied. “And so it was, on the sixth day (Friday), that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning.” ’ So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, ‘Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.’ Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day.” Exodus 16:22–30.

Notice that this incident was before the giving of the Ten Commandments. There are some people who, because of lack of careful study, do not seem to understand that when the Ten Commandments were given on Sinai, it was not the first time that the law was given. On Sinai it was simply a review of the principles of God’s law that were ever in existence. You can find all the principles of the Ten Commandments in the book of Genesis. While in slavery, the children of Israel had forgotten much of what their fathers had instructed them. So on the mount the Lord reviewed with them all the principles of His law.

The Ten Commandments existed before they were given on Mount Sinai. In fact, the Sabbath existed at the foundation of the world. You can read about the institution of the Sabbath in Genesis 2:1–3. Some of the Israelites did not have enough faith in God’s provision for them and went out to gather it on the Sabbath. To their surprise they found none. Every week they gathered the manna. Every day, five days of the week they gathered enough for that day. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much to provide for the Sabbath. The portion held over did not spoil. Every week the cycle began again. How long did that go on? “And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. … And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.” Verses 31, 35.

Each day for forty years God provided bread for them to teach them just to simply depend on Him and trust in Him. Hundreds of years later, Jesus spoke about how God provided for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. They do not worry about where they are going to get food to eat. Thus man should not worry either.

Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25–34.

Jesus does not want us to spend our lives in anxiety and worry over temporal things but to trust in God to provide for what we need. Those who are not His children and do not have faith in God and His word are dependent on themselves or maybe their parents, or the government, or somebody else. But if you are God’s child, your dependence is on Him to provide the things that you need.

Although my parents called themselves New Testament Christians, my father often said that they worked eight days a week. What that means is that they worked morning, noon, and night, never having time to stop. But after they became new covenant Christians, they only worked six days because they knew God has promised that He would provide for them. However, when God makes that promise, He does not mean that you have nothing to do, but you do not need to spend your life worrying and fretting about how you are going to make ends meet.

The Lord provides for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field but He does not put the food in their mouths. Their part is to go and gather it. In the same way, when we pray for our daily bread, we must understand that we have a role to play in obtaining it.

After man sinned, God told Adam how he would have to work to get his bread. He said, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. … In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” Genesis 3:17­, 19.

Even though we have to work for the bread that we receive, there are some people who do not want to. The Bible has a lot to say about this attitude. In fact, the Bible has many counsels and cautions and actually curses against those who are sluggards, or lazy, or do not work. The Bible teaches that every person should be a worker. Notice what the wise man said in Proverbs 6:6–11: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a robber [prowler], and your need like an armed man.”

God expects for us to have at least as much wisdom as the creatures that set aside stores during the summer and during the time of harvest for the winter months.

How does God provide for our daily bread? Well, He provides more than enough in the harvest season so that those who gather the food will have food for a time when no food will grow. This is a principle that is taught throughout the Bible. In the very first book of the Bible, you can read the story of a very famous man who was called Joseph. Concerning him, the Bible says that he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream to mean that there were going to be seven years of plenty and after that there would be seven years of famine.

“Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the field which surrounded them. Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. … Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do.’ The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.” Genesis 41:49, 53–57.

Notice the principle that was taught in this story. When God provides abundance, you store up for the winter months or for the time when there will not be any. Praying for our daily bread is not inconsistent with storing up food in the time of harvest for a time of scarcity. When we pray that we might be given our daily bread, we are not just asking that we might be given physical bread. When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness to turn stones into bread, “He answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” ’ ” Matthew 4:4. God supplies all of our needs from His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).

Our heavenly Father is immensely rich and abundantly able to care for all of His children. The message of the Bible is to trust in the Lord and do good and you will dwell in the land, and be fed (Psalm 37:3). To the person who walks in the ways of righteousness, the Lord says that “His bread shall be given to him and his water shall be sure.” Isaiah 33:16.

Not only that, but God has assured His people that they will not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine they will be satisfied (Psalm 37:19). David, talking about this very same subject, makes the statement: “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.” Psalm 37:25.

In this petition, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), we ask the Lord to give us that which we sometimes think we can get on our own, but the fact of the matter is that we would not be able to get it if the Lord did not first provide it. In Psalm 145:15, 16, it says, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” After the worldwide flood of Noah’s time, God promised that, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22.

Although there are over seven billion people in the world today, God is able to feed all. If all were following in the ways of the Lord, all would be fed and we would not see people starving to death, as we see in the world today. We cannot make food because food must be given life before it can impart life to the one eating it. Since God is the Life-giver, the only Source of life, food is a gift from God. When we ask for our daily bread we are not asking for something that belongs to somebody else but for our portion of that which has been abundantly supplied for every living creature.

We ask for food that will impart, not drunkenness, but strength, as noted in Ecclesiastes 10:17. One of the problems we have in our modern world is that there are people spending their money for that which is really not good for them. The Bible addresses this very problem in Isaiah 55:1, 2. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good. And let your soul delight itself in abundance.”

The Bible says, “Eat what is good.” When we ask for our daily bread, we’re not asking that we might have something that will injure ourselves. We are not asking for food that will be injurious to our bodies, but we ask for that which will produce health and strength that we may do God’s service. Many Bible students, in studying the Lord’s Prayer, have concluded that the main subject of this petition, “Give us today our daily bread …” is a petition for both physical food and spiritual food. Actually, spiritual food is even more important than the physical food.

The day after Jesus fed the five thousand, they were still excited about that miracle. And Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” John 6:26, 27.

The daily physical food that we need strengthens us that we may work and that we may have health day by day, but the food that we eat day by day will not provide eternal life. This is a different kind of food. To receive that food Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” John 6:35. And He went on to tell them, “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead.” Verse 49. Even though God provided the physical food day by day that they needed, they still all died. But if you eat the spiritual bread that comes down from heaven you will never die because He will raise you up at the last day.

The people had a problem understanding what Jesus meant by this saying so He explained it in John 6:63. He said, “It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

Are you eating God’s word? Are you studying His word every day? As you study this Word and receive the thoughts of God into your mind, by beholding Him you will be changed and receive His character into your mind. Jesus promised that if you do this you will receive life. His word is indeed the bread of everlasting life.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.