” .. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” – Matt. 6:13

Long before the Lord spoke this world into existence (Genesis chapter one), He was King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is still the King and sovereign in creation. (Dan 4:35).

The Prayer of Jesus invites us to stop and contemplate His Majesty. The One to Whom we have prayed is indeed the Sovereign Ruler of Heaven and earth. He is the King of Kings and is establishing His Kingdom. What a privilege to be allowed to spend time with Him.

No prayer is ever lost or forgotten. Every one is recorded in Heaven by the King and will be answered in its time. John the Apostle records in his vision the moment when evil is finally dealt with and notes that the prayers of the saints play a vital part. (Rev 8:3,4).

Are you committed to His Kingdom?
Or the fulfillment of your own dreams?

Momentary happiness comes from our plans coming to fruition.
Eternal joy follows the establishment of His Kingdom for eternity.

Val Waldeck
Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

” … For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” – Matt. 6:13

History is “HIS STORY” and prayer is all about building His Eternal Kingdom in the hearts and lives of mankind, bringing about His Will and purposes in the lives of individuals.

Let us never forget that “it’s all about Him” – and not about us. All our prayers and intercession for others, and ourselves, have one purpose only – that the Will of God may be accomplished.

We were born for a purpose and prayer is our co-operation with the Lord in bringing about that purpose.

This is the reason we should never become discouraged when God does not seem to answer prayer the way we think He should. His plans are very often beyond our personal comprehension. (Isa 55:8,9).

Let us be assured that God is working mightily “behind the scenes” to bring about His Eternal Kingdom. (Phil 2:10,11).

Are you disappointed about an apparent delay in the answer to your prayers? Bow before the Lord and submit your will to His.

His Kingdom is more important than our plans.

Val Waldeck
Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

“And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matt. 6:13)

We have had a wonderful time learning from the Prayer of Jesus. True prayer, we discovered, is first of all God-centered, then Kingdom-centered, and only then People-centered. Now we discover that what began in worship ends in worship as the Prayer of Jesus culminates in God-centered prayer.

Praise and worship are highly esteemed by God. “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.”Psalm 22:3 (KJV).

It glorifies Him when we express our trust in and thankfulness to Him, our Heavenly Father. A “gratitude attitude” – or thankfulness – is deeply appreciated by the Lord.

Jesus healed ten lepers on one occasion, and only one returned to give thanks. “So Jesus answered and said, were there not ten [lepers] cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17-18).

The Prayer of Jesus has taken us from the loftiest heights of Heaven to the deepest needs on earth, and assured us of our Heavenly Father’s love, care and compassion. How can we but stop and praise Him for His goodness?

True prayer must end in worship.

Val Waldeck
Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

“And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one..” (Matt. 6:13)

We are aware that we have an enemy who would dearly love to do us much harm and the Bible warns us to be constantly on our guard. (1 Pet 5:8).

This petition is an acknowledgment that we are “kept by the power of God” (1 Peter 1:5) and we need fear no evil (Psalm 23). It gives us boldness to step into our day, confidently expecting the Lord to watch over us.

Daniel and his three friends had this kind of faith. As they entered their fiery furnace, they shouted: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” “We will burn, but we will not bow,” they said. “Even if its costs us our lives”. (Dan 3:17,18).

There are times that God performs miraculous deliverances in this life. Hebrews chapter 11 catalogues a number of them. But there are also times when His deliverance takes us out of this life. Either way we enjoy His Protection! (Heb 11:32-38).

Val Waldeck

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Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

“And do not lead us into temptation ..” (Matt. 6:13)

“Enlarge my territory,” Jabez prayed. “That Your Hand would be with me.” (1 Chronicles 4:10).

The Prayer of Jesus incorporates that same request. This is a prayer that the Lord will guide our footsteps daily. We are saying, in effect: “Please do not allow us to get into that place where we may be overcome by temptation and fall into sin”.

It is a heartfelt and definite request that He would keep us from getting into situations where we may be liable to be tempted into sinning.

How often have we looked back on our day and wished with all our heart that we had not said and done some things? How different we may have reacted if we had been forewarned of certain situations and been able to avoid them.

This is a very important petition. We would avoid a lot of problems in our day if we spent time with the Lord first, asking Him to guide our footsteps and waiting for His direction.

The Lord wants us to seek His Face first before we go into our day and He promises to guide us clearly. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” (Psalm 32:8).

Val Waldeck

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Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” – Matt. 6:12

Before we leave the subject of forgiveness, perhaps we should ask the question: what happens if the one who has wronged us does not repent or admit the error of his/her way? Can we still forgive them?

The Lord forgave us at Calvary, but that forgiveness only becomes a reality in our lives and experience the moment we confess and forsake our sin.

In the same way, we are free to forgive those who wrong us. Does that mean we ignore their attitude and try to patch up our friendship with a “Christian Band-Aid”? Absolutely not! They do not receive the benefit of our forgiveness, nor reconciliation and restoration of fellowship until the matter is cleared. Reconciliation is a two-way street.

But we can go on our way, praising the Lord with peace in our hearts, after having done all we could to put the matter to rest. Their attitude becomes a problem between them and God. We do not need to walk around in bitterness and pain.

We are free to forgive because we have been forgiven! (Luke 6:28).

Val Waldeck

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Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” – Matt. 6:12

Jesus told the story of a man who was forgiven a great debt, and then refused to forgive someone who owed him a pittance. The end result was that this man was handed over to his tormentors. (Matt. 18:35).

Jesus made the same emphasis when teaching His Model Prayer. This is the first time He comments on any of the petitions and it is vital that we hear what He has to say. (Matt. 6:15.

Unforgiveness is sin. When we refuse to forgive, in spite of the fact that we have been freely forgiven, we harden our hearts and block the channel of God’s grace.

He cannot forgive unconfessed sin and, until we deal with it and be reconciled, we will experience only torment and the absence of peace. (1 John 4:20).

Joseph is a shining example of a man who was badly mistreated by his family, his employers and his peers, but he forgave freely. (Gen. 50:20).
Often the problem is not so much our brother or sister’s sin, but our attitude. God demands that we forgive in the same manner He forgives us – fully, freely and often.

Can you do that today?

Val Waldeck

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Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow

“And forgive us our debts..” – Matt. 6:12

Human wisdom would make us think that we must come in repentance first before we dare ask the Lord for our daily bread.

The Prayer of Jesus teaches the exact opposite. Perhaps our natural reluctance to pray would only be made worse if we thought that our Quiet Time was going to be a negative experience!

Praying the way Jesus taught will bring us right into the Presence of the Lord Himself. And it is in His Presence that we will hear His Voice most clearly as He points out those things in us that grieve Him. Now that we have experienced afresh Who He is and how much He cares for us, all rebellion should melt away. Grieving the Lord should be the thing we want to avoid at all costs as our hearts open to Him.

“Forgive us” is an essential prayer in order that we may retain the preciousness of our Fellowship with Him.

Sin separates from God. When the Spirit of the Lord puts His Divine Finger on an area in your life, do not fight it, but repent immediately. (1 John 1:9).

To excuse our sins does not please the Lord. (Prov. 28:13).

Val Waldeck

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“Give us this day our daily bread.” – Matt. 6:11

He is JEHOVAH-JIREH, the Lord our Provider and He has promised to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory – not our worthiness or unworthiness! Meditate on these magnificent promises for a moment:

o “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” – Phil 4:19.

o “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” – Psalm 37:25.

o “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” – 1 Cor. 9:8 (NLT).

God is not, however, like a slot machine. Put money in, and bubblegum pops out! He has given us some guidelines with regard to financial provision. What we sow, we will reap. It is an immutable law. (2 Cor 9:6).

When we obey His Word and instructions with regard to the paying of tithes and giving of offerings and alms (Malachi 3:10), we can expect God to fulfill His promise.

Did Jesus expect us to support His Work financially? Without question – Matt. 23:23.

Val Waldeck

“Give us this day our daily bread.” – Matt. 6:11

One of the greatest gifts the Lord has given to His people is the blessing of being part of a local Church family.

Here we find friendship, challenge, teaching, social contact, and so much more, and it is no surprise that the Lord commands believers not to neglect meeting together. (Heb 10:25).

No man is an island. We have different gifts and different functions which complement each other, and that is especially true of the Body of Christ. (1 Cor 12:20,21).

We must do all we can to remain in fellowship with others, including our church families. (Rom 12:18).

If we have done all we can, but there is still a breakdown in communication, the Lord commands us to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” – Mat 5:44.

When we pray, give us our daily bread, in reality we are also asking God to meet our social needs and declaring our willingness to do His Will by loving others.

As we do the possible, God does the impossible.

Val Waldeck

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Excerpt from His Eye Is On The Sparrow