A Daily Devotional with Pastor Doug Crouse  January 28, 2018  

Pray This Way   Scripture Reading – Matthew 6:9 - 13 (NLT)

“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be one on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”  

The disciples having observed the riches of the intimacy that Jesus had with the Father, asked Him to teach them to pray. His response known as the, ‘Lord’s Prayer’, is not only a form that we are to use in repetition, but also a pattern that instructs us to, ‘Pray This Way’.

We begin starting thinking about God, not ourselves – our Abba, Pappa, Daddy – heavenly Father who loves us and is worthy of all our praise.

By the offering of our very lives and following after Jesus we are able to show ourselves as Christians and live holy in an unholy world allowing our lights to shine that others may find life in His name.

One day the Kingdom of God will come when Christ Jesus returns to earth, but until that final day, God has entrusted us with the message of the Good News of God’s grace in His Son.

When we pray we always should pray according to the plans and purposes of God both for and through our lives, that His will would be accomplished to the greater glory of Jesus our Lord.

We are not to trust in ourselves, or boast in the things we may have, but are called to come to our Father each and every day for our daily bread, praying His grace would both sustain us and flow through our lives to others.

All of us need to be forgiven, and we all need to be forgivers! God has forgiven our sins before we ever knew or wanted to know His great love with the blood of Jesus. Now you and I are called to carry that same spirit of forgiveness to others.

It is true that none of us are perfect and we will all be tempted. But Jesus came to give us life and that more abundantly, so we are to look for that place of escape that God will provide, because in Jesus we do have the victory!  

Prayer My Father in heaven I do come to You once again this day acknowledging Your greatness and the greatness of Your love to us in Jesus our Lord. Spirit of God, teach me to pray also, reminding me of these instructions of Jesus and renewing me as I walk in Your ways. I give myself to You once again through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.  

Memory Verse:  1 John 5:14 NLT “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.”