Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Psalm of praise 18:1, 11
Prayer
Psalm 71:1, 3
Scripture reading:
1 Thessalonians 5
Scripture text:
1 Thessalonians
5:24; Catechism Lord’s Day 46
The
one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
This very short verse contains so much comfort. God’s grace is of such
magnitude! The apostle wants the congregation to focus on God’s grace.
- In verse 17 the congregation is told to pray
continually.
- The Lord will hear their prayers because He is
faithful.
We look at three aspects of this verse:
1. What do these words reveal to us?
2. These words create confidence in
our hearts.
3. These words teach you to know God.
1. What do these words reveal
to us?
God will hear our prayer, and He will keep us in faith and protect us
against everything that could be harmful. This is true, because God
rules over everything in heaven and on earth.
- Think about it: He rules over the stellar vault
(Ps. 33:6); the seasons; the coming and going of winds; rain and
drought – everything.
- That is why He has the power to rule over hearing
our prayers.
These words also reveal to us that we should not think of the Lord in
earthly terms. This is currently a problem, because many religions, in
their attempts to teach about God’s soft heart and love, make of Him a
partner or a close friend.
- The omnipotence of God and the fear of the Lord
that should exist are then lost.
- It is therefore reasonable that people with such
kind of faith easily fall away again.
Although there is distance between God and us because we are
insignificant while He is the eternal and omnipotent God, He is also
close to us and protects and embraces us in his eternal counsel.
- He provides for our clothes and food every day.
- He takes care that we retain our faith and grow in
it.
- He gives us salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. These words create confidence in
our hearts.
Consider your feelings when you read these words in faith. What kind of
feeling do these words evoke in us? The answer is: childlike faith.
- God Almighty remains faithful.
- He also stays close to me at all times.
With these words the Lord reveals to us that there is a bond between us
that He will never allow to perish. The reason is that God really
became our Father through Jesus Christ.
- And that is why we then start our prayer with these
words: Our Father.
- When the Lord Jesus taught us to start our prayer
with the words “Our Father” He implied that the Lord shows us the same
kind of love that a father has for his children.
Our prayers are grounded on the fact that God Almighty takes care of us
and, right at the beginning of our prayer, we show that we trust in Him
to hear our prayer.
- We do not have to doubt the Lord’s answer to
prayer, because in Psalm 145:18 and 19 He promises that He hears the
prayers of those who fear Him and who call on Him sincerely and in
truth.
The
LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in
truth. He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry
and saves them. (Ps.
145:18-19)
3. These words teach you to know God. What do we pray for? We pray for
all our physical and spiritual needs.
- Every supplication is also linked to the promise
that you will be heard – otherwise it is senseless and futile to pray!
- Go pray with confidence. Go to God with all your
prayers, because your Holy Father will bless you.
- We must of course take care not to pray flippantly,
because we often pray for things we should not pray for.
When we think of the “Our Father”
we specifically start our prayer with
the, “Our Father who is in heaven”.
- The words “who is in heaven” certainly evoke a
feeling of holiness and devotion in us.
- And rightly so: holiness and seriousness should be
present whenever we pray.
- Even when we joyfully praise and thank God for his
blessings, we still do it in holy earnest.
How do all the above fit into our prayers?
- If God were changeable, our prayers would be
futile.
- And if God did not keep his promises, it would have
been useless to pray.
- But now you know: God remains faithful.
- All his promises stand: He does not break any of
them.
- He revealed in his Word that he is our Father
through Jesus Christ.
- He still is our Father and always will be.
Pray to your heavenly Father for all your needs, and He will answer
your prayers because you became his child through his Son, and because
He calls you through his Holy Spirit to approach Him through
prayer.
Let’s read together Catechism Lord’s Day 46:
120. Why has Christ commanded
us to address God as Our Father?
To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer that childlike
reverence and trust toward God which should be basic to our prayer: God
has become our Father through Christ and will much less deny us what we
ask of Him in faith than our fathers would refuse us earthly things.[1]
[1] Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13.
121. Why is there added, Who
art in heaven?
These words teach us not to think of God's heavenly majesty in an
earthly manner,[1] and to expect from His almighty power all things we
need for body and soul.[2]
[1] Jer. 23:23, 24; Acts 17:24, 25. [2] Matt. 6:25-34; Rom. 8:31, 32.
Amen.
Closing prayer
Closing hymn: Psalm 90:2, 8
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Dr MJ du Plessis
Gereformeerde Kerk Bellville
Date: 9 May 2004 (evening)