Thinking
Stretching Our Thinking to Heaven
When Jesus taught us
the Lord’s Prayer He was teaching us the way He prayed
When Jesus was in the
Garden of Gethsemane suffering from extreme anxiety
He prayed to the
Father in Heaven, “Thy will be done”
Jesus’ mind was set
on the Father’s will over His will
It was when Jesus
submitted to the Father’s will in earth as it is in heaven
That Jesus found strength to face the cross
The Lord’s Prayer is
to teach us how to stretch our thoughts to heaven
Not just as an escape
from earth when we die
But thinking that
will cause heaven to eclipse earth
That we might see
people restored to God and enjoy the earth
Like God intended in
the Garden of Eden
It is praying the
Lord’s Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
That will show us the
way to the Garden of Eden
Stretching Our Thinking
to Heaven
Jesus had been fasting for 40 days.
A spiritual journey for 40 days connecting
with the Father and the Spirit.
It is interesting to note what His reward for
His sacrifice to be with God the Father is.
The Spirit led Jesus into the desert.
Not only a desolate place,
He was there to be tempted by the Devil.
We must get this picture.
Jesus was doing everything right.
As a child He sat in
the synagogue.
He spent His life learning and worshiping
and now takes a sacrificial 40 day journey.
I have found myself identifying with Jesus.
I grew up in the church learning and worshiping.
I made many sacrifices to follow God’s Word.
I have been on the fast that Jesus was on.
I left a job and the pension that went
with it to serve full time as a pastor.
I gave my time and resources to the church.
There was a time when I was in Florida
where I felt I was led into temptation like Jesus.
I was like Jesus, I was weak, the businesses
I had were falling apart, and instead of them
bringing me income, they were putting me in debt.
Several of my friends had died in
just a short time, all about my age.
This was no overnight trial
and its effects would be lasting.
There was a day I
took Sandy and her
mother to see Boca Grande in Florida.
A beautiful place where the rich people live and play.
We went to a marina to have lunch.
As we waited for a table, I saw
all these people enjoying life.
Yachts costing millions with thruster in the
bow to allow the navigating into the dock space.
Just the fuel alone would cost thousands.
As I looked at the people, and what wealth
could buy, I thought, have
I wasted my life.
These people eating $30 lunches while I was splitting
the cheapest thing on the menu with my wife.
And thinking…
These people can’t be
that much smarter than me.
It was like Satan said…
Turn your bag lunch
into a feast.
It was like Satan said…
You can live the high
standard life come on
down and live in Florida and really enjoy
life, you only have a few years left.
Then Satan offered me all his help to see that
I would have the pleasures of this world.
The oppression was great, but in all this I
turned to God’s Word as I have always done.
I studied prayer, the Biblical strategies of
spiritual warfare and several other subjects.
My greatest breakthrough
came in my study of prayer…
The one Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 6.
As thousands of dollars were coming out of my
account with no end in sight and some relationships
ripping my heart apart, I found answers.
I was having chest pain for weeks, anxiety attacks,
making me think I
would rather be dead.
I looked to God’s Word for my stress and
saw Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
There I saw Jesus having an anxiety attack,
an attack that caused
Him to
sweat as drops of blood and to say…
"My soul is
overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”
Matthew 26:38
I saw Him pray the same prayer
He taught His disciples.
Jesus told His disciple to pray as well,
the part of the
Lord’s Prayer that says…
“Lead us not into temptation”
When Jesus went off
to pray He
prayed for the cup to be taken away…
"My Father, if it
is possible,
may this cup be taken
from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Matthew 26:39
Notice
the second time Jesus prays,
He
concedes to the Father’s Will…
"My Father, if it
is not possible for this
cup to be taken away
unless
I drink it, may your will be done."
Matthew 26:42
“May your will be
done”
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your
will be done
Matthew
6:9-10
“Your will be done”
I
had prayed like Jesus that this cup of
suffering
would be taken away.
There are times God takes away the suffering.
But
I needed to focus like Jesus on one thing…
“Thy will be done”
As
I write this, I am still going through
the
hardships, but I have peace because
I
set my heart on “Thy will be done”.
This
is not the end of the story.
As
I dissected the Lord’s Prayer,
studied every word in Greek and English…
I
realized my thinking had to be
stretched
not just a little, but a lot…
Stretched
from Earth to Heaven.
All
the wonderful things God has given us
on
earth and all the things we work so hard for
to
provide a good life for our families and others…
All
the dreams of retirement where
we
are free to do the things we want to do
and
not always the things we have to do…
All
of this is good and it stretches
our
thinking on how to accomplish it.
But
Jesus teaches us to pray…
Your kingdom come, Your will
be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10
What
does it mean, “As it is in heaven”?
We
cannot answer that question
unless
we have the mind of Christ…
Knowing
the will of the Father.
Scriptures
tell us…
"For who has known the
mind of the Lord
that he may instruct
him?"
Then
it says…
But we have the mind of
Christ.
1 Corinthians
2:16
Having
the mind of Christ means sharing
the
plan, purpose, and perspective of Christ.
Having
the mind of Christ means we
understand
God’s plan for the world, to
bring
glory to Himself, restore creation to
its
original splendor, and provide
salvation
for the lost, the sinner.
It means we identify with Christ’s
purpose
It means we share Jesus’ perspective
Are
you ready to have your thinking stretched?
Are
you ready to put on the mind of Christ?
Are
you ready to think about heaven in a way
that
causes heaven to overlap earth?
The
Garden of Eden is a picture
of
heaven overlapping earth.
It
was Adam and Eve thinking as they listened
to Satan at the foot of the tree of good and
evil
that separated heaven from earth.
It
will be as we put on the mind of Christ and
seek
God’s will that heaven will again eclipse earth.
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
16
"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that
he may instruct him?"
But
we have the mind of Christ.
Matthew
26:40-42 NIV
40
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men
not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41 "Watch and
pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
body is weak."
42
He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible
for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be
done."
Matthew
6:9-13 NIV
9
"This, then, is how you should pray:
"'Our
Father in heaven,
hallowed
be your name,
10
your kingdom come,
your
will be done
on
earth as it is in heaven.
11
Give us today our daily bread.
12
Forgive us our debts,
as
we also have forgiven our debtors.
13
And lead us not into temptation,
but
deliver us from the evil one.'
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