The Power of Prayer
Prayer is powerful because of who is listening, not because of who is speaking or what they’re saying. You get to pray to your Father, the powerful God who wants you to embrace His love today.
The Lord’s Prayer begins by addressing “our Father in heaven.” A Father who holds all power and authority. A Father who loves you greatly. Unlike earthly fathers, our heavenly Father loves us perfectly—Jesus’ nail-scarred hands prove the depth of His love for us.
In this passage, Christ teaches us how to approach our loving Father in prayer: fixing our eyes on His eternal kingdom, not our temporary one. He tells us to go to God, not the world, with our daily needs. Jesus shows us how to drop the weights of sin and unforgiveness. He encourages us to be controlled by the power of God, rather than evil.
The Lord’s Prayer invites God’s influence to take root in us, guiding our hearts into right relationship with the Lord and welcoming His authority into our lives while rejecting worldly power.
Don’t run from it. Seek Him through prayer, allowing Him to guide you and carry your burdens. He might not work in ways you fully understand, but you will walk lighter knowing He hears you, and He’s fighting for you.
Undeserved Mercies
When someone hurts you or, worse, hurts somebody that you love, revenge can seem appealing. After all…
They were mean.
They were selfish.
They talked behind your back.
They broke a vital promise.
They lied about you.
They criticized you.
They ignored you.
They did the unthinkable.
They walked away.
They deserve to be punished, right? To feel some of that same pain? They deserve a consequence that will not only help them learn, but will be just as severe as the inflicted wounds.
And yet—because God sees things differently, both His standards and tactics can be surprising. And that’s why the apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Thessaloniki, said:
“See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.”
1 Thessalonians 5:15 NLT
Paul’s words sound a lot like Jesus’ words—to love your neighbor as yourself; to do to others what you’d like them to do to you. (See: Matthew 22:38-40)
God’s ways ...