The liberty of the New Covenant and its perfection in prayer and the Spirit.
Hosea, Chapter 10, Verse 3
For now they will say, “We have no king! Since we do not fear the LORD, the king—what could he do
for us?”
Christ is the strength of the weak and the humble
confidence of those who trust in him. Christ says to us, “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I
know them, and they follow me. (Jn. 10:27)
Why
does God wish us to pray to Him?
To remind us: 1. that all good things
come from Him, and that without Him we have nothing. 2. That we may confide in Him
and try to make ourselves worthy of His divine grace, by thoughts pleasing to Him,
and valuing more, and using better, the graces we receive.
Why
is our prayers often not heard?
It is because we often ask for something
that would be more hurtful than profitable to us.
When
ought we to pray?
We should pray at all times, but especially
at, 1, morning, noon, and night; 2, in time of great temptation; 3, when receiving
the sacraments; 4, when about to undertake anything important; 5, at the hour of
death.
The Lord’s Prayer; but though we say
it a hundred times, it will fail to produce its beneficial effects if we repeat
it thoughtlessly, without thinking of its meaning or purpose.
Why
does this prayer commence with “Our Father?”
To encourage us thereby to a child-like
confidence in God. As our Father, Who loves all men, and is ever ready to help them.
Why
do we say, “Who art in heaven,” since God is everywhere?
We say this to admonish us to lift
up our hearts to heaven, our true home, where God has set up the throne of His
kingdom.
What
do we ask of God in this prayer?
In the first petition, “hallowed
be Thy name,” we pray that God may be known and loved by all men, and that His name
may be glorified by a Christian life. In the second petition, “Thy kingdom come,”
we pray God to enter and rule in our hearts by His grace, to spread His Church throughout
the whole world, and after our death to award us eternal happiness. In the third
petition, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” we offer ourselves entirely
to God, and declare ourselves ready to be subject to the dispositions of His holy
will, as are the angels in heaven, and pray to Him for grace to do this. In the
fourth petition, “give us this day our daily bread,” we ask for all things which
we need for the body, as food and clothing, and for the soul, as grace and the
divine word. In the fifth petition, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
that trespass against us,” we pray to God for forgiveness, but only as far as we
forgive those that injure us. We must therefore remember that we shall not obtain
forgiveness from God so long as we have in our hearts hatred against anyone. In
the sixth petition, “and lead us not into temptation,” we acknowledge our frailty,
and ask God to remove temptations from us, or, if He permit us to fall into
those which the world, the flesh, and the devil prepare for us, to give us
grace not to consent to them, but, by combating and overcoming them, to gain
the merit and the crown of justice. In the seventh petition, “but deliver us from
evil,” we pray to God to preserve us from sin, and the occasions of sin; an evil
death and hell also from all temporal evils, so far as may be for the salvation
of our souls.
America is now at the threshold of history
Like Israel in Hosea’s
time America has drifted into serious sin. According to John Maxwell Israel while
in captivity had no real leadership (much like America) and had broken the “Law
of Solid Ground.” The 6th irrefutable law of leadership—The Law of Solid Ground
states that “trust is the foundation of leadership.” Israel’s leadership made false
promises that had eroded the people’s confidence in their leaders and people
follow only in proportion to their trust in the leader.
American’s are a just
people and fair people and our hearts go out to the world. Yet what are we to
do?
Many years ago while
reviewing the CIA handbook I noticed that economically all of the nations that
have been giving us the most trouble militarily were also on the list of those
countries with the worst per capita income: people who make less than 200
dollars a year. I thought rather than do battle with a number of of these
people in some way if we were to bring the economic power of America to these
populaces and help them to improve their lives and rid themselves of the gangs
and dictators. Thus bringing up their per capita income; what would the effect
be on those who we may have to embattle? I questioned would improving their
lives in their own country decrease our need to do battle? I decided to do an
experiment. With a little research I invested in one of the stocks from one of
the poorest countries Zimbabwe. After three months I sold my stock after
doubling my money. My point is perhaps we as America’s can do more by helping
the downtrodden in building up their own countries.
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