40 Days of PRAYER”
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of PRAYER
Day 17 | HE ALREADY KNOWS | Matthew 6:8
40 Days of PRAYER
Day 17 | HE ALREADY KNOWS | Matthew 6:8
HE ALREADY KNOWS
Matthew 6:8
“Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him.”
Our context is this… Jesus is teaching His “Sermon on the Mount,” and here we find another verse related to prayer. He is teaching the “regular folks” listening to this Sermon some keys to praying to Father God.
Even that was a new concept for these Jews. They were NOT practiced in thinking about God in such familiar terms as calling Him their FATHER. From the time when God sovereignly chose Israel to be His “chosen people,” they only knew Him “from afar.”
To them, God was Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, Jehovah, and more. He was all-powerful, but one thing He was not was FATHER. That term was too familiar, too comfortable, too personal.
And yet, that’s what Jesus was teaching here and thereby introducing a vast paradigm shift in their thinking… that they could have a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father.
And then we have this section from Matthew 6 about prayer.
First, Jesus taught the Jews to go into their inner room, close the door and talk to God privately. Then He taught against the thoughtless rote-praying they had been taught. He was teaching them to talk to God simply and honestly.
Now he says, “Don’t Be like the Pharisees,” who prayed over and over and over and over for the same thing. But instead Jesus taught them that their Heavenly Father (again, a challenging concept) KNEW what they needed even before they asked!
So let’s now talk about you and me.
Have you considered that the Almighty God of the universe – YOUR Heavenly Father – KNOWS exactly (not approximately) what you need before you ask? That’s fabulous… because I often don’t know what I truly need; I just know that I need.
Prayer: LORD, it’s comforting to know that YOU KNOW exactly what I need before I ask. Help me get more and more on your plan and your schedule and follow You moment by moment. Amen.
Matthew 6:8
“Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him.”
Our context is this… Jesus is teaching His “Sermon on the Mount,” and here we find another verse related to prayer. He is teaching the “regular folks” listening to this Sermon some keys to praying to Father God.
Even that was a new concept for these Jews. They were NOT practiced in thinking about God in such familiar terms as calling Him their FATHER. From the time when God sovereignly chose Israel to be His “chosen people,” they only knew Him “from afar.”
To them, God was Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, Jehovah, and more. He was all-powerful, but one thing He was not was FATHER. That term was too familiar, too comfortable, too personal.
And yet, that’s what Jesus was teaching here and thereby introducing a vast paradigm shift in their thinking… that they could have a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father.
And then we have this section from Matthew 6 about prayer.
First, Jesus taught the Jews to go into their inner room, close the door and talk to God privately. Then He taught against the thoughtless rote-praying they had been taught. He was teaching them to talk to God simply and honestly.
Now he says, “Don’t Be like the Pharisees,” who prayed over and over and over and over for the same thing. But instead Jesus taught them that their Heavenly Father (again, a challenging concept) KNEW what they needed even before they asked!
So let’s now talk about you and me.
Have you considered that the Almighty God of the universe – YOUR Heavenly Father – KNOWS exactly (not approximately) what you need before you ask? That’s fabulous… because I often don’t know what I truly need; I just know that I need.
Prayer: LORD, it’s comforting to know that YOU KNOW exactly what I need before I ask. Help me get more and more on your plan and your schedule and follow You moment by moment. Amen.