Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
When Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray, he began, “Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus was instructing us to direct our prayer to God as a father. That’s how personal and intimate our conversation with God can be. He also mentioned that the very name of God is holy. ‘Hallowed’ means ‘sanctified, set apart from the average, the mundane, the common.’ Yes, God is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. He is all-powerful and just. Yet Jesus said we can address him as ‘father’! That speaks of a family relationship with God as the supreme head of the household. If you love Jesus, he’s your father, my friend!
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
In the 1960’s, the Beach Boys had a song that goes: “There’s a place, where I can go, and tell my secrets to, in my room, in my room.” It expresses the need we all have for a quiet place, and someone to tell our deepest troubles to.
For me, that place of quiet and refuge is the Lord himself. Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 6:6, said “When you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father, which is in secret.” The closet is a secret chamber – a quiet, set-apart place. It’s good to get alone with our heavenly father.
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
As Debbie and I do events around America to expose people to Jesus’ love, we find that the Lord moves most powerfully where his people fervently pray. God has chosen prayer as the means for us to move His heart.
Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray. It’s not recorded in scripture where they asked him to evangelize, build churches, learn to interpret scripture; but rather, to pray. Matthew 6:9 records this: “Jesus said, “After this manner, therefore pray: ‘Our father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.’” What he meant was, “Pray like this.”
Hi, I’m Howie Campbell, and this is a Wisdom and Truth Minute.
Planning for the future is important. Being concerned with how things will work for our old age, having the resources to pay bills, having a savings, leaving an inheritance, are all concerns that are valid and a part of life. But how does that square with what Jesus taught in Matthew 6:34?
“Take therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Could it be we are so caught up planning for the future, we often fail to enjoy the beauty of the day? Stop and smell the roses, people.