There is much that matters to the Christian life, but nothing more so than our willingness to see what lies ahead through the eyes of the one who made it from before the foundation of the world. Our call to not be anxious or worried about the circumstances of life is born out of our sure and certain hope in the King of all things. 

This past weekend we enjoyed another blessed time of rest and relaxation at our denomination’s camp and conference center, Bonclarken. There are moments where I like to think Paul’s words in Hebrews are speaking of our home in Flat Rock when he says, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” I joke, if only slightly.
Bonclarken was born from a contest in which Sallie Miller Brice of Chester, South Carolina submitted the winning name in 1921. It is a combination of two Latin and one Scots word which when placed together means Good, Clear, Vision. There is something to be said for each of those words in the Christian life. Individually taken they illustrate in their own way a part of the reason why we love Jesus. We love Him because He is good to us in more ways than we can count. We love Him because His word to us is clear, without blemish, and always true. We love Him because He provides to the church a purpose, a vision, through which we can awaken every day and know what our reason for being is and know what our future beholds. We are to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, not merely for what He does for us, but for who He is.
This last one is a thing that we would be wise to take more time to consider. Especially as we face difficulties in the day-to-day. Having a bigger picture of the coming glory found alone in Jesus Christ can be a great help to shout down the attempts of the evil one to cause us to doubt God’s goodness, clarity, and ownership of that which is to come. For today’s prayer and worship help we are going to walk through some of the aspects of how we can change the way we look at things and move to having a certainty of hope in the eternal promises found in Christ.
Imagine if you will what vision means to persons like Simeon and Anna in Luke 2. As they waited for the coming of the Messiah they did so with no real outward benefit, until their was.
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This eternal blessing in the power and authority of God is what, as the answer says, emboldens, us to speak to the Lord in prayer. We can speak with assurance and grace precisely for the reason that God has established all things for His glory and if that is the case then we have no worry or anxiousness as we come before Him in supplication. We come to our Father who art in heaven and we do so through His Son and the encouragement of the Counselor, daily reminding us of all the things He has done for us.

First of all, I want to thank you for bearing with me through this two-year journey through the Larger Catechism. I hope that these lessons have been a blessing for they certainly have been for me. Here on Thursdays moving forward I’ve bandied about several ideas and I’ve come down to a decision that will have us continue to look at the documents adopted by our Scottish forefathers that we call the Westminster Standards, which include not only these catechisms, but the Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory of Church Government, Directory of Public Worship, and other literature. The more familiar we become with our heritage the more I think we’ll understand why we are Presbyterians, and convinced ones at that.
However, before we get ahead of ourselves let us look at the last WLC question:
Q. 196. What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord’s prayer, (which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. ) teaches us to enforce our petitions with arguments, which are to be taken, not from any worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God; and with our prayers to join praises, ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency; in regard whereof, as he is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he would, and quietly to rely upon him, that he will fulfil our requests. And to testify this our desire and assurance, we say, Amen
I want to deal with an issue that while seemingly odd, is important to rightly grasping why we say the ending of the prayer and why our Catechism includes it. Some of your copies of God’s word (ESV, NASB, NIV, etc…) are based on a Greek manuscript tradition (the Eclectic or Critical Text) which does not have the this ending to the Lord’s Prayer. In my ESV Study Bible the wording is completely absent, relegated to a footnote. At Bethany we have the NKJV in the pews and that is the version of the Bible that I preach and teach from on Lord’s Day mornings and evenings as well as use in Sabbath School and Wednesday Nights. The NKJV and the KJV are translations which come from the Received Text or the Textus Receptus. This devotional is not the place to get into the reasonings and histories as to whether one is right or not (and by my use of the NKJV I kind of give my position away).
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Predestination and election are not a result of the Fall, of Adam’s sin. As Romans 9 makes clear the Father’s designs for Jacob and Esau had nothing to do with who they became. They became who they were, one elect the other rebrobate, before anything was done by them. The more we mine the beauty and power of these truths the easier it becomes to be built up in love regardless of what failures men and women pile up in our faces. We look above and beyond the personal slights to see the glory of the one who has called us out of darkness and into the wonders of His marvelous light.

Frustration seems to be a large part of life. We often find ourselves in that emotional position because people who we expect things from, usually fairly minor things, can’t seem to meet even that low of a bar. Trust is not an easy thing to earn, but it is an easy thing to lose. Yet like most situations we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not meant to allow the failing of expectations to keep us from the kind of peace we see in our Savior throughout His earthly ministry. Did Jesus get mad at the disciples sometimes for their lack of faith or understanding? Sure. But one of the things we learn from Him in those moments is that Christ understood something far more important about each of the men He had called to follow Him. They were made in God’s image and they belonged to Him. They were sinners in need of grace and mercy. However, even in this our Lord’s discouragement with His disciples motivated Him not to abandon them, but to love them more, and to build them up in faith through the witness of love. He strove with them even unto the end, and beyond.
In today’s prayer and worship help we are going to think some more about how to be Christlike in a world where there seems to be so much disappointment. Paul’s testimony to this effect can be found in his letter to the church at Colosse. While they weren’t as bad as the Galatians or the Corinthians who received a tongue lashing from the Lord’s apostle there were still matters that he felt like needed to be pointed out to these young Christians. In most of chapter two the subject is false teaching, both from the Judaizers and the Greek philosophers. As we come to the third chapter Paul moves the conversation along to remind the folks here that as newborn believers in Jesus Christ their whole visage has changed and they no longer are to see themselves as they once were. This being born again is a necessary part of the salvation we have received. If we act, think, do, etc… the same as before we claimed the named of Jesus then it becomes clear that we know not Him. There has to be fruit born of repentance or there is no new heart or no grafting into the life-giving vine of Christ. A Christian tree bears Christian fruit. An unbelieving heart produces unbelieving fruit and we can see this primarily in how we react to the negative effects of sin in the world around us.
Do we pray for those who persecute us? Do we seek the redemption of the lost? Do we hope in all hope for those who sin against us?
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Job does not see his loss as a net positive because he ended up with more than at the beginning. This man after the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’s own heart is just as content at the end as at the start. The reason for this is not rocket science. It is because his highest good was not himself, or anything around him. His chief end was the glory of God and then to enjoy Him forever and no earthly thing could change that about Job, for his faith was Heaven sent. 

As we move into the next part of the Lord’s Prayer we are witnessing the call of Christ to be in keen remembrance of the relationship between God and man. It is wrong to ever think that the one who made the Heavens and the Earth is working together with us to accomplish what is on our heart. Those who believe in Jesus have come to understand that they are the workers given the responsibility to be about their Father’s business, not the Father about theirs. We must be at rest in our position as the servant, not the master, and as the Apostle Paul notes the servant should serve in such a way that his master has no reason to chastise him. It is a sweet compliance when what is on our heart coincides with what is on God’s heart. That should be the goal and orientation of every person who loves the Lord. To say, as we will discuss more in a second, His Will Be Done, is a testimony born out of a servant’s heart where our interest seeks only in one thing, and that is what God has revealed in His word. This is our ultimate love each and every day that we breathe oxygen on this planet. Our goal is to return thanks for all that He has done for us. As one of our favorite Bible songs notes, O Lord the high and holy One, I am a servant unto thee, thy servant and thy handmaid’s son; thou hast from bonds delivered me.
Let’s look at the Q/A for today:
Q. 192. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, (which is, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,) acknowledging, that by nature we and all men are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his word, to repine and murmur against his providence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil; we pray, that God would be his Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness, weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart; and by his grace make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.
We are to have a singular mindset born out of first looking towards the author of truth and blessing, and second, remembering that this understanding is solely ours by grace alone.
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If we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, in the whole truth of God, we muse show forth the joy of gospel grace, of the eternal blessings which we experience now and in the future in Christ. We are to speak boldly, with surety and without fear of man, yet in a spirit which shows the gentleness of a dove.

One of the downsides of being a Christian is that we do not have the freedom to let the truth work for us. We live in a world where most people don’t really have much compunction shading things toward their point of view. A little touch here and there so that the story becomes one where they are the champion and everyone else comes short. These are things which can frustrate believers as we live and breathe in a world soaked in sin. There are times when our faith in the risen Christ and love of those things that are good can get in the way of advancement at work, opportunities for extracurricular fun, whether that be sport, hobbies, competitions, or whatever.
Much temptation awaits.
For today’s prayer and worship help I want to come at this question with a positive message. Telling the truth, maintaining the truth, and accepting the truth should be a central part of the identity of every single believer in the Lord Jesus. The church shouldn’t be a place where we struggle to deal with the same fight against untrustworthiness and vanity that we do out in the domain of the prince of the power of the air. I’m not naïve enough not to recognize that we have sinners in the body of Christ. However, as Paul writes in Romans 6 we are to be found as those who love the word, and who seek to put to death the old man, and be conformed to the image of our Savior. Our fallibleness is not something we should lean into, rather we who rest in the grace of Jesus should more readily deal with sin and turn away from its lies. It is in the hope of the gospel that we live and move and have our being. The way this works itself out in the subject at hand is that as Christians we are to be those who value truth above all things primarily because we live in the household of the God of truth. It is the currency of our faith. We live in the full assurance of redemption because the Lord’s word is always yeah and amen in Himself.
Living in complete integrity is one way that we express the second table of the law to our neighbor. You’ve heard me say before that we cannot love our neighbor until we love ourselves first. At first glance that sounds kind of arrogant bordering on selfish. However, the more we learn to center our own soul in the covenant promises the more we are drawn to see the blessing of Christ’s words to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. Truly His grace is sufficient for all of our needs.
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Lots of preachers out there telling it like it is without speaking to anyone present. Paul’s call to Timothy to preach the word in-season and out is a word to remind the gospel proclaimers that the gospel is always relevant to the life of men and women, to sinners of all stripes, and we can’t live in a world where the Church is full of the white lie. We must do all things in spirit and in truth.

Howdy,
With all the talk here recently about truth it seems like a good time of the year to think about where we are as a country, and as a church. Many of y’all have heard me tell the story that my parents had me convinced until I was about five years old that all the rigamoral and fireworks was being held in honor of my birthday. We’d go down to the waterfront in Charleston, West Virginia and hear the state symphony blast out the 1812 Overture while the national guard thundered their cannons and I’d start to thank people for coming once it was over. Most folks played along and thought is was cute, others just kind of stood there shocked and confused. I was probably a little bit of both when I finally realized it was the Fourth of July for America, not necessarily for me alone. Some people might say my mom and dad were lying to me. However, I think more about how cool it was, and what kind of honor it is to share a birthday with the greatest nation ever made in God’s blessed providence.
A little fun every now and then never hurt anyone.
These so-called white lies are defined by the google machine as untruths that don’t intend to harm. In other words it means that there is no malice involved. That brings up the question as what makes a difference between a fib that brings fun and a rib that brings pain. It’s probably one of those things that former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart would say that he knows it when he sees it. Most of the time though it probably has a lot more to do with the person saying it and the person receiving it. We can joke and josh with a friend, or at least guys can. In today’s prayer and worship help we are going to think through a little bit about what the Bible has to say about the question, and moreso why it is the truth matters a whole more when we mean it.
I had a fellow I used to visit with in Mississippi say to me that he told one story so that he could tell me another one. At about the same age I was when my parents were telling me about the real reason for 1776 my dad was involved in some meetings related to the merger that took place in the early 1980s between the PCUS (the old Southern church) and the UPCUSA (the old Northern church), which is now the PCUSA. The three of us and my youngest sister at the time had grown up PCUS in the Greenbrier Presbytery, and still were at the time. I can remember my dad coming home from these merger meetings frustrated and mad. Now, that’s not too surprising for a Glaser, we have a tendency to 1) Be involved in meetings, and 2) Be frustrated with them. It’s part of the reason why we make such good Presbyterians.
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Paul’s call to Timothy to preach the word in-season and out is a word to remind the gospel proclaimers that the gospel is always relevant to the life of men and women, to sinners of all stripes, and we can’t live in a world where the Church is full of the white lie. We must do all things in spirit and in truth.

With all the talk here recently about truth it seems like a good time of the year to think about where we are as a country, and as a church. Many of y’all have heard me tell the story that my parents had me convinced until I was about five years old that all the rigamoral and fireworks was being held in honor of my birthday. We’d go down to the waterfront in Charleston, West Virginia and hear the state symphony blast out the 1812 Overture while the national guard thundered their cannons and I’d start to thank people for coming once it was over. Most folks played along and thought is was cute, others just kind of stood there shocked and confused. I was probably a little bit of both when I finally realized it was the Fourth of July for America, not necessarily for me alone. Some people might say my mom and dad were lying to me. However, I think more about how cool it was, and what kind of honor it is to share a birthday with the greatest nation ever made in God’s blessed providence.
A little fun every now and then never hurt anyone.
These so-called white lies are defined by the google machine as untruths that don’t intend to harm. In other words it means that there is no malice involved. That brings up the question as what makes a difference between a fib that brings fun and a rib that brings pain. It’s probably one of those things that former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart would say that he knows it when he sees it. Most of the time though it probably has a lot more to do with the person saying it and the person receiving it. We can joke and josh with a friend, or at least guys can. In today’s prayer and worship help we are going to think through a little bit about what the Bible has to say about the question, and moreso why it is the truth matters a whole more when we mean it.
I had a fellow I used to visit with in Mississippi say to me that he told one story so that he could tell me another one. At about the same age I was when my parents were telling me about the real reason for 1776 my dad was involved in some meetings related to the merger that took place in the early 1980s between the PCUS (the old Southern church) and the UPCUSA (the old Northern church), which is now the PCUSA. The three of us and my youngest sister at the time had grown up PCUS in the Greenbrier Presbytery, and still were at the time. I can remember my dad coming home from these merger meetings frustrated and mad. Now, that’s not too surprising for a Glaser, we have a tendency to 1) Be involved in meetings, and 2) Be frustrated with them.
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Part of the reason why we don’t see revival in our day is that for too many Christians it just seems far fetched to believe that it can happen. We don’t have it because we don’t pray for it. This petition of the Lord’s Prayer is a reminder that not only can it happen, but it has and will happen in the future. If our earnest desire is to see men and women come to repentance and faith, and we do what we need to do, namely pray and preach the gospel with power then the assurance is given in the words Thy Kingdom Come that we will be the partakers of it. 

The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer is an interesting part of Jesus’ message to His covenant people in regard to their responsibility to the world in which they live. We often hear people say or write that it is wrong to wish for Christ to reign as king over the nations during the time between His first and second advent. That it is trying to “build the kingdom of heaven on earth” to ask for our rulers and presidents to be godly men and our nations to reflect the wisdom and beauty of God’s truth. However, what we read today in the catechism is in fact the Prince of Peace imploring us to pray for this very thing, that the Kingdom Might Come.
For today’s catechism lesson we are going to be looking at some of the things we see as part and parcel of the role of prayer in enabling these blessings to come to pass, even in our own lifetime as the gospel goes forth and does its mighty work in the Great Commission. Here’s the Q/A:
Q. 191. What do we pray for in the second petition?
A. In the second petition, (which is, Thy kingdom come) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.
In the New Testament the devil is sometimes describes as the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), the “god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4), and “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Part of the good news of Jesus Christ is the promise found in Revelation 11:15 that, “And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” When we Christians speak this truth in our repetition of the Lord’s Prayer in the morning worship service we are seeking this reality to be true now.
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Even those who are black belts find it worthwhile to do the most white belt katas despite knowing the most rigorous moves and expert-level defenses. For the Christian the Lord’s Prayer finds a similar role. Whenever we get confused about how we can go about asking God for help the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect place to rest in familiar words which express in beautiful prose the elements of a believer’s faith.

Nearly all Reformed and Presbyterian churches say the Lord’s Prayer every week as a part of their order of service. I’d even venture to guess that those who do recite it, do so in unison as a congregation with the minister or an elder leading that devotional exercise. The catechism is asking us today some questions, and providing some answers, as to why we do that, why it is a good thing, and how we can ensure to do that better and with more feeling as the time rolls on.
I’ve said before that prayer is the lifeblood of a church. A church that does not pray does not really believe in God. That sounds harsh, but to be fair how can you say that your faith has made you well if you don’t talk to the one who healed you? People, and especially groups of people, who don’t pray together are like the nine lepers who did not return to say thank you to Jesus. Prayer expresses our heartfelt desire to be the Lord’s sons and daughters by the adoption of grace. Our Heavenly Father, as the preface of the Lord’s Prayer makes obvious, is the source of all joy, love, and peace which we experience in the Christian life. He has shown us that not only in giving us eternal life despite our wickedness, but has, as Q.187 notes, granted us a foolproof way to witness our thanksgiving through prayer. He provides not only the means, but the manner as well. Here is one way that Jehovah shows His love for us, and His fatherhood in protecting and supplying food for faith.
Here are the Q/A’s for today:
Q. 187. How is the Lord’s prayer to be used?
A. The Lord’s prayer is not only for direction, as a pattern, according to which we are to make other prayers; but may also be used as a prayer, so that it be done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty of prayer.
Q. 188. Of how many parts doth the Lord’s prayer consist?
A. The Lord’s prayer consists of three parts; a preface, petitions, and a conclusion.
Going back to the basics is always helpful in life, as much as it is in the grace of Christ.
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We are not to think of God as this big grandpa-like figure handing out Werther’s Originals to his grandchildren; just kind of a benevolent super-star up above doting on his little ones. While we confess and gladly believe that the Lord loves us with all His might and grace, we also recognize in humble reliance the same God who swirled around the top of Mount Sinai in thunder and lightning. His power and authority is the reason why we can pray at all. We must never domesticate the living and true Jehovah. He is the one who moves the mountains that we pray for, and He is the one who can alone deliver us from the trials and tribulations of this life.

I’ve made this point, probably too much, that the central beauty of the Presbyterian way of looking at things is that we are to always understand ourselves to be a part of a covenant community grounded in the free gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What that means practically is that the unity of the body is bound by the promise of mercy we have in the forgiveness of sins and the new life in and through our savior. It is a joint blessing and there is no sense in which we are to experience these glories alone. Even when we pray for individual needs we do so in the sure and certain knowledge that our brothers and sisters in Christ are likewise lifting us up to the Lord of glory. This mutual benevolence of faith people is united together in the eternal nature of our Triune God. That is part of what Paul is speaking about in his letter to Thessalonica as he encourages the people by giving thanks for the way they are always praying for the brethren in Jerusalem and elsewhere.
Another aspect of this is discovered in the picture drawn in the Old Testament of how the tribes were to help one another in the conquest of the land, and also how each of them were in turn and kind then to support their brother Levites in their labors. It is this image of the parts working together with one purpose that the more godly elements of the church is to follow in time. What does all this have to do with the Lord’s Prayer? As we enter into the separate parts of the Lord’s Prayer to whom and why we are lifting up supplications to God needs be kept central.
Let’s go ahead and read the Q/A and get started:
Q. 189. What doth the preface of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
The preface of the Lord’s prayer, contained in these words, Our Father which art in heaven, teaches us, when we pray, to draw near to God with confidence of his fatherly goodness, and our interest therein; with reverence, and all other child-like dispositions, heavenly affections, and due apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension: as also, to pray with and for others.
That first word is what the opening paragraphs have been all about. Our. Our Father. Also, remember the One who is introducing us to this form of prayer is the Son of the Living God. When He says Our think about what that means. We get a deeper sense of that in Jesus’s prayer in John 17.
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