SA Ep69 - Becoming a Prayer Warrior (Part 3)

SA Ep69 - Becoming a Prayr Warrior (Part 3)

In this episode we continue walking through the Lord’s Prayer by examining the phrase “which art in heaven.” While the opening words “Our Father” reveal the relationship believers have with God through salvation, this next phrase reminds us of His authority and position.

God is not merely a loving Father. He is the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. The Bible consistently presents heaven as the place of God’s throne, the seat of His authority, and the center of His rule over all creation. From heaven God governs the affairs of the universe, directs the course of history, and accomplishes His purposes on earth.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Seeking Approval Podcast. I'm Dr. Chris Smelser from Iliad Baptist Church. You know life moves fast, and faith is not meant to be rushed. I want to take some time and slow down with you and have some honest conversations from the Word of God about daily living. So join me here today on Seeking Approval. In every courtroom, there's a seat that represents authority. It's elevated above everyone else because the one who sits on it holds the power to decide the outcome of the case they're overseeing. Being lifted up like that is a position that reveals authority in an earthly sense. Well, in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus says that we are to pray to our Father which art in heaven. Those six words, our Father, which art in heaven, let us know number one, the paternity of who we are praying to. And then number two, that He is lifted higher above anyone or anything else that ought to be in our life. As we're working through this idea of becoming a prayer warrior and using this model prayer that Christ gave us in Matthew, we we see about ten different uh levels to this prayer or ten different things that we need to understand out of this prayer. The last time we looked at the paternity test, our Father. This time I want to look at which art in heaven, the position of authority. Hallowed be thy name, the priority of our worship. Then he says, Thy kingdom come. That's the program that God has for us. Thy will be done. That's the surrender of the believer unto God. Give us this day the provision of God. Forgive us our debts, the cleansing of the soul. Lead us not in temptation. That's the protection for the saints. Deliver us from evil. That's the idea that evil is present all around us at all times, and we must be in constant prayer. And then for thine is the kingdom and power and glory forever. That's the praise in the midst of the battle. So this uh episode that I want to look at the position of authority that God holds sitting above all things. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray and to use those words in Matthew 6, he says, which aren't in heaven. That tells us that we are speaking to someone more than if we're just talking to our friend. That we're just talking to someone, we're speaking to someone who is lifted higher above. And this is it's a it's a balance of words that's really almost uh it's almost too much for us to be able to understand. I mean, it's it's hard to really to describe it, uh, it's hard to teach on it because our minds really can't wrap themselves around the magnitude of just those those the four words which aren't in heaven. Because we can't really understand that. But it it brings our minds to a to an area uh almost of uncomfortability, I guess, because we don't really understand uh that there is a God who invites us to speak with him, to talk to him, to pray to him, to bring our supplications and our petitions to him. But yet he's the creator of the cosmos. He's lifted higher above anyone else in heaven. It's all throughout scripture, heaven is presented to us as the place of God's throne. It's not just a location or a distant thought. I heard a gentleman one time talking about, you know, heaven could be, you know, uh, you know, right over on uh over the other hilltop right there. Uh and he wasn't meaning like just in um you know that talking about you know death being him in, you know, right around the corner. He was literally meaning like, you know, we really don't know where heaven is. It could be just in the next uh uh over the next hilltop, it could be in the next uh uh uh thicket of woods. I mean, it's like no, that's that's heaven is is is high, it's mighty, it's lifted up above us. So we can look over uh in uh uh Psalm 104, uh verses you know one, two, three, or so, it says, Blessed Lord, O my soul, O Lord my God, thou art very great, thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain, who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind. Did you notice it says in verse three, who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters? That's talking about the waters that are in the atmosphere. And yes, that is true. Science is yet again, not that we need science to prove the Bible, but sure is nice that we have something like that to kind of hang our hat on, I guess. Uh, but it is proven that there are rivers flowing in the in in the atmosphere. And it says that he laid his beams of the chambers in those waters because it says, Who maketh the clouds his chariot? So it kind of keeps our eyes pointing upward, outward, away from here. It's it's it's higher, it's bigger. In um uh Psalm 82, verse number one. This is another Psalm of Asaph. I love reading the Psalms of Asaph. It says, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He judgeth among the gods. That's that's an incredible verse. Think about that for a moment. Aesaph didn't deny that there were other gods. Asaf didn't deny that there were other powerful things in this world, in this in the in the universe around us. But he says, Our capital G God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He judgeth among the little G gods. That's something bigger than this. That's something than just being, you know, over the next hilltop or in the next, you know, uh uh a thicket of woods. Psalm 103, 19 says, The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. See, God's authority is not limited to uh uh a race, a region, or a nation. It's I know he's the God of Israel, but he's more than the God of Israel. He's the God of all people. So his authority is bigger, it's higher, it's more lifted up than we can even imagine. And beginning that Lord's prayer is just a probably the most simplistic way, in four words, that we can place God where he belongs and where he ought to be in our life, which is high and lifted up. And it should change the way we approach our prayer. When we bow our heads and call on God, we're not speaking in uncertainty. We're not speaking into a hope so kind of thing. Our prayers are not powerless unless we lack the faith in those prayers. We're speaking to the one who sits on the throne of heaven, who ruleth and judges among all the gods, and is still in that courtroom, in that boardroom, in that area, his seat is still higher and lifted up. We're speaking to the God of heaven, the creator of the universe. Isaiah said in Isaiah 6 1, and I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. I mean, this is imagery that Isaiah is using, but it emphasizes the majesty and authority that God has, and when we pray, our Father, which art in heaven. Most of the time we just count those as throwaway words. You know, we just, well, we got to say this, our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come through. But each of these words that Christ gives us is important, those first two, our Father. If it wasn't our, if it was just Father, our changes everything. Our Father. Father brings the closest, that's that paternity. Which art in heaven. If it would have said, which was in heaven, which will be in heaven, it changes everything. But he says, which art in heaven, that is present, perfect. He will, he was in heaven, will be in heaven, always be in heaven. It emphasizes so much in just these first six words about who God is and who it is we're praying to. And if we want to become a prayer warrior in our life, if we want to be able to ring those prayer bells of heaven, as the old song says, we need to begin understanding better who we're praying to. We are praying to our Father. We're praying to someone who we have a very close relationship with, but let's not forget that we are praying also to the God of all the universe. Psalm 115, 3. But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Now that doesn't mean that God's acting randomly, that he just sits up and on every whim and says, Let's do this today. Let's see, let's let's create some thunderstorms. Let's create a uh a cold spell here in in the East Tennessee region. And and uh let's let's have it be 80 degrees on Saturday, but then on Monday, let's uh let's have a big snow blast come through and drop the temperature to 20 and just see how everybody adjusts to it. Well, there was just a uh last month there was a a Tuesday where it was 70 degrees. The following Tuesday it was seven degrees. That's a uh 63 degree change, if I'm my math is correct, roughly. So is he just acting randomly? No, is it but he he it what what he has that those words he hath done what he has pleased means that there is nothing greater that acts than he does. Nothing about him can be challenged. No authority can ever come against him. And when we begin to understand who God is, our Father, and where God is, high and lifted up in the heaven. It should begin to change our prayer life. In uh Matthew twenty eight, Jesus says, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Who had the right to give him that power? God the Father did, because he's high and lifted up, he's in the heaven, he's in the his throne is in the chambers that are uh cast upon the waters and sits upon the clouds. God is the one who uses the uh the solar system as his arm armrest and the props' feet upon the stool of the earth and cast the stars over his head as a canopy. This should give us confidence in our spiritual war, whatever you're facing today, and I don't know what it may be, and I know there's some folks out there that are facing some very major things. I don't know what you're facing today, but we need to we need we need to have a greater understanding that during this spiritual warfare that we are are under attack constantly, that we pray to the one who occupies the sole position of creator of the world. The devil, he occupies a position as the prince of this world currently. But we pray to the creator, we pray to the one who's who sits and rules in the hall and chamber of those little g gods. And so I whatever you're facing today, whether it's just the uncertainty of life, uh the the chaos of of all the many things that are coming against folks today, and it seems like there's just more and more and more. The the longer that I'm in a position of leadership that I'm in in the church and and trying to pastor and lead a flock and and uh be a a a biblical or a Bible instructor and teacher. But then on top of that, being a counselor, being um uh uh a purveyor of of God's house, uh being a steward of of God's money, the longer I'm in this the more that I see that people are under attack more so today than ever before. Our youth are facing things that uh my generation just thirty years ago when I was a teenager that would have never never thought about facing. Kids the kids know more today by eight, nine years old than I knew when I was in high school. They're they're facing so much more and at such an earlier age. Oh, well, there was a TV show the other day. Uh we don't I don't have TV. Uh it was I guess it was an ad or something that came across maybe uh uh on YouTube or uh um like a Google message that you know that comes through your phone. I can't remember where I saw it now. Um but it was it was something like 13 uh uh parents at 13 or something like that. It was about a a boy and girl who now have a child and and the boy and girl are 13 years old. And we're making TV shows about this, and it's made for kids. What are we doing? Our kids are facing things that we never thought about facing. When we read these words which are in heaven, that that should elevate our minds to a place that even though we are facing the onslaught of things today, the uncertainty and the and the chaos, the the debaucherous uh information that's out there and it's just flooding, flooding our children today, and and and our adults as well. Let's let's not throw everything off on the kids that they're the only ones facing this. There's there's adults out there who can't stop doom scrolling. If you don't know what doom scrolling is, uh we'll cover that at some point, I'm sure. And and when we when we say which art in heaven, we're praying to a God who is above all that. Nations shifting in power doesn't change who he is. Wars and bombs and uh diplomatic changes and treaties and petitions, they don't change who God is. As a believer, as a as a Christian, as one who who prays to the Almighty, the the God of all the universe, we ought to understand that we are part of something much larger. And we are praying to a God who sits on the throne of heaven and who loves us with such a tenderness that it is it is it is likened unto a a father loving a child, yet he rules all the gods. That means every prayer that we offer, every time we have to crawl into that throne room with fervency, with expectation, with broken and contrite spirit, all those things that the Bible tells us that that we that we ought to have, that we will have, or that we need to have in order to approach him in prayer, that means that we can crawl up to the creator of the universe that's high and lifted up, whose train fills the temple, who has the angels surrounding him right now, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And as they look down upon him, 'cause with Twain they cover their face, with Twain they cover their feet, and with Twain they did fly, and right there, as they're flying around the throne room that that John describes so beautifully for us in chapter number four of Revelation. If you look close enough, you can see me right there with my head laid over in his lap just this morning saying, God, I I got some things I gotta bring to you today. I got some folks that's on my heart, I got some young folks that's facing trials, I got some uh elders elderly in my church that are facing some problems. God, I I I can't do these things, I can't handle these things. All I can do today is bring them to you. If you look close enough when you read those passages throughout scripture, if you'll look down, you're probably gonna see me right there at his feet. Because I pray to the God that is high and lifted up. Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallow be thy name. Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval. You know our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places. I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day. And join me, Dr. Chris Smelser, again next time as we continue thinking, learning, and walking together. Until then, grace and peace to you from Seeking Approval at Gilead Baptist Church.