7. Small groups follow Jesus’ example with His twelve disciples! Jesus chose twelve men…that they might be with Him…(Mark 3:14)Jesus spent time with many others too, but he focused on the twelve. There is a limit to the number of people we can impact deeply with our lives. Small groups provide a great environment in which to influence and impact a few deeply.

8. Small groups are one of the most effective means of caring for others! (Small groups are our first line of defense at Southside Christian Church!) Late last fall, a family in our church lost a family member in a tragic farm accident. This family’s small group rallied around them providing love and meals. Additionally, their small group mustered over 50 volunteers to come to their farm to finish fencing in their land before winter set in.

9. Small groups offer spiritual partnership! Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” We all need that sharpening, that honing that takes place in deep relationships! Next to the Word of God, I’ve personally found spiritual partnership to be the single most powerful lever in my life for bringing about spiritual transformation.

10. Small groups provide us with ways to bear one another’s burdens. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” A great way we carry one another’s burdens is by praying for each other and this occurs hundreds of times weekly in our small groups!

©2012 Rob Fischer

In the Lord’s Prayer we are asking Him for strength to resist temptation. The New Living Translation renders it, “And don’t let us yield to temptation.” Another way to put it might be, “Lord, please lead me out of and away from the things that tempt me!” Jesus warned His disciples on the night He was betrayed, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) As we’ve seen elsewhere in this prayer, we are dependent on our heavenly Father and in this case, we’re dependent on His strength to resist temptation.

Where does temptation come from? The Scriptures point out at least three sources of temptation: the world system, our own fleshly desires and the devil (see 1 John 2:15-16; James 1:14; and John 13:2). The world and its ways are contrary to God. There’s nothing mysterious about this. The world calls good what God calls evil; and it calls evil what God calls good. Abortion or the killing of unborn children is one sober example of this horrible distortion.

One significant way in which we are led astray by the world is through others who aren’t following Jesus. Paul warns, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” (1 Corinthians 15:33) The world offers enticements that lure us away from God’s pure character toward lewd and baser things. The world cries out to us, “Come run with us.” “Everybody’s doing it!” “No one will know.” “It’s fun, try it!” “It doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Clearly, a second way we are led into temptation is through our own fleshly desires stimulated by greed, lust, envy, jealousy, and pride. The Bible refers to this as, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16) James explains, “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15) Because our flesh is weak, it’s so important that we ‘feed’ our spirit with God’s Word, fellowship and prayer.

Finally, some temptations come from the evil one, the devil. Jesus was tempted by the evil one, yet He resisted his temptations and did not sin. Peter warns us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” (1 Peter 5:8-9) The devil wants to trip us up. He wants to foil God’s plan to transform us and make us more like Christ. He lies to us in much the same way he lied to Adam and Eve in the garden.

Coming back to the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to help us resist temptation and to protect us from the evil one. This prayer presupposes that we will obediently avoid such situations that would place us in harm’s way. In other words, don’t go to places where you know you’ll be tempted. Don’t hang out with others who are constantly trying to lead you into temptation. And in some situations where temptation simply appears unannounced, we must flee! We must not flirt with temptation, but flee from it! We’re told to “Flee from sexual immorality!” (1 Corinthians 6:18) “Flee from idolatry!” (1 Corinthians 10:14) Flee from the lure of riches. (1 Timothy 6:11) And “Flee the evil desires of youth.” (2 Timothy 2:22)

“Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

©2011 Rob Fischer

As we read or pray this prayer, it would be easy for us to see our “daily bread” or the “forgiveness of our debts” as the focal things, but they aren’t. The focal thing in this prayer is God and our relationship with Him. When we express our need to Him for bread and for forgiveness, we interact with Him in a way that cultivates our relationship with Him and acknowledges who He is. God is not merely the “bread-Giver” or “Forgiver,” He is our Father. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)

I also recently heard someone claim that if one is “in Christ,” then that person is already forgiven all past, present and future sins and need no longer ask forgiveness. This statement is an attempt to reduce our relationship with God to mere dogma or theology. Think of this in terms of relationship instead. If a husband says, “I don’t need to tell my wife I love her, she already knows that,” he is depriving his wife and himself of the expression of and cultivation of their love relationship. The same is true for us if we say we don’t need to ask God forgiveness.

When we sin, we need to confess our sins, humble ourselves before God and ask His forgiveness. Sin rifts any relationship. Forgiveness repairs that rift. Theologically we know that God will forgive us before we ask Him, but experientially we need to ask Him. We need to express our sorrow over sin and resolve to love and follow Him. This is all necessary for a healthy relationship. (See 1 John 1:9.)

But there is a second part of this prayer of forgiveness. We’ve already asked for God’s kingdom to rule in our hearts and lives. One of the ways we live that out most fully is by forgiving others when they sin against us. We want to be like our Father, who is loving, long-suffering and forgiving. Can we really expect Him to forgive us if we refuse to forgive others? In fact, shortly after this prayer, Jesus commented, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

A friend who discipled me many years ago coached me to “keep short accounts” with God and with others. What he meant was to attend to our relationships in such a way that we would never be harboring ill-will toward someone or withholding forgiveness from someone. In this same spirit we pray to our heavenly Father, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

©2011 Rob Fischer

Asking God to provide for us is not an abdication of our responsibility to work hard for ours and others’ needs. Rather this request simply acknowledges that everything we have and enjoy is a gift from God. We look to Him as our loving, sovereign benefactor. The psalmist expressed to God: “You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor. You cause grass to grow for the livestock and plants for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth—wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength.” (Psalm 104:13-15 NLT)

Our request for God to “give us today our daily bread” also emphasizes a daily, habitual looking to Him for all our needs. In our culture, we often think of dependency as a negative thing. But dependency on God is always healthy, “For in him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) When a small child depends on its parents for everything that child needs, this represents a good and wholesome relationship. So it is in our relationship with our heavenly Father.

Finally, we recognize in asking, “Give us today our daily bread,” it would be foolish of us to rant and rave like a spoiled child demanding things from our Father that we do not need or should not have. God is not a genie who appears on command to fulfill our every wish! Yet He is not stingy either. Paul urged Timothy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

The things beyond our needs that God has given us, we enjoy due to His kindness and gracious provision. He is so good! He wants us to continue to trust in Him and to learn to be like Him and give generously to others just as He has given generously to us. Thus we humbly pray, “Give us today our daily bread.”

©2011 Rob Fischer

“Our Father in heaven….” We begin by addressing God as “our Father.” He is the Father of us all from the viewpoint that He created us. We are His. (See Acts 17:24-31.) More specifically, God has called us into relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Through Christ we become His children; His sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18). So we rightly and reverently address God as our Father. We look to Him for everything: love, protection, provision, and deep relationship.

We come to Him, not as an outsider begging for a hearing that we might make a one-time request. We come to Him as our loving Father, who delights in His children. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!?” (Matthew 7:11) Do you believe that? It’s vital that we do! To think less of God is to belittle Him and demean His character. So come to Him as His beloved child knowing that He longs to hear from you and spend time with you.

When I pray, “Our Father,” I also recognize that I am not alone as God’s child. Instead, I’m a part of God’s family. There are numerous implications of this truth. You or I are not an only child in God’s family! The relationships we have with others of God’s children are profoundly important in terms of our relationship with our Father. If we have a problem with one of God’s kids, we’ve got a problem with God! Those broken relationships cannot help but negatively impact our ability to pray and fellowship with our Father.

In the same context of Matthew’s account, Jesus had explained earlier the correlation between our relationship with the Father and with others of His kids. Jesus said that if we’re in the process of worshiping God and remember a broken relationship, we’re must speedily reconcile with that brother or sister first and then return to worshiping God (Matthew 5:23-24). And Peter warns husbands that failure to treat our wives in an understanding way will hinder our prayers to God (1 Peter 3:7).

That we pray, “Our Father,” also calls to mind the wonder and power of praying in concert with other followers of Christ. When God’s kids come together as a family to pray to their heavenly Father, some very powerful things happen! (See Acts 4:23-31.)

©2011 Rob Fischer

The text of the two prayers is nearly identical. The fact that they are not exactly the same demonstrates that these are two separate incidents, and that Jesus’ intention for this model has more to do with the spirit of prayer than with the repetition of static words.

The context of the prayer in Matthew’s Gospel shows that Jesus is trying to correct a hypocritical approach to prayer that was common among the religious leaders of the day. These hypocrites (Jesus calls them that!) would stand in public places and pray aloud for the benefit of being seen and heard by others. Jesus explains, “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:5) Their prayers accomplished nothing further than perhaps impressing the simple-minded and swelling their own heads!

In contrast to the hypocrites, Jesus urges us, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)Our view of God impacts the way we pray. If we think that praying is simply a religious act with which we earn points with God and by which we can impress others, our view of God belittles and demeans him and twists our motives into something evil. But if we view prayer as a means for communion with our heavenly Father, who is awesome, loving and caring, we find great reward in him.

Jesus also explains that God is not interested in prayers full of endless babble or meaningless repetition. This was the practice among the pagans of the day and still is today. Jesus comments that these people think that God will answer because of their incessant pleading. But Jesus says, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8) Again, a false view of God leads to a distorted view of prayer.

Jesus then explained, “This, then, is how you should pray,” and he models what we call the “Lord’s Prayer.”

©2011 Rob Fischer

Occasionally, when I’ve cried out to God in desperation like that, I’ve sense His immediate, clear response. This was also such an occasion. I perceived God saying, “I don’t want your relationships to be fragile!” His response jarred me, because I’ve often thought of the health of relationships as fragile in terms of how volitile or easily they disintigrate. I had always assumed that frailty was simply the nature of our earthly relationships.  All that evening and into the next morning I mulled over the characteristics of fragile relationships and contrasted them with the characteristics of durable relationships. My brainstorming over these characteristic yielded the list below. I trust that God will use this contrast in your heart and life. May all your relationships become durable ones!

©2011 Rob Fischer

One year, while Hannah and her husband were worshiping at Shiloh, Hannah prayed a desperate prayer to God again begging him to give her a son. It’s striking that she specifically asked for a son. Furthermore, she promised that she would devote this son to the Lord and His service all his life. Meanwhile, Eli the priest saw her praying and told her, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” (1 Samuel 1:17)

When Hannah left that day, she was no longer down-cast, but trusted that God was going to work on her behalf. And just a short time later, she became pregnant. When her child was born she named him Samuel. Hannah named him Samuel (meaning, “heard of God”) as a reminder that he was an answer to prayer from God.

Samuel went on to be a great judge, prophet and leader of Israel. He was a man who always followed and obeyed God and led Israel to do the same. Through his example and influence Samuel led Israel into righteous living through deeper relationship with God. What a tribute to God’s love and faithfulness to Hannah (and all Israel) in the midst of her great anguish, grief and affliction!

Perhaps there’s some great hurdle or need in your life through which God may be glorified. Continue to pray to Him, seek His glory and His kingdom and watch what He does to glorify Himself and bring great blessing to you and to others as you trust Him. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

©2011 Rob Fischer

God created us for relationship with him, but what does that look like? How do we interact with God? What does he expect from us? We are to love God, but what is this about enjoying him? Two-way communication is a hallmark of any relationship, so how does communication function in our relationship with God? How does God speak to us? How do we recognize his voice? What do we do with what he tells us? Rob seeks to answer all these questions and more through the Scriptures and lots of examples from his own life, so that you too may be enthralled with God!

Enthralled with God–Cultivating a Joy-Filled Relationship with Him is available on Amazon.com! You will find the book in both soft-cover and e-version.

Below is the brief introduction from this book that I’m sure you’ll want to read.

Introduction

A few years ago, a young woman named Amy was living with us. One evening we heard the front door open and my wife and I went to the top of the stairs to greet Amy. She was returning home from discipleship training at our church. I called down to her and asked her how it went.

Amy had a huge grin on her face and stood there speechless for a moment. Then she blurted out, “I’ve been a Christian for many years, but tonight I discovered that I can enjoy God!—This changes everything!”

It’s true! Enjoying God, being enthralled with him does change everything! My experience and that of countless others have been every bit as dramatic and life-changing.

If you long to know God more deeply, seeing him as your joy and delight, then this book is for you! You are embarking on a great adventure with God!

© 2010 Rob Fischer

To order your copy of Enthralled with God please click on the link: http://www.amazon.com/Enthralled-God-Cultivating-Relationship-ebook/dp/B004CRSSZ6/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290529603&sr=1-4

After many years of serving Christ and taking the Gospel to those who had not yet heard the good news of Christ, Paul recounts some of his sufferings, persecutions and trials in 2 Corinthians 11. He had been flogged, beaten and imprisoned numerous times. He had been ship-wrecked three times and once had spent a day-and-a-half in the open sea. He’d been in danger from bandits, from his own countrymen and from the Gentiles. He had often worked hard to support himself and others, often gone without sleep, food, shelter and even clothes. Besides all this he often felt overwhelmed by his concern for the welfare of the churches he and his co-workers had established. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

Paul goes on to explain that all these sufferings had a dual effect in his life: first, they revealed his own weakness. But in realizing his weaknesses, the second effect came to light: namely, that Christ is all-sufficient in his life. He heard this word from the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Later, writing from prison, Paul explains his attitude toward his sufferings to the Philippian Christians, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Philippians 1:20)

Anyone can become overwhelmed and mired down in self-pity over their trials and suffering. To respond so is human. But when, in our suffering, we revel in and demonstrate the all-sufficiency of Christ, He is glorified and suddenly our suffering has a greater purpose and meaning.

Paul explained, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” Let Christ be glorified in you and through your suffering. Trust in His all-sufficiency!

©2011 Rob Fischer