Thy Kingdom Come

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The third step prayer is the essence of turning my will and life over to the care of God. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. One of the key parts of the Third Step prayer, this request for relief from the bondage of self is another way of saying Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Father, set me free that I might be a better servant to you and others. It may be ironic that the more I surrender and sacrifice my will the freer I become, but it is also true. When I pray that God's will is done on earth as in heaven I am trying to get my will out of the way of the fulfillment of God's will on earth, and more specifically, in my life. This prayer sets the motivation for how I need and want to go through my day with conscious contact with my Creator. My relationship with God is the key to my recovery and a life worth living. Keeping the will of God my desire helps me to silence the siren call of self and remain spiritually fit.

The Lord's Prayer Continued...

"Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name..."

I know I wrote on the first two words of this in my last entry, but I have come to realize that I can not remind myself too much or too often that God is my adopted Father. It also is good for me to remind myself of God's place in my life. My Father, my Lord, I turn my will and life over to You this day and every day, and as long as I remember that He is the Father and I am the child, He is the Master, and I am His servant, then it's easier to stop and check myself when the idea pops into my mind that I can be in control of my life and or follow my own will.

When I remember that God reigns in Heaven I am reminded once again that He is on the throne of everything, including my life and my will. I also come to the understanding that just as Heaven and earth are not the same, God's ways and will are not my like mine. This is important for me to keep in mind before I react to anything, because I am not yet instinctive with the ways of God. His nature has not become second nature to me, not in all areas at all times anyway. All too often, my first thought, impulse or reaction comes from self and is not the will of God for me or anyone involved. But if I stop before I react, ask for guidance, and then, when the direction comes, follow it, things have a way of working for the good in my life. This isn't always easy. Sometimes I want to say. "You want me to do what? Are You crazy God?"

It may sound sacrilegious and horrible to say such things out loud, but I do not have a religion with God. I have a relationship with my Father. He already knows His ways seem foreign to me. He understands it often feels unnatural and frightening for me to do His will over my own. I might as well admit it to myself and Him. But it doesn't matter if I find doing God's will frighting or unnatural, as long as I trust that He knows the better way and wants the best for me, I can set my fears and self aside and follow His direction. When I am able to do this, I find heaven in my life. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within me, and when I walk according to God's plan, this is evident in my life.

And for giving me His presence, for making heaven exist in me and my life and freeing me from what was a hell on earth existence, for taking over the job of running my life after old management drove it to bankruptcy, I give Him my gratitude and praise. Hallowed be His name. He is holy. God is complete and whole and righteous, and yet loves me despite the fact that I am none of those things. When I praise Him, I remind myself that whatever righteousness appears to exist in my life is only because of Him. By allowing Him to reign in my life, I invite Him into my life and this brings transformation. My earthly self begins to take on more and more heavenly characteristics as I allow God more and more control over every aspect of my being.

These simple ideas from the first part of The Lord's Prayer are the reason that as I do yet another inventory of my life I can see positive progress and not just a mess. I can look at myself without having to seek escape or the false serenity of oblivion. Although I still find myself afraid and angry from time to time, I know that God is not. His way can become my way, His reality can be my reality, His heaven can be my home now not only after death. He is able to complete the work that He has begun because He has no faults, no character defects, no shortcomings that would prevent His success in anything.

Who's Your Daddy?

I have finally reached what is probably the most well known and often quoted section of The Sermon On The Mount, The Lord's Prayer. Here Jesus sums up everything that He has taught us so far on the importance of relationship with our Creator with a precise example of how to communicate with Him while also teaching even more about the spiritual principles covered in the Sermon.

He begins with the two most important words ever used to describe our relationship with our Creator. The start of everything worth while is our Father. God is our father, but that produces different mental images in different people due to our experiences, or lack of experiences, with out earthly fathers. Some of us had great fathers, and some of us had men that shouldn't be allowed to raise animals, much less children. Most have men somewhere in between who love their children and do the best they can, but they still make many mistakes. This is why there are sayings like "any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a daddy. This is true in the human sense, but when God tells us He is our Father it is like He is saying I'm you Daddy, only perfect. I'm the Daddy you had without the mistakes or the Daddy you dreamed of having only better.

When He Himself prayed Jesus began with "Abba, Father." Abba is a word that was the Greek word that meant papa or daddy. Jesus is making it clear the relationship He had with the Father is one of daddy and beloved son. Through Christ we can become the adopted children of God and have Him as a Daddy as well. A Daddy who cares completely about us while at the same time knowing us and understanding us even better than we know and understand ourselves. This is difficult for me to grasp at times because in the past, the better I knew and understood myself the less I liked myself. If God really knew and understood me, how could He love me? I couldn't. But God does love me, and He loves me enough to change me into a man I can respect, like and even love.

This is a vital truth for recovery. God loves me, and God loves everyone else just as much as He loves me, no more and no less. I have to understand this. I can not in any sense of truth turn over my will and my life over to the care of a God that I am not sure loves me. If I try I will fail, because if I don't trust God to love me than I have to protect myself from whatever God might do that falls short of love. I act as though He might do something that is not in my best interest. But the truth is that the worst wreckage in my past was caused in some way or another by an attempt to protect myself from God. The sad thing is that I never needed to protect myself from God. That is the one relationship where I was never vulnerable to being hurt by the other party.

God is my Father, my Daddy, and when I turn my life over to Him, He makes it better. He doesn't prevent me from doing the things I want to do. He changes the darkness within me into light, causing a change in what I want. It is brainwashing and spiritwashing and emotionwashing, and I was miserable and in desperate need of a bath. He will never leave me or fall short of perfect love. This is the truth that my entire recovery is built on, and it is good to remind myself of it whenever I begin a conversation with my Creator. Father, thank you for our relationship. Can we talk? All the while knowing that the answer is always yes.

One last comment on the words our Father. Jesus said "our," not "my." This is important because it shows that this relationship is not exclusive to the perfect and only begotten Son of God. It is available to all of us. It is also crucial that I remember that every person I encounter can say the same thing. When I understand that God wants to be Daddy to the person I find myself dealing with it's a whole lot easier to treat them as though the have value, to love them.

Who's Your Daddy?

I have finally reached what is probably the most well known and often quoted section of The Sermon On The Mount, The Lord's Prayer. Here Jesus sums up everything that He has taught us so far on the importance of relationship with our Creator with a precise example of how to communicate with Him while also teaching even more about the spiritual principles covered in the Sermon.

He begins with the two most important words ever used to describe our relationship with our Creator. The start of everything worth while is our Father. God is our father, but that produces different mental images in different people due to our experiences, or lack of experiences, with out earthly fathers. Some of us had great fathers, and some of us had men that shouldn't be allowed to raise animals, much less children. Most have men somewhere in between who love their children and do the best they can, but they still make many mistakes. This is why there are sayings like "any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a father. This is true in the human sense, but when God tells us He is our Father it is like He is saying I'm you Daddy, only perfect. I'm the Daddy you had without the mistakes or the Daddy you dreamed of having only better.

When He Himself prayed Jesus began with "Abba, Father." Abba is a word that was the Greek word that meant papa or daddy. Jesus is making it clear the relationship He had with the Father is one of daddy and beloved son. Through Christ we can become the adopted children of God and have Him as a Daddy as well. A Daddy who cares completely about us while at the same time knowing us and understanding us even better than we know and understand ourselves. This is difficult for me to grasp at times because in the past, the better I knew and understood myself the less I licked myself. If God really knew and understood me, how could He love me? I couldn't. But God does love me, and He loves me enough to change me into a man I can respect, like and even love.

This is a vital truth for recovery. God loves me, and God loves everyone else just as much as He loves me, no more and no less. I have to understand this. I can not in any sense of truth turn over my will and my life over to the care of a God that I am not sure loves me. If I try I will fail, because if I don't trust God to love me than I have to protect myself from whatever God might do that falls short of love. I act as though He might do something that is not in my best interest. But the truth is that the worst wreckage in my past was caused in some way or another by an attempt to protect myself from God. The sad thing is that I never needed to protect myself from God. That is the one relationship where I was never vulnerable to being hurt by the other party.

God is my Father, my Daddy, and when I turn my life over to Him, He makes it better. He doesn't prevent me from doing the things I want to do. He changes the darkness within me into light, causing a change in what I want. It is brainwashing and spiritwashing and emotionwashing, and I was miserable and in desperate need of a bath. He will never leave me or fall short of perfect love. This is the truth that my entire recovery is built on, and it is good to remind myself of it whenever I begin a conversation with my Creator. Father, thank you for our relationship. Can we talk? All the while knowing that the answer is always yes.

One last comment on the words our Father. Jesus said "our," not "my." This is important because it shows that this relationship is not exclusive to the perfect and only begotten Son of God. It is available to all of us. It is also crucial that I remember that every person I encounter can say the same thing. When I understand that God wants to be Daddy to the person I find myself dealing with it's a whole lot easier to treat them as though the have value, to love them.

I Have To Keep My Motives In Check

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Matthew 6: 1-8

Last time I explored the last verse in Matthew 5, reminding me that I must not put the effect before the cause. Jesus made it clear that it is relationship with the Father that brings about perfection in me and not the other way around. As we begin chapter 6 Jesus continues to stress relationship as the key to freedom.

Relationship with God brings a natural result of God's love working in and through our lives. I can't be patient, tolerant, of service to others, and show the perfect love of God on my own or to earn conscious contact with my Creator. But while I can't speak for anyone else, often when the positive results of a spiritual life result in praise from others, I can slip into pride. I have rarely felt good about myself in the past so I am still learning how to react to liking who I am and how I behave. I want to take the praise for the good in my life, and in order to do that, at least on a subconscious level, I have to also take the credit for doing the right thing. Two bad things occur when I slip into such thoughts. First, I lose my sense of gratitude. I can't be grateful for what God has done for me and gives me when I am acting like I brought these things about, or, worse, like I deserve them. When I lose my gratitude to God my relationship with God falters, and I once again strap myself to the yoke of trying to bring about the ability to do the next right thing and serve God and others on my own ability, strength and will power. The entire idea is doomed to fail.

Secondly, I start trying to operate from the wrong motivation. My motivation has ceased to be improving relationship with God to bring about the aspect of God in my life and becomes the drive to look good in order to find praise. It's dangerous. Since I can't do the next right thing very many times in a row before I completely fail and let people down, tying my sobriety, my self-value and my purpose to trying to please others is one of the quickest ways I can put a wall between God and me and throw away my recovery.

Jesus knows that I, and no one I have ever met, can not seek relationship with the Father and be moved to love and serve in truth while living addicted to the idea looking good to others and receiving praise. So He starts off His transition from the necessity of relationship to bring about righteousness to pray by stressing the importance of keeping out motives in check. Why am I being of service? Is it truly to serve or am I seeking praise? Am I giving back to God from that which He has given me because I am grateful and want to express that gratitude with action or because it will look, or worse, because I think giving back is how I get more (the very idea is rooted in the idea that I can buy the blessings of God, and like the ability to earn relationship is impossible)? After covering the need to avoid giving for praise, Jesus speaks about praying for praise.

This is not just about praying. This is about my motivation for doing or saying anything spiritual. Nothing I do spiritually, whether it is praying or sharing my experience, strength and hope, can be motivated by anything other than a desire to improve my relationship with God and to be of service to Him and others out of love. This doesn't mean I have to literally hide what I do. This means I have to check my motives and make sure that when praise is given I redirect it to He whom praise is due. In both steps 3 and 7 I agree to turn my will and my life over to the care of God and allow Him to change and remove anything that would prevent me from entering into closer relationship with Him or from being of service to Him or my fellows. This sometimes means I pray or share or even write a blog publicly, but not for my praise or glory but to be of service to the One who made the story glorious.

By addressing these two issues, Jesus reminds me of the two basic foundation principles behind relationship with God. Service to God and communication, or prayer, with God. But how do we pray when we really don't know how to have relationship and communication with God? Jesus is aware of my, and others, difficulties with prayer. So He used the above verses to transition between a discussion on the need for relationship to the how to's of how to talk with God. And I will be moving into the first blog exploration of The Lord's Prayer next time.