Our God, He is an Awesome God

 Rightly Approaching the Lord in Prayer

By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts from Parson Farms:

In the Lord’s mercy as we come before Him in prayer it is important for us to remember who it is we are speaking to in that moment. Just as we would faint not to approach the queen of England with a slap on the back and a bro-hug we should never make our way to the throne of grace without humbling ourselves before the One who has made the Heavens and the Earth. That’s really what our Catechism lesson is about today. When Jesus is teaching the disciples about prayer He first uses the negative example of the arrogance of the Pharisees and then paints a picture of a person who does all things in secret and without public approbation. Why is this the case? It is because remembering the lesson of the first answer of the catechism: We are to Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever is what enables us to successfully lift up our needs to the Lord. The Old Testament is littered with examples of men who seek out God and are dismissed from His presence and the reasons for it are always tied into how those individuals understand themselves in relation to Jehovah. While it is right and good to believe and confess that we can call Him our Father and we should not be in fear of Him in the sense of being afraid there must be a recognition of His authority and majesty which tempers our informality. Let’s look at the Q/A’s for this week...

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See also:

• A Prayer for Joy (Anselm) – The Reformed Reader (wordpress.com)