The following are words given by participants at the streamed meeting. 1 Corinthians 14:29 says that "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others weigh carefully what is said." 1 Thess 5:19-21 tells us not to despise prophecies, but to test everything and retain what is good.
Scripture Reading John 16:5-14 - "But now I am going to him who sent me; and none of you asks me, "Where are you going?" But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak; and he will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you."
Scripture Reading 2 Peter 3:8-9 - "But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of "slowness", but he is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but that all to come to repentance."
Prophecy - "You know who I am? Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? Call on me. Use my name. Do you know who I am? I am He who walks beside you. I am He who brings you to the Father, to bring all your petitions to the Father. It is through me that the Father hears your petitions, through me. Use my name. Do you know who I am? Not just on Wednesday nights, not just on Sunday; do you know who I am all the time? Call on me."
Prophecy - "Things are changing. Things are changing for the better. You are growing closer to me and each step in my direction pushes back the darkness. I am with you. I love you."
Scripture Reading Philippians 2:10-11 - "And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Scripture Reading Psalm 19:9-14 - "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned; Also keep in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer."
The Lord wants us to pray because there's people that have a prophetic word but are afraid to use it or something is blocking it. And the Lord is saying, can we pray for a little while so that we can get rid of whatever it is that is causing this blockage. We need to pray in tongues or ask the Lord to remove whatever block there is or asking Michael the Archangel. .... Prayer followed.
"Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him." (Deut. 33:12) The phrase, "You are beloved" reminds me of a beautiful blessing by Moses to the Israelite tribe of Benjamin just before he died.
When they were singing the song to Our Father, it mentioned something about we are surrounded by others who have crossed this river before; and it just really always makes my heart burn when I feel, when I think of all the Saints and a lot of other faithful people that are gone before us, that we're all part of the one big family of God. We walk with a lot of people before who have believed in Jesus and I'm sure he's looked after them. We have a lot of ancestors that have gone before us.
Bishop Robert Barron spoke on St. Luke's version of the Lord's prayer, "Our Father". It comes from Jesus' own life of prayer. "Father, hallowed be your name." We're invited to call him Father; Hebrew Abba, more like Daddy. Jesus is giving us the privilege to enter into that kind of intimacy with God. And we're asking that we always hallow (holy) the name of God. May we always consider God a value so supreme that every other value by comparison simply falls away. "You alone are the centre of my life."
"May your kingdom come." Origen, the great Church Father said Jesus is the Kingdom in person. The kingdom means God's reign, God's way of ordering things. This happened in Jesus. May we be drawn more and more completely into the power of Jesus. May this reign embodied in him become normative for me.
"Give us each day our daily bread." The Greek behind this: Give us the supersubstantial bread. The Eucharist: Bread that has been trans substantiated into the body and blood of Christ. We want to be fed. We want to be drawn into him.
"Forgive us our sins." The most important thing that Jesus does is that he forgive us our sins. C.S. Lewis: Only God who is offended in every sin can say to us, "My son, my daughter, your sins are forgiven." No human being can say, "I forgive all your sins." In this prayer we are asking the Lord to forgive our sins.
"As we forgive those who trespass against us." Challenge to us: Now I have to forgive those who have offended me and I become a Christ to others. What we're praying for is the grace to forgive those persons as we have been forgiven.
"Do not subject us to the final test." To understand this, we have to go back to the first century. There was a presupposition that before the Messiah came, there would be a period of testing and of trial. When Jesus comes into our dysfunctional world, it rises up in resistance. As Christ comes into our life, we start resisting. We don't want to change. So, expect this. Don't be surprised when a resistance to Christ rises up in us. So, the last thing we ask for is, "Lord, do not subject us to the final test. Lead us not into temptation. Lord, protect me from my resistant self."
Every step of the Lord's prayer is opening up a window and a door to the spiritual life. Next time, we pray it, we were invited to pray it very slowly, meditating on each one of these phrases.
Georgina kept asking the Lord to provide opportunities for her grandsons to want to come with her to church. And the opportunities are coming more and more often. She is very, very grateful how God is hearing these prayers.
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