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thew 6:14-15 and the parable of
Matthew 18:21-35.
"And lead us not into temptalion,
bul deliver us from evil."
In this passage, the original Greek
is more correclly rendered : "Bring us
not into sore tria!, but deliver us from
the Evil One." For God tempts no
man (James 1:13), but Hedoes per–
mit us to fall into trials and troubles
of our own or Satan tbe devil's devis–
ing if we are not keeping close to Him
and seeking His help and guidance.
Knowing the deceitfulness of our
human nature, we should pray regu–
larly as did Jeremiah:
·•o
Lord, cor–
rect me, but with judgment; not in
thine anger, lest thou bring me to
nothing" (Jer. 10:24). Learn to sin–
cerely ask God that-if you can't
learn a needed lesson any olher
way- He will rebuke and chasten
you, correcl you, fashion you and
mold you, and make you fil lo live
forever in His Kingdom!
Close With Praise and Ado ration
" For thine is the kingdom, and lhe
power, and the glory, for -ever.
Amen."
As Jesus' inspired outline of
prayer begins with praise and adora–
tion of God, so does it close. This re–
minds us, again, to whom we are
praying and the character and office
of the true God who rules over the
nations of men!
A wonderful example of this in–
spired instruction regarding the
opening and closing of a prayer is
found in the prayer of Daniel when
he cried out for the deliverance of the
people of Judah (Dan. 9:3-19).
Notice how Daniel began:
··o
Lord, the great and dreadful God,
keeping lhe covenant and merey 10
them thal love him, and to lhem thal
keep his commandments; we have
sinned, and have committed iniquity,
and have done wickedly, and have re–
belled ... " (verse 4-5).
Again, notice the hearlfelt appeal
to God which Daniel made at the
close of this fine prayer- a prayer
which was heard and answered!
"O my God, incline thine ear, and
hear; open thine eyes, and behold our
desolations, and the city which is
called by thy name: for we do nol
present our supplications before thee
The
PLAIN TRUTH February
1979
for our righteousnesses, bul for 1hy
great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord,
forgive; O Lord, hearken and do: de–
fer not , for thine own sake. O my
God: for thy city and thy people are
called by thy name" (verses 18-19).
Not only praising God's name, His
office and authority, but having this
right attitude of total repentance, sub–
mission and obedience- this is anoth–
er vital key toanswered prayer!
Close your prayers with a sincere
acknowledgment-in a spirit of wor–
ship-that all real and lasting glory
and power belong lo God- and that
the right to all government, authorily
and kingship belongs 10 Him who
created us all in the first place!
l fyou wish a moredetailed explana-
((
Once you have proved
the true God's existence
and active power- and
the Bible as His direct
revelation to man-a ·
vital key to prayer is to
fervently seek God with
your whole being-and
to put your whole heart
into your prayers!
' '
tion of the vital keys to answered
prayer, write for our free article "The
Answer to Unanswered Prayer!" You
will find it most helpful. So request
it- study it- and use it!
To live life to its fullest, to have the
divine. help of the lrue God who lives
and rules, you need to prove His exis–
tence and active power; to believe
Him as you pray; to put your whole
heart into seeking and crying out to
the God of Jesus Christ; and lo follow
the inspired outline of prayer given
by the Son of God!
Do this! You will have answers and
intervention in your personal life
such as you may never have dreamed
possible in a mixed-up world where
the true God of the Bible often seems
so far away.
o
DIET..:'
(Continued from page 25)
itself. Love is patient; it knows how lO
wait without being irritated.
1t
does
not suspect wrong motives. Love for- ·
gives faults and forgets them- it
· never seeks vengeance (1Cor. 13).
Again, ask yourself: Does this de–
scribe me?
Inessence,lhis is your spiritual diet.
· Jt d.oes work if you follow it faithfull y.
You must learn to refuse to accept
whatever is contrary to it. You will
say, "No, thank you, il isn' t good for
me. ll 's not in my diet.'' You won't
criticize people, you won't judge any–
one, you won't speak evil of your
. neighbor, because sueh things add ex–
cess calories and increase your spiri–
tual obesity. They are against love.
They are prohibited in your Manual.
How would you like to try this spiri–
tual diet awhile? lsn't it more impor–
tant than your physical diet? What
good is the loss of a few physical
pounds ifyou arespiritually gross? As
Christ said: " For what shall it profit a
man, if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul ? Or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul?"
(Mark8:36-37.)
Actually, we are all much too
fat-from a spiritual point of view–
to enter the Kingdom of God. We
must lose weight daily, get rid of all
that is contrary 10 the teachings of
our spiritual Handbook, the Bible.
The apostle Pa ul admonished:
" ... let us !ay aside every
weight
[including the excess spiritual bag–
gage which drags us down]. and the
sin which doth so easily beset us ... "
(Heb. 12:1 ).
What prevents you fr.om trying
this spiritual diet ?
lt
costs you abso–
lutely nothing, and guarantees your
entrance into 1he Kingdom of God!
O
ADDITIONAL READING
Why are we nol more successful 1n living
up to God's standard?Why do we slip and
fall occasionally? How can we overcome
where we are weakesl and hardest
lempled? These quesllons are answered
1n our repnnl ar t•cle "How To Be an Ovar–
comer " To rece1ve your free copy, wnte
lo the address of our office nearest you
(see ins1de front cover)
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