Thine or Mine — Don McClure

The Lord’s Prayer and Forgiveness

Matthew 6 verse 9 After this manner therefore pray ye our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if he forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if he forgiven men not or not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Well here is we kind of close off. We we got last time to where we lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Prayer as a Model for Approaching God

But here perhaps I Didn't finish it last week for two reasons one is time. But the also I wanted to make sure that I that I just didn't run through this final part of the prayer. Here again, Jesus. He's giving us a model prayer that when I'm wanting to learn to approach God.

How do I come before you? How do I talk to you? How do I do it in a way that my life is going to get the most out of it? It's going to affect my walk my behavior my nature my world everything about me.

That's we ought to want to learn to pray more I suppose than we ought to want to learn to do anything in all the world for nothing. Opens up our heart to more power and more hope and more life and more victory and more wisdom and more direction than a person That has learned.

Something about prayer and the more we learn about it the more our life our daily living you look at the others 24 hours a day for every human being and yet some people seem to get so much more out of them.

Their lives are much richer and they're full of their relationships where they go and what they do. It's just so much more wonderful and you may wonder why is that so particularly even sometimes for Christians that one Christian.

That somehow another their life just has a greater flow to it as a greater blessing as a greater fullness. They just seem to go almost from glory to glory. They go from Meaningful and effective lives day in and day out and then another Christian can be over there and constantly struggling.

With all manner of difficulty within their life, and I believe one of the great aspects of that is is prayer. Understanding prayer and that is of course first putting God in his right place our Father which art in heaven and hallowed.

Holy Mighty glorious separate above all is your name you bring your kingdom thy kingdom come. Thy will be done right here on earth in my life today. Just as it is in heaven. Now we ought to be ones that we long Lord this wonderful as heaven is.

I can't be there yet. You haven't brought me home there. But as much a heaven as you can bring into my life today. I want it. I want your kingdom. I want your lordship. I want your leadership. I want your scepter a scepter of righteousness and glory and majesty to be that which would lead and guide and And fill my heart in my life and then and interestingly enough when you do look at this prayer.

It's an interesting thing is Jesus saying after this manner Learn to pray this way in the first part of the pray is our prayer. Of course is all about God. All about him and as he's high and he's lifted up and his glory is he's wonderful.

And he has a kingdom and we wanted to come and we wanted here on earth as it is in heaven. It's all about him. And then there's this little Sandwiched part in between here where he says now give us this day our daily bread.

There's our physical needs and you know and Give us this day our daily bread. What's next? Where am I here? I honestly know this prayer I've worked on it all week long. But anyway, but the Forgive our debtors.

Physical, Soulish, and Spiritual Prayer

Why don't we just pray here for a moment? Let's just work right on this one right here. Just focus on this. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts cleanse my heart cleanse my soul. Keep it pure.

Keep it right Toward you and towards others as I you know Forgive others and then lead me not in a temptation. But deliver me from evil and you're looking there said God just lead my life if three very simple sorts of things prayer in the physical aspects prayer in the soulish aspects prayer prayer in the spiritual aspects and You would look at this and so we would look there at the physical issues going on in our life.

I believe to pray about them to the the things within our own heart those things that weigh us down the burdens there perhaps and in cleansing and relationships God keep them pure and Then spiritually lead me guide me put your hand upon me and then from there He now goes back and he says for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and Here it's interesting when you do look at this prayer because the first part it's all about God.

Then there's these three essential requests there. He says, you know, just take your life. Put it into that just that you don't you don't have to spend so much time about Yourself in your issues in your burdens in your people in your trials and God.

Do you know about this and you know? Have you checked out the world lately and you it did you see the news tonight? And all of these things that we can so often just get going about God and bringing to him.

But it's amazing when he says after this manner you want to have a transformed life. He says glorify me. You just put your father on the throne see to it that his kingdom you delight in it. You long for it.

That's that's the great desire of your life. God bring your kingdom and thrown yourself in my life and then we got these issues here that go on day after day. You'll feed me. I'm not worried about it you know things I have need of and you're gonna clothe me and you'll in God help me with my relationships and keep my heart Pure and cleanse me and help me to forgive anybody else.

Whatever it is to keep the relationships loving and you pure and right and good and Then lead my life. But then as he goes on sometimes we tend to almost look at the rest of this Prayer as if it's just kind of a nice little closing.

Did he or something sort of a thing for the highness the kingdom and the power and the glory forever? But I to me I think that this is far more than Just kind of closing off a prayer or Bringing a prayer to kind of a close and winding it down as much as to me.

It's it's it's doing the exact opposite. It's taking prayer almost back up to a crescendo. It started with God came back down to my world and then I want to make sure that when I close it off I'm back with him.

Yeah, and then the things that we're saying here I mean, this is a great crescendo almost in prayer something there with a grand Finale a grand focus that we when we're stopping and we're getting up from prayer that we've we've ended it on a high and glorious.

And in the greatest of eternal truths in a sense there that we're saying because we're turning is saying for. In other words when he when he says therefore, you know for thine is a kingdom. But he said the word therefore is so critical because he's saying why am I praying?

Why am I bringing these things to you? Why you know, give me my daily bread and why forgive me my trespasses and why lead me and you know. And the reason is is for Thine is the kingdom. It's churning there in a sense and it's back to the Lord in a sense for I'm bringing all these things to you Lord for the very simple reason that thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and There is that we would stop to think about that I mean as far as God's concern as far as eternity is to concern as far as heaven is concerned.

Earthly Kingdoms Are Temporary

There only is one kingdom. There only has been one Kingdom as far as anything concerned. They're not two kingdoms or five or ten or a hundred or a million or or ten billion kingdoms. There's one. All other kingdoms are just passing Vapors, they're just there for a moment kind of, you know come up, you know in the morning mist sort of a thing.

But when the Sun rises, they do they all vaporize. Every kingdom that's ever been from the Tower of Babel and man decided we're going to build a city and we're going to build a kingdom and There when man started getting together even thinking of kings and kingdoms, you know, it's interesting I think it's in Genesis 13.

It's the first time in the Bible. The Kings are mentioned in the plural. And it's also the first time in the Bible that wars are mentioned anytime. You've got Kings you got kingdoms anytime you get Kings and kingdoms.

You've got wars. And but here as far as as soon as you start looking at Kings and you start looking at kingdoms. You you've gone off into perhaps the most arrogant of all influences. In the sense when we stop there and realize God there only is one kingdom.

There only is one real kingdom. There's only one eternal kingdom glorious kingdom and all the others. They just he seemed to come and go as mighty as they may be for a moment I suppose you could look at Nebuchadnezzar and all of his grand nature of his kingdom and all the glory that Must have been a part of it when you could look at all that they could amass and all that they could kind of build.

It's all gone now. But it was there for a time. And then of course there he went crazy and you watch theirs. He's got it for a time and then you just watch it like sand go through somebody's King their kingdom through their fingers.

It just dissolves one day. They're looking at they had something there that they poured their entire life into wanting to build and then the next thing you know. They're out grazing with the animals eating, you know grass and they in God just making a mockery of men and Kings and their kingdoms and.

Then of course Belshazzar follows him along and and then he thinks he's got something there for a time. But isn't long until they're in Daniel 5 where meanie meanie tickle of ferris and you've been weighed in the balances found wanting this day your kingdom is gonna be taken from you and Given to another and then Darius of course comes in and the kingdom comes in a kingdom goes and another moves in.

And all of a sudden he's got it for a time and his eyes light up and look what I've got. Yeah, the new king in a new kingdom and on and on and on it goes and then with after the Medes and then the Persians and then the the Alexander the Great's and the Grecians and then the Romans and then moving on to you know the Constantine's and the Attila the Huns and the Genghis Khan's and you know, the Lenin's and the Stalins and the Hitler's and all of them they come and they go and the you know.

The Saddam Hussein's, you know can come and I understand something like what 48 palaces and billions of dollars poured into these lavish Unbelievable, you know things there that only a few weeks ago. You know spent decades building all of these things, but now, you know.

Watching a whole nation go in and loot them and strip them and destroy them as a man there whether he's you know Down underneath some rubble now or or sooner or later, you know, he'll be under rubble and his kingdom will live in the end.

It's come and it's gone and and that's the history of man in all kingdoms every every one of them and. And whether you look in the past. Or you look in the future Revelation 20 one of the great and awesome sites to me but in Revelation is the you know, history comes to a close.

Finally when we're given it to there and of course when he stopped to think the Bible says one day times shall be no more. God will fold up creation in the vesture all the kingdoms that ever were they will be of course gone won't be anything left of them and History as we know it will completely end but Revelation 20 verse 11 says and I saw a great white throne and then that sat upon it whose face.

From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was open. Which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.

According to their works and the sea gave up their dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up their dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works and Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire and this is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book Of life was cast into the lake of fire the final thing when all of history here.

All of a sudden you get this amazing picture as we look forward to an event yet to happen. That they're to think of the sight here as John looks and he says I saw the dead great and small all of history.

Out of everywhere, you know. The sea gave up its dead and death and hell gave up its dead all those that were ever anywhere and the face of history. They're all of a sudden they're standing before God.

You just imagine this line the dead great in the small. You know for the most part they're the people that who knows who they were and what they did. But then there are you know, there's there's the Nebuchadnezzar's.

And there's the Belshazzar's and there's the Darius's and there's the Alexander the Great's and there's the Caesars of Rome. Here and they're just kind of in line. Some people that never stood in a line their whole life never waited for anything now waiting for judgment like everyone else.

The greatest of all people that would just think you know, if any other line they say I can't believe it. I was right in line with Nebuchadnezzar. We were just Two inches from each other whoa right up to the lake we were you know or something and on.

You know, yeah, we dove in together, you know or something. But on the reality there of all the when you look there and realize all the Kings and all the kingdoms. Now there's the small in there that few people would maybe know history didn't record them not much really different I don't suppose in the Nebuchadnezzar's only the greatness or the scope or the magnitude of the longevity or of their kingdom perhaps.

They didn't rule maybe over millions of people in millions of square or acres or miles or and they didn't have billions of dollars. And history didn't record others, you know events they you know, but they still had their own kingdom.

They had everybody there in that line. One of the fundamental attributes of everybody that's in that line that ultimately they will have had another kingdom than the kingdom. That'll be the fundamental characteristic of everybody in line.

They all had a kingdom great or small. Some of them boy. It was a great kingdom. It was an awesome kingdom. It was recorded in history and what it was a Bible records it for us or other books there and and everybody.

You know is going to recognize them. And some of them maybe boy they were great musicians or great rock stars or great athletes. Or they were you know, great sculptors or you're great, you know financiers or whatever and then many of them nobody ever knew who they were but.

Every one of them had a kingdom. It just was maybe reduced in size. They had kingdoms that nobody knew maybe this was a fellow there standing next to Nebuchadnezzar. His kingdom may have been you know, he didn't have a you know, they may be sitting there in line.

Tell me about your kingdom as Nebuchadnezzar looks over. You're a king. You had your own kingdom to you. Yeah, tell me about it. Well, no, no, just a small kingdom. Nothing like yours. I mean, I know you had millions of people and you had you know.

Millions of square miles. I mean you had the planet, you know, and you had billions of dollars and my kingdom was kind of. You know small I I just had two or three in my kingdom. And it was about four hundred and fifty square feet.

I was The night manager from twelve to six at Burger King, you know or something. But but boy, did I run it like you you know sort of a thing? I was something boy I was as much a tyrant as you ever dreamed of being.

I was an unloving and I was as is Controlling and manipulative and selfish as you were. And I just didn't get the opportunity as you did to really be down in history like you but I tried. From midnight to eight, you know at Burger King, you know or wherever else it was.

But but it's but fundamentally in this line, there's people that all of which mine is the kingdom. Mine it's all about me. Yeah, and. And doesn't make any difference the size of the scope. It's when somebody there, you know.

It's my kingdom or it's my home or it's my family or it's my wife or it's my children. It's my you know business or whatever else. But the great difference with with when somebody and I believe that what makes prayer so powerful and so wonderful.

Surrendering Personal Kingdoms to God

Is that somebody there they've come to realize God why do I pray and why do I come and my father? Which is in heaven? Why do I want your name to be high and holy and glorious and lifted up? Why do I want your kingdom to come?

No, it's because I want my kingdom to go. I want on earth right now. I've seen a glimpse of heaven and for that I want I'll give anything of my kingdom. I'll lay down all of it to you. I'll trade. I'll offer.

I'll surrender. I'll yield anything that your kingdom might come on earth as it in heaven. And God in the midst of it to take care of me and cleanse me and forgive me and and how me to forgive other people.

But bring but but God thine is the kingdom. I've learned that I've got that through my head. That's the thing that a person that really understands prayer is perhaps one of the great and wonderful truths that has hit them.

And that they've looked there and they they want to have God. They're ruling it. They don't care how big or little there's somebody there. Whether you give them the biggest kingdom in the world and you'd offer them here.

You can have a hundred million dollars or you can be the president of so-and-so or you can succeed at this or you can do Whatever, but they've come to realize how foolish. They're the thought of standing one day in that line at the end of history the most frightful thing you could ever be and I know never want to be in it and I don't want a kingdom.

I want his kingdom to come. Otherwise, we're left to ourselves. Vance Havner. It's a wonderful old evangelist died years ago. But a wonderful man and he had a lot of these little ditties kind of things He'd say and one of the things that I always loved I read that he said I've never known what it meant but he said when the tide goes out every shrimp has its own puddle and.

But it's one of those things it's so often a lot of people, you know, and when things get tough. They've got their own kingdom and maybe a little teeny puddle, but it's mine. You know or something every shrimp everybody kind of when times get tough in their life the natural man Protects his puddle, you know and looks out for it.

But the spiritual man turns there and everything he's got he says no God thine is the puddle. Thine whatever I've got it's yours. And if what you've entrusted we miss so far right now is the midnight to 8th shift at Burger King, by the way.

If you work there, God must really want to talk to you tonight and there's something or but I but anyway Me must have really been hard on those people lately and they've been praying for you or something.

But anyway. But so often with every one of us. There's not a one of us that you don't have a kingdom. Not there's not a human being that doesn't have your king a kingdom your kingdom might so far just be the dog.

You know or something but but when you God help me With whatever you give to me. You came to me. You may look and say well, I'm good much, but I he likes me. I look there and I'm head of my house. I can say that before you I know I'm on the radio.

Anyway, I don't bother me to say it. I've been married for almost 35 years this year. It'll be and we have an agreement. It works out quite wonderful. Gene lets me say I'm head of the house. I run the joint.

I am king and Said doesn't bother at all as long as I do whatever I'm told when I'm home and I and we're both. We're both quite happy with that arrangement. I Can talk however I want and then when I go home, I just do what I'm told.

But anyway. And my kingdom is the yard work, but whatever it is, but when you find out what your kingdom is God. Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the kingdom. And when we realized that Paul he said what maketh one man to differ from another?

What does a man have that he hasn't received and if a man has received it from God? Why does it glory as if he hasn't Paul? He was so amazed at it the mystical nature of man. Then on one hand everything Paul said what does a man have that he hasn't received it from God.

Everything everyone has whatever the size of the kingdom whatever God has given to you. He gave it to you. He entrusted you with it everything you've got. Whether you're your intellect your whatever you and inherited your drive your capacity to achieve.

Whatever there is that's in you there that that you think you did it, you know God could have planted you, you know on a South Sea Island all by yourself with all this wonderful stuff you think you've got and nobody to see it wouldn't that have been something but the.

But instead Paul says God gives all these things to it. He entrusts us with it and then some use it for his glory and some actually sit around and look and think to themselves. Look at this and they begin to glory in their own kingdom or what they've got as if they didn't receive it from God at all.

Prayer and the Ownership of the Kingdom

But one of the most amazing and wonderful and power profound things I think about anybody that ever becomes spiritual is that there is something happens at thine is The kingdom that's what they want more than anything else.

And if we understand that if that is really happened, I believe think that's a very telltale aspect about prayer and when it happens. Because it's something there. I think that the person there that is that his is the kingdom.

We've really given it to him then prayer is going to become a great part of life. And so often I think if we're having trouble with prayer, it's never really taken hold in our life. I think we ought to go back and look at the deeper thing of just rather than why I'm having a tough time.

Developing a prayer life sort of a question. I got to get to the root of it and say whose is the kingdom? Because if the kingdom I found that you know what the kingdom if it's if it's mine. If it's my world my life my business my wife my kids my air bill.

You know, whatever my bank account. Yeah, well, you then it's tough to you then then prayer is a duty and it's tough to kind of because it you're you. Subconsciously at least or whatever that if we have a subconscious, I don't know.

But whatever underneath are we know prayer is kind of a futile thing because I'm really King. It's mine. I Earned it. I own it. I've got it. It belongs to me. And woman is minor that man is minor those kids are mine in this house is mine and and then prayer isn't much of a thing.

And it's this weird. Sort of a duty where I'm talking to somebody as if they've got a degree of ownership and something that I know they don't but if I have truly given it to him if it is his kingdom if the marriage is his if the children is if the business I looked at that businesses is and It truly belongs to him.

And I everybody prays. I think I don't think there's anybody in the world that doesn't pray we pray all the time. Problem is we just pray to the king whoever that is of the kingdom and if we're in We're either like, you know We were pouring our heart out thine is the kingdom and God help me with this and lead me and guide me.

Or were like the the Pharisee that Jesus spoke of in the Luke, you know came and when he prayed to himself God I thank you. I'm not as other men and then he goes into just thinking about him and his kingdom in his world.

Thinking he's praying. But he's prayed. It's just to himself. That's a scary thing. You ever find yourself doing that and You need to kind of sometimes stop and into wonder because I'll tell you I don't know how often to my own shame I'm praying.

I went I start off praying and really praying Sincerely Lord, and I'm talking about something. That's really on my arm. The next thing. I know something sort of Miss Mysteriously happens or is in it and I don't even realize it and the next thing, you know, I'm just thinking Start off praying next thing.

I know well, this is what I do. That's it, you know and the I know how to you know, well, then I'm just I'm not II I started off praying. I may even throw God in here now and then. You know sort of a thing and may even think I'm really kind of praying and my eyes are closed good Bible open.

Started off in prayer and I'm gonna I'm gonna close off the conversation in Jesus name. But somehow or another I started off praying and through it I'm just kind of giving a little meditation to myself getting my own counsel my own thought quiet time meditating on my own opinion.

Going it back between me myself and I and my own personal Trinity to make a decision. And but I started praying but somehow or another I grasped the thing away now. Maybe I'd like to I'd love to be able to blame it on daydreaming or something else.

But I think so often what the real problem is. It's not daydreaming. And God looks he says whose kingdom is this what's going on here? You ever have the Lord interrupt to you in the middle of a prayer almost as he walked in who are you?

I'm the one you thought you're talking to you know and something there and here you were going on with your own world. Just carrying the weight yourself because and the problem isn't your daydream at least with me so often the problem is God looks and he says we got a kingdom issue here.

We got a whose is the kingdom? Really whose is the family whose are the children who owns this? Who did where does the you know? Does it really the birds the buck really stop and when we their turn and we realize Lord thine is the kingdom?

Here we're closing off prayer, and we're wanting to make absolutely sure when we're doing it Lord. It is all yours, and I delight in it thine is the kingdom. And I'm bringing myself into the greatest sense of subjection and yieldedness to it.

I'm wanting to make sure that everything that I'm even thinking about praying about it's under a scepter. It's with a consciousness. It is absolutely yours. Because if we do that if we can say thine is the kingdom then we can say and the power in the power.

God’s Power Follows Surrender

You see somebody there I think that when somebody knows anything about God's kingdom the wonderful thing that is next going to happen is when a Realization I have purposely subjected myself to his kingdom that go with that going right into that door leads Immediately to another door thine is the power.

You don't get to the power to you get to the kingdom though. I don't think. In a sense. I mean you look at you know Moses you look at most of your great battles back and forth with God man in the Bible for the human throne and when and here you know God when he fights with Moses and determine who's gonna who's gonna run the kingdom and by the time Moses goes and he throws the rod down and he yields his life and he comes before and he takes off his Jewel, and he bows before God and he surrendered his life.

When the kingdom issue was settled it immediately opened the door to the power. Because he said now let's go to Pharaoh. We're gonna go down to Pharaoh and and there was a and as soon as if it's his kingdom.

Then it's all then immediately the door opens to his power. And next thing, you know, they're a man that has subjected himself to God's kingdom. He has immediate access to all the power. He needs to do the business of the kingdom.

He's representing. And when Moses if he went down there mine is the kingdom. Mine is the kingdom if he'd have taken any stick and he could have found in the world Thrown it down before Pharaoh. They did just heard a little clinking and he said wait a minute.

Watch this just a minute to hold on Pharaoh. This is gonna get good promise you but if if it's your kingdom There'll be no power. Won't work. We're so often God. I'm praying and I'm praying for my marriage a brain for my children.

I'm praying for this. I'm praying for you to work in my life. Take the burdens resolve this. I Think so often God says well, we got a little kingdom issue here first. Let's settle this one and then When the kingdom issue then he says thine is the kingdom and the power for that for that person God opens up rivers.

He turns water to blood he gets a man out of heaven or water out of rocks and shakes the enemy and Eats him alive opens the oil opens the land takes him in. For the person that has come and said thine is the kingdom.

Just step back and whether it's a Moses or then you see a Joshua and then there is Joshua goes out and he's looking out over Jericho. If you know soon before he's to go in and probably figuring out how am I gonna take it?

All the way to the world may be on him. He's out there alone at night trying to think They're the way to the world and all of a sudden there appears before him a man and he startled he jumps back at the forest of adversary neither.

But his captain of the host of the Lord am I now come? Here all of a sudden we had this wonderful theophany a pre incarnate appearance of Christ is there he stands before Jesus before Joshua. And he said all of a sudden there he is.

Joshua startled. He jumps back. Who are you? Whose side are you on? You for us or against us, you know. When the kingdom issue isn't settled, it seems like everybody in the world. They're either for you against you if you notice that.

When you aren't in it's settled in a right place. Everybody in the world is either for you. Or against you whose side you on you care about me? You're gonna help me or do I have to look for another and word?

But the person there that is seen him and then the Lord responds. He says neither. I'm not for you against you. I just happen to be you know. As he looked at neither, you know, I'm neither for you or against you.

I just happen to be co the captain of the host of the Lord. I'm just commander-in-chief of all the angelic forces of heaven and earth. I created them. And so as he looks at him and he says but the issue is new am I the issue is who you.

And he says take off your shoe. For the place where I now stand this is holy as I was with Moses. I'll be with thee and there is Joshua settled the kingdom issue. He then turned to him and he said pointed over to Jericho and he says look that have I given unto thee this day.

It's yours. It's a gift for the kingdom. The power to get it don't worry about when you got to walk around it. I'll tell you what to do. There'll be processes to go through but it's the battles won. As soon as the kingdom issue is settled the power issue comes right with it wouldn't in and there and that's always the case.

When you look there and you see David there when he goes out this little teenager there's soft ruddy skin there and you know coming up against a man who had been a warrior since David's youth and there is Goliath looks at him and laughs he laughs at him and he and.

And he tells him he says what do you you send to me a child? You said to me a little child to fight with why do I have to fight a little child? This is a no-win situation and then he turns to him and basically he called him chicken feet.

That's what he really did. That's what he did when they the way that somebody would call what today we would call chicken feet. He says I'm gonna feed you to the fowls of the air. Birds of the sky the rodents can have you and we're done.

I'm gonna do it. I'm just you're you're chicken feet. David then turned to Goliath and he says, you know fella. You shouldn't have got up today. He looks at him with its absolute arrogant confidence. If it wasn't so true you would almost accuse him of Arrogance, but he looked at him and he says there you did it didn't me you're fighting against.

It's God. I Come to you come to me with these swords and with these spears and all this human stuff. I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts whom thou has defied in this day. What you just told me.

I wasn't sure what I was gonna do with you before. But I'm gonna feed you. Your chicken feet and history happened, but the power comes to the kingdom yet. They're they're they're attached. We so often God I need the power to do this.