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Word for today: verisimilitude!
Jesus wants to answer your prayers for peace, power, and provision.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray in Matthew 6, Jesus answered with “the Lord’s Prayer”. This prayer has depth. The plan of this prayer is how Jesus prayed too.
Jesus opened the prayer with recognizing God’s place and giving the Father honor… hallowed be your name. Then a confident assertion that God’s will would be accomplished… your Kingdom come, your will be done.
Seeking first the Kingdom of God in our prayers is key to getting answers to specific requests. If we do not ask according to God’s will – it’s a “no”!
Jesus wants us to have answers to our prayers. He ends the Lord’s Prayer with three types of prayer that God loves to answer!
Peace. Forgive us our trespasses (or debts). Help us to forgive others. God set us free from the fear and anxiety caused by lack of forgiveness!
Power. Deliver us from evil. Whether freedom from addiction, illness, an attack of the evil one, or a natural disaster – God, enable escape from the result of evil.
Provision. Give us this day our daily bread. Provide our needs. Give us the desires of our hearts.
There are three types of prayer for peace, power, and provision. Consider any prayer request and you will note that it falls into one of these categories.
Let’s move from types of requests to promises. In Philippians we find three promises:
Peace. May the peace of God guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God promises peace in Philippians 4:7.
Power. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Scripture promises power in Philippians 4:13.
Provision. My God shall supply all my needs. In Philippians 4:19 there is the promise of provision.
A long time past, sitting in a class about the reliability of the Bible, Dr. Foster (the world’s greatest professor) said, “One of the reasons that I believe the Bible is verisimilitude!”
I raised my hand: “What is verisimilitude?” Dr. Foster replied, “As you read scripture through, over and over you will see themes that give evidence of similar or Spirit authorship, and the patterns are instructions repeated again and again to help us grow in faith.”
There is verisimilitude in Peace, Power, Provision throughout the New Testament.
Another: In 2 Peter 1:2-3, Peter gives a blessing: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything (provision) pertaining to life and godliness.
Verisimilitude again for Peace, Power, Provision.
Consider these requests/promises/blessings as you read scripture for the next year and you will see peace, power, and provision – either in exact wording or concept being coupled together over and over.
The similarity and redundancy of peace, power, and provision indicates God’s desire to bring peace, power, and provision to you. It is our instruction on what to ask for in prayer. These are the three types of prayer that God can’t wait to answer for you!
The next time that you attend a worship service, don’t shout hallelujah. Shout verisimilitude!