In the Footsteps of Jesus #17

⁵ “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. ⁷ And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
⁸ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. ⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

"FILLING IN THE CRACKS "

Yesterday I pointed out that the Wailing Wall is the most sacred of Jewish sites. It is here that the devout come to offer up prayers to God. There is a constant stream of the faithful coming and going around the clock. All seeking a place to be near to God.

As we stood looking at the Wall, we noticed pieces of paper stuck into many of the cracks between the massive brickwork. When we asked what these were, we were told that they were prayers. Prayers written in hopes that God would answer them. There were literally thousands upon thousands of these paper prayers filling the cracks in the Wall. In fact, later I was told that you could e-mail in prayers to be placed in one of the cracks if you could not be there yourself.
(Here is one website that will do this.)

There is a lesson to be learned from this. Jesus mentions it in today’s text. We need a place where we can go to pray. A place where we feel the presence of God. For many the Wailing Wall is such a place. But we don’t need to go to Jerusalem. Any place will do if we can enter into the throneroom of God. We all need a place where we can fill in the cracks in our lives with the mortar of prayer.

Question: What cracks can I fill with prayer today?

Prayer: Jesus, I have places in my life that only you can fill. Touch me. Amen.