Jaime Marcelino - Pray Then Like This

PRAY THEN LIKE THIS

Second Edition 2015

Published by Jaime Marcelino atSmashwords.

Translated into English from Portuguese byDarius Portela.

All rights reserved. Except for briefexcerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may bereproduced or used in any form without written permission from thepublisher.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripturequotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible,English Standard Version), copyright 2001 byCrossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used bypermission. All rights reserved.

Where indicated, Scripture quotations fromTHE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995,1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers, Inc.

The author has added ALL CAPS to Scripturequotations for emphasis, as well as comments inside [brackets].

The author alsoreferences:

1) WilliamHendriksen - Comentrio do Novo Testamento - Mateus, volume 1-Editora Cultura Crist

2) J. C. Hyle -Meditaes no Evangelho de Mateus - Editora FIEL

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Jaime Marcelino left his career as a civilengineer, after graduating from UFAM (Universidade Federal doAmazonas), in order to become a worker for the LORD! Now he is apastor, with 25 years leading the Igreja Presbiteriana Cidade Nova(Presbyterian Church in Cidade Nova, affiliated with the IgrejaPresbiteriana do Brasil). He is the founder and coordinator of theEncontro da F Reformada (Reformed Faith Gathering) ever sincethe year 2000 ( www.fereformada.com.br ).He is married to the delight of his eyes, Francisca de Jesus, andis the father of the dear Elisama and Noeme, who is married to hisdear son-in-law Elias Medeiros da Rocha!

His posts are available in Portuguese onFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PrJaimeMarcelino

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THANK YOU
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I am sincerely grateful to the LORD JESUS forhaving given me an excellent companion, my dear wife, who usuallyis the first to read all my devotions. I am also grateful in theLORD to my brother and friend DARIUS PORTELA, for his preciouscollaboration; after all, without his help it would have been verydifficult to publish this e-book.

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CONTENTS
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1. PRAY TO WHOM?
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We all know that PRAYER is a sublime activity of the soul, throughwhich we express our feelings to God!
Also, from experience, we know the difficulties involved in thepractice of prayer!
Now our Blessed LORD and SAVIOR JESUS, having warned His disciplesabout some dangers, (praying to show off, using vain repetitions,etc.), gave us a MODEL of HOW to pray in a manner pleasing toGod!
--
"9 Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be yourname.

10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, onearth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

12 and forgive us our debts, as we also haveforgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, butdeliver us from evil.
(Matthew 6: 9-13)
--
It is clear that this prayer model is structured in such a way thatit covers all our needs!
And here is our first necessity:
Have God the Father as the target of our prayer!
"9 ... Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, onearth as it is in heaven.
--
How much consolation, fear, love and hope is there in these verses9 and 10!
Let's look at these, as follows:
1) How much CONSOLATION!
God is our Father!
So we have access to HIM at all times!
After all, HE is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whosaid:
Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yetascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, Iam ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and yourGod.
(John 20:17)
Oh! How very comforting it is to be heard by someone who lovesus!
--
2) How much FEAR!
"Our Father IN HEAVEN"!
Although He is our Father, He differs from our earthlyfather!
- HE is the Most High God!
- HE rules with sovereignty!
- HE is Holy in all His conduct!
- HE judges without discrimination!
That is why THREE things are said about Him:
-
"And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially accordingto each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout thetime of your exile,"
(1 Peter 1:17)
-
" Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us andwe respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Fatherof spirits and live?
(Hebrews 12: 9)
-
"13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD showscompassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; heremembers that we are dust. "
(Psalm 103: 13-14)
--
3) How much LOVE!
Who would not LOVE a Father like Him?
However, being his children in Christ Jesus, how could we stoploving the other children, our brothers?
That's why we call out to "OUR Father in heaven"!
Therefore, we love HIM and HIS children, as does our Lord Jesus, asit is said:
" 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all haveone source.[a] That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,12 saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midstof the congregation I will sing your praise. 13 And again, I willput my trust in him. And again, Behold, I and the children Godhas given me."
(Hebrews 2: 11-13)
Oh! Father of love! Because of Your love we love You and ourbrothers!
--
4) How much Living HOPE!
- Where is our Father?
- Dont all parents want their children to be near to them?
Yeah! Just like "our Father in heaven," we'll definitely be withHim soon, and forever!
And that was the belief of JESUS, the Father's ONLY BEGOTTEN, whenHe said, as He was about to return to His Father:
"2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would Ihave told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I goand prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you tomyself, that where I am you may be also."
(John 14: 2-3)
--
LIKEWISE, lets have the mind-set of John who said, full of holylove and holy emotion:
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we shouldbe called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the worlddoes not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we areGod's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; butwe know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because weshall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in himpurifies himself as he is pure."
(1 John 3:1-3)
--
How much consolation, fear, love and hope, that we have in the Godand Father of our Lord Jesus!
And all this because of the "love of Christ which surpasses allunderstanding"!
After all, the only begotten God came into the world and by Hisblood bought us for God, to Whom we invoke as our Father inHeaven!
--
O my brothers! Lets have God, our Father, as the Sublime, Holy andadmirable OBJECT of our prayers!
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Pr. Jaime Marcelino

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2. HOW HOLY YOU ARE!
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Having identified the wonderful OBJECT of our PRAYERS, the Fatherin Heaven, we may want to consider HOW we should see Him!
It should be as our Lord said:
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"9 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, onearth as it is in heaven."!
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We know that the name of someone you know will always remind us oftheir CHARACTER!
In other words, the mere mention or memory of a name will bring tomind who this person is!
Even more in the case of the NAME of our Heavenly Father!
So when we address HIM in prayer, we have the need (duty) to:
1) Honor HIM for what HE is!
2) Be willing to receive HIM as the KING that he is!