Baptized into Christ’s Suffering
In Mark 10:35-45 Jesus teaches the twelve a very important lesson about leadership and humility. More than once there was competition among them about who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and they needed to learn that pride and ambition for position and glory do not have a place in the kingdom of…
Psalm 100: Four Triple Parallelisms
In Hebrew poetry the usual form of parallelism is a pair of lines that are roughly the same in meaning (synonymous), or that present a contrast (antithetical). In Psalm 6 we see nine verses in the standard form, and all of these except verse 3 are synonymous. But one verse (v.6) adds a third line…
Praying to Our Father in Heaven for Deliverance from Evil
In the sixth petition we pray for sanctification. Sanctification has two parts. The first is removal of the corruption of our natures, and the second is making our natures holy again. We want more than spiritual neutrality; we want to be positively good, like God himself. Another way to look at it is that we…
Praying for Our Father’s Forgiveness
In the last three petitions of the Lord’s prayer, the Lord teaches us to ask of God everything that is necessary for us. In the fourth petition he teaches us to ask for everything that we need to maintain the life of the body for service to him in his world. In the other two…