Written By Sheila Schuller Coleman
2117 08/29/10
I hope that you have seen the majority, if not all, of my messages on "Living the Lord's Prayer." I've been hearing from some of you that you're actually starting to pray the Lord's Prayer as a prayer template every single day. I've done this the last couple of years, and it has absolutely, positively transformed my life. When you pray the Lord's Prayer day by day, you begin to notice, how much more consistently you're following the key principles that God and Jesus gave us to help us live full and fruitful lives.
As we go into the last message of this series, let's review...
The Lord's Prayer begins with "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." We PRAISE our heavenly Father Who knows what's best for us. Our Heavenly Father knows best.
And then we move on to "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We move from praise to permission, giving God authority in those tug-of-wars of wills that we have, not because we have to, but because we trust Him. We know, as our heavenly Father knows best, we can give Him permission to have His way in our lives.
And then we're ready to ask Him to "Give us this day our daily bread." It's petition. We can ask God correctly because now we are in the right frame of mind to ask Him. Because we've already praised Him and we've been reminded that He's a big and powerful God who can do anything, we don't just ask for moldy, stale, day-old bread. We ask for fresh-from-the-oven artisan daily bread. That's what we do. We pray with boldness because we've been praising God.
And then we move from praise to permission to petition to pardon. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Last week I brought my restoration bucket. We pardon because we need to ask God to forgive us and to wipe away those stains that are in our hearts and in our lives. And as we have been forgiven, then we also give forgiveness to others. You'll remember that a lot of the fractures in relationships are due to broken hearts. And God decided to mend broken hearts with this - a hammer and a nail. "For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son" so we could be pardoned and we can, in turn, forgive others. That is how we mend broken hearts and mend broken relationships through asking God to forgive us and then giving others forgiveness.
And now we come to the fifth and final part of the Lord's Prayer. That is protection. Wow, anybody here need victory over things in your life? Temptations? Anybody ever have temptations in your life?
My husband Jim and I, in these lean economic times, have been on a very strict family budget. And he said, "Sheila, no more spending money on clothes or shoes."
I said, "Okay Jim, I'm here with you. I'm a team partner. I will resist the temptation." But the other day I had to go pick up a baby gift and, in order to get into the mall, I had to go through Nordstrom. Just had to, it's the easiest way into the mall. And, of course, it was when Nordstrom holds their big summer sale.
As I walked through the store, I happened to run past this really cute dress that was my size and on sale! I thought, oh, it won't hurt just to try it on. It's really hard to find a dress that fits just right, especially one that's affordable, right? All you ladies know exactly what I mean. You can't pass up an item because it won't be there next time; it'll be gone. I thought I could try it on, that won't hurt. So I went in the dressing room, I tried it on, and I thought it fit perfectly. I couldn't walk away from it. The temptation was too strong, so I bought it, took it home, and then guilt began to eat at me. I thought, oh, Jim's going to see that credit card bill and he's going to say, "Sheila, I thought we had an agreement."
I wondered how I was going to break the news to my husband. When he came home that night, we had a great dinner, a nice dessert, and I said, "Jim, I blew it today. There was a dress in my size, it was on sale, and when I went into the dressing room and tried it on, it fit perfectly. I need it for the summer wedding that we'll be attending. I just couldn't resist the temptation."
And Jim said, "Sheila, why didn't you say to yourself, ‘Get thee behind me Satan?''"
I said, "I did and he said it looks good from back here, too."
Okay, that's not a true story and we all have temptations. Do you want victory over a temptation in your life? Do you? I will tell you that when you decide to say yes to that God-given dream, you will face attack. The evil one, do you think he wants God-given dreams to succeed through you? No. So, he'll come after you and he will attack you with all kinds of little ploys. When we ask God, in the Lord's Prayer to "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one," the good news is, we can have protection.
When I started praying the Lord's Prayer a couple years ago, when I got to this "protection" part, I also started to pray Ephesians 6, which is praying for the armor of God. I would pray each piece of the armor over me because I wanted to make sure that as I was tackling the God-sized dreams that He was asking me to give leadership to. I was facing attack, I was facing discouragement, I was facing many, many things that wanted to take me down and take me out. I knew I had to walk out of the house completely covered with God's armor. It reminded me of the "Armor All" that my husband uses to protect our dashboards from sun damage.
In this season of my life, especially, I knew I couldn't go out without one single piece of armor mentioned in Ephesians. From top to bottom, from head to toe, I make sure that I'm completely protected before I leave the house each morning.
It begins in the mind, so we all need a helmet of salvation. One day when I prayed and I said, "Lord, put that helmet of salvation on me," it dawned on me that, because I have a helmet of salvation and because I have been saved by God, He sees me as pure of mind. He has purified my thoughts. As my mind is purified from negativity, from doubt, from impure thoughts, Satan is less able to attack me. Do you see why that's important to have the helmet of salvation? It's so tempting to think "I can't do this" as opposed to "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It begins in the mind. As we think, so are we. Cognitive psychologists talk about how thoughts lead to feelings, which lead to behavior. So, we protect our minds with a helmet of salvation. Our thoughts become God's thoughts when we do this.
Now, many of you have not had a chance to meet my wonderful husband. You hear me talk about him all the time. And I want to introduce to you, right now, my husband, Jim Coleman. Come on up Jim.
Jim's going to help demonstrate the Armor-of-God concept. First, I've asked him to put on a helmet of salvation. So, Jim, put it on. Now, negative thoughts will bombard him. Negative thoughts like "You can't do it; you're not good enough." When you're protected, those thoughts are deflected. The attacks are deflected. The helmet of salvation protects your mind.
But now, Jim's completely vulnerable right here, in the heart of the matter. Would he go into battle without a breastplate of righteousness? The scriptures say no. Because we have a breastplate of righteousness, our hearts are pure, our motives are right. We're doing things for the right reasons. We're doing things to please God. We're doing things so He gets the glory. We're doing things to help others. We're not getting up in the morning to do things for ourselves, and we're not having pity parties through the day. Instead, we're doing things for others. When the heart is protected, our motives are pure. Satan cannot attack us. And that's why it's so important to put on the breastplate of righteousness. So, Jim, please put on a breastplate of righteousness for us.
Now, he's a little more protected. Now, he's got the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and then we put on the belt of truth. And this is really an important one for me. I don't know about you, but I get attacked by lies, all those negative lies. "Sheila, you shouldn't be in that pulpit, you're a woman." "Sheila, you shouldn't be doing that, you don't have the degree." "Sheila, why are you there? You're just Dr. Schuller's daughter." Those are the most common lies I hear.
You hear lies, too. Because when you have a God-sized dream, Satan wants to take you down and he's hurling these attacks at you. Some of those lies come from within ourselves. Some of the lies come from people who love us dearly, but they don't want to see us embarrass ourselves. They're afraid that we'll fail and so they discourage us. They try to redirect us. Have any of you ever had that happen to you? Those are lies to take you away from God's beautiful, God-sized dream that He needs you to accomplish for Him today.
So we put on that belt of truth. When I put on that belt, I actually put God's truth in that belt. I don't just go out with a belt that's unarmed. Here's a truth I'm going to give to Jim to put in his belt of truth: "God is at work within you," Jim, "giving you the will and the power." That's a truth. Here's another truth: "God who began a good work in you will complete it." And another: "You are fearfully and wonderfully made," and don't you ever believe any other lie, because you're fearfully and wonderfully made.
Those are the truths of God that He gives us. So, take those truths and put them in your belt before you leave for work this week or before you go anywhere. You will hear lots of different voices. You'll hear negative voices, you'll hear encouraging voices, you'll hear God's voice, and you'll hear Satan's voice. Most of the time you won't recognize it as Satan's voice, but "choose you this day to whom you will listen." Listen to the truth and nothing but the truth.
We can also be attacked by our fears. So many fears, especially today. People are afraid and we have reason to be afraid. It is reasonable fear that we are fighting today - that fear of embarrassment, fear of failure, fear of going bankrupt. So many fears. So, that's where the shield of faith comes in because faith protects us against our fears.
So, Jim, do you have a shield of faith with you today to protect you? Good. Now, if you don't have enough faith, you just ask for more faith because that shield deflects those attacks of fear. When I'm afraid, I'm not going to try something challenging or pursue my God-given dreams. So, don't leave home without that shield of faith. You'll need it when discouraging news or discouraging emails or letters come. God is your champion. He will not let you down.
Now, when we discuss the armor, the full armor as described in Ephesians, it's good to know that Paul wrote this in prison. He describes all the pieces of armor - most are defensive, in essence. However, he does give us one offensive piece of armor and that's the sword. And the sword is the word of God.
We see the "sword of the word" used so clearly when Jesus was tempted. Here He was, about to embark on His God-sized dream to save the world, to save you and me. He went out into the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days and nights. Of course, Satan did not want to see Him succeed, so he went into the wilderness, meets up with Jesus, who hadn't had anything to eat or drink for forty days or nights. Satan tempts Jesus by reminding Him that He could turn a stone into bread and have something to eat. But Jesus pulls out the sword of the word and quotes scripture saying, "It is written: man shall not live by bread alone."
The tree key words are: "It is written." Jesus, the Son of God, deflected Satan's temptations with the word of God. He used a scripture from the Old Testament. He said, "It is written: man shall not live by bread alone."
Then Satan encouraged Jesus to look below Him. "Do you see? If you jump down from there I'll bet you could live if you're really, truly God. Are you really truly God? Jump. Prove it. Show us that you're really, truly God."
A nibble, a bait, and Jesus did not bite. He said, "It is written: don't put God to the test."
That didn't work, so Satan tried another ploy. He said, "See as far as the eye can see - there are kingdoms out there. I will give all of those kingdoms to you if you will worship me."
And Jesus said, "It is written: worship God, the Lord God, and only the Lord God." Three times Satan tried to tempt Jesus; three times Jesus resisted and fought the temptation with God's word. It is written, it is written, it is written.
Do you think that you or I can have the strength to withstand Satan without "it is written"? If Jesus needed it, how much more do you and I need it? So, I have my little it-is-written's. They're imaginary and I tuck them in my pocket before I leave every morning. When I'm praying the armor - I'm praying for God to put on that helmet of salvation, put on that breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth, and then the sword of His word - I say, "Okay, Lord, it is written," and I tuck it in my pocket. Then, when I'm driving along and I suddenly have this little niggling fear or that little niggling temptation, I instantly say out loud, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm not going to give into this temptation; it is written! ‘The Lord is at my right hand and I will not be shaken.'" That's one of my favorite it-is-written's that I keep handy at all times.
Last but not least, Satan, our great adversary, our great accuser, he is powerless. However, it's important to keep ourselves protected against him. And we need to be completely protected from head to toe. The scripture in Ephesians talks about putting on the shoes of the gospel of peace. Why? Because we need to make sure that our steps are protected, that we don't lose our way, that we don't stumble and fall flat on our faces, and that we make it to the end of our races. Shod your soul with God's word and you will finish the race. It says in 1st Corinthians, "Do you not know that in a race, all runners run? But only one gets the prize."
Make sure you have your shoes of the gospel of peace on your feet because they protect your way. Where is it that you're going? Why are you getting up in the morning? What is it you want to do? Our goal, Paul says here, our mission should you accept it, is a mission impossible if you try to accomplish it on your own strength. But it's a mission possible if you use God's help. And the mission is this: We're not to wear full body armor to be warriors, we're to be messengers of the gospel of peace. We're to be "repairers of the breach," to bring good news. That's why we have to make sure we also remember our shoes of the gospel of peace.
Jim's completely protected from head to toe and I want to thank him for helping us to demonstrate the full armor of God. Thank you, Jim. You're a very brave man.
God wants you to be a catcher like Jim was, a catcher of God-sized dreams. So, say yes to them today. Say yes to God-sized dreams. Then protect yourself from head to toe against discouragement, against negative thinking, against fear. It's here in the Bible. You can do it.
Stand with me and let us close by actually doing this together. We're going to all lift our hands in the air and we're going to lift our eyes to the heavens. "Our father Who art in heaven" (Our Father Who art in heaven), "hallowed be Thy name" (hallowed be Thy name). And place your hands in submission, hold them out, hands open, not clenched, not holding onto that rope, but holding our will open to God. "Thy kingdom come" (Thy kingdom come), "thy will be done" (Thy will be done) "on earth as it is in heaven" (on earth as it is in heaven). Put your hands together in petition. "Lord, give us this day our fresh-from-the-oven daily bread" (Give us this day our fresh-from-the-oven daily bread). And now in your mind, if you have a request, something you're hungry for, tell Him privately. Ask Him for it.
And then we're going to use the American Sign Language for Jesus - pointing to where the nails would be in the palms of our hands. "Forgive us our debts" (Forgive us our debts) "as we forgive our debtors" (as we forgive our debtors). And you don't have to repeat this after me, but in your heart say silently "Lord, forgive me for..." Ask Him to forgive you for whatever comes to mind right now. And Father, I forgive. Say it in your heart. I forgive... What names, what faces come to mind? People who have hurt you, people you need to forgive. Father, I forgive them. I forgive them now. Be free of it, don't hang on to that bitterness another moment. I forgive them, Lord.
Repeat after me: "Lead us not into temptation" (lead us not into temptation), "but deliver us from evil" (but deliver us from evil). And again, repeat after me: "Protect my mind and my thoughts, today, with the helmet of salvation" (protect my mind and my thoughts, today, with the helmet of salvation). "Protect my heart today with the breastplate of righteousness" (protect my heart today with the breastplate of righteousness). "Protect me from discouragement today with the belt of truth" (protect me from discouragement today with the belt of truth). "Protect me from fear today with a shield of faith" (protect me from fear today with a shield of faith). "Protect me from getting lost with the shoes of the gospel of peace" (protect me from getting lost with the shoes of the gospel of peace). "Amen" (amen).
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