God’s Prayer Pattern. Lesson 4 (the Greatness of God)

Lesson 4 (the Greatness of God)

So far the past 3 lessons have taught us that:

1. it is necessary to learn how to pray
2. God has a pattern of prayer
3. we must not be like the hypocrites
4. the type of relationship with God matters when we pray

In this session we will look at the greatness of the might and ever lasting living all knowing, all powerful and omnipresent God. We will get a tiny glimpsy of the greatness of this awesom and dependable God who created the universe and all the fills it. That is the greatness of him who created the limits of time yet he cannot be bound by time because he is eternal.

Jesus said “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” These words tell us something unique about God which we must be conscious of when we engage in prayer. We must be conscious of God’s greatness.

God is an awesome being and in the book of Isiah he says, “I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” In that regard, he alone is worth to be worshipped hence he has given commandment to that effect. He is a great God such that in Isiah 66:1 he says, “…... heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” He cannot be confined to a temple or a particular place because he is everywhere present, all powerful and all knowing. He existed before time, created time and set the boundaries of time yet he is from everlasting even unto everlasting. He created the beginning of time as well as the end of time but no one understands his existence since he is not time bound.

Examples of his greatness can be seen in the creation story. Did it ever occur to you that whilst the counting or numbering of days and nights is determined by the sun and moon, the first 3 days never relied on the sun and moon. Genesis gives the following description from verse 3 to 5. ‘God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.  God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.’ It is interesting to note that on this day and night there was no sun and moon to divide the day from the night yet this was very possible. Two more days and nights came and passed with full light during the day and darkness at night yet there was no sun to give light and also with no moon to obstruct the sun’s light upon the earth. Truly how great is this God, can anyone explain, I truly wonder. The sun and moon only came on the fourth day to give light and to divide day from night.

Vegetation which relies heavily on light for growth was created before the sun had been created. Genesis 1:11-13 reads, “Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.  There was evening and there was morning, a third day.…” Did this ever occur to you that vegetation grew and produced fruit with no sun in sight at all. The sun only came in to being four days after the first act of creation. The sun, moon and stars only came on the fourth day and their purpose was to separate the day from the night, and …... be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and …... be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth; yet light existed four days before they came in to existence. Can you just imagine a God who can do such awesome things? My friend this is just one bit of how overwhelming and marvellous God is.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. In other words, God made the universe out of absolutely nothing. Imagine how great this God is in that furthermore, invisible atoms and ions were put together by God to put in place visible things which we see daily. Do you really understand this God? As for me I am completely tongue tied.

The psalmist, in Psalms 145, wrote, “Yahweh is great and is highly praised; His greatness is unsearchable. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. The Lord is good to everyone; His compassion rests on all He has made.”

Let me say that God is greater than greatness because words cannot describe his greatness, in fact it is him who created greatness hence in Genesis 12:1-3 he could say to Abraham, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing... And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." The hymn writer sang, “then sings my soul my saviour God to thee, how great thou art, how great thou art.”

When we pray we must be conscious of this greatness and when we do so faith will be built in us. Faith and confidence is always put in what is greater than us so when we realise the greatness of God faith and assurance in Him will naturally grow within us.

Because of his greatness, his great name must be held in high esteem. The disciples were told to say, “Hallowed be thy name.” God’s name is sacred and must not be taken in vain. The Hebrews were very particular about the aspect. They took seriously the Leviticus 19:12 commandment which said, “And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.” Even whilst reading the scripture they would mumble when they came to where the name of YHW was written because they feared to profane it. The Israelites revered the name of God so much that they only used it in a serious and considerate way so as to avoid using His name in a useless and disrespectful way.

When they said, “thus says the Lord”, God would have in deed spoken. They were not like most of us modern men who are not ashamed to say, “YHW said to me,” when God would not have spoken a word. Not only does the modern men take his name in vain. They actually misuse and abuse it. Many in the modern church have lost reverence for God and his great and awesome name. Many people have been fleeced of their hard earned wealth by certain deceivers who have said, “God has commanded that you give me this and that” when God would have said nothing at all. No wonder why most prayers go unanswered because we failed to stay within the prayer pattern wherein we consecrate the Lord’s name. In my book Saints Made Merchandise I emphasise the seriousness of not abusing the Lord’s name for selfish gain. In Exodus 20 God said, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

In my next post I will look at the phrase, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Copyright © 2016 Abraham Soka