Valley View Baptist Church

Temptation is a clever trick of Satan. Even Jesus Himself experienced temptation. Satan knew how to tempt the Lord, and you can rest assured that he knows our weaknesses as well. There are no super Christians; everyone sins, and everyone experiences temptation.

It was important enough to Jesus that He even included a request for protection from it in the model prayer.

Do you face temptation in your life? Sure you do. And you have a choice to make. Are you going to give up and give in, or are you going to resist and endure?

It's easy to praise God and thank Him for the good things in life, during the good seasons, isn't it? It's easy to be thankful for your home, your family, your job, etc.

But what about during the bad times? What about the times in life when you are facing a storm or a difficulty? Are you able to thank Him then?

God has a lesson to be learned, even in the midst of the storms of life. Often, it is during those times when God is able to teach us things that He otherwise would never have been able to teach.

Be thankful in your storms this morning. We have a lot to learn during the storms that we would never be able to learn without facing those difficult times.

Are you harboring bitterness toward someone over a past transgression? If you do, you can never truly go to God to ask Hid forgiveness for your own transgressions.

The model prayer says that we are to ask God to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. So if we have never fully forgiven others, and let go of the bitterness and vengeance that holds us back, then how can we expect our Lord to do the same for us?

A Threefold Challenge to Our Church:

In the midst of our church transition right now between pastors, Bro. Mike (our interim pastor) issued a challenge to our church here at Valley View found in Romans 12:12. We are to rejoice in hope (the hope of knowing that God's will is something we can rest in when it comes to the future of our church), be patient in tribulation (no matter how difficult the waiting can sometimes seem), and continue instant in prayer (as the Scripture commands us to "pray without ceasing).

As we continue our series on Prayer 101: Learning to Talk to God, we examine the reasons behind the phrase "give us this day our daily bread."

Have you ever thought about that verse? What exactly are we to ask for? When are we supposed to do this? And why would we even have to go to God for our daily needs when He already knows before we ask?

Tonight we examine Jesus' model prayer to see that He wants us to come to Him with our needs, daily, because He desires daily communication with us.