"Our Father".....To me, these two words are very powerful. Father. It's personal. Not some abstract concept. We have a father, one father, one father for all of us besides the one earthly father each of us has. We know the actions of a good father when we see it. A father is kind, compassionate, generous, strict and gentle at the same time. He forgives the broken lamp, the wrecked car, the bad grades. He helps with decisions and discussions. He is steady and sure of himself and reassuring to us. Our ideas about what it takes to be a good father help make this prayer to Our Father very personal. "Dad, listen and help me."
The other half of the phrase "Our Father" is "Our". This statement joins us all in one great big family. We have the same father so we are all related. Jesus spoke the same words so we are related to Jesus. We are family, all of us; those reading this, those people we work with, talk with, visit with, disagree with, dislike and misunderstand. We are all kin. We all have the same Father. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Sadaam Hussein. We are all part of "our Father's" family. How does that make you feel?
"Our Father"
"Who Art In Heaven" Jesus is telling us that there is a heaven. Someplace that is not filled with earthly dreads, cancer, death, misunderstanding, hatred. Somewhere over the rainbow, there is a Heaven. And "Our Father" is there. He resides in this wonderful heaven. We have a Father who resides in splendor, in a place so perfect we cannot begin to imagine it.
"Who Art In Heaven"
"Hallowed by Thy Name" God is worth of praise. God deserves praise. God's name is sacred. It is to be revered and hallowed. Webster's dictionary defines "hallowed" as 1) made holy or sacred, and 2) honored as sacred. God's name should be sacred and holy and honored as sacred. God's name should be used with care and dignity. God deserves our respect.
"Hallowed by Thy Name"
"Thy Kingdom Come" This says a couple of things to me. First, there is a kingdom where God reigns. God's kingdom. The use of the word kingdom is somewhat tainted to me because I don't think much or respect or admire of the kingdoms on earth in history. But God's kingdom is fair, peaceful, compassionate, and every other good word I can think of and more than I can imagine. We are asking for God's kingdom to come. We are anticipating the coming of God's kingdom and ask for its arrival. Jesus told us in this prayer that we are to look forward to the coming of God's perfect kingdom.
"God's kingdom come"
"Thy will be done" We want God to work His will in our lives and in our hearts. We are asking God to help us to seek His will for ourselves. We want God's will to become our will. God knows everything. He knows what the future holds with every decision made, with every mistake made, with every action taken. God knows. [Let's pray here" God we want your omnipotent, omnipresent-will over our lives. You know what is best for us and the rest of your world. amen]
"Thy will be done"
"On earth as it is in heaven." We want earth to become just like the perfect kingdom in heaven. This is a wonderful, exciting thought. We are asking in this short sentence that God bring His Perfect Kingdom to earth. We don't want to wait. We want:
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
"Give us this day our daily bread" This request is so straight forward that I never really thought about it. Until one day, my husband, who was raised Catholic, was sort of ranting about "Protestant" prayers. He said, "it just goes on and on. Why can't they be short and sweet like a good Catholic prayer?"
I asked him in return, "what good Catholic prayer lets God know you need his help getting the things you want and need? How does a Catholic ask for something?"
Without hesitation his answer was simple, "the Lord's Prayer" (He probably actually said "the Our Father".)
"How does that ask God for something?" I asked.
He cocked his head and replied, "You don't really think 'daily bread' means I want bread every day, do you?"
I'd never thought about it. The Lord's prayer asks God to take care of our needs and wants. My newly informed translation of "Give us our daily bread" is now "God, you know what I need today and what I want. Please help me do what it takes to take care of those needs and wants." Keep in mind that we have already asked for God's will be done on earth as in Heaven. This means that our needs and wants should be filled according to God's will and purpose for our lives. The Lord's Prayer is a terrific prayer, isn't it?
"Give us ourdaily bread" also asks that the wants and needs of others be met because we say "give US OUR daily bread", not "Give Me MY daily bread. We say
"Give us this day our daily bread"
"Forgive us our trespasses". That's an easy one. Simple. Forgive us.
Translation: 1) We have sinned. We are acknowledging that we have sinned. We are not perfect. We mess up. We even knowingly disobey. We have sinned and will sin. Please forgive us.
2) This is a prayer of intercession. Not just me, but forgive US. God, we are asking that You forgive the sins of others who may not even know that they are sinners. "Forgive Us."
3) This prayer admits that we have been given far too much to ever be able to repay the debt. God, who is exceedingly generous, has heaped generous portions of goodness on us. He takes care of our needs, comforts us, loves us unconditionally. We can never begin to repay all we have received because of God's abundant grace.
Lord, "forgive us our trespasses"
"As we forgive those who trespass against us" Ah, the catch. There it is. We have to do something. We have to forgive those who have done us wrong. In this prayer, Jesus told us that we have to forgive others. We will only be as forgiven to the same degree as we forgive others! We cannot truly feel forgiven if we cannot or will not forgive. We cannot understand what true forgiveness is until we can truly forgive. We cannot receive until we give. This is true, not only in forgiveness but also in accepting love. Until we can love ourselves and can give love, we cannot fully accept or understand God's unending capacity to love and to forgive. [Let's pray here: God, help us to forgive our debtors so that You can and will forgive our debts.]
"As we forgive those who trespass against us"
"And lead us not into temptation" This is a hard one for me. The statement almost implies that God might actually LEAD us into temptation. I cannot believe that. Unless that by tempting us, God wants us to depend on Him and therefore grow stronger in our conviction to follow and obey Him. If we can fight off one temptation, the next temptation will be easier to overcome. I think I've grown some with this statement since I first wrote this. I think that temptation offers us another opportunity to obey God, to choose God, to rely on God. Temptation does not have to be a negative. Only our response determines that.
"And lead us not into temptation"
"But deliver us from evil" This is another statement about depending on God and asking for His protection. God is the only protection we have, or need from evil. Again, we are asking for this protection for others, not just for ourselves. "Deliver US". Protect US. We are in this together and we all need protection and deliverance from evil.
"But deliver us from evil"
"For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever." The earth is part of God's kingdom. It is His kingdom. He has the power. He deserves ALL the glory. And His power and glory are eternal. God's power and glory go on forever.
"For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever."
The Lord's prayer does these things:
1) Acknowledges who God is.
2) Makes us all relatives to each other.
3) Acknowledges the existence of heaven.
4) Praises and Adores God.
5) Reminds us that the kingdom of God is coming.
6) Asks for God's help in knowing and following His will.
7) Declares God as our sustainer, protector, and provider.
8) Acknowledges that we know we are sinners and seeks forgiveness for our sinful nature.
9) Urges us to forgive others. Reminds us to forgive others.
10) Asks God's help to fend off temptations.
11) Asks for protection from evil.
12) Gives all the glory to God.
THE PERFECT PRAYER.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.
I like the NLT's version of temtation the best: "And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done. Toes
Now you need to publish this book, devotional. Great job. DE
ReplyDelete