My step son was in a dark place with anger issues and I finally got him to open his Bible again. I wrote this to offer a little insight and give him something to think about.
Our Father,
This tells us that God is the Father of ALL people. Good or bad God is our father. Respect your Father.
which art in heaven,
As simple as it sounds. Our Father is in Heaven. He watches over his creation and holds a place for us
Hallowed be thy Name.
made holy; consecrated. greatly revered and honored. His name is sacred above all others and is to be held in highest honor.
Thy Kingdom come.
We wait for God to honor us with the ability to join him in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thy will be done in earth As it is in heaven.
This is where we start to get into trouble. We always tell each other and ourselves that “HIS WILL” is what we will accept but we always want to place conditions on it. We are always making prayer to ask for something. Always asking for a “special favor” and it is most often with selfish agenda when we do. When we pray, we should ALWAYS be thankful for the things we have. We should be thankful that He has a plan for us. I know that we always ask for healing and bringing a couple back together or not sending a person to prison. BUT we never truly mean it when we say, “Your will be done”. We are human and we are selfish. This is what we were taught, and it is what we teach. I do believe it is time to break that cycle.
Give us this day our daily bread.
This one is not easy either. Give us our daily bread. We want payment for the things we do, and we are never satisfied with the payment we receive. WHY? We are taught that greed runs this world and we want our share. We never stop to think about what would happen if we only received what we deserve?
And forgive us our trespasses,
My personal favorite. Everyone wants to think this one is easy. Not even close.
Trespass is to cross a line. You have done something bad. You have crossed a line you should not have and now you want to be forgiven for this. How bad was that thing you did when you crossed that line? How much hurt did you cause to other people in doing your trespass? Was it a lie? Was it a theft? How bad was your trespass? How many trespasses did you make?
As we forgive those that trespass against us.
This is the single most difficult of all things we will ever do. Forgive those that trespass against us.
But that jerk stole $20 from me. That person broke my toy. That person dented my car and will not pay for repairs.
AS WE FORGIVE is not so easy and this is one of the conditions we place on “Thy Will Be Done”.
not so easy to do as we ask for God to be fair with us.
And lead us not into temptation,
Well now. Lead us not into temptation. This is the part that calls for Moral Strength.
That good-looking man or woman walking by that you stopped to look at. That car we really want but the price is above our budget. That fancy dress or suit that you just have to have to impress someone. And more often than not that person is not worth impressing.
But deliver us from evil.
Deliver us from evil? Really now? What evil can we be talking about?
SELFISHNESS, GREED, JEALOUSLY, HATE? All of these are the evil that lives in each one of us.
As long as we have any feelings of any of these, we are allowing evil to live inside of us and control the things we do. Be happy with what you have. Remember that part about “Thy Will Be Done”?
For thine is the kingdom,
Yes. This one is very easy. The Kingdom of Heaven. That magic place where we all want to go when our time comes.
The power, and the glory,
Power and Glory? What power? What glory? The Power is the life that he has given to each of us. The Power is that special ability each of us has that makes us unique.
The Glory is that which makes us happy within. The Glory is what gives us pride in being who we are.
For ever and ever.
For ever and ever? That seems like a long time. For ever is a long time by itself and now we have to add another ever to that? Let us just say that this until the end of time.
Amen.
