The Lord's Prayer

Greetings Friends!

Today I would just like to share with you some thoughts about the Lord's Prayer.
This morning, when my family was gathered round the breakfast table, the section for the day happened to be The Lord's prayer. Now, I am sure that pretty much everybody has heard or read the Lord's prayer: which goes something like this: (NASB version.)

"Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."                   Matthew 6:9-13

Now, often times we tend to pray something like you would say to a department store clerk: "Hey, could you give me a discount on this bike right here? Say a 50% discount? And I will be needing some baking powder today, as well as a new hairbrush, 2 pounds of sugar, and a new pair of cheetah-printed stilettos." Not a very thankful or unselfish discourse, right? So many times it is easy to ask but not give God the thanks and praise He deserves. I am guilty of this as well, so I was thankful when Mom brought this topic up today during Bible.

My Mom gave the us the suggestion of writing out the Lord's Prayer in our own words, so we could hang it up if we wanted to remind us. All of us immediately began opening our Bibles and putting pen to paper.

In light of how much this can remind us of how to pray to God, including in our prayers a thanksgiving and worship and repentance that we can so often forget to give God when we talk to Him. In thanking Him we are reminded of how much we do have before we ask for anything new; and in giving Him worship we are brought back to the gifts we can give back to God. When we repent of our failings we are reminded of how perfect God is and how much He loves us, just as He gave us Jesus and the gift of communion with Him.

I think that all of us should write out the Lord's Prayer for our constant reminder. You can do it as it is written in the Bible, or bet of all, put it in your own words. It could read something like this:

"Dear Daddy, who lives in Paradise, Holy is Your great name. May Your kingdom of the future come and dwell with us soon; and may Your plans and Your will be done as You want it, on this planet as You have chosen ti above in Your home - Heaven. I just ask that You would provide me with Your sustenance; spiritual food, as well as food for my physical needs. And please forgive me for all of my many sins and debts, and help me to also forgive the sins and debts of others. Please keep me from walking the dangerous path into temptation - Keep me from being temped by the sins of this world, and please keep me safe from the sparkling and enticing lure of this temporary home.
   For I know that Your kingdom will last, and so will Your great and marvelous power, and incredible glory. These are forever.  -Amen"

Or it could be something like this:

"Yo to the Big Daddy up top! Your title is awesome, man! Your joint is gonna last forever- and Your plans are far out Bro-  on-the-scene and upstairs, Pop! Keep me brimmin with chow Bro; grub for ma' soul and ma' tum. Clear me of my IOU's, and help me to let others go free, Man. Don't let me hang with the bad-scene crowd; and save me from the shifty shazaam of no-go stuff. Cause I know that Your joint is up top forever, and so's your power and glory, Cat. And it ain't gonna break up, Pop!
That's it Bro. You dig?"

Ok- so I know that the last version of the prayer is just for kicks, but seriously, this is a great idea and I think that it would be a great reminder to us all. Have a great day!

-Lindsay