Lord’s Prayer
By Jeremy Glaze
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6: 9-13)
I came to a disturbing realization concerning this passage a couple of weeks ago. I have read or recited this prayer hundreds of times in my life time. I remember reciting this prayer with a group at several public events. While in school, I said this prayer with my baseball and football team before every game. We have this prayer in a frame hanging on our wall at home. So a few weeks ago I thought to myself, out of all the times I have said this prayer, “how many times did I mean it?” The answer I came up with…ZERO. Jesus said these words to give us an example on how to pray, and I just realized I have never used this example that came straight from Jesus. Honestly, I did not even know what “Hallowed” meant until about three weeks ago. I know, its sad.
So I decided that I would whole heartedly pray this prayer. When I did, I was astonished. This is a powerful prayer. It covers everything that I could possibly need in my life. I broke down each line of this prayer into my own wording so it would actually be me talking to God.
-Our Father, which art in Heaven: -Daddy, perfect God in a perfect place.
-Hallowed be thy name: -You are Holy, You are Sacred to me.
-Thy kingdom come: -Bring Heaven here in my life. Let Heaven crash into earth and change the world.
-Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven: -Make my life yours. What You want it to be. Not my own will, but Your will God. Show me the way.
-Give us this day our daily bread: -Give me what I need, not what I want, just what I need.
-And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: -Forgive me for all my sins, all my shortcomings, and I will forgive the ones who have done me wrong. (Notice here that it does not say “help us to forgive our debtors:, it says “AS we forgive our debtors”. We are not asking for help to forgive, we are committing to forgive).
-Lead us not unto temptation: -I want to be all about You, I do not want to be involved with anything else.
-But deliver us from evil: -take away anything in my life that hinders me from You.
-For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever: -It’s all about You, It’s all about You, It’s all about You Jesus.
-Amen: -Amen
Jeremy Glaze
Jeremy, I was awakened to the meaning of this prayer about a year or so ago. Also, remember where Jesus prayed this prayer at and that he was teaching the disciples how to pray, before they were to go out and spread His word. Thank you for your thoughts on this and the blessing you are to me. Also, when you can, dig into the 23rd Psalm, we as sheep and Jesus as Shepherd. I have a study on this that has blessed me everyday of my life. Love You
Thanks Faye!