The Lord's Prayer (How I Pray It)

“Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy 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 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thou is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever! Amen!” (Matthew 6:9-16)

As a child I learned the “Lord’s Prayer” by rote memorization, and when with a group I love to recite together as I learned it in the “King James” language. But, as I have grown older I have loved to pray this prayer, when by myself, with more elaboration and more understanding. When I pray by myself it is not always the exact words, but the thoughts of elaboration that come to me. Praying this prayer with my elaborations has become much more full and meaningful to me. Jesus gave His disciples (and us) this form and is just as an example of how to pray.

Our Father, thank You for the privilege and honor to call You our Father, by virtue of becoming your child through the redemption of Your Son, Jesus, and You have adopted me into Your family – “The Family of God,” and You have given me a new name, “The Righteousness of Christ Jesus,” instead of “sinner.” Thank You, that as a loving earthly father would, you invite me to come boldly into Your presence to tell you what is on my heart. You take me in Your arms, and on Your lap (like the child that I am) and You are never too busy to listen to all my praises, heartaches, intercessions, confessions and cries for help. Thank You, that with the rest of “the Family” I can say “Our Father.”

You are high and lifted up above me in all Your attributes, and Your righteousness fills the temple of my heart, because Your Holy Spirit lives there.

Holy is Your name, and Your name is exalted above every name, and I choose to bow my knees to Your precious name, as every knee some day will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, Master, and Sovereign over all.

Your kingdom come, and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I invite You to reign in my heart as Lord and Master in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, and I relinquish my will to Your will, here and now. I pray for Your soon reign here on earth – “Lord Jesus, come quickly!”

Give us this day and our daily bread. Father, You know the needs of my life, spirit, soul, and body, and I thank You for supplying my every need according to Your riches in glory (which are unfathomable and readily available). Thank You, for forgiving me when I confess my sins and for molding me into the perfect image of Your Son, Jesus. Thank You, for giving me the mind of Christ and for renewing it as I absorb Your Word and appropriate it in my life. Thank You, for Your touch when I need physical healing. Thank You for daily providing my every need!

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Father, I daily (sometimes momentarily) need your forgiveness of how I fail You. You know my heart, and You know I don’t want to fail You, but so often I fail to walk in the power of Your Spirit and sin against you and others, so I ask for your forgiveness and cleansing. As I ask forgiveness for my sins, please help me to forgive others who I feel has sinned against me, in the same way I expect You to forgive me. This isn’t possible without You enabling me to forgive, so I choose to forgive all who I feel have wronged me.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Father, don’t permit my heart to be inclined toward any evil thing, and make a way out of any overwhelming temptation, for You tempt no man. Deliver me from the evil one who wants to steal my joy, peace and witness.

For Yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever, Amen. Father, You are the sovereign God Who reigns over all, and You are Almighty and all the honor, glory and majesty belong only to You, and I bow at Your feet and worship You, Holy Father.

Change - The Sure Sign of Life

“We shall not fall asleep in death, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.” (I Corinthians 15:51b-52a)

They say that one sign of “old age” is that you don’t like change. In some respects I think that is true. The older I get I have noticed some inevitable changes: grey hair, less strength and energy, set in my ways, new pains nearly every day, memory loss. I don’t like the grey and thinning hair, the fast enumeration of wrinkles and my memory loss. I don’t like running out of energy before I finish my task, etc. But changes in my old body is inevitable and go with the territory, so I try to grin and bear it.

But some changes we should embrace. There is a quote on the wall of Alcatraz Penitentiary that reads, “If you do not change your direction, you may end up where you are heading.” In Acts 22, Paul testified of how he experienced some very dramatic changes that turned his life and his future around 180º, for the good - I am so glad! His changes went from being a terrorist bent on destruction of believers and the Church of Jesus Christ, to becoming a teacher and co-laborer bent on heaven and loving and building up the Church and evangelizing the known world for Christ. He went from fighting the Church to fellowship with the Church. Physically he changed from having sight to being blind, but spiritually he went from blindness to having his eyes opened and seeing clearly the Truth of the Gospel. He changed from being full of pride and rebellion to being humble and obedient. He went from self-sufficiently to being completely God dependent. He was changed from being self-assured with all of his education and status to being desirous to “only know Jesus and Him crucified,” and knowing he could do all things only through Christ, Who strengthened him (Philippians 4:13). This is what I call, "change and awe." For Paul, all of these changes were growing him into the perfect image of Jesus Christ. He was changed from glory to glory, until one day in God’s time, He would take Paul to live with Him in a changed and glorified body to not have the scars anymore, his sight was perfect and his hope was changed to reality.

To get a smile, a church put a sign on their nursery door which said, “We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.” Although some of us will still be alive when Christ returns all believers will then be changed and transformed into His perfect likeness – pure, holy and altogether righteous (II Cor. 15:51-52). As we now read, meditate and appropriate God’s Word we will see God’s glory and will be changed from one degree of glory to another(II Cor.3:18).

Here it is spring and there are changes in everything in nature. The trees have changed from their fall colors of red, yellow and gold to their winter attire of bare, naked branches to the beautiful green clothes of spring and summer. This change only comes because the trees are full of life. The same is true of the flowers and plants which have faded away during the harsh cold of winter, but as warm days have returned change is taking place in all the living plants. The stems first appear, then a bud, then the flower.

The resurrection of our Savior was so like the springtime. Just as the trees, grass and plants stand (or lie) dormant through the winter, then in the springtime they "resurrect" and grow and bloom because of the life within, just so is the resurrection of our Savior. His change from humanity back to divinity was “awesome.” Jesus was changed from death to life. Therefore, we also who believe are changed in this life from the curse of sin’s death to the hope of eternal life and from “glory to glory” to become more like Jesus, here and now.

That first Easter the whole world was full of change! The long awaited Savior of the world had finished the work of redemption for the hearts of all mankind. He was, is and will be the only One Who does not change,because He is God. He is the Creator of all things. The heavens and earth grow old like a garment but when they vanish away (and they will), God remains the same. He is the immutable God (Hebrews 1:10-12). None of His attributes will ever change!

Because God is love, His love never changes. Just as you can’t stop the waves from rolling into shore, you can never stop God from loving you. His love is constant and unconditional. There is no sin is so black that He cannot forgive, nor any pit so deep that God’s love cannot reach and save. And there are no chains so strong and binding that He cannot break and free. There is nothing so dark that the power of God’s love cannot change into light and joy! He is the CHANGER!

Look at the changes the Holy Spirit made in the lives of the disciples. Before Pentecost and them being “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-4), they were doubtful, fearful and weak. But because of the Holy Spirit’s filling they were changed into bold, faithful and strong witnesses, even in the face of death. What made the difference? They were changed by the power of the Holy Spirit filling them – they were “born again,” old ways of thinking and acting had passed away – all things had become new. They saw Jesus with new eyes and their relationship with Him was changed. Where Jesus had been their teacher and friend, after Pentecost Jesus became their Savior and Lord. They had new hearts, new resolve, new speech, new purpose and new hope of eternal life. They had been changed into new men by the power of the Holy Spirit within. They no longer ran away and denied Christ, but boldly ran to the defense and proclamation of Jesus, the risen Christ.

If we are not changing we are not growing and have never truly come alive in Jesus. Coming face to face with the claims of Jesus and accepting His love and sacrifice for us means an instantaneous change, and that changing to be like Him will continue until we see Him - then we shall be perfectly like He is!

CHANGE ME, LORD
(author unknown)

To come into the presence of the living God is to be changed.
We cannot come into His high and holy place and stay the same.
So change me Lord, Remake me Lord, Conform me to the image of Your Son!

So change me, Lord, Remake me, Lord, Conform me to the image of Your Son!