Prayer - Part 3 - The Lord's Prayer

Tonight I'll be posting on the Lord's Prayer. I will be using the New King James Version for this post, since the wording is more traditional. The Scripture reading is Luke 11:1-4:

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, thatone of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

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¹ Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” ² So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

The disciples saw how fervently Jesus prayed, and they wanted to pray that way too, so they asked Jesus to teach them.

Our Father in heaven,

The Father was not just Jesus' Father, but our Father as well and Heaven is where He lives.

Hallowed be Your name.

"Hallowed" is another word for "holy." The Father's name is holy - we should treat it with reverence and awe.

Your kingdom come.

We look forward to the day when God's kingdom comes on earth to reign forever.

Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Whatever the Father wishes to happen in heaven is done. We pray that whatever the Father wishes to happen on earth is done.

³ Give us day by day our daily bread.

We pray that the Father gives us the sustenance we need for the day, not only the food that enters our mouths, but spiritual food as well.

⁴ And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Unless we forgive those who sin against us, God will not forgive us our sins.

And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

We are asking the Lord not to put us in situations that would cause us to sin. We ask to be delivered from Satan's power and all the evil things he causes to happen.

Some translations add the following:

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.

With this line, we acknowledge that the kingdom of heaven belongs to God alone, and he will reign there eternally in power and glory. "Amen" means "so be it."

Thanks for reading! I look forward to reading your comments. Have a blessed day!

Diane

Prayer - Part 2

I hope that you enjoyed reading Prayer - Part 1. Here is Part 2.

Tonight's Scripture reading is Matthew 6:5-8 (NLT).

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.

One of the definitions of "hypocrite," per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is " a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion." The hypocrites in this verse are praying in public to make people think they are righteous and holy. The adulation of the people watching the hypocrites pray is the only reward they will receive. Jesus is warning us here not to pray to show off before others.

⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Prayer should be a private matter between you and God. When you pray in secret, your reward is the Father' undivided attention. If you make your needs known privately to the Father, He will give you the glory in public. See the difference in reward between this and the reward of the hypocrites in verse 5?

⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

The Lord wants us to be direct and to the point when we are petitioning Him with our needs. You do not need to say the same words over and over again.

⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

The Lord knows everything you need. He knows your thoughts, feelings and needs before they are even expressed in words. However, the Father wants to hear from you your wants and needs.

For Prayer - Part 3, I will post my comments on the Lord's Prayer. I hope you're enjoying reading my posts. Please feel free to comment. See you next time!

Diane

Prayer - Part 1

A few years ago, I wrote some thoughts on prayer. I thought I'd share them on my blog. I hope you will find them encouraging. For each part, I will post a Scripture and then comment, verse by verse. Tonight's post is on Philippians 4:6-7.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT): ⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

We should pray about everything that concerns us, for God is not only our Father but our Friend. He cares for us. We should not worry about where our sustenance will come from, but depend on the Father to provide for us. He knows what you need before you ask for it, but He just needs confirmation that the thing or situation you are asking for is what you really want.

When you pray, always thank God for what He has already given you and for what He's done for you.

⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

After you turn over your concerns and needs to the Lord through prayer (don't forget to keep them there; that's a subject for another post), you feel such a peace and release. God's peace is much more than we can even imagine. God's peace will guard your heart and mind and keep them pure so you can live each day to the fullest in Christ Jesus.

Thanks for reading! Please comment if you feel led. See you soon!

Diane

Need a movie for your Netflix queue?

If you like musicals (and/or Hugh Jackman), you have to see Oklahoma! After watching Hugh on the Oscar and realizing he can sing and dance, I went to his profile on IMDb.com and discovered he played Curly in this version. The production took place in 1999, so Hugh looks younger than he does now (the son noticed this, since he only knows Hugh as Wolverine). Not only is Hugh excellent in this production, so is British actress Maureen Lipman as Aunt Eller. An Australian and a Brit playing Oklahomans. How ironic is that?!?

Or if you can't wait for the movie to show up in your mailbox, you can purchase it here. Happy viewing!

Diane

Welcome!

This is my first foray into the world of blogging. My daughter will probably say "It's about time you entered the 21st century!" LOL! I never got around to setting up accounts on Facebook or myspace. It seems like a lot of work, although I set up my husband on LinkedIn in the hopes of landing him another job. Why in the world anyone would be interested in the minutae of my life via Twitter is beyond me too, although I admit it would be a compliment if anyone were to "follow" me. :)

I hope to use this blog to keep my writing skills up to date, post on things that interest or concern me, and whatever I feel might be of interest to my readers. I will try to post at least once a week, if not more, when the writing spirit hits me. I welcome comments, although if the comments turn too nasty, I will turn them off.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!

Diane