Tuesday, April 15, 2008

For Simon

A while back, Simon left this comment, "NOW can we discuss the lords prayer and what it means to us?"

While I'm sure this may be a controversial post, I thought I would address his request. So Simon, here is my Lord's Prayer for this evening.

[Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name]

First, I acknowledge you as my Father, the creator of all things, the one who is lofty, high and lifted up in a place that I cannot ascend to. Your name is holy, your being is holy – you are set apart, entirely different from everything else that is; you alone are God; you alone are pure perfection.

[Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.]

I pray that your kingdom will come to this earth, to your creation and all that it contains, including all people, that they would come to know you for who you are, the perfect, pure and holy one.

Oh Father, help me to know and do your will the same way it is done in heaven, the way the angels do it – completely, quickly and with gladness, delighted to serve you. Help me to hear what it is that you are asking me to do and to trust you, to follow through in faith.

[Give us this day, our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we also have forgive our debtors.]

Oh Father, help me to understand that I only need see what I need to do today and only need to have what I need today. I so desperately need to learn to leave tomorrow for itself. Help me to remember to be faithful this day and to look to you for what I need this day – to walk by faith, not by sight.

Forgive me for where I have failed to do what I ought to do and where I have done what I ought not have. Help me always to remember how incredibly much you have forgiven me and to be willing to forgive readily the things others have done to hurt me. Bring to my remembrance how little I am asked to forgive in comparison to what you have already forgiven me.

[And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.]

Father, keep me from temptation. You know the desires of my heart and you also know its weakness. Please protect me in these areas and help me to trust your provision for my life. Help me to be wise and see evil for what it is and to walk away from it, trusting that your ways are not only higher, but better for me.

[For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory, forever]

Let me to remember that you are the one who is seated on the throne of all that exists; keep ever present in my mind that nothing is outside of your power, that nothing can touch me but that you allow it. Help me to trust you to guide and protect me. Remind me that it is not by man’s might, nor by his power but by your spirit that your kingdom moves forward. Help me not to fear my current work situation, remembering always that you are in control and the power of my university system is nothing in comparison to you. Help me to walk by faith through this difficult time, one step at a time, holding fast to your hand, doing your will day by day.

You, oh Lord, are glorious beyond compare. Whom do I have in all of heaven and earth that compares with you? You are the bright and shinning one who lights the dark souls of men and shines your truth into us. Warm us with your light, drive out the shadows and darkness from our souls with your glory – for this moment and forever and ever.

[Amen]

May it always be so!

8 comments:

Dana said...

it's always helpful to look at the Lord's prayer as a guide. as someone who struggles in her prayer life, i usually feel aimless. i'm glad Jesus saw fit to advise on this:)

donsands said...

Well done. Good thoughts on our Lord instruction here.

"Nothing, we may be sure, glorifies grace so much as to live like Daniel in Babylon, and the saints in Nero's household--in the world and yet not of the world,--tempted on every side and yet conquerors of temptation, not taken out of the reach of evil and yet kept and preserved from its power." -JC Ryle

simon said...

:o)

Every Square Inch said...

Beautiful prayer. Thanks for sharing your personal prayer to God, the Father.

Ted M. Gossard said...

Amen,Susan. A wonderful prayer. So good to pray like that from the Lord's prayer.

Salvation is about God's kingdom in Jesus coming to earth. In the new creation about heaven coming to earth and those two dimensions, meant for each other, becoming one, as a bride beautifully dressed for her groom. In Jesus.

And this begins for us here and now, even in this world. In ways we may get a hint at, and in other ways we know not. Why at the end of 1 Corinthians 15, the great chapter on our hope in Jesus of the resurrection, we're not told to therefore rest and relax, knowing what we have to look forward to, but instead, no- therefore get to work, and do that as to the Lord with reference to this kingdom come in Jesus. It's a salvation we see in the gospels that is going to involve all things, and begins now. And we're saved to become a part of that salvation in Jesus for others and for the world God created, for the earth of which we're to be stewards.

Oh, I'm full of N.T. Wright lately, reading his book, Surprised by Hope. And working on it as it will probably be a paradigm impacting book.

But I like much your prayer here, Susan. A good one for all of us to pray exactly as you do here, with same words, but into our various situations.

Litl-Luther said...

Susan: I love the prayer! Thank you!!

Ted: Good thoughts on being saved for service and being a part of what God is doing in the world. ...I'm reminded of something I wrote to Him about 16 years ago in heart-dedication to the Lord, and I see now how God took me at my word and made me live out some of the commitments I made to Him. This is long, Susan, I hope you don't mind me including it here:

My heart's desire is to be totally faithful to God. I have set my foot to the plow and I will not look back. He has loosed the chains from my neck and the weights upon my shoulders. I was in bondage to sin, but He has set me free. I will not forsake Him. He has opened my eyes to see, my ears so I can hear. He has healed my soul. God has spared me from death - I will live for Him. He has given me life from the dead; I owe my life to Him. I will not surrender to the world. I no longer want what the flesh desires. How can I let sin reign in my life when God is on the throne? His presence has filled my heart and mind. He is my God! I will have no other gods before Him. The free will He has given me I give back to Him. This life He has given me I gladly offer to Him. I will do the work God gives me to do even if it costs my life, for I do not live for this life but the life that is to come. I submit all I am and all I ever shall be to the great I AM, the God of Abraham. There is nothing I have that does not belong to Him. I submit not only out of obedience but also out of love, because He bought me with a price. I was a slave to sin, but now I'm free. So I desire to be a slave to God, yet He has made me to be a son. What can this world offer? What can take the place of the one and only God, the Creator of every living thing? I have a relationship with the living God! Will I fear my fellow man? No. My God is the Creator of all, I will bow before Him. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Why should I fear? What could separate me from the love of God? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or the sword? In all these things I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Messiah Jesus my Lord. This life is but a vapor. It appears a short time and then vanishes away. What would it profit me if I were to gain the whole world and lose my own soul? Yet my life is not lost, God has redeemed me. I will put nothing before Him. This world offers nothing in comparison to God. I am but a stranger in a foreign land. I set my sights on the kingdom of God, not treasures on earth. Yet even my faith is given to me. I am what I am by the grace of God. I would be like those living in Sodom and Gomorrha, like the world we live in today, if it were not for God coming into my life and His continual hand on me. God has opened my eyes, showing me that true life is in following Him; everything else is vanity. I am not ashamed, for the strength I have to live for God is provided by God. Without Him I am nothing. Through all eternity I will praise Him, for He has saved my soul from Hell. He has written my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. With eagerness I await my Lord's coming, when He will take me home. Even so, come Lord Jesus, come!

simon said...

Mmmnnnnn I tink i need to start an arguement just so we can get to 100 comments.....

Halfmom, AKA, Susan said...

Simon

I think you'll have to wait for Maalie to come home or find an internet cafe since he is away from home!