6. “Guide our lives away from situations in which we may be tempted to do wrong, and protect us from harm.”

* Evil is being wronged and/or doing wrong. The prayer closes with us praying for God to keep us from being on either side of wrong doing. We know that there is still much evil happening in our world, but we must seek to not be involved in it. When we do ministry, we are likely putting ourselves in increased danger, and we ask God to provide his protection over our lives.

4. “Provide for our needs today.”

* Again, this doesn’t say, “Provide for my needs today”, though I used to think of it that way in my mind, as you may have as well. Are your needs not being met? It probably isn’t because God isn’t providing—God has provided enough—it’s because someone isn’t sharing (make sure it isn’t you!).

* Also, it doesn’t say, “Fulfill all our wants today.” God knows and plans to take care of our needs, but not necessarily give us everything we want. Additionally, we usually think we need more than we actually do (especially in our culture).

* Furthermore, it doesn’t say, “Provide for our needs for the month/year/rest of our lives,” etc. We pray simply for today, concerning ourselves primarily with Continue reading →

3. “We want to see your nation established here, your desires to become reality in our world.”

* We are not just waiting to go to heaven and be saved ourselves. We so love God and his ways that we want to see them lived out presently, right here in our world. Again, in so requesting this, we also must be living it out in our lives insomuch as it is possible for us to do. In other words, it is not a mere passive request which we make and then sit back and hope happens (to everyone else). It is a request we make as we are striving to see it happen.

2. “Your are so incredible, people should be in awe at the mere mention of your name.”

* We recognize how good he is, but beyond that, we want others to recognize this as well. In saying this, we take on the responsibility to make this happen though our actions, as we bear his name.

1. “Father, you are father of us all, and above us all.”

* We address God as our father (or elsewhere even “daddy”), because he has chosen to have an intimate, familial relationship with us.

* He is not just my father, but our father. Throughout the entire Lord’s prayer, the singular pronouns “I, me, my, mine”, etc., are never used. Rather, it is always the plural “our, us, we”, etc. which is used. This teaches us that the world is designed as a community, not just as billions of individuals.

* Our father is “heavenly”, not mortal. He is supernatural, not created, not flawed, but perfectly and wholly good.

Several years ago I was at a retreat which focused on “the Lord’s prayer”. I believe I had already begun to pray through it regularly, but either way, it made me want to rewrite the prayer in modern language. I have continued to pray through this prayer regularly, and have learned from it by meditating upon it. Yet I never got around to rewording it—until now. I share it here in full presently, and over the coming days I plan to post my commentary on each section.

Father, you are father of us all, and above us all.
Your are so incredible, people should be in awe at the mere mention of your name.
We want to see your nation established here, your desires to become reality in our world.
Provide for our needs today.
Forgive us for our Continue reading →