The World of Grandpa Don

The Lord's Prayer ...
I believe that not only is this the perfect prayer, but it is also one of the most profound teachings of Christ. The following, in Olive, was sent to me via e-mail. I have added my own thoughts in this color (maroon) .

Reflection: 
“Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” If this is true, then why bother asking? God already loves us and wants to help us, so what’s the purpose of prayer? It is this: Praying means we recognize God’s value and our inability to live without Him. Prayer means that we love God and trust Him. When we ask for help, we can tell Him how we’d like Him to answer our prayer, but if we trust Him, we add: “Father, You handle this the way You know is best with the timing You know is best.”

When Jesus gave us the “Our Father” as an example of how to pray, He showed us how true communication with God should be. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “Praying the Our Father and living it will lead us toward saintliness. The Our Father contains everything: God, ourselves, our neighbors....”

“Our Father in heaven”
 means we know that God is majestic, universal, eternal and infinite. But we cannot honestly say “OUR” if we keep the faith only to ourselves and fail to share it with others. We cannot say FATHER if we do not trust in His loving and complete concern and if we forget that He always answers prayers in the way and the timing He knows is best. We cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN if we are so attached to the ways of this world that we neglect to seek God first in everything. 
God is the Father and Creator of each of us. We are Brothers and sisters.

“Hallowed be Your Name” 
means that we realize that only God is holy. But we cannot sincerely pray HALLOWED BE THY NAME if we are unwilling to let His holiness penetrate our lives and help us grow in our own holiness.

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done” 
means we want God’s holiness in our lives. And yet, we cannot truly mean THY KINGDOM COME if we are not using our lives to bring His love into the world. Nor can we say THY WILL BE DONE if we live by our own ideas of morality or choose to follow the world’s standards.

"On Earth as it is in Heaven"
Jesus it telling us that we are to strive for His Kingdom right here on earth and we can achieve this goal if we follow His teachings.

“Give us this day our daily bread” 
means we want God to feed us with anything that will help us become more like Him right now, today, supplying us with whatever we need to live the way He wants us to live. But how can we ask Him to GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD if we are not willing to generously share whatever He gives us?
We pray for only what we need today. If we have more than we need, we share it.

“Forgive us as we forgive others” 
helps us get rid of the hindrances to holiness. But we cannot expect God to FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES if we don’t want to put forth enough effort to change. And we cannot say AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US if we are still holding a grudge and insisting that others change. We cannot rightfully pray this part of the “Our Father” while we are angry.

“Do not subject us to the trial” 
refers to the final judgment experienced by those who have rejected a life of holiness. But we cannot pray LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if we deliberately or knowingly place ourselves in a position to be tempted, choosing the path of sin while catering to the passions, addictions and attachments of our flesh-nature.

“Deliver us from the evil one”
 means that we want Christ’s victory over the interference of demons, and we know we need Him to overcome their unholy influences. However, we cannot expect Him to DELIVER US FROM EVIL if we’re not actively fighting against evil through deeds of love and service for everyone in our lives, especially those who cause problems or offend us.

Good News Ministries Wordbyte
http://gnm.org/index.shtml