Month: September 2011
Teaching: The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6)
Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.
If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.
Let’s get started:
I have a manual grain mill. That means I buy my wheat and other grains in kernel form from a farmer in New York and grind them into flour by hand. What that further means is that I have between 30 and 45 minutes of round-and-round-and-round-and-round to do, left hand, right hand, both hands, any and every time I need flour for breads and biscuits. So what that ultimately means is that I have a lot of time early in the mornings when I am grinding that I have to figure out what to do with my thoughts. If you’ve ever done a manual, repetitive job such as that, you know that the discipline it takes mentally to keep going can be quite a challenge. Up to the plate steps the Teacher–God and/or Jesus are never at a loss for a lesson or an insight to teach us if we’re open to it, and so I’ve come to think of my time at the grain mill as my daily grind of spiritual food.
As I was grinding away a few weeks ago, what should come to mind but the phrase, “give us this day our daily bread.” That, as you know, comes from what has been termed in Roman Catholic circles as “The Our Father.” Being raised as such, this had deep roots for me as one of the prayers often handed out to me as a penance for my soul after observing Confession with a priest. But I took a good look at it this particular morning as my arms went round-and-round, and I found a hearty meal of spiritual insight.
The prayer appears in Matthew 6:9-13 and is taught by Jesus to his disciples as an example of what the contents of a prayer might hold. Prefacing in verses 5-8, Jesus instructs them about prayer with the following:
Matthew 6:5-8
(5) “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
(6) But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
(7) And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
(8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.Pretty self-explanatory.
But how about the prayer itself? That morning, I saw what Jesus was trying to do–he did not give them a rote method of chanting a “penance,” but rather a beautiful standard by which to understand what prayer was and could be. As I recited the prayer in my mind, I thought it would be a great sharing for fellowship. Let’s look at it. I have not, however, “researched” this sharing. I am taking the words at face value from the English translation, but I think an enormous amount of insight could be gained by some word studies for those so inclined.
“Our Father” —Wow! Jesus, who made known God to the world, called him a “Father.” I would imagine a lot of the Jews sitting there were quite astonished at this shift in relationship with Yahweh and Elohim. Jesus opened to them the tender side of a loving God, not One on the smoking mountain unto whom they were afraid to come. “Father” opens up images of one whose lap you can crawl into, one who teaches alongside of you, and not one from whom you must hide.
In our fellowship that next Sunday I asked how each person opens his prayers. “Dear God” and “Heavenly Father” seemed to be pretty standard. Great, we’re on track with Jesus’ teaching. But then, if we’re honest, what is usually the next word we utter? One of our brethren piped up, “I!” Yep. There it is— “Dear God, I…” (I must note that a few beautiful souls admitted their next word is “thanks.”) Spoiler alert: there is not one single “I” in the whole prayer. The closest we see is “us,” a beautiful word that reminds us that we belong to one another, that we prosper or suffer together, that our sins and our triumphs affect not only ourselves, but also the rest of the Body of Christ.
What is the next thing Jesus taught? “In heaven”–a prepositional phrase telling us where our Father resides, and reminding us that He is God Almighty, whose perspective of both our lives and the world around us is far broader than our own.
“Hallowed be your name”—After acknowledging that God is our Father, and before we get to our own needs, we PRAISE Him! How beautiful! I am reminded how God, answering Job out of the storm, never addressed his suffering or his needs, but instead points out to Job how great He is!! Why? Because He’s a pompous attention-grabber? NO. God is Love, and as Love, He seeks the best for us. When we focus on Him and His greatness, what fear, what need, what despair can consume us? None. So, God our Father in heaven, we praise you!
“Your kingdom come” —the Hope! Next in line Jesus reminds us to look forward to our glorious future, when the Devil will be an afterthought.
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”—We are to recognize that God has a will, and do our best to line up with it. I’ve heard some mighty teachings on prayer being an invitation to God to come in and “POW!”, knock the Devil on his derriere.
Now, finally, we come to “us.” “Give us today our daily bread.” This statement could be taken very subjectively. Note that the word “us” was chosen instead of “me.” As a body of believers who live and move in diverse individual circles, we are nonetheless intricately connected to one another. We must ask ourselves how we define our personal “daily bread.” Has God prospered you above and beyond your needs? Perhaps it was not for you alone, but also that you could help someone else. Come to think of it, giving is itself a need, and we therefore must have something to give.
If we define our “daily bread” way beyond what we need, we will likely become unthankful. I submit that God keeps His Word, and that He does give us our daily bread need. Our modern society, however, would like us to believe, as Eve did, that God is withholding good from us, that our needs are not met, that we can and should have what we want, and have it now. I love Colossians 3:15, which states as an imperative, “And be thankful.” An “imperative” is a command: “(You) be thankful.” This is the only sentence in the entire prayer that addresses physical need.
“Forgive us our debts”: reminds us that we are sinners in need of forgiveness, “as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Boy, if you first recognize your own personal need for forgiveness, if you first look in the mirror and see the real you looking back, it sure makes it a lot easier to forgive someone who wrongs you.
And finally, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Jesus reminds us that life is a battle, and that we’re all in it collectively. It is imperative that we pray daily for one another to succeed in this war against spiritual powers. None of us is above that need, and our God is a God Who delivers!
As Jesus came to make known God, he came to also lead us into a relationship with Him, and certainly prayer is an indispensable component of that relationship. It is a prayer of recognition of who God is: a loving Father who forgives, supplies, and delivers. It is a prayer of praise that acknowledges the hope of a future life filled with God’s will. And it is a prayer that acknowledges our need now for community, forgiveness, help, deliverance, and of course, our daily bread.
If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.
Thanks for reading.
(Comments have been turned off. The information is here to inform and bless you. God granted you the gift of free will – take it or leave it).
More from Write From Karen
Just Because You Disagree Doesn’t Mean You’re a Bigot
I have never quite understood people who claim they are “outraged” over someone else’s beliefs or opinions.
Everyone is entitled to his/her own OPINION. Everyone has a core set of beliefs (and if you claim NOT to have beliefs well there you go, your beliefs are, you don’t have beliefs). Being outraged because someone doesn’t agree, or believe, the same as you is unrealistic, selfish and quite frankly, egotistical. In essence, people who are “outraged” over differing opinions are saying, “You don’t have a right to your opinion … unless you agree with me and then, okay.”
Hogwash.
For example…
The whole Chaz Bono appearing on “Dancing with the Stars” show drama (*rolls eyes as she types out the word drama*).
I saw a tweet from a blogger expressing her outrage over this article.
She was angry that the author of this opinion piece didn’t support Chaz’s decision to make the physical transition from a woman to a man. She called people who didn’t agree with Chaz’s decision bigoted and evil. She also didn’t agree with the author’s appeal to his audience to boycott the “Dancing with the Stars,” show this season.
Here are my thoughts on this issue:
First of all, let’s not forget that this is an opinion piece. The author of this piece has a right to his opinion. And just because the author is asking his readers to boycott the show doesn’t mean they will, or even should. I have my own thoughts about things and just because someone is telling me to boycott something doesn’t mean I will – I don’t do something just because someone tells me to. I will form my own opinion and if I choose not to watch the show, then I’m choosing not to watch the show.
It’s not any different than being “outraged” over an article published on Huffington Post that is asking people to watch this season’s “Dancing with the Stars’ to help support Chaz. So what? That writer has a right to his/her opinion, just like the writer in the above piece has a right to his opinion. Readers can agree, or disagree … I’m not exactly sure where “outrage” fits in. We can all choose to either watch the show or not watch the show. We can choose to support Chaz, or not support Chaz. It doesn’t make us bigoted; it doesn’t make us anything. We disagree. It’s OKAY to disagree with a person’s decision to do, or not to do, something.
However, it’s NOT okay to treat the person any differently just because we disagree with them.
If I saw Chaz on the street, I wouldn’t shun him or treat him badly, I don’t have the right to do that to any human being. Just because I don’t agree with his transgender decision doesn’t mean squat, really. It’s none of my business what he does with his body. As long as I treat him the same as everyone else, then there isn’t an issue.
I have a niece who chose to have a giant tree tattooed on her arm. I personally don’t care for it, but so what. It’s her arm. She can do what she wants with it. I don’t treat her differently, or love her any less – it simply is what it is. Am I disappointed with her decision? Of course, but again, I’ll get over it – it’s HER body.
And speaking of choice – Chaz has the right to choose what he does with his own body. He also has a right to go on “Dancing with the Stars” and celebrate his change. However, this does not mean that I have to celebrate with him. Just because he is feeling happy with his decision doesn’t mean I HAVE to feel happy, too. I too have a right to my own opinion and personally? I think changing one’s sex is sick and creepy. But that’s my OPINION. I can still watch “Dancing with the Stars” and NOT agree with Chaz’s decision if I want to; it doesn’t mean I’m a bigot, it means it’s his life, it’s my opinion and life really isn’t any more complicated than that.
We all judge. Sometimes it’s necessary to judge to keep ourselves in check. It’s what we do with that judgement where we start running into problems. Calling for a boycott is silly – so the writer doesn’t agree with Chaz’s personal decision on what to do with his body. GET OVER IT. So there are people out there that DO agree with Chaz’s decision and support him – GREAT.
Just because someone agrees with someone doesn’t mean he/she is a better person, it just means he/she agrees. If a person doesn’t agree with a decision someone makes, it just means he/she doesn’t agree with the decision.
WHY must we make something out of nothing?
The fact that this blogger is making a stink about the fact that people disagree with Chaz’s decision and is trying to rally the troops into feeling “outraged” because they think differently than she does, is not being helpful at all. In fact, it could be argued that she’s being bigoted against the people who disagree with Chaz’s decision.
We could all get along so much better if we just checked our self-important attitudes at the door, don’t you think?
Actually, I don’t give a rat’s ass what Chaz does with his body – honestly, whatever. But I DO feel sorry for Cher. Because speaking as a mother, whether she agrees, or disagrees with her son’s decision or not, it HAD to have been hard for her to cope with all of the conflicting emotions she must have gone through during this transition. I can only imagine the torment she must have suffered seeing her child in so much pain and wanting to help him through it. A mother’s love transcends all personal decisions and opinions.
At any rate, the moral of this story is this: we all have our opinions. We all judge. It’s who we are, it will never change. However, we CAN change how we react to these judgements and disagreements and ACCEPT the fact that not everyone will agree with everyone else and that’s OKAY. Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t make him/her a bigot, racist or anything else derogatory – it means we’ll all different and we all have to work on accepting those differences.
Diversity is a process. It’s also a two-way street. Think about it.
Simon’s Cat – Neener Neener
I don’t see what’s so funny, this is me and Kevin every day.
That’s why our marriage works, don’t you know, because we torment each other.
Also? Snow. *DROOL*
I’m not a big fan of snow, but since we’ve had 100 degrees plus these past few weeks? I could go for a little snow right about now.
You enjoy your long weekend, ya hear?
Encouraging Words
I ran across another interesting meme that I thought I’d play around with …
I definitely think we need more encouraging words, don’t you? 🙂
So first, yes, this is an actual board that I have on my fridge. But no, I didn’t write it because if I wrote it, you wouldn’t be able to read it. Seriously. My handwriting is AWFUL.
And yes. That’s a picture of Jazz when he was a baby. (He’s 16 now).
Anyway. I like this saying because it reminds me to appreciate the here and now. Since both boys are getting older (one graduated from high school this past May, and my youngest is a Junior this year), I’m so focused on their futures that I forget they are people NOW. And that I really don’t have that much time left with either of them. Even though I need to think about their future, I also need to think about who they are now, as well.
Are you appreciating the time you have with your children right now? How?
Pause is An Awesome Song – Also? Sleep is Pretty Awesome, Too
Someone linked to a Zumba video that was playing this song on Facebook today – I’ve been jamming ever since.
Listen to this song and tell me you’re not shaking your booty, or wagging a finger at least.
(Click the blue arrow to play)
If you’re not, then you’re lying.
Or dead.
Or a dead liar.
Today was busy. I was all over the place today.
I got up to the office at ten (I had a bunch of emails to answer at home first), and then I went on an interview at 1:00 this afternoon.
I’m pretty sure I blew the interview. No, no, I’m not just saying that – I couldn’t focus and I knew right away that me and the person just didn’t click. It was hot, I was dressed in slacks and a blouse and I had to park a ways from the building, so by the time I got into the building, I was sweating. And then, when I couldn’t think of how to respond to some of the questions, I got nervous. Which only made the sweating worse, which only served to make me more nervous and before long, all I could think was, “I wonder if she sees my sweat mustache?”
I did not leave with a good feeling.
I’m pretty sure I won’t be called for a second interview.
Then, I sold four books. Actually, I received an email from the buyer of the third book before Amazon even alerted me that I had sold a third book. The buyer wanted me to address the book to a certain person, and he wanted it NOW. So, after I picked Jazz up from school, I gathered up the books and was packaging them when someone bought a fourth book.
I mailed all four books today. I bet the person who bought the fourth book minutes before I walked out of the door thought I was all kinds of awesome for shipping her book not even an hour after buying it.
She’d be right – about the awesome part.
After all of that, I had just enough time to get to the office, answer a few emails and then race home to get dinner ready before Jazz had to report back to school for yet another band practice.
I had just returned home, got settled in and was updating some sites when Jazz called – thirty minutes later – he was ready to leave.
That boy NEEDS to get his license.
Which we’re working on.
Slowly but surely.
http://twitter.com/#!/writefromkaren/status/109455535706873856
I live for Fridays. Not only because it’s Friday, end of the workweek, start of the weekend, but because they’re late days at our house this school year.
I can sleep an extra hour on Fridays.
I like sleep.
Sleep makes me happy.
Especially on our new bed (which is becoming more and more comfortable).
I miss my Euro pillows though.
Which I bought, arrived on my doorstep but somehow I didn’t receive.
FedEx is investigating the case of the missing pillows as we speak.
I hope the thief who stole them doesn’t get any sleep.
Because stealing is wrong.
Jerk.
I think I need that extra hour of sleep.
Wouldn’t you agree?
Write From Karen 