Our Father...

This past weekend I attended a youth retreat at my friend's church. It was a wonderful experience that I have been blessed to have for the third time now. It is filled with church services, morning noon and night. Bible studies, fellowship and classes. It was the spiritual refreshment I needed!

Because of being in worship lots over the weekend, I spoke the  Lord's prayer many times. It's something that can be said so mindlessly because it is so often used in church or in the home. But have you ever really dug into it? It's the most beautiful thing! It's the prayer that the Lord asked of us to pray.

So I will break it down a little bit and share with you what it means to me.

Our Father, Who art in Heaven...
Just this in itself is beautiful! He asks us to call Him our Father! He is the ultimate Father to us even when we don't have a good earthly one. He provides for our needs and cares and loves us with all of Him, His life! Now if you are His children and He is the king of the Universe/Heaven, we are heirs to Heaven. Heaven in our eternal home. Not here. 

Hallowed be Thy Name...
His name is holy, perfect and just. It is different then any other name. It is then name of our Savior.  It describes who He is: Emmanuel-Savior of the World. 

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...
Earth is not forever. This is only the beginning. There is a whole eternity in Heaven to come. To praise, worship and thank the Lord for all He has done. In the mean time, we ask that only His will be done. We need to leave our lives up to Him. Let Him determine who you are. Don't let the sinful world or your sinful self do that. For heaven is holy and perfect. It is the Lord's home. Who wouldn't want it to be like heaven on earth?

Give us the day our daily bread...
This is my favorite part of the prayer. You know why? because it forces me to focus on THIS day, not the days ahead. To not worry about what will come of this day or any other. Jesus provides for the here and now and that's all we need to think about. We need to put our trust in the Lord's providence. Rely fully on Him and His perfect plan for our lives. 

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...
Daily we should come to the Lord with our confession and sins. He will never withhold forgiveness with repentance. He yearns to forgive us. He wants, so desperately for us to repent, turn away from our sins and start new again with Him at the center! Likewise we should not withhold forgiveness from others

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...
The devil's goal is get us to believe his lies and to tear us apart from the Lord and His truth, for He IS truth. The only way. We can't fight the devil on our own and I have learned that the hard way. Only with Christ's name and power can the devil be defeated for us day after day. But that's just it: he is defeated. We don't just try. Christ succeeds. He is the Victor and we with Him.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever...
His kingdom never ends, it will never go away. His power and glory have been, are and will be never ending and always here. He will never leave us.

Amen.

Where I was this weekend: http://higherthings.org/