The Written Word as Spoken in the
Lord’s Prayer
I have been asked to
say a few words about the power and the meaning of the spoken and written word.
I can think of no better place to start than with the Lord’s Prayer. For years I have recited the Lord’s Prayer
without much thought to what I was saying or for that matter, what Jesus was truly
saying when He gave it to the disciples.
Let me start with,
“Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done.” The modern English translation to this
phrase is, “For you to enter into God’s Kingdom, you must first carry-out God’s
will here on earth.” This is consistent with God’s word and the salvation of
souls. Those who are saved are born again and have surrendered their lives to
Christ. They put God before themselves and chose to do His will over their own.
True surrender means imagining what Christ would do or say if He were in your
shoes. To live in such a manner is to cleanse your temple and to invite the
Holy Spirit to live within you. Since the risen Christ, God’s will is written
in our hearts and we are no longer subject to the law of the Ten Commandments.
As Paul put it in Galatians 4:3-7, “Even so we, when we were children, were in
bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And
because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son;
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (see also Hebrews
8:7-10). The more we listen, the
clearer and louder God’s desires become. When God’s will is in our heart and we
choose to follow our heart at any cost, the Holy Spirit lives within us.
“Thy Kingdom Come, Thy
will be done” is followed by, “In earth as it is in heaven.” All together, the
translation becomes, “For you to enter into God’s Kingdom, you must first
carry-out God’s will here on earth as you will do when you are in heaven.” God
is telling us to live by example. Regardless of our motives or inner thoughts,
in the end, we will be noted for our works. Good intentions mean nothing
without works. We must live our lives by example. As we learn in James 2:20,
“…faith without works is dead.” James 2:21-24 read in part, “Was not Abraham
our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the
altar? …by works was faith made perfect. ...Ye see then how that by works a man
is justified, and not by faith alone.” We all want to do God’s will, but to
what extent? Do we have the strength to always choose His will over our own?
Where do we rank this responsibility and what do we do to show the love of
Christ? Just how important is it to us? Certainly a divine and righteous God
who created and provides all things has every right to demand that we put forth
our very best attempt to live a Christ-like life. We will of course fall short
of perfection because we are born to sin. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23-24,
“…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: Being justified freely
by his grace, through the redemption that is Christ Jesus.” Fortunately, our God so loved us that He gave
His only begotten son who has paid the price for our imperfection. However, to
give anything less than our very best is to dishonor the sacrifice that was
made on our behalf.
“In earth as it is in
heaven” is followed by, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Few realize that
this is a promise from God to those who truly love Him and place Him first in
their lives; above all others and all things. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with
the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with
plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” See also Luke 6:38 and
2 Corinthians 9:6-8.
Next,
we read, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Those who are
redeemed already know that Christ has paid the price for their sins; past,
present, and future. So, what exactly does, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors” mean and how do we affect our own forgiveness? We learn in 1
Corinthians 3:11 that no foundation can be built, but the foundation that was
already laid by Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 tells us, “Now if any man
build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every
man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it
shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort
it is. If any man's work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive
a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he
himself, shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” Though saved, we shall all stand
before judgment one day. Let us hope that in that day the Lord has placed our
sins as far from sight as the East is from the West because we have placed the
sins of our trespassers as far from sight as the East is from the West;
nevertheless, we are saved. Again, we must place God’s will before our own. We
must forgive the sins of those who have offended us; by the strength of Christ,
we must bury their sins deep in the ground; and we must forget where and what
we have buried. Our rewards for such a life are greater than we can imagine. “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him (1
Corinthians 2:9).
Lastly,
the Lord’s Prayer ends, “Amen.” We are taught as Christians to end our prayers
with the word, “Amen” and we generally do this without giving it much thought;
sort of like finishing a child’s story with, “and they lived happily
thereafter,” or a good book with, “the end.” Imagine how different our prayers
would be if we accounted for the true meaning of, “Amen.” The direct English
translation of the ancient word, “Amen” is “Believe.” Belief is the basis of
faith. How much more will our father want to answer our prayers that we close
with a reassurance of our belief and faith that He will love us and keep us,
than our prayers that end with, “the end?” There is power in knowing what you
say when you say, “Amen.”
Let
us pray together in the words that Christ has given us:
Our
Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed
be thy name.
Thy
kingdom come,
Thy
will be done in earth,
as it
is in heaven.
Give
us this day our daily bread:
And
forgive us our debts,
as we
forgive our debtors.
And
lead us not into temptation,
But
deliver us from evil:
For
thine is the kingdom,
And
the power,
And
the glory,
forever.
Amen.
Be
merry and Rejoice! Nobody loves you more than God the Father, God the Son, and
The Holy Spirit.
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