The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6)

By Charlotte Dugan

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.

THANKS TO THE GENTLEMAN THAT SEND IT BUT U NAH FOOL NOR TRICK DI I

Excerpts of “The Devil wants your Children” By Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

What would you do if I were to tell you that there is someone so perverted, so sick, so disgusting, so vindictive, so vial and so obsessed with your children that they will do anything in their power destroy their innocence, ruin their lives, rob them of the knowledge of God, and murder them both spiritually and physically. This person is not found on any post office bulletin boards, the police are not putting an A.P.B. out on him. There are no alerts saying that he has moved into your neighborhood. He is not registered with any child protective service group as a pedophile or anything like that. However; he is registered in the Bible in 1st Peter 5:8 as your adversary, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. His attacks are so insidious and heinous so meticulously calculated that he often has already crept in unaware and captured your children right before your very eyes. He wants to keep them from the knowledge of God and God’s promises, and he will use anything within his power, every trick in his book, to do so. He is subtle, cunning, and devastating. In 1962, the devil successfully got prayer thrown out of schools and he used a little loud mouth woman to accomplish his plan. Almost immediately things began to decline. Soon after prayer was removed from schools, there was a rise every year of teenage pregnancies to young school age mothers, alcohol consumption among the youth began rising, pre-martial sex had become common place, violent crimes escalated, drug use became more and more open and the list goes on.
Now in this day things are even worse, you don’t know if when you send your kids off to school that they will come home, you wonder is someone going to have been a ticking time bomb just waiting to exploded and today they walk in the school and open fire on unsuspecting children. Marvin Gaye asked the question “What’s going on”, well I have the answer to that question right now. The answer is that the devil understands that if he gets your children at an early age, he’ll have them for years, if not for their entire lives. He knows that since kids are subjected to, and give in to, peer pressure that there’s a good chance they will take their ideas and spread them like a disease running rapid through their entire school or neighborhood. He knows this because he has been walking to and fro in the earth seeking and watching. He knew that prayer was working. Every day in schools millions of children each day were calling on the name of the Lord and giving glory and honor to God. The devil saw the blessings it was having upon this country, and once he put a stop to it, he knew to replace it with a poisonous disease that would fester and grow into a cancerous death sentence. I told you he is meticulous and cunning and his works are devastating. Understand there are many spirits operating in the world today, that’s why it’s called spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12 says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]”. Satan is a murderous villain, who comes only to kill, steal, and destroy John 10:10. This generation is being brainwashed by the Devil’s devices, they believe that “wickedness and witchcraft” is something good. All you find on television now is witchcraft, vampires, pornography and homosexuality this stuff is dangerous to adults and especially to our children. It desensitizes people to the consequences of sin. There are shows that portray teens as experimental and sex-obsessed, lying to their parents and sneaking out at night causing teenage girls to believe that this kind of behavior is appropriate sadly creating a false and dangerous expectation of what a teenager’s life should be like. So people of God when you allow your children to watch these television shows, go to these movies, and read these books and then you wonder why all of the sudden they can’t sleep at night, they have become disobedient and rebellious it is because they are under attack. You can’t let you children listen to any kind of music. Hip Hop music is nothing less than an advance course on fornication, rebellion, substance abuse, immorality, thug living, and total rebellion. We now have a generation of people who are desensitized, degraded, living searching for false hopes, abortion is commonplace, killing are at an all time high, woman are looked upon as a piece of meat and not the good thing that a man findeth. Teach them morality. Psalm 34:14 “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it”. Teach them godliness and that the eyes of the Lord are upon them and He hears them when they call upon Him. Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of the LORD [are] upon the righteous, and his ears [are open] unto their cry”.
Teach them that God’s face is against them that do evil. Psalm 34:16 “The face of the LORD [is] against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth”. Teach them to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Psalms 34:18 “The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit”. Teach them the Blessing of God. Psalm 34:19-24 “Many [are] the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate”.

Gunman is believed to be a parent of one of the students.

NEWTOWN, Conn. — At least 27 people were killed, including 18 children, in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, according to reports from Reuters and The Associated Press.

The gunman also is among the dead, and, according to an ABC affiliate, is believed to be a parent of one of the students. Many of the shootings took place in a kindergarten classroom, a local newspaper reported.

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way told the Associated Press the gunman apparently had two guns. The school district remains on lockdown as police investigate the shootings. There are unconfirmed reports of two shooters, according to a local newspaper.

LIVE: Updates from the shooting site

Some students were reportedly being treated for trauma. A dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said a teacher has been shot in the foot and taken to Danbury Hospital. Dr. Patrick Broderick said the hospital had treated only three patients from the shooting scene. The hospital is on lockdown to protect the privacy of victims and to allow staff to do their work unreported.

One child was carried from the school by a police officer, according to The Newtown Bee, apparently seriously wounded.

The school superintendent’s office says the district has locked down schools as a preventive measure to ensure the safety of students and staff.

State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance says they have a number of personnel on the scene to assist.

The Courant reported that police said a shooter was in the main office of the school shortly after 9:40 a.m.

Groups of students — some crying, some holding hands — were being escorted away from the school by their teachers, the Courant reported.

A staging area has been set up for students and their parents near the school.

Related: Tips for talking to kids about scary news

The district is made up of four elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.

Newtown is in northern Fairfield County, about 45 miles southwest of Hartford and 80 miles northeast of New York City.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

You guys know I do not charge to put up mixup nor do I charge to take down. Someone offered again today offering $200 to remove a post from the site and was insisting..It would be illegal so mi tell dem since dem waa give so much, give to Angella, the lady in the wheelchair..And on that note Angella needs a new mattress for christmas, the bed she was sleeping on was made of sponge and has now broken into two pieces. Thanks to ”Cocomix” and the other person who sent her money the last time. I do try to help out but it would be good if she could get this mattress. Also Earl now would be a good time to give Angella the $175 I gave you for Angella’s chair last year and she hasn’t gotten the money or the chair.

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