Our daily bread

I tend to beg and plead with God when I get to the to the petition in the Lord's Prayer about giving us this day our daily bread (especially that last week before payday). But I bet you'll think about that part of the prayer differently when you remember what Jesus calls HIMSELF in John chapter 6, verses 33, 35, 48, & 51.

Go ahead, look them up. I'll wait. In fact, why don't you go ahead and pray the Lord's Prayer right away after reading John 6:33-51. Mind blown? Let it sink in. 

It makes me want to seek Him in His Word & prayer more and daily. Hope it will you too. Why starve, when there's so much mana every morning?

Ask, seek, knock

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously desired and constantly desired joy will ever miss it. Those who seek it find. To those who knock it is opened."

~C.S. Lewis, in The Great Divorce (1946)

The Lord's Prayer in Hawiian

Eia Ka Pule Alaka‘i A Ka Haku ma ka ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i.
E ko mākou Makua i loko o ka lani
E ho‘āno ‘ia Kou inoa
E hiki mai Kou aupuni
E mālama ‘ia Kou makemake ma ka honua nei
E like me ia i mālama ‘ia ma ka lani lā
E hā‘awi mai iā mākou i kēia lā
I ‘ai na mākou no nēia lā
E kala mai ho‘i iā mākou i kā mākou lawehala ‘ana
Me mākou e kala nei i ka po‘e i lawehala i kā mākou
Mai ho‘oku‘u ‘oe iā mākou i ka ho‘owalewale ‘ia mai
E ho‘opakele nō na‘e iā mākou i ka ‘ino
No ka mea, Nou ke aupuni,
A me ka mana, a me ka ho‘onani ‘ia, a mau loa aku
‘Āmene. Ho‘ā‘o au e ha‘i Ka Pule Alaka‘i A Ka Haku ma ka ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i i nā lā a pau. Aia ka waihona kani o kēia pule ma ‘ane‘i.

I found this translation from some guy in Japan's blog. As a pirate, a 'parrot head,' and a Jesus Freak, I couldn't pass it up. Pretty picture too, huh? I did a Google image search for "Hawaiian Jesus," and that was the best thing to show up.

Praying the Lord's Prayer FOR SOMEONE ELSE

Luke 11 (mostly)
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
AND How to use it as a pattern to follow when praying for others.

1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

2He said to them, "When you pray, say:
" 'Father,
hallowed be your name,

Lord, what a blessing to be able to call You "Father!"
I don't know if my friends knows You as a loving father. In fact, I understand that their earthly father may have abused them as a small child. Lord, let my friend come to know you and trust you as a kind and loving parent. And whatever happens to them, may they someday bring You glory and may they come to treasure You.

your kingdom come. Thy Will be done (Matthew 6)

Lord, please take control of my friend's life. Bring them under Your influence and dominion. Please don't let the devil have any say or any sway in their lives.

3Give us each day our daily bread.

God, grant them what they need- physically, financially and materially, emotionally, socially, and spiritually- provide for their needs in every way.

4Forgive us our sins,

Jesus, I know that my friend has hurt some people and let them down lately- Holy Spirit, gently convict my friend in their heart and help them to turn and behave differently. Don't hold their mistakes against them.

as we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

Lord, I also know that there have been many, many people who have hurt, wounded, and betrayed my friend. Help them to be able to move on and cope in spite of their pain, and to be released from their hurt and their resentment.

And lead us not into temptation.' "
but deliver us from the evil one. (Matt 6:13)

Oh dear Jesus, please don't test them more than they can handle. Put Your holy hand upon them, surround them with Your angels and Your saints. Guide them, heal them, lead them, and protect them.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. (1 Chronicles 29:11)

You're the only one who can help them in the ways that they need, You are the only one who can save them. Please, Jesus, please rescue my friend. In Your name, I pray.

Amen. Let it be so.

5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks fora fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Lord's Prayer made personal

Lord’s Prayer in our own words

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name

How great that You let us call ourselves the children of God! And that You let us call You “Abba” (Daddy). As your offspring, let me not dishonor Your good name- instead, help me reflect Your glory and bring You fame and lead others to You.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven

Oh Lord, be my lord, let me follow Your leadership and abide by Your rules. I want to want what You want. I want to do what You’d have me do. Help us all to live out Your law of love and advance that agenda as well. Help people to live by love and to learn from Your example.

Give us this day, our daily bread

Dear Jesus, please help us manage to pay our bills and make ends meet this month. Please ease our anxiety about it. Help us and teach us to manage our money, rather than letting it running our lives. Help us God, please. But also help us keep perspective, calm us by reminding us that we are in Your care and of all the blessings you have given us. Please make us more frugal and disciplined, but if it be Your will, grant us greater material prosperity, save us.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

Every hour of every day it seems like I am constantly sinning. Steeped in sin. I do it without realizing it or being away, without thinking. And I do it fully aware, thinking and choosing to do it. Lord, I’m selfish and short sighted and self-indulgent. Help me overcome my sinful nature. Drown my “old Adam.” Forgive me for it all. I don’t love You with all my strength and all my heart and all my mind. I don’t love my neighbors as myself. As if all this were not enough, it is so difficult to follow Your directions and forgive others. Like an onion, forgiveness peels away in layers. One incident is forgiven, but more hurt and injury lies beneath. Help me to let go of my resentment and to not hold on to grudges. I say that some things are no big deal, or that people didn’t mean to offend or harm me, so I can let it go- but I just can’t seem to get past whatever it was and I take it personally anyway. Help me, Lord, just as I can’t stop sinning without your help, I can’t seem to forgive others without Your help either.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

You tell us that You will not test us beyond what we can handle and that You’ll always provide a way out. I know that I alone I am not very strong, wise, or sturdy. I need You to shelter me from the world, the devil, and my own flesh. And I’m begging You not to push me and challenge me too much, Yourself. The Jabez Prayer asks that you “keep me from evil, that I might not know pain.” I guess that’s what I want more than anything else.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen

You are the one and only true and living God, eternally and infinitely. This is true, this is so. Let it be.

Malcom Boyd's prayers in 1960's contemporary vernacular always make me think that everyone needs to know that prayer is just a conversation. Anyone can pray, you don't need to "know how," you just talk to God. I was taught that the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:5-15) was a pattern Jesus gave us to follow in prayer, not merely a scripture we were to memorize and repeat by rote. But it has never been modeled for me as a pattern. So, the above is me following the pattern. Now it's your turn. I challenge you to not just pray the Lord's Prayer, but add your own personal paraphrase, supplications and petitions in your own words. It is an amazingly intimate way to pray, and humbling too.

Me ka pule,
Pirate Ted

“Oh, that you would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
that your hand would be with me,
and that you would keep me from evil,
that I may not cause pain.”
~1 Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

Other translations put it "that I might not KNOW pain."
It's a big difference in inference. One may sound more selfish- don't let evil hurt me, and the other more altruistic-don't let me hurt anybody. evil is not necissarily synonimous with Satan. Evil is the fact of suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing. Evil is something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity. There is evil in the world, and has been ever since the fall of Adam. Like it or not, there is evil in each one of us due to our sinful natures. And of course, Satan uses, delights in, and initiates all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10 says that money is at the root of all kinds of evil. Does that mean that praying the Jabez Prayer, is asking God to deny you money? Not at all.

If anything, this last petition is really a repitition of the first one. If you are being made happy (blessed), than you're being kept from sorrow and distress. What's the best way for that to happen? By surrenduring our will to Gods. Think about it, if you want what He wants, you'll always be happy.

"I cannot pray in the name of Jesus to have my own will; the name of Jesus is not a signature of no importance, but the decisive factor. The fact that the name of Jesus comes at the beginning does not make it a prayer in the name of Jesus; but this means to pray in such a manner that I dare name Jesus in it, that is to say, dare to think of Him, think His holy will together with whatever I am praying for." ~Sören Kierkegaard

There are two aspects of the Lord's Prayer here. Both the "Thy will be done on Earth on it is in Heaven," and "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."


PRAYER:

Lord,

If it's Your will,
protect me from suffering and misfortune.
don't let me have to experience sorrow or distress

Since You want to use me as Your instrument,
don't allow me, by what I say, do, or fail to do
to cause misfortune or suffering to others.
Don't let me cause sorrow or distress for others.

Protect me from
evil, sin, and temptation in the world
from my own sinful, evil human nature, drives and desires
and from Satan and his demons...

so that I will not experience or cause pain.

In Jesus' name,
Amen