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