Pater Noster - 23 September 2018
Our Father who art in heaven: What an
honor to be allowed to call you Our Father. As Father, you care
for us, you invite us, and you look out for us. And as Our Father you
bring us together with sons and daughters from every ethnic group, economic
standing, and educational status. Further, being Our Father in Heaven, we
rejoice that you are unscathed and unsullied by human sin, shame, scandal, and
schemes! Glory to you! Our Father who art in heaven.
Hallowed by Thy name: Our chief
desire and principal ambition is to glorify you – to hold your honor high;
therefore we do pray that your fame and renown, your rightness and
righteousness would be accepted and upheld world over – including in Vietnam,
Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe and our own country. Additionally, our chief desire and
principle ambition is to glorify you and enjoy you forever; and so bring us to
find our deepest satisfaction in you, our warmest delight in who you are and
how you are, no matter our circumstances or situations. Hallowed by Thy name.
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be
Done on Earth as it Is In Heaven: Though your reign has begun coming in the
presence and work of your Son, we long for the day when, after you have
destroyed every rule, authority and power, placing them all under the feet of
your reigning Son, you will destroy that last enemy, death (1 Corinthians
15.24-26)! May all tribes, peoples, clans, kinfolks and nations come to
recognize that you have made the crucified and resurrected Jesus both Lord and
Messiah, and that we will all stand before his judgment seat to receive what is
due for what we have done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Corinthians
5.10). And may this recognition affect and inform all actions, judgments,
appointments, taxations, legislations, conflicts and executive decisions now. Thy
Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done on Earth as it Is In Heaven.
Give Us this Day Our Daily
Bread: Thank
you that you have supplied our day-by-day necessities; please continue to do
so. We also thank you that you have richly provided us with everything to
enjoy. For all your people in all places – including Pleasant Ridge Baptist
Church, Portland Ave Baptist, Prospect Baptist, Putnam City Baptist Church, and
our own congregation – may we be rich in good works, generous, ready to share.
And may we guard the deposit entrusted to us, avoid the irreverent babble and
contradictions of what is often called “knowledge” (1 Timothy 6.17-21). Give
Us this Day Our Daily Bread.
Forgive Us Our Debts, as We
Forgive Our Debtors: We acknowledge that we all too easily hold grudges, savoring the
bitter sweet satisfactions of our own rightness and how wronged we have been by
him or her or them. But thank God, you don’t play this manipulative game. May
your forgiveness wash over us so thoroughly and freshly that we would let go of
the grudges, blame-shifting and sourness, open our hands and hearts, and show as
much grace to others as you have shown us. For truly no one has wronged us as
much as we have wronged you. Forgive Us Our Debts, as We Forgive Our Debtors.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation,
But Deliver Us From the Evil One: If anyone is caught in any transgression, may
we not excuse it or ignore it, but as instruments in the Redeemer’s hand, help
us to restore that person in a spirit of gentleness. And help us to keep watch
on ourselves, lest we too become tempted. And aid us to bear one another's
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6.1-2). Fortify those who
are in trouble, overcome with trouble, or just plain troubled…may
their trials not become a temptation to despair or to break faith with you. And
God of peace, come quickly and crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16.20). Lead
Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From the Evil One.
For Thine Is the Kingdom, and
the Power, and the Glory, Forever. Amen!
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