Our Father in heaven,

            hallowed be your name,

            your kingdom come,

            your will be done

               on earth as it is in heaven.

            Give today our daily bread.

            Forgive us our debts,

              As we also have forgiven our debtors.

            And lead us not into temptation,

              But deliver us from the evil one.

If you learn this prayer, learn its meanings and pray it to God, then you have covered everything that needs to be in a prayer.  If you are like me, you probably learned this prayer as a child (maybe slightly different words depending on your bible version/translation), but have you ever really thought about those words and what you are saying?  Let’s take a closer look.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  With these words we are acknowledging God is holy and majestic as well as personal and loving.  It is a statement of praise and uses God’s name in a manner of honor.

Your Kingdom come, as your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Here we reference God’s spiritual reign.  His kingdom that was announced in the covenant with Abraham, the kingdom that some day will be complete when all evil is destroyed and God establishes the new heaven and earth.  We are praying that God’s perfect plan will be accomplished in this world as well as the next.

The whole prayer to this point is giving God the praise he expects from us.  This is what true prayer is all about, praising God and not ourselves.  However the remaining part of the prayer is for us.

Give today our daily bread.  We are asking God to meet our needs, not our wants.  Bread is representative of the nutrition we need to sustain life.  We acknowledge that God is the sustainer and provider for our life’s needs.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  Here we are asking God to forgive us for our sins, and acknowledging that we must forgive others in order to gain forgiveness from God. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  We know that God would never lead us into temptation, but God does allow us free will and with that there is temptation.  Often the temptations are so subtle or so normal to us; we don’t even realize it is there.  We are asking God to help us see our temptations and to help keep us away from those temptations, to protect us from Satan so we make the right choices. 

So the Lords’ prayer is the perfect prayer.  It gives God the praise he deserves, asks God to meet all of our needs, acknowledges we know his glorious kingdom for us is coming, and asks God to help us make the right decisions and choices in life.  I think this covers everything needed in a prayer.

I am not saying it is the only prayer we should say, but if it were the only prayer, we have covered everything.  This is why you will often see church’s end a personal prayer with this prayer.  Praying these words ensures we have covered everything.  We should continue to ask God for our wants, as long as we realize he will not give us any more than he plans for us. We definitely want to pray for specific issues, people and events so that we acknowledge we know what God wants and it helps us come closer to God.  But ultimately, we are praying to praise God, and this prayer does just that.

So next time you are in a Church or other gathering and somebody leads you into reciting the Lords’ prayer, stop and think about the words and the meaning of the prayer.  With the understanding of the words, your prayer will have so much more meaning and God will appreciate the praise!

In Luke 19:11-27, Jesus tells a story known as the Parable of the Pound, or the Parable of the ten Minas.  A very similar parable can be found in Matthew 25:14-30 and is known as the Parable of the talents.  In the Parable of the Pound, a noble man goes to a distant land to be crowned king.  Before he leaves, he gives ten servants ten minas or pounds and told them to put the money to work while he was gone.  His subjects sent a delegation after him trying to stop him from being crowned king, but he was crowned anyway.  Upon his return after being crowned, each servant is called upon to show how they used the King’s money.  The first servant shows he earned ten minas and the King rewards him by giving him ten cities to rule over. Another servant shows he earned five minas and he too is rewarded with five cities to rule.  But then a servant who was afraid of the king and felt the king was a hard man who reaped harvests he did not plant presented the original minas the king had given him.  He had not invested it, but held it in safe keeping.  This angered the king and he took it away and gave it to the one that earned ten pounds.   The king then ordered all those that despised him becoming king and didn’t share his intentions of growing the kingdom should be killed before him.

This parable is about Jesus going away to prepare his kingdom for us.  Jesus wants us to understand the kingdom will come.  However in the time before, we must use his teachings and the abilities given to us to continue teaching Christ’s work.  God has given each of us talents and abilities to build his kingdom and those that believe in Jesus and honor him by using their abilities to continue Jesus’ work, will be rewarded.  Those that don’t believe in Jesus and squander or underutilize their abilities for the good of God will be judged and destroyed when Jesus returns. 

Prior to this parable being told, Jesus had just entered Jericho and he just shocked his followers by being a guest at Zacchaeus’ (a crooked tax collector) house.  People could not understand how Jesus could be a guest with such a “sinner.”  Jesus was explaining that any man that comes to seek and to save what is lost would find salvation. 

Jesus went on to tell this parable as they were getting close to Jerusalem and people still believed the messiah would be a ruling King and that the kingdom would come at once.  Jesus wanted to convey that the kingdom would not be immediate, and that because of this, many would reject him as the messiah.  However this parable tells the people what they should be doing from the time he leaves them to the time he returns; they should be using their abilities to grow closer to God and to continue Christ’s work so the kingdom may grow.

This parable shows us; those that wisely use what God has given us for the glory of God, will be rewarded with more.  The others will be punished as they do not share God’s interest in the kingdom, they don’t trust in God’s intentions, and they are only concerned with themselves instead of caring about others.  

In verse 11, people were expecting the messiah to restore the kingdom of Israel.  This thought is further confirmed in Acts 1:6 when they specifically ask Jesus if the kingdom of Israel is about to be restore.  In Acts 1:7-8, Jesus explains that we are not to know when the time of the kingdom will come.  So it was important that Jesus use this parable to let us know what we are suppose to do while waiting for this kingdom.

Verse 17 shows the servants that used the money to make more money was rewarded.   This same teaching can be found in Luke 16:10-12 (in the parable of the shrewd manager), where Jesus states:

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.  So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?  And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?”

Not only did Jesus use other parables and teachings, he also showed his teachings are tied into the Old Testament.  When Jesus told in verse 22 how the master judged by the servants own words, he was using words that were understood by those familiar with the Old Testament.  Similar words were use in Job 15:6 “Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.” and in 2 Samuel 1:16 “For David has said to him ‘your blood be on your own head. Your mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord anointed…’”.  Comparing the words in this parable to the words in the Old Testament confirms that Jesus is strengthening the word of God, not replacing it.

In comparing this parable with the Ten Talents in Matthew 25:14-30, the biggest differences were the use of minas or pounds in Luke versus the use of talents in Matthew.  At first we read the word talent and think it meant our personal talents, but it really is another form of money in this context. (Though there is no wrong in using the personal talents in the place of currency) A minas or pound was worth about three months salary in the Jesus’ time, where a talent was worth much more, maybe several years’ salary.  The other main difference is in the Parable of the pound, each of the ten servants was given equal amounts to invest.  In the parable of the talents, the servants were given different amounts to signify that God will not give us more than we can really handle.  However both parables teach that we must continue Jesus’ work within our abilities until his return.

(Read the parable with some cute visuals from the Brick Testament)

In ancient times as well as modern times, it is necessary when explaining something to people that is hard for them to understand to put it in terms they do understand.  An example in our time, we often hear the phrase “that is cool” meaning I really like that.  We don’t literally mean it is cold!  But saying “that is cool” is understood by most Americans as that is something I like or it is wonderful.  How will this phrase be interpreted in 1000 years from now?

Since many Biblical stories were told verbally for hundreds of years before being recorded, sometimes the details may have been altered or maybe even viewed differently.  How often do two people see a car accident, but tell two different stories as to what they had seen?  Or one’s version of the story a week later is slightly different from the day the accident occurred.  The underlying facts are the same though, there was a car accident.  So when we see contradictions, it means we need to look deeper and find the facts or the truth the story tells and use the details to help us understand the truth.

Why is it important when interpreting scripture to take into account that the original text were written in ancient languages and translated into modern languages?  Because we must understand that words don’t always translate easily to other languages.  Example, the ancient Greek language had many different words for love.  Agape refers to a pure ideal type of love rather than a physical attraction, Eros means passionate love with sensual desire and longing, Philia is a dispassionate virtuous love, and Xenia is hospitality type of love.[1]  All four of these Greek words translate to the one word love in the English language.  So when we read the word love in the Bible, it is important to understand the meaning of the word in the context.

Another reason is that word for word translations usually make sentences that don’t make sense.  So when translating, the translator must rearrange the words, add or delete words in order to convey the message in our language.  This means we rely on the translation thought more than the individual words.  Fortunately our Bibles in today’s vernaculars were translated using many scholars and theologians in order to ensure that the messages are carried forward as they were originally intended. 

[1] Source of Greek definitions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/love

Just wanted to  pass this wonderful fundraising idea on.   It is creative and something different vs. the usual candy bar sales, or car washes that don’t bring in near as much money. And it brings the family closer together. Visit and  call them today, it will be worth your time.  (Note: when you visit the web site, look for the fundraiser link on the left side of the page.)

I began thinking more and more about what I learned growing up, and now the new thoughts of just a myth. Which was correct? I believe the literal story, but the arguments showing the myth explains how evolution and the Bible can both be correct. I finally came to realize, it doesn’t matter which you believe! Pick a side, and I can argue the opposite all day. In either case, the story is the same and the lessons it teach are the same! Mankind has the freedom of choice and mankind inherently has sin.

So, man (from this point forward meaning man and woman) was created by God and was made good. Yes man is good by nature, however God gave man the freedom to choose good or evil. Unfortunately, man’s choice was evil after being tempted by the devil. Once man became a sinner, all his children and children’s children could not know life without sin. How could they? You are a product of your environment. It is extremely difficult for a child or adult to learn something that is unknown to them or to anybody around them. And when they do learn beyond their environment, it is only a beginning. What I mean is; yes people change and people do rise out of a bad environment to become more than the generation before. But to rise all the way out of sin is impossible as there is no environment conducive of sin free. We can’t imagine a sin free world, so how can we become sin free? Keep in mind though, we are created in the image of God and are good by nature, and we still have the freedom to choose between good and evil. So choosing good is getting closer to God, but we will never be sin free. Over time, there have been covenants that God has given to man to bring us back, but we have always managed to break those covenants until God sent his only son to die for our sins.

Now I am getting ahead of myself by jumping all the way to Jesus. We will explore that era in other discussions.

So believe the creation story as myth or believe it is real. That is your choice, but more importantly, forget about real or myth and read the Genesis 1-3 for the lessons they teach, and read Genesis 1-11 to be really introduced to God and his glory and power. These readings begin to lay a foundation for the rest of the Bible. Read it and leave some comments here to spark more thoughts or discussions.

Have faith in God. Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believed that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you in your sins.

Those five verses are a very simple yet powerful plan to receiving our prayer requests. Don’t think simple means easy though. First it is easy to say we have faith, but when we really think about faith we find it isn’t so easy. Telling a mountain to throw itself in the sea leaves us with doubt in our mind. Why, because we really believe this is not possible! After all the physics we have learned, past experiences (never seeing this happen before) and all the world telling us it isn’t possible, leaves us with doubt in our minds no matter how hard we try to believe. Praying that I hold the winning lottery ticket or praying other selfish items is us trying to test God, meaning we still believe it won’t come true. The slightest doubt leaves faith incomplete.

Of course there is that last verse of forgiving others. How many times do we say the words of forgiveness for somebody in our prayers, but then the next day we see the person and anger fills us? That anger shows us that we never really forgave them! Saying the words alone does not give forgiveness, we must actually forgive them to a point that we have no negative feelings toward them.

Now your probably thinking “Why bother, I can never get rid of all doubt or truly forgive entirely.” Moving a mountain is an extreme and I believe only Jesus could have had such faith. But having faith on a smaller scale is eventually possible, and the more faith we have the more faith we will gain. So begin small, and you will grow in faith.

I was watching Joel Osteen on TV this weekend. (Joel’s ministry is listed in the TV guides as Lakewood Church) He was talking about the negative images we play in our head. Many of these images have been with us so long, they are buried in our subconscious. We must learn to replace them with positive images. What he was saying is so true. What is more is I can’ t think of a positive image today and expect it to replace the negative ones in my subconscious. I must continue forcing those positive thoughts and images day after day until it becomes natural to think positive. Then faith becomes easier and more and more prayers are answered. At the same time, as I become more positive, the forgiveness becomes more natural. Why? Because positive thoughts don’t leave room for holding grudges. We can’t be angry if we see the positive side of others actions.