By Judy Villanueva

Our Father, which art in heaven,


We belong!   We have a Father in Heaven!  The One who made worms and flowers, oceans and mountains, goofy looking fish, giraffe, and elephants… is OUR Dad!  Think about it!  Our Father really is stronger and smarter than every other dad.  He is the King of Kings and our very own Abba Father…Yours and mine!

Hallowed be thy Name.


“Holy, Set apart, honored and praised!”  Our culture does not hallow much and hard as I try, I find my hallowing efforts terribly lacking.   Help me, Father, into Your presence because I know that anyone who glimpses Your beauty falls down in awed wonder!  I want to be see You better and bless You with abundant and heartfelt praise!

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth,  as it is in heaven.


I can only imagine the fervor with which Jesus uttered, “Thy Kingdom come”!  He knew the beauty and perfection of His Father’s kingdom first hand.  He was teaching us to ask for that which we need most…our true home!  Let Your kingdom come, Lord God, into our hearts, our heads, our choices, our dreams, our words, and our prayers.  We want Your will on earth as in Heaven… and no other!

Give us this day our daily bread.


We need You!  How vast are our daily needs for bread, drink, fellowship, love, work, health, dreams, adventures, comfort and safety!  Hear our cries for provision!  We lack joy.  We are hungry for peace!  We ache for Love.  We grow weary for lack of knowing that we are Yours!

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.

Help us to be sorry.  Open our eyes to our failures and give us courage to know ourselves in Your presence.  It is unsettling to to see our sins, but Your grace becomes our safe place.  Help us to forgive any who has sinned against us.  How easy is the temptation to receive Your grace and then to hold offenses against our neighbor.  Fill us with the wonder of Grace and let it fill us with grace for others.

And lead us not into temptation, 
But deliver us from evil. 


Around every corner there seems to lurk temptations that mean to steal life from God’s beloved children.  Jesus came that we might have life to the full, but evil lays traps that siphon off life as it pollute our souls.  Lord, have mercy!  You can see what we cannot…make a victorious way for us to defeat and overcome temptation.  Deliver us from evil!

For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. 

Yours is the kingdom…absolutely!  Yours is the power!  Above any other, You reign victorious!  Yours is the glory, the wonder, the awe-inspired beauty that never, never ends!  We rest in Your power and rise up with praise that Your Kingdom is now and forever!  It will not end!   It will last forever and ever…and ever!

 Amen.

 It is true!  So be it!  Let it be so!!!  We agree!  Do it!

What about you?

This is a great exercise!  Take each part of the Lord’s Prayer and let your mind and heart pause, ponder, and pray.  Think about each part, talk it over with a friend, and then, respond to however it speaks to you.  Let this prayer become your own.

Worship:

“The Lord’s Prayer” by Tommy Walker (Generations Hymns)

“Victorious”  by Donnie McClurkin.