The Lord's Prayer

2008-9-29 11:43:00

Bil asks:

"My question is why does this prayer get attention and the Lord's Prayer gets none? Is the Song of the 144,000 more powerful and more current than the Lord's Prayer? I have not seen any explanations concerning these two prayers. If there were emails concering this question, I must have missed them."

JJ:

Thanks to Bryan for his comments. I'll add a couple things.

First of all the two "prayers" have entirely different purposes. Technically, the Lord's Prayer is neither a prayer nor a mantra, but instructions to disciples as to how they should pray. Jesus intended it as instructions rather than a mantra for He was teaching them how to pray in secret without using vain repetition.

Here is the Lord's Prayer:

⁹ "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

¹⁰ "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

¹¹ "Give us this day our daily bread.

¹² "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

¹³ "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

(Matt 6:9-14)

Let us break it down:

"Our Father which art in heaven,"

A prayer should begin by addressing or acknowledging God.

"Hallowed be thy name."

As you begin to pray acknowledge the holiness or wholeness of God. Prayer does no good unless God is in the consciousness of the one praying.

"Thy kingdom come."

All prayers should include thoughts of the spiritual kingdom of God dominating over the materialistic world. See Spirit, creation and life as the dominating force rather than destruction, corruption and decay.

"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

Prayer is futile if our words are not in harmony with Divine Will. The seeker must tune into and accept God's Will whatever that is, even if it runs contrary to our selfish nature.

"Give us this day our daily bread."

The disciple asks for enough for his needs to supply the health and strength he needs to serve and nothing more. Anything more than this is to be seen as a bonus and should not be sought as a gift from God. One is free to work for a surplus through his own efforts. The promise to the faithful is that they will receive more than they have capacity to appreciate; but as far as asking, one should only seek the power to be a viable servant.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Many use the first part of the prayer and forget the last. It is impossible to obtain more forgiveness than we are willing to pass out. To ask for forgiveness when we do not forgive ourselves is a mockery. By asking forgiveness with this attitude we remind ourselves that we need to forgive others, even as we expect God to forgive.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:"

All of us can yield to wrong decisions under the right pressure and circumstance. The key to deliverance is not to be super strong, but to not follow a path that will lead us to more temptation than we can endure. We must all pray that we can stand within our own sphere of power so we can keep a clear conscience and always stand within the light, love and power of God.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

Scholars agree that this line was not spoken by Jesus but added later to give it a finishing touch so it could be repeated as a mantra. This was not the intention of Jesus, but it did create a good prayer. The trouble with it is that using it as a repetition negates the purpose for which it was given.

The Lord's prayer was thus a set of instructions in its original form rather than a prayer itself.

As far as various mantras of sets of words goes, there are different one that have set purposes for various times.

The main purpose of The Song of the 144,000 is to create an endowment of protection for the servants of this age so they will not be persecuted and destroyed as in previous ages. The keynote for this age is not sacrifice, but service. It is of extreme importance that those who desire to serve have the power to sustain that service.