Our Father

Recently the small group that I am a part of spent some time going through the Lord's Prayer - the "Our Father" - the wonderful prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples. The prayer itself can be found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. In our group discussion, we talked about the different sections of the prayer in detail, and then as an activity, set out to paraphrase and amplify the prayer in our own words. I want to share the fruit of our discussion with you:

Our Father, Abba Father,
The One above us, to Whom we owe everything.

Your name alone is holy.
You are great and mighty, perfect and holy.
You are merciful and compassionate, faithful and true.
You are worthy of all praise.

Have Your way on the earth
And have Your way in us.
We surrender to Your will, for Your ways are higher than our ways.
We look forward to the day when You will make all things new.
Until that day comes,
Give give us the strength to work with You in the world,
And shine Your light through us.

You are Our Provider, and You know what we need.
Give us what we need for today.
Help us to be content with what You have given us,
And to be generous with those who are in need.

Let us never forget how much we have been forgiven.
May we forgive others as You have forgiven us.

Give us the wisdom and discernment to avoid temptation.
Be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Save us.
You are our only hope.

You are Lord of all creation, and everything belongs to You.
You are the final authority, and Your Word is truth.
All glory and honor and praise to You, Father.
Now and forever.

Amen.