Bible Discussion Thread

Hello my brothers and sisters. Hoping this is ok, here, as this is about prayer but not a prayer request. When prayer began to become part of my daily life. The our Father prayer was of coarse my foundation as it is a good, simple, prayer. As time went on it felt good to just add more details to the prayer to make it more personal, detailed, and unique. One thing that came to me was after looking up the definition of "us". As it states to be a plural form of "I" or "me" that, could, usually means more than one. But there's no real detail if you're saying the prayer for just yourself, or whose in your house, or what? The Lord said to me one night "pray for all". This was perfect. So as in the prayer lines like "give us, forgive us, or deliver us, etc" adding "all" after "us" felt great. The Lord Blessed me with this, as to pray for all people. As in the Word there are several sayings like Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:35, 2 Peter 3:9, along with many others showing Gods glorious mercy and love for everyone. It may be hard to see it at the point in life you are in, life's not easy, but He's with you. As I just felt to share with this with you all. In that it may help in any way.

I'm sure we all have our own relationship with God and Christ. It truly is special when we are intimate with our Perfect Father. Producing good fruit with His will. God Bless you all my brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thank you for those lovely comments Richard. Indeed, as we walk closely with our Lord, special things are revealed to us from His Word & through prayer that are helpful for our learning & encouragement. As you have learned about the meaning of "us" & making application to others around you, you are in fact interceding on behalf of others & at the same time keeping you sensitive to them in their needs. It may well be that our Father may draw others to you for help & counsel since you are actively praying for others; if we ask, then we should expect to receive, especially when asking right in the centre of His Will ( 2 Peter 3:9, as you well quoted).

Just as a little background to the Lord's Prayer. You remember, Jesus' disciples asked Him to teach them to pray ( Luke 11:1). It was common then that disciples of a Rabbi/teacher would give his disciples (e.g. John the Baptist) a prayer that would demonstrate their position before God & speaking to Him. And these disciples were usually quite 'raw' in their understanding & maturity, so a prayer that could be recited was particularly special & endeared them to their master. However, since the establishing of the Church at Pentecost, the disciples not only received power from on high, but also were led to speak & pray according to the Will & Power of the Spirit. Yet, sometimes we do yearn in the spirit for someone or some situation & yet pray lacking knowledge believing the Spirit will help us & enrichen our prayer before God ( Romans 8:26).

So, while it may be special to repeat the Lord's Prayer in a meaningful way, rather than a pure recitation as is often commonly done, by adding your own heart-felt words to it, it's offering to God becomes so much more special & personal. But if we feel our prayer is becoming a little mechanical or repetitive, then praying outside the bounds of the Lord's Prayer is certainly warranted. And I'm sure that the apostles engaged in much 'free' praying for the Churches & the lost.

Hi Chris. I am very thankful for your warm thoughtful reply brother. Reading your posts shows you are very kind and close with the Lord. Just being led here, to this site, where we can post freely, is truly a Blessing. It is a gift to have others to converse about the Lord with as we are a minority in the population. God Bless you brother and thank you again for your sincere reply.