The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father
Session 1

Imagine a potter decided to make a mug. While he was placing it on the wheel, the clay took its own shape, becoming a plate by resisting the potter’s work to mold it into a taller form. We sometimes act like that clay when we insist on forming our own ideals and circumstances and ignoring that which God intended for us. We need to be more receptive to listen to God and think about His plans for our lives and how He creates us to fit those plans. Every day He continues to mold us, providing we pray and allow Him to be the potter. God truly isn’t finished creating us until we die. We should listen and look for signs of God telling us what to do in our lives. We should also pray--especially using The Lord’s Prayer--and we should listen to the words and apply them to our very own circumstances, which we call our lives.
When we begin this prayer we claim God to be our Creator, our Master and even our Dad. The prayer begins as though we are addressing the recipient of a letter or starting a conversation with God. By saying to God, “Our Father…,” we are surrendering ourselves to our Creator as we prepare to engage in a conversation with Him using the precise words His son, Jesus Christ, gave us. This address acknowledges our relationship to our Creator, letting him know how we feel toward Him: that because He is our Father, we will submit to Him and listen and ask Him to guide us throughout our lives. It suggests to Him that we will honor what we truly believe He tells us to do in our lives. Calling God “our Father” lets Him know that we trust Him to take care of us and provide for us, not only as any father would do for his child, but also in His heavenly way that only He can provide.

8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)

Knowing God is our Father, we must allow Him to continue creating us in His image. When our Father formed us in the womb, He was there; however, we seem to forget that He is still with us. We need to allow Him to continue His creation in us by allowing Him to continue to mold us and fashion us into what He intended us to become. As He forms us, He really wants to embellish His creation with ornate jewels and decorations if we only allow Him that privilege. Those embellishments can be our family, our friends or even strangers He sends into our lives for only a few minutes before we part, never to see them again. I encourage each and every one of you to be an ornament for someone else each and every day, whether as a family member or as a stranger. When you do the Lord’s work and become a jewel in someone’s life, you too will receive happiness and joy from knowing you made a difference in the lives of others. You will be storing your riches in heaven. You are pleasing your God and your Creator as well, because you are fulfilling a mission that you were born to do. You may never know all of the ways that you have changed someone’s life, even by a small, kind gesture, but God knows and finds it pleasing.
Acts of kindness may not be always remembered, but they do plant seeds. We may not be around when the seeds grow, but we must know that somewhere deep down the seeds we plant often can be helpful for those we blessed. As parents, we should realize it may be easy to let a child get away with a little bit of wrong, but then it grows into something over which we could lose control. Therefore, although it may be difficult to say no, the child will learn what is right and what is wrong only when we say that word. Children should allow their parents to instruct and guide them in ways they know are right. As children of God, we should strive to listen to and communicate with our Creator in whatever manner He sees fit for us. We should listen to His instruction or seek directions from the Bible. I recently saw a t-shirt that said, “BIBLE stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” It is so true that before we live our lives we should read the directions. Before we leave this earth, we should know where we are headed and prepare for eternal life.
As the sixth of seven children, I realized the importance of having a good father throughout my childhood. I also learned the importance of a family having a strong backbone in the mother. I benefited from having both parents available in my life. Not until my adulthood, though, did I realize the importance of having a strong family unit. So many times throughout my life I didn’t realize the lessons my parents were teaching me. Even more importantly, it wasn’t until I analyzed my entire life that I realized the role my parents played in developing me into the person I am today.
It is essential for individuals to find their heavenly parent: God. The sooner we find God in our lives and allow Him full control, the better our lives on earth will be. Also, it is imperative that as you go through life, you realize that God does send others into your life. God sends people to you to ease your life and to guide you in difficult times. You must allow them to do their work. For example, I find it is easy to give, but so much more difficult to receive, especially when I am in need. These are the times that God sends special people in our lives to help, and we should let them help without feeling a need to pay them back. For it is God’s will that they help us; God will reward them through their actions. On the other hand, we also possess qualities and perhaps money where we can help others. Perhaps God is gently nudging us to be better people to those around us and to give them our time, talents, and whatever needs may make others more comfortable in this life. I also encourage random acts of kindness, making the world a better place when, at random, people love one another as God has encouraged us to do.
Going through my teen stage, I still helped my father work on his wood crafting projects, and I watched my mother teach piano. She even taught me to appreciate music and the arts. What I didn’t realize, however, was that my parents were also teaching me methods of being a good spouse, parent, sibling and friend. My parents possessed skills and talents of a quality that I will never be able to emulate. One exemplary note is that I never heard my parents complain about finances. Instead, we had very fulfilling lives with whatever we had. My siblings and I grew up never knowing the suffering and sacrifices that now I know my parents had to make. Also, I found that I possess certain talents and gifts that my parents passed on to me, without formally teaching them to me. They chose instead to make them a lifestyle and to prepare me so that I learned the proper steps to achieve all my goals in life.
So it is with God. As we go throughout life, not realizing why we have to endure such meaningless tasks or such terrible misfortunes, we are being taught without even realizing we are gaining lifelong lessons. We should endure our entire lives, knowing that God is preparing a future for us with Him--eternal life that is perfect in every way and filled with happiness and peace.
God blesses us in all situations in life. Although we may pray for one thing, He may answer the prayer with something else. All the while, as our Father, He knows what is best for us. As life unfolds, we find that the answers He gives to our prayers all seem to mesh to give us more fulfilling lives on this earth. As we take the tools He gives us throughout life and live our lives for God, we head toward a more fulfilling life in heaven.