Lord's Prayer "as we forgive those who has trespassed against us"

Last time we looked at how we need to ask for forgiveness. Then Jesus goes on to something that is critical as a follower of Jesus Christ. We need to forgive others. We need to forgive anyone who has sinned against us. Now that seems like a pretty tall order. Jesus clarifies this statement further in Matthew 6:14-15. He basically says if you forgive others, then God will forgive you, but if you don't forgive others, then you won't be forgiven. What does this mean? Think of it this way. Forgiveness is like a snorkel. If you go snorkeling you have a tube that you stick in your mouth that allows you to breathe in and out. If you clog the tube, you can't breathe. Forgiveness flows in the same way. If you have clogged the tube with unforgiveness then you are going to have a difficult time receiving forgiveness from God. The tube needs to be clear for forgiveness to flow. Ask God to reveal to you where you are holding something against someone, where you need to forgive others.
Now remember that forgiveness is an active process. It is not forgetting which is passive. You may remember how that person hurt you for the rest of your life. Forgiveness is making 4 promises. The first is that you will not dwell on this incident. You will not continue to stew and get angry about what happened. You will not get bitter. This promise is the one that needs to be made even when the other person has not sought forgiveness or admitted that they are wrong. Do not dwell on it. The other promises are for when someone has sought forgiveness from you. The second one is that I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you. Once you have forgiven someone and you bring the problem back up again you are showing that you haven't forgiven them yet. There are some times when there are exceptions to this rule when you have noticed a pattern of behavior and to not be able to speak about what happened in the past may hurt the person long term. The third promise is that I will not talk to others about this incident. Stop telling everybody and their sister about what this person did to you. You are damaging them in someone else's eyes and may need to seek forgiveness yourself. Th fourth promise is that I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship. Things need to go back to the way they would have been had this problem not intervened. It doesn't mean that you have to be best friends with someone if they were not close before the problem occurred. This is what God does with us and what He wants us to do with each other. None of these promises are easy. But our God is a powerful God who has promised to help us when we seek Him for help.

Lord's Prayer "forgive us our trespasses"

The word that Jesus uses here is also translated as debt. It is something that we are obligated to pay for because we transgressed. We are asking for forgiveness from the wrong that we have made. All sin even when it is against someone else is ultimately rebellion against God. When we pray through the Lord's prayer we first realign ourselves under His rule and will then we ask for removal of the debt that we owe our Lord. We owe God a debt that we cannot in a million years pay. In fact we have no way of repaying this debt at all. There is no currency with which to pay it back with. God knows this and sent His son to die on the cross and rise from the dead as payment for our sins. God has already forgiven your sins when you come to Him. He has already taken care of them but until you confess your sins and ask for forgiveness you cannot experience the freedom that He offers you. When I pray through this I ask God to remind me of the sins in my life that I may overlook as nothing. I ask for Him to bring my sins out into the light so that they are exposed where they can whither and die in the light. God will do this when you ask Him to expose your sin that you have been hiding or ignoring. Confess your sins to God, ask for forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate any areas that need work.

Lord's Prayer "give us this day our daily bread"

When I am praying through the Lord's prayer and I get to this part I begin to lift up my needs and wants for the day. This part of the prayer comes after we remember who God is, how great and powerful He is and how He want His kingdom to rule in our life and His will to be done. Now we get to lift up our needs to Him in light of all of this. We get to come before our Father, who has all the power that exists with our small needs and wants. I ask for my needs for the day to be met. My physical, emotional, mental & spiritual needs. That there would be enough money to pay for the needs and some of the wants as I hear His will for my stewardship of what He has given me already. This part of the prayer cannot be separated out from the rest. It is an integral part of seeking God. Jesus said to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first then all these things will be added unto you. In the Lord's Prayer He shows us how to go about seeking the things of God first in the order He places the phrases. We don't start with our needs but with who God is and God's desires for us then we can move to lifting up our needs from our viewpoint. As you pray through the Lord's Prayer, remember to look for the answers He gives and praise Him for it. This past week I was praising God that I have never been homeless or without food of some sort. The Father has seen me through this far and that gives me faith for future provision.