Author: Faith

The last line in Luke 11:4, where Jesus taught us to pray:

“And lead us not into temptation”-11:4

On it’s face, it’s meaning seems so obvious.  But when we really think about it, what does it really mean?  We are asking Our Father to not “lead” us into temptation.  But shouldn’t we also be doing this as well.

For example, could it not also be teaching us to “avoid” temptation.  Think of  how many times we put ourselves in a situation that tempts us to sin. 

Here’s an obvious one:  a married couple has fallen into the habit of criticizing each other’s every move, instead of building each other up. 

One of them stops at a bar on the way home from work.  Has that person not put themselves into a tempting situation?  Alcohol is available, there are plenty of people of the opposite sex who think they are great and no one is criticizing them.  Are they not in a tempting situation?

How about a person who is trying to diet for health reasons, but goes to the grocery store?

How about a person who has no money walking into any store?

How about a person who is having trouble with being kind to others, not getting enough sleep?

How about when a person dwells on their thoughts of hurt and anger at someone? If they see that person won’t those thoughts be more likely to become words?

Have they not all put themselves into a tempting situation?  A situation that might lead to sin? Do we not put ourselves occassionally into some type of situation that may lead to sin?

And that is why we need to avoid situations that might lead us to sin.  Because sometimes they do!  And that is what we are asking God when we pray The Lord’s Prayer-to “lead us not into temptation” ?

Praying the Rosary daily, one sees many things.  But recently, I saw a white statue of Mary and the side of her head was blown off.  The next day I saw Mary amongst many soldiers.  Her deep love, compassion and concern for each of them were clearly evident.

When Mary appeared in Fatima, she warned us of what would happen if we did not stop “offending God”.  Clearly, our world did not stop offending God. 

And she warned us of what would happen if Russia was not Consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  She even gave specific directions for this Consecration.  But was that Consecration really done timely and correctly?

War is coming.  Perhaps now, perhaps in the future.  But make no mistake, if nothing changes, war will come.

We need to repent and pray for God’s Mercy both on our country and on the world, before it’s too late!

“Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” – Luke 11:4

It’s clear that in order to expect God’s forgiveness, we must forgive others. That can be hard to do sometimes, especially when we feel our anger or hurt is justified. But the Our Father does not say, “forgive if it is easy”. God says, “forgive”.

But there are things we can do to help ourselves to forgive others, no matter how justified we feel.

The first is to make a decision to forgive them. Forgiveness is a choice. We have to start by making that choice.

The second is to ask God for help. Sometimes forgiving a person is more than we can do on our own. This is when we need to ask God’s Help, and He is happy to give it 🙂

And there is a third thing we can do help. We refuse to be lured into thinking about the past offence. We are human and sometimes we will catch our mind drifting back to past times, but we don’t have to let it. We can choose to think of other things. The Holy Spirit can help us with this, but we need to ask Him!

And there is a fourth thing, we can remember how much God has forgiven us. And we can focus on how much Jesus suffered for us so that we might be forgiven and enter Heaven. Whatever sin someone committed against us-it is clearly less than Jesus sacrificed for us 🙂

And lastly, forgiveness frees us! We need to remember that as well. Whatever the sin, it doesn’t just cause us anger-it causes pain. By forgiving the other person, that anger and pain is released and will eventually fade :). Leaving even more room in our hearts for God to fill 🙂

Feelings just are; but forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.

God forgives us; we need to forgive others 🙂

“Give us each day our daily bread.” – Luke 11:3 (From The Our Father)

“Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” – Luke 11:5-11

God knows of our needs even before we do. And He answers our prayers! But in order to see His answers, we have to recognize them.

I remember being quite sick and flying to see my Mom, who was also sick. In fact I was so sick, my son had to take me. Our flight was delayed and by the time we reached the hotel, all of the restaurants, even the fast food ones, were closed! I was so tired and so hungry! There was a small store open behind the check in desk. In that store were two, wonderful turkey sandwiches! Just the right thing for us to eat so late at night :). Co-incidence or “God”-incidence. God provided for us, just in time 🙂

There is an entire book called God Incidence. If you are having trouble seeing the wonderful things that God does for us, you may want to try reading it.

We get so caught up in our day, we forget just how much God loves us. Really loves us! We are not alone, God’s Got Us 🙂

There are very few “actual” prayers that Jesus taught us that most denominations agree on. One of them is the Our Father.

In Luke 11:4, Jesus taught us the Our Father (Lord’s Prayer) when one of His desciples asked Him to teach him to pray and to obey God’s Will on earth as we do in Heaven:

“And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” -Luke 11:1-4

Do we do the really do that first part? Hallowed means Holy. And yet Hollywood continues to swear in God’s Name both in movies and in TV… We hear it on the radio. We hear it in songs. And some of us, sadly, use it inappropriately ourselves, but we don’t have too.

What about OMG. Is it really making God’s Name Holy? Or is it making it common.

We all know what we have to do about the above misuse of God’s Name, will we do it?

As for , ” Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” -Luke 11:2. We all know that this is not done on earth as it is in Heaven. If it was, there would be peace on earth. There would be no violent demostrations, no gay marriage, no abortion…To many people do not love others as Jesus loved us.

No, God’s Will is not done on earth, but, with God’s Help, it could be. It’s up to us.

We are on this earth to love God and to love others. If we love God, we need to respect and obey Him. Respect and obedience needs to be part of that love. Pray the Our Father every day, and really think aboutthe words. 🙂

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Phillippeans 3:20

We put so much worry and effort into ensuring our life here on earth, which is temporary, is a good one, but not nearly enough into ensuring our forever life is in Heaven 🙂

There is one way to Heaven: Jesus. And His way is easy. He loves us unconditionally and forgives our sins. He has created a bridge to our Father for us and a way to Heaven. In addition, Our Father sent the Holy Spirit to Help us while we are here on earth!

There is not a single human being that can not enter Heaven if he or she wishes. (how’s that for fair, lol). It is the greatest gift we will ever receive.

We just need to Accept His Great Gift and Follow Jesus Home 🙂

“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” – Danel 12:11

Many wonder exactly what this verse means. We pray about it; we research it and we attempt to guess the answer.  We wonder how long a day is in God’s Time.  And what exactly is the Abomination?  But really, no one seems to know for sure.

In other Books of the Bible, it says that even Jesus does not know the time or the hour when He will return… ?

But we do know one thing for sure.  The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Qsa Mosque have both been built on the Temple Mount in Israel and both are an Abomination in God’s eyes!  And yet we do nothing…and neither does Israel. 

Are these the “Abomination” spoken of by Daniel or is it an Abomination that is still to come?

Either way, it does not change what we need to do today.

Love God and love each other.  Pray like other people breathe.  And ask God for guidance on this and every other concern we have.  Be Ready!