The Lord's Prayer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAFj2-u2cGQ

The Lord's Prayer sung by Andrea Bocelli accompanied by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra performed in Salt Lake City

RISE UP!

     Rise up!  Spread the GOOD NEWS.  The kingdom of heaven is near.  Love your enemies.  Give to those in need...then give more.  Love and love more and more.  Let the Holy Spirit shine from within.  The Lord is strong within and around us.  Let us show great courage and willpower.  Go forward to spread the word of our holy Father's love, of his presence among us.  It is time to rise up and show the world what it really means to have faith and how wonderful and loving our Father truly is.  Show them what we know and feel, the one true God. Show the faith and the confidence that comes with our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.  Love, love, love...give, give, give.  There should be no hunger, no person without shelter nor without love in this world.  Have great faith.  I see and experience his strength, love, and guidance daily.  So should everyone.  Have great faith.  He is here, always.  Sometimes we cannot see God for God, but he is here.

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

    ¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted^[a] by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

   ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[b]”

  ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

   “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
   and they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^[c]”

   ⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[d]”

   ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

   ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[e]”

   ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

MATTHEW  4:1-11

     We are hungry for the word of of our Father.  Let us eat of his words.  Let us be filled and sustained by his holiness and glory through his word, and become refreshed and strengthened in reading for it is divine truth. Let us not be tempted to test the love of the Lord our God.  He is always here for us.  Do not tempt him to prove himself, but pray for those things which you need to serve him all the more and, in serving your Lord God, he shall make you as a king or queen.  

     As Christians, we are entirely too spread out or divided.  we concentrate too much on passages of the bible taken out of context that, in the end, seem to prove us to be superior to others, including other Christians.  Such a waste.  Catholic, protestant, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Mormon, etc...  We are all Christians first and foremost.  We have faith in the resurrection of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, as the one true son of God.  We need to stop the infighting and get together to accomplish the goals presented to us by our Lord, to spread the GOOD NEWS.  We need to come together and develop ways to do this as a powerful whole.  I have been thinking about this for a long, long time.  I have some ideas, but need to discuss these with other people, and hear their ideas.  Nothing good is impossible with our Father.  He moves me to do some seemingly crazy things at times, but, man a live, he makes it exciting.  How can God be anything but exciting?  We should follow his lead more often, if not always.  We walk off to strange-person-land on the TV and internet daily.  Why, would we not go with God? 

     I am being tested, and, now, it is time to rely on my faith and put it in God's hands...as I tell others, I must also do.  It's as simple as that for a Christian.  Do we have faith or not? 

He is the Rock

He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
    and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
    upright and just is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4 

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10 

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

John 14:23

[ Faith in the Incarnate Son of God ] Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

1 John 5:1

     How powerful, how loving, how reassuring our Father, our God.  Why would you have any other gods before him?  Why would you want to believe in any other way than that of our loving God that gave his loving son to teach and die so we may be redeemed in the eyes of our Father and have life everlasting.  This almighty, all powerful God that could crush us in an instance for his pleasure...yet, all he does is love us and serve us.  Can we not serve him with a smile and love in return?  

     Though it seems difficult and even dangerous some of the things our Lord asks of us, he assures us he is always with us and always offering to guide us and strengthen us for the deed.  He is always teaching, just as he did in his time in human form upon this earth.  We need merely to listen and have faith.  Our Father does not tell us these things and walk away laughing at unfounded faith.  When he reveals himself, he is absolute truth and faith in action.  Millions at this very moment are praising him and being blessed by and serving him for his glory..  So we have been given this opportunity.

     It truly is the first day of the rest of our lives.  What a beautiful day.  Glory by to you our Father.  Amen

When you feel like you can do nothing of importance to serve our Lord

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,

Ephesians 6:7

     I have this problem that when I am not doing something earth shaking for our Lord, that I am doing nothing of importance.  You and I need to remember this, anytime we serve another person in any way as a Christian, we serve him that loves us unconditionally and a warm smile comes upon his features.  Anytime we bow down as servants to one another, we serve him, our Lord Jesus.  When you serve him in any way, you become as a king or queen upon this earth and forever more...did he not promise this, and all of his words are Truth and all with love.  

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:13-17

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

     You must pray to be a good servant, you must pray to know your Lord and God, you must pray for a relationship with him that is God of all.  He never hides himself.  Why would the God of all hide as a thief would hide?  It is we that attempt to hide from him who sees all.  Get to know him by reading his word, the Bible, by finding a quiet place and talking with him...and, definitely, listen.  When you begin to feel and hear him, it will change your life.  And, it will happen.

Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith.

Mark 11:24 

     And...when you think or say, who am I that God almighty himself should be interested in or want a lowly person as myself to be his instrument, remember, this:

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Exodus 3:11  

     How do you tell someone who this God is that has sent you to them...he will give you the words.

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:14 

     Believe.  Have faith and the Lord shall make believers of those to whom he has sent you.

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Exodus 4:1  

     The Lord gave Moses signs to give the Israelites, so that they may believe. 

and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Exodus 4:31

     Put your burdens on the Lord and each other.  He does not expect you to do anything alone.  He is always there for you and we should always be there for each other...always.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

     Father, you who gave us love that is mightier than any sword of man, you who sits quietly guarding us through our sleep, you who are a river of life to us who love you and have faith in you, give us the wisdom, the strength, the power, the love to gather in those you desire to have in your flock.  Amen

     

LOVE

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 CORINTHIANS 13

     And, so it is...and, so love is the foundation of the Bible, of our holy Father's reason for creating mankind, of his decision to come to live upon this earth in human form and go through an agonizing death upon that cross, of all our blessed Father's actions now and forever.  Keep this in your heart, but share it every minute of every hour of every day.  Is not love the reason, the power, the gift of our almighty and most loving Father.  There has never been created before, now, nor in the future a person he has not loved.  Yes, he loves Hitler...yes, he loves Judas...yes, he loves us all without condition.  It is where we direct our love, the importance we put on worldly riches, and the hate of others and self pride we exhibit that he does not love, saddening him deeply.  

     Yes,  my brothers and sisters, you can make a difference simply and powerfully by your love of our Father and his son, our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, also, each and every person he has so lovingly created.  Love, unconditionally, just as you are loved unconditionally.  Show that love, compassion, forgiveness that his holy spirit fills you with.