The Lord’s Prayer

First thing each morning I pray, then meditate.  I think that this process gives me the best chance of living each day.

I say these prayers each morning before meditating: The Serenity Prayer; The Lord's Prayer, The Third Step Prayer, The Saint Francis of Assissi Prayer. If I wake at night and I feel disturbed I say these prayers. They give me peace of mind.

I find the most important part in saying these prayers is that I try to understand their meaning.

Understanding The Lord's Prayer

When I say The Lord's Prayer each morning I intersperse my own understanding of it's words with word's of my own which I find give meaning to it:

Our Father who I look up to with respect,
who art in heaven in my subconscious mind, and in the combined subconscious minds of everyone else
hallowed be thy name revered be the spirit of a power greater than myself
Thy kingdom come your way of life
thy will be done not mine
on earth in my actions
as it is in heaven in the minds of other people
Give us this day our daily bread our gift of prayer and meditation
and forgive us our trespasses relieve us from the bondage of our past thoughts, words and deeds
as we forgive those that trespass against us when we pray for all those that we feel resentment to for their thoughts, words or deeds
Lead us for we wish to follow your path
not into temptation nor into thoughts of what we might want for ourselves
but deliver us from evil contemplation of any form of control of others, or by others of us
For thine is the kingdom, I accept your way of life
[thine is] the power, my weakness and mistakes gives me the courage and strength to change
and [thine is] the glory my humility is my most attractive attribute
forever from the beginning, until the end of time. (The past and the future belong to you. They are mere illusions in my mind.)
and ever. every day along the way, (for mine is a daily programme lived in the present moment)
Amen Let it be.  Thy will be done, not mine.
God Bless all those people I can think of in this moment, friends and foe alike.

By giving meaning to each phrase, I deliver a visual image of how a wish to be into my subconsciuos mind immediately before I meditate.

Another of my interpretations of the Lord's Prayer

The "Power of Good" Prayer

Other interpretations of The Lords Prayer

Emmet Fox recognises that The Lord's Prayer was carefully written by Jesus Christ as a formula for a happy and fulfilled life.   All 12 step programs teach "Resentments Hurt Me Most", so learning a method of forgiving is extremely important to my recovery.  In his explanation of The Lord's Prayer, Emmet Fox describes a process of forgiveness that disempowers the destructiveness of resentments carried.

There are many other interpretations of the Lords Prayer.