The Lord’S Prayer: A Bible Study and Life Application

By Daniel T.T. Thompson

In this book, Daniel Thompson shares his life experiences and how he relates them to developing a richer, fuller relationship with Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. Biblical quotes are included, to be studied and applied to your own life experiences. It is his desire as you read his book that you will understand your own life challenges and how you can relate them to deepening your own relationship with our personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ gave us the words in the Lords Prayer, and it is up to us to incorporate them into our own lives. Daniel encourages you to write your own words in this book and leave your own legacy to your family. Most importantly, when you put your own personal feelings in writing, you show God you are doing more than merely reciting words. You are defining your own personal relationship with God, and you are showing Him you are looking forward to spending eternity in His heavenly kingdom.

Thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the Lords Prayer through the life, testimony, and practical direction that Thompson gives us in this work. Excellent read and workbook for someone wanting to not only learn more on how to pray the Lords Prayer, but to live it. And as his pastor, I can certainly say he lives it.
Dr. Randall T. Hahn, Sr. Pastor,
Colonial Heights Baptist Church, Virginia

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490841663

Daniel T.T. Thompson

Daniel Timothy Thaddeus Thompson lives in Sandston, Virginia, with his wife, Constance. He wrote this book so others can learn to apply their own life experiences to the words of the Lord’s Prayer. By doing this, we can all develop a deeper relationship to God through the words given to us by His Son, Jesus Christ.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Daniel Timothy Thaddeus Thompson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Photography by Melissa Dawn Moore

and Jennifer Traylor

www.jennifertraylorphotography.com

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL

VERSION copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society, Used By

Permission of Zondervan Publishing House

Other Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, KINGS JAMES VERSION, COPYRIGHT 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Used by Permission of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4165-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4167-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4166-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014911502

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/30/2014

Contents

About The Author

Preface

The Lord’s Prayer

Session 1

Our Father

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 2

Which Art In Heaven

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 3

Hallowed Be Thy Name

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 4

Thy Kingdom Come

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 5

Thy Will Be Done

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Builder

Prayer Builder

Session 6

In Earth As It Is In Heaven

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 7

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Focus Questions

Discussions For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 8

And Forgive Us Our Debts

Focus Questions

Discussions For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 9

As We Forgive Our Debtors

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 10

And Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Focus Questions

Discussions For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 11

But Deliver Us From Evil

Focus Questions

Discussions For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 12

For Thine Is The Kingdom, And The Power And The Glory, For Ever. Amen

Focus Questions

Discussions For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 13

Where Do We Go From Here ?

Focus Questions

Discussion For Focus Questions

Community Challenge

Prayer Builder

Session 14

Guidelines For Being Saved

Daniel’s Prayer For Being Saved

Conclusion

Notes

In thanksgiving and gratitude,

to

Gerald and Frosty Taylor

for their patience with me

and their support of this book.

May God continue to bless you both for all you do for others.

This book is

dedicated to my wife Constance Pair Thompson,

my daughter Melissa Moore

and her husband Theodore Moore, Jr.

Through the years it took to write this book and through circle prayers, I have been blessed with a granddaughter Leah Ann Moore!

Therefore, I dedicate this book to Leah as she IS a gift from heaven

and a joy to us all!

Together we are a family in love with the Lord

and in humble service to Him.

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With God all things are possible!

A special note from the Author’s wife to the readers

How to be Happily Successful

To be happily successful is to have a meaningful relationship with Christ. It really has nothing to do with financial standing or outside appearances. It is making Christ CEO of your life, business, and family! It is connecting with Him in the morning and on any and every important dealing throughout the day. It is closing the day with Him. It is about being thankful for the breath you take and the situation you are in, whether good or bad. It is about seeing the glass half full, not half empty. It is about being a servant, not being served. God made the perfect plan; all we have to do is follow it.

Wisdom is not elusive. Proverbs tells us about it. Wisdom brings us peace, joy and love and all we really need to be happily successful.

— Constance Thompson

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About the Author

Daniel Timothy Thaddeus Thompson lives in Sandston, Virginia with his wife Constance. He has a daughter and son-in-law, Melissa and Ted, and granddaughter, Leah. He has worked over 40 years as a water purification chemist, pharmaceutical chemist and an environmental chemist. In addition, he has been an environmental health inspector, accountant, and a backflow prevention plumbing inspector. He has designed and manufactured airplane and helicopter pilot helmets and radomes. He has owned several wholesale and retail businesses dealing with floral design, gifts, souvenirs and screen printing.

Daniel has served his community as vice-president of Virginia Jaycees, a member of Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity and as an emergency medical technician. He has been in various community wind ensembles and bands and he plays most every musical instrument except strings. He has served his church community as a Stephen Minister and a member and director of various choirs and praise bands. He has taught Sunday school over 28 years and served as youth leader for various churches. Also, he has worked with Friendship Ministries and has dedicated many years to working with people with intellectual disabilities.

Daniel hopes you will enjoy reading about his life experiences and how he relates them to developing a richer, fuller relationship with Jesus Christ, God and the Holy Spirit. Biblical quotes are included, to be studied and applied to your own life experiences. It is his desire as you read his book that you will understand your own life challenges and how you can relate them to deepening your own relationship with our personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ gave us the words in the Lord’s Prayer, and it is up to us to incorporate them into our own lives. Daniel encourages you to write your own words in this book and leave your own legacy to your family. Most importantly, when you put your own personal feelings in writing you show God you are doing more than merely reciting words. You are defining your own personal relationship with God and you are showing Him you are looking forward to spending eternity in His heavenly kingdom. Daniel hopes you will find a greater relationship with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit by using this life application guide.

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To God be the glory; with God all things are possible!

Preface

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Preface

In the past I have found myself reciting memorized prayers without taking time to think about the words I was saying. It is my intention in this book to help us all realize all of the words we say in the Lord’s Prayer and what they may mean to us as we pray to the Lord. As life goes on, we realize that each day the words we pray will have different meanings as we apply them to the circumstances of the day. All the while, as we pray we strengthen our relationship with God, knowing that He is the provider of all that is and all that will ever be. When you share this book with others after you have written your feelings, it can be an awesome testimony to friends and family to reveal to them who you really are and how your relationship has developed. Perhaps it would even encourage family and friends who may have questions about God and heaven to develop their own relationship with God. So even though we may study this book together and share with each other thoughts on the various subjects, we should also review what we learn on our own. We should spend solitude and take time to know Him in our own way. We should strive to develop a one-on-one relationship with God through His words in the Bible and our interpretation of how they apply to our individual lives and circumstances. We should spend exclusive time with Him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, even asking for our own specific personal needs. Remember, He already knows what we need before we ask Him, but He does want us to ask Him.

² Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. ³ And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴ Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. ⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:2-6 (NIV)

Be thankful for all God has done for you and remember to personally thank Him as you pray. In addition, be certain to glorify God and praise Him as you pray. Live your life after prayer for the Lord and as the Lord would have you live. Certainly we will all fail and need to pray again but it is in our failures that we become closer to the Lord when we realize that without Him there is no good in our lives.

It is intended that this book will first be written for an adult Bible study. Other versions will be for adults with intellectual disabilities, for teens and finally an illustrated version for children using the Caring Kids characters. As society entails such a wide variety of people and cultures, we all need to learn to find ways to worship and glorify the Lord. Please find time to share this book, whether by distributing purchased copies of it or reviewing it with friends and family. When used for home study, study for couples or families, or for Sunday school lessons, this book will offer ways to become closer to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God. You are encouraged to write throughout the book and release your feelings toward the Lord. You will be able to explore what the Lord’s Prayer means to YOU and how you can apply it differently every day as you go through various events, which we call life itself. The format includes insight, focus questions, discussion about the focus questions, community challenges and prayer building tools for further discussions, and a self-awareness of each person’s individual relationship with our heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is desired that we not judge each other’s relationship with God, but rather we should encourage each other to teach others better ways to learn about and glorify our Lord as we develop our own personal relationship with Him.

I feel like I would like to share a new word I created: questiny. I would define this as seeking your final destiny through your actions and reactions to God. What you pursue in this life has a direct relationship with where you will end up in the next life—your questiny! However, we must remember that we do not get to heaven through our good deeds but simply because our Savior Jesus Christ died to forgive our sins and for our entrance into heaven. We cannot determine when we will have our final meeting with our Creator. However, we can control whether or not we will live eternally with Him or live an eternity in misery without Him.

I am hoping that together we can find new meaning in how this prayer can further develop our love for Christ, God and the Holy Spirit. Using my life experiences, I hope you can relate your own experiences with the words in the prayer and apply them to your life. In addition, it is hoped that by knowing Christ as a friend, you will become a better family member and community leader through your responses within this book.

⁵ "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:5-8 (NIV)

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Each part of the Lord’s Prayer is taken piece by piece for a description or a personal overview from me as to what it means to me and how you could interpret what it means to you. Finally, the end of the book provides methods to further your relationship by affirming or reaffirming your relationship to God and being saved. Each session may be studied on a daily or weekly basis, individually, with a partner or with an entire study group. Biblical references are sprinkled throughout the book to study how certain aspects of what Jesus said may be interpreted. Focus questions are asked so that they may be discussed with your partner or study group, or one on one as part of your devotion to the Lord. After you fill in your answers to the Focus Questions, further discussion can be found with the Discussion for Focus Questions. After you carefully review the group discussions and answer the questions, the session concludes with a prayer builder for you to use as you concentrate on what we have discussed. Then you are encouraged to add your own prayer to God based on what you have learned about each particular part of the Lord’s Prayer. Additionally, in response to hopefully becoming aware of random acts of kindness and living in God’s word, Community Challenges are provided to invigorate your application of the Lord’s Prayer to your home and community. Although it is not realistic to try to do all of the challenges, you may find joy in trying a few of them or coming up with your own ideas. Opportunities for individual, couple or group challenges are cited as a beginning to create your own applications to make your community a better place to live and worship. Hopefully as you go through this book, you will find your prayers becoming more meaningful and turning into pleasant conversation as you become a better friend of God.

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The Lord’s Prayer

⁹Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

¹⁰Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread.

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV)

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Session 1 Our Father

SESSION 1

Our Father

Our Father

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