From THE EVIL ONE

The Lord’s Prayer, fondly known as ‘Our Father‘ happens to be my favourite prayer. It has been about two years now since I recite this holistically awesome prayer a bit differently. Differently….hmm…now, you’re probably thinking that I’m some arrogant-little egotistical person who thinks I can mess with an absolutely perfect prayer. The Bible is my moral compass; religious dogma is ancillary to me. The Word of God is the foundation of my relationship with God; everything else is secondary. About two years ago, I started off attempting to delve into and really study the book of Matthew. Well, I did not succeed; I never really completed what I started off with 😦 Anyway, during that time, I realized that most versions of the Lord’s Prayer in the Holy Bible end with, ‘deliver us from The Evil One.’

My name is Ruelha. The friends I grew up with call me ‘Rui/Ruey’. When I became a teenager, people started calling me ‘Rue’ fondly. When I began as a flight attendant, my roommates and batch-mates called me ‘Roosh’. And again, at the last two airlines I worked at, I was called ‘Rue’. I always had my name badge on; it displayed my real first name. I love my name; it’s pretty evident considering my blog is named ruelha.com 🙂 But somehow, everytime someone calls me Rue/Ruey/Roosh, I can almost guarantee you my pleasant side. You see, the Our Father is a complete prayer. It begins with addressing the king of all kings as a father, your father. He’s tuned in for sure; you started off on the right foot. You’ve managed to make Him smile. He’s listening alright…not to the crown of His creation, but to His child.

Now, that you’ve got Daddy’s attention, let’s give him due respect. While your’e canoodling there in the bosom of His love and protection and the knowledge that He takes delight in you, don’t you forget, He is God. Did you know Queen Elizabeth had to bow to her father, King George VI. The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex have to curtsy bow to the Queen. Nobody is debating that you’re a prince/princess. But, when you’re in the presence of royalty, you follow the hierarchy. You bow down to the King. You were created to glorify God, so do your job, princess! Did you know there are soooooooo many benefits that arise out of praise and worship. I will be writing a separate post on it very soon. But for now, please just take my word for it. It is in your own interest.

Thy Kingdom Come! What exactly are we praying for here? Do you understand what God’s kingdom consists of? Well, it’s beautifully perfect. There, peace, love, joy, justice prevail. There is an abundance of all things – good and right. The presence of our Lord is the real highlight. The absence of sin and all the wages and consequences of sin, death, sorrow, bondage, pain, sickness, infirmities is what makes it so remarkable. So when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we are actually praying for His Kingdom to be established over our lives, our surroundings, our relationships, our world. We are praying for love, peace, joy, justice, righteousness to lighten up our hearts and all that we encompass. We are praying for His territory/kingdom to be established, prevail and extended in our lives and through our lives.

Thy will be done….on earth as it is in heaven. Now here….this part I find extremely difficult. This is a prayer of surrender. We all want good things and we would love to choose the easy path. But sometimes, greater good is achieved through sacrifice and hardships. God knows what is best for you. I know all too well how extremely difficult it is to let go of your own dreams and desires and follow the master. It is so difficult to blindly follow. Jesus himself found it excruciating while He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew the time for His passion and death was near. He cried out to God with sweats of blood, pleading to the Father to take away this cup of sorrow from Him. But He added, “not My will, but Your’s be done.” He surrendered to the will of the Father with full knowledge of the magnitude of the burden of mankind’s salvation. He surrendered to the will of the Father. He accepted and made peace with this horrible, painful, torturous thing God had planned for Him… all in the midst of great temptation from the devil. During these moments of anxious turmoil, the devil tried so hard to prevent Jesus from going through this painful ordeal. But look what happened through His suffering. All of mankind can rejoice…Oh, Lord, all glory and honour and praise be to you, my Jesus.

Give us this day our daily bread. Here we are humbling ourselves before God. We are telling Him, “yes God, we are absolutely dependent on You for anything and everything. Our food, our lives, our families, our jobs, just about everything comes from you. You created everything and you provide everything.” Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Lord, give us your word. Let our spirit not hunger. Most people are constantly attempting to fill up a void in their lives. They look everywhere – jobs, designations, power, fame, substances, food, friends, sexual encounters, spouse, children, parents, even in good deeds and charity…but nothing brings the kind of peace that the presence of Jesus does. All these things are temporary; their effect wards off. The pleasure/peace/joy does not last too long. But the word of God….oh boy, it restores everything. It is life to dry bones, I tell you. {Ezekiel 37}

Forgive us our trespasses, AS WE FORGIVE those who trespass against us. Yes Lord, please forgive us. We need God’s grace to walk in His light, in righteousness. Forgiveness is so easy with God. Ask and you shall receive it. All you need to do is ask. You could have been a serial rapist/killer, but forgiveness….man, it’s free I tell you. If you’ve noticed, there are innumerable verses in the Bible regarding forgiveness. They all come with a clause. Damnnnnn! Jesus, He’s one smart cookie, eh? What is this clause? You gotta forgive that co-worker who stole all your credit….and continues to do so. You have to forgive your friend for betraying you, time and again. You have to forgive that psycho who threw acid on your pretty face. You have to forgive your boyfriend who kept cheating on you. You have to forgive those women who tarnished your impeccable reputation. You have to forgive the men who raped and murdered your daughter. Easy peasy…..yeah right! But, it is what it is. Hey, I don’t make the rules; I’d love to see my adversaries bathed in acid too 😉 … well, I have my weak moments. This line here is a biggie. God is well aware of it. You cannot forgive without the grace of God. The more you wrap yourself in God’s grace, your ability to supernaturally forgive even the worst, most unutterable abominations will become possible. I will refrain from elaborating here, but do check out my earlier articles for some insight.

Lead us not into temptation. This one here is confusing to many people. We are simply praying for grace in our trials and temptations. Well, I am no doctor of theology. But, in my experience, God does not lead anyone into temptation. He lets the devil tempt you. That is just the ‘ordinary’ function of the devil.{I will be writing a post on the ordinary and extraordinary acts of the devil soon. That will help clarify many doubts.} It is your duty/honour to withstand the wiles and schemes of the devil which is much easier with ‘divine grace’. God does not put you in a spot. We live in a fallen world; the devil has the authority to tempt you. But, you get to choose if you want to yield to good or evil. That is where free will comes into play. The only person God led into temptation is Jesus Himself. Matthew 4:1 tells us, ‘Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.’ If Jesus had to redeem mankind and do great and mighty things, He had to feel every pain, temptation, turmoil and misery the fallen world could offer. If we have to emulate this God who was to teach us and show us the way, He had to become a mere mortal and have the ability to resist temptation just like a weak man has to. But remember, this happened immediately after Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was mortal and weak as any man. But He resisted temptation by the grace of God, the Spirit of God. In the case of Job, God did not lead him into temptation per se. God let the devil oppress/vex Job. That was a clear case of diabolical oppression. God temporarily removed His graceful hedge of protection, His fence that Job enjoyed for so long. He let the devil oppress Job; He did not lead Job into temptation. Yes God tests you at times..just like He tested Abraham. Don’t pout too much about it. Our entire life on earth is a test of our fidelity to God …in a way. That is just something you have to accept. 🙂

So, I did some digging and research – something I really enjoy. If you have been following my articles, you’ll know that I have had several spiritual mentors to guide and counsel me. I have been so blessed to have encountered these kind souls. At one point I was greatly influenced by the Christian organization – Intercessors of the Lamb. Their founder, late Sister Nadine Brown encouraged believers in Christ to recite the Lord’s Prayer ending with ‘deliver us from the Evil One. Amen.’ That got me thinking. Most people just say ‘deliver us from all evil.’ The devil is the source of all evil; but we are seeking deliverance from Him all-together, not just his works and actions. We are seeking deliverance from his hold over our lives, from his deceitful right over our souls. It is a powerful deliverance prayer that exorcists use as well{for a variety of reasons that I will get into later in two separate posts}. I want to see his hideous presence, not just his actions fade away and disappear from my life. I have read many books on spiritual warfare, deliverance, exorcisms thereafter. I feel happier reciting this prayer the way it is in my Bible. It is a habit now. And that’s just how I recite my favourite prayer.

Amen,
Ruelha