The Lord's Prayer & The 10 Promises (Part 1)

Do you realize that the Lord's Prayer and the 10 Commandments - the 10 Promises - are complimentary?

Think about it: Moses heard God's Word as the 10 Commandments. These 10 Commandments promise you the truth about your relationship with God and about your relationship with your fellow human beings. They define you as God's image and likeness. They fulfill all the law and the prophets because they enliven you to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. In them, you are unable to be anything other than what God makes you to be. They promise you that you "shalt not" be anything but His perfect creation.

And this is also exactly what the Lord's Prayer does. In fact, you could say it is the 10 Promises in prayer form.

Look at the first 5 Commandments and the first 4 verses of the Lord's Prayer side by side:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Our Father, which art in heaven. Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious.

To acknowledge only the One God is to have no other gods. It is to know that this One God is your only Father-Mother, all-harmonious. It is to accept that your source is Divine, your Cause is Life, your Creator is Love, and that you are His/Her perfect image and likeness, healthy, holy, and wholely good. Live this promise as your prayer.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain...
Hallowed be Thy name. Adorable One.

Hallowing the Adorable One, the Great I Am, makes it impossible to indulge in idolatry - the worship of matter - or to dishonor the name and nature of God in word or deed. God's name - God's perfect nature - is the real thing, the genuine article! You don't need to idolize people or things when you adore the Adorable One. Don't you love what you adore? And if you adore God, divine Love, would you ever even think to abuse His name or His nature? Of course not. And this is your natural state of being, as God's image and likeness.

4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy...
Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.

What could keep the Sabbath holier than acknowledging God's kingdom, His presence and power as being with you right here and right now? What could put you at ease - make you rest - more than knowing that God's work is done, His kingdom come, and that your perfect place in it is secure? There is no effort you need to put out to make this happen. There is no labor you need to add to His already complete perfect creation. There is no work involved in opening your eyes to His everpresence. You are a complete and perfect expression of God. God "finished" you. He is present with you now, holding you, keeping you safe. Healing is the truest fulfillment of the Sabbath - acknowedging and understanding that God's work - you! - are done and and done perfectly. This is God's Sabbath promise to you: you are already whole, complete, divinely fair. Rest in that.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother...
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.

What better way to honor your father and mother than by obeying them? Than by acknowledging their authority? Why would you want to obey your parents? For at least one reason: their years of experience provides a loving protective wisdom that can guard and guide you as you mature. Like the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, their "rod and ... staff", their will, their loving desire, comforts you.

And so if you would honor your father and mother by obeying them, listening to their guidance because you know they have your best interests at heart, because they love you, so it is even more important to honor God in the same way. Listen to what God is telling you about who you are. Honor God's name and nature - because you are the image and likeness of that name and nature! So let the will of your Father-Mother God be done in your life here and now as it is in heaven.

And why not? It will only make your will, your love, your life, more like Him, more true to who you really already are, more authentic, more awake to your likeness to your Father-Mother God. Honor that heavenly likeness, that heavenly will by living your life accordingly right now right here on earth. Then you'll not only know that - as in heaven, so on earth, God really is omnipotent, supreme - you'll be demonstrating it. You'll be living it. And that's the most natural thing in the world for you to do.