And forgive us our debts.

How is a debt marked? Maybe it’s an IOU, a loan document, a marker, or a payment book. Perhaps an item of value is held as collateral.

Sometimes a debtor signs a promissory note.

But what happens when a debt is canceled? How about when an important obligation is paid in full? The lien is destroyed. The mortgage papers are burned.

When I think about what Jesus did for me, covering the cost of my sin and purchasing my everlasting redemption, I think maybe my whole life ought to look like a promissory note. The debt is paid, but my attitude should demonstrate the gratitude He merits.

Often, that response is way past due.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Psalm 32:1-5, KJV

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Psalm 51:1-4, KJV

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

Psalm 13:3-4, KJV

What mercy, love, and grace from our great God.

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Give us this day our daily bread.

Worry and strife are joy-stealers. And so are those who plant seeds of worry and strife. Sometimes these sorts of conflicts seem to arise from simple meanspiritedness, and at other times they may come from concerns over needs and wants.

Maybe we’ve all heard the lectures about needs vs. wants. They make a valid point, even if they echo into ears that may have tuned out long ago.

But God is Jehovah-Jireh, the Provider. He knows our needs and our wants.

He planted the deepest, most holy desires in our hearts. He is the Source of all we need and the wellspring of abundant joy.

What about the joy-stealers?

Just this morning, I was making fresh cinnamon bread. As it baked, I sniffed the air with great enjoyment. The whole house began filling with the wonderful aroma.

Personally, I think I derive as much pleasure from the scent of cinnamon bread baking as I do from actually eating it.

Then someone stepped into the kitchen and turned the fan on. Sometimes joy-stealing comes in curious forms.

But God is the Giver.

God provided the means to obtain the ingredients for the bread. He gave me the ability to bake them into a sweet-smelling (and ultimately, yummy) loaf.

May He grant me the grace to ignore joy-stealers and seek God’s own joy instead.

I stepped into the kitchen, switched off the fan, and took a giant breath of fresh-baked cinnamon bread.

Ah. Give us this day our daily bread.

 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.  The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

Psalm 34:8-10, KJV

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Proverbs 30:8-9, KJV

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Matthew 6:23-26, KJV

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8, JKV

Today, our daily bread was extra delicious. And it needed no jam or preserves. This time, the Lord preserved the joy, and the homemade treat was sweet indeed.

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Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

God doesn’t need us to tell Him to do His will. But we may need the reminder. It’s something of an attitude adjustment or an agenda reset for us, as well as a clear declaration of our allegiance to His authority in our lives.

When we pray for God’s will to be done on earth, in the same way it is done in Heaven, we acknowledge His power and priority. We stop and step back and look at the longer-range view of life, catching a tiny bit of eternal perspective.

Things may look pretty confusing to us right now – for a host of reasons. Maybe we face struggles, stresses, worries, and woes. Perhaps we wrestle with perplexing problems or seemingly unanswerable questions.

Honestly, earth doesn’t look very heavenly sometimes.

But we know Who holds the final outcome. We know the King of Heaven. We understand that He is ultimately in charge. And He is looking out for us, even as we look to Him.

I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Psalm 40:8, KJV

Bless the Lord, ye his angels,  that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

Psalm 103:20-21, KJV

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Daniel 4:35, KJV

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

1 John 5:14-16, KJV

Often, we may just have to get out of His way … and let Him have his way. He loves His children and is working His good will in and around us, even when we cannot see it - or maybe, especially at such moments.

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