Actual Christianity

What you’ll find here is, in essence, the Lord’s Prayer on steroids. It’s a more detailed, powerful version designed to help you move beyond rote repetition and instead recite the prayer with genuine meaning and emotional weight. Don’t hesitate to name specific people or situations as you pray. Naming concrete individuals or events brings far more significance than vague, general statements during prayer. While this will naturally make the prayer longer, it will also make it more sincere and reflective. It invites you to pause and truly consider what you’re praying for—ensuring the prayer doesn’t become hollow or mechanical.

When Jesus was asked by his followers how to pray, he gave them a beautiful and iconic response: the Lord’s Prayer. Most of us know it by heart. But it’s essential not to recite it mindlessly, without introspection and self examination first.

His original wording is a concise, elegant framework for prayer—a spiritual outline. But when you praying on this foundation, consider expanding on it within your heart and mind. Personalizing it transforms the words into a powerful, conscious act of devotion.

• Our father (our greater source, the universe) who art in heaven (reminder that heaven is within us, our connection to the universe as a whole). Holy be thy name. Thy kingdom come (You are asking that your life, and your world here mirrors and meets the plan and purpose of our God/Source)
• “Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven” is one of the most powerful and consequential lines in the Lord’s Prayer. It should never be spoken casually without actually meaning and understanding the depth of what you are declaring. In these words, you are making a profound spiritual commitment: surrendering your own ego-driven will and inviting the Holy Spirit to take the lead—to guide your thoughts, your mind, your life, and your future. The Holy Spirit operates beyond the limitations of our human perception. It sees not just the present or the past, but the future as well—a realm the ego cannot access or comprehend. By yielding full control to the Holy Spirit, you open yourself to being led along the path that is most aligned with the greater plan and purpose the universe holds for you. This line is not just a statement—it’s a sacred exchange. It is the conscious and voluntary act of trading your personal will for the divine will of our Father. In doing so, you align yourself with the highest good, allowing your life to unfold in harmony with the will of God and his purpose for you.
• Give us this day our daily bread (Asking Our God and Holy Spirit to please ensure that you have sustenance so you can continue living. It is provided as a blessing and by the grace of God/the universe, so demonstrating gratitude for these blessings is vital.
• Forgive us our trespasses; Ask our father/source for forgiveness for our oversights, missteps, selfish and egotistical moments, etc. It is helpful to ask for forgiveness because more often than not it is for things we likely forgave someone else for in the same recitation of the prayer.
• “As we forgive those who trespass against us“ We are constantly projecting our own guilt, flaws, and weaknesses onto others, and it is an important consideration to be aware of when reciting this prayer and when forgiving others. If you have not noticed you’ve projected onto others, perform some self reflection, or pay closer attention with humility. If someone has mentioned to you that “you’re just projecting”. That’s a terrific tip, even though most egos will undoubtedly take offense to it. It’s much better to have some humility and acknowledge that it may in fact be a real projection of one of your flaws onto someone else. So recognize it, ask for forgiveness, repent for those character flaws, and ask the holy spirit to help heal you of those bad habits and character flaws.
• People need to be forgiven in the interest of maintaining and restoring peace. However it is even better to include and state specifically who and what you are forgiving them for. A general statement in your mind that you forgive them is a good starting point but not better than explicitly and directly forgiving those specific persons. If you can make peace in person or on the phone, it’s a thousand times more meaningful and effective.
• “Lead us not into temptation” Try and also ask to be led away from the specific temptations and weaknesses that you are likely already aware of, including what you just asked forgiveness for. If you can’t, it’s important to ask the holy spirit to help bring all your flaws to your attention. Some people may refer to them as sins, but it’s fair to just refer to them as flaws in our character that need to be corrected. These are the types of things that many have recognized about themselves even if they are secular. Sin is a loaded word with a lot of baggage, but if it turns you off, just refer to them as character flaws and our ego’s weaknesses. Most people acknowledge that they have them, whether they’re spiritual or secular. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance on discovering these, and realize them as you go on about your day. You’ll catch those hints and signals of what your weaknesses are in undeniable ways. Once you know what they are, ask in your recitation of the prayer for forgiveness and to be led away from temptations of committing these specific oversights and missteps, so that you purge them from your life once and for all with the Holy Spirit’s help. So the improvement to the prayer here is that you’re not just making a general statement in “lead me away from temptation” but you are also actually specifying those temptations that you would like help in avoiding in an act of self awareness and introspection.
• The final part of the prayer spoken by Jesus for to ask “Deliver Us From Evil“. For nontheistic and secular folks who think Evil is much related to word like sin, in that it is a loaded word with a lot of religious baggage. Realistically, it can best be summed up and described literally as our egos. Your ego is the source of all selfishness, lack of empathy and the source of all pain and suffering. It’s what drives people to focus on themselves without giving a second glance at someone who is suffering right in front of them. So, despite all the historical illustrations of what evil and “the devil” is, it can purely be summed up as the most selfish aspect of our minds and personalities, aka our egos. An excellent quote after WW2 by Psychologist GM Gilbert after WW2 hit the nail on the head.

“Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy”. He noted this lack of empathy as a common characteristic among the defendants during the Nuremberg Trials, a “genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men”. Gilbert’s observations, documented in his “Nuremberg Diary,” suggest that a fundamental lack of understanding and concern for others is a key component of evil. 

This is an excellent summation of evil, it’s our own internal selfishness and lack of empathy. The next time you are in a high traffic area, or any area where there are many panhandlers and homeless people.

Observe how many people walk right past people who are on the floor suffering. Either starving, homeless, or mentally ill and in need of care. We walk right past them without giving it a second thought. It took me many years to break out of that pattern of unhealthy toxic social behavior, but once you stop and actually look at these people, put the shoe on the other foot and realize how much they are suffering and how you would feel if you were in their shoes. You would not hesitate at all to help them if they ask you for help. In fact, the restoration of your empathy and love for neighbors will likely prompt you to help them before they even ask you for a dollar. These poor suffering people have become background noise for the rest of society. Ask the holy spirit and the greater universe to put you on the path of people who need help, and help them. It will undoubtedly happen. In your mind, volunteer to act as a proxy for the universe, guided by the holy spirit, to help someone who is mentally screaming in agony to the greater universe and source for help. This is also an excellent way to declare to the universe, not only that you are willing to restore peace to the universe in some way, but also demonstrate that you care about your fellow man in a real tangible way and that you relinquish any attachment or caring to money and any other material things. If you can’t give cash, 9 times out of 10, giving food will go a long way as well. As is the case in all faiths, it’s well documented that attachment to money is incredibly toxic, and helping others with the money in your pocket is announcing that you let go of all attachment to it. That you care more about your fellow man more than the money in your pocket.

I hope this helps readers understand and practice the Lord’s Prayer much more effectively. It helps us recognize our weaknesses, character flaws, and restore harmony, peace and balance in the universe.

Interestingly, the original words used in the Bible trespasses was “debts”. While trespasses is a good term that describes how someone crossed a line and boundary with you, debts is also a descriptive word. Forgiving their debts has an implication they do not owe you anything for any offense taken. Peace has been made.

After the prayer that Jesus taught his followers on the sermon on the mount. I feel these are some helpful bonus declarations to mention after the initial prayer. Similarly, not just to be said in a without actually meaning it. Declare these things in your consciousness with sincerity.

• Father may I please act as a vessel and proxy in which you may act. Holy Spirit, keep my mind and thoughts in harmony with our father. In peace I accept my father’s will in place of my own. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me into the future according to our father’s will. I can rest easy knowing the Holy Spirit is guiding me with confidence in his plan for me.
• In peace, I let go of all control and all of my ego’s desire for absolute control. Instead I accept and yield to the holy spirit’s guidance. Keeping my life, my future and my mind in harmony with our father’s plan for me as well as my future.
• I release and let go of all fear knowing our father has only love and no harm planned for us. In trusting his plan for us, I know I can let go of all fear knowing I am on a path of health, happiness and safety. No fear is required as I march into the future with his guidance.
• I release and let go any idolizations of any persons in this illusion and dream and dedicate all my love, reverence and praise towards our father and source. All my love is directed to our father and source and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance into the future as you know what the best possible path is for me. Amen.
• I let go of all judgments of my brothers and sisters for the way they dress, for the jobs they have. We are all one and equal despite what my ego tries to claim. I repent and release these awful habits, Holy Spirit help eliminate them completely.
• I accept my unity and oneness with all my brothers and sisters we are not separate. Please reveal my judgements towards them so that I may release them with the holy spirit’s help
• We are all our fathers’s children, one with our father and our source.
• I ask the Holy Spirit to make all illusionary boundaries between us disappear
• In peace I ask the Holy Spirit to make all attachments and material objects disappear as I release and let go of all attachments to money and property I own.
• Forgive me for any reliance or attachment to my ego, I let it go completely. I ask the Holy Spirit, to please erase any attachment or identification with ego as I let it go. By the grace of our father, please heal me of all attachments to ego.
• Forgive me and heal me of angry spouts, snapping at or blowing up on friends and family or even strangers. I only seek peace and ask the holy spirit to heal me and guide me so that I can only uphold peace.
• I declare that I am not special, distinct, or superior to any of my brothers and sisters. We remain as one and equal.
• I pass no judgment on the appearance of my brothers and sisters, for each of us is a radiant reflection of our Source and Creator. Beneath the illusion of our differences, we are but one—united in divine essence.
• I declare that I have no enemies, only neighbors, family, brothers, and sisters. To each of them, I extend my love and blessings, even to those with whom harmony has not yet been restored. Holy Spirit, guide us back to a state of peace, and align our hearts once more with the rhythm of love that flows through all creation.

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