“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

(Matthew 6:11,12)

June 2009

Dear Friend

Trusting that all is well with you and your loved ones. We are all fine, and perhaps by the time you receive this letter our brand new Spanish Hope Connection Prayer Line will be in operation.  Call 718-238-4600 to find out more, and tell others!

While typing this letter to you, my daughter and I are heading for California, to visit with a dear friend. We both felt the need to take some time out, go on a spiritual journey to seek the Lord and get some rest too. My friend insisted that we come to her home to do this, and we took her up on her offer. God bless her, her husband and her family!

While sitting here and meditating upon the Lord, He reminded me about the lesson in prayer that we have been studying together. The prayer that we call the "Our Father" has such depth to it. Jesus taught it to us, and when we take it sentence by sentence, it reaches the very core of our being because it shows us just what is important to our Heavenly Father. Let us review for a moment.

We call on Our Father who is in Heaven, and we praise His Name. God Himself, the very Creator of the universe, calls Himself our "Father." We are His children. We are His workmanship! He loves us so much that He created us so that we can have fellowship with Him. When we ask ourselves, what is our purpose in life? This is it my friend! To know God, to love Him, and to have fellowship with Him.

Life has a way of making us so busy even with good things, that we can neglect to take  time with Him. Even in ministry, we are so busy being about His "business" that when we have time to ourselves, it is easy to get distracted by the thought that we need down time, we need sleep, or we simply need to tune out and rest. Absolutely, it is important to have fun, and enjoy life! But what can  happen is we get caught up in that too, and do not spend time with our Father. So, our Father waits, and watches. He somehow gives little hints here and there, and if we are spiritually tuned in we may hear it and come back. Things happen, we pray, and cry out to Him "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Yes! We want our world to be as it is in heaven. No sickness, no poverty, no violence etc. And yes, when we pray that, God will move healing, meeting finances, peace, etc. He gives us our daily bread; we do not have to worry about what we will eat, or what we need, especially spiritually. He will call us to Himself. He will satisfy our hungry hearts!

The next verse is  a hard one. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation. This is powerful! Jesus is saying that if we want our sins forgiven, we have to first forgive others! Wow! This can be a difficult thing to do sometimes. When people hurt us, when those we love are hurt, when  our lives are suddenly completely changed because of the actions of another, it hurts. If We allow our hearts to harden, that hurt turns to unforgiveness and more. But when we look at the Cross, and what Jesus went through for us while we were yet sinners, it hurts our heart. The very Son of God, completely sinless, was  beaten, and tortured and humiliated for no other reason, but for us. He took our place on the cross. so that we can be forgiven. His voice cried out "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing!" His ultimate sacrifice was for us, His ultimate course of action was seeking forgiveness for those who did not deserve it. We have so much to be grateful for! Those of us who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and ask Him to come into our heart, receive the gift of salvation. We are forgiven, we are free to live for Him, and someday we will see Him face to face! What  a glorious day that will be!!

All of this leads to our spiritual journey this week. We are taking a few days break to be ministered to. We are taking this time to go into the secret place where we can commune with our Heavenly Father. We desire to seek His face, and rest in Him. My friend has graciously given us this time so that we can be refreshed in Him.

Before we even dare to enter, our prayer is for God to forgive us as we forgive others. I am asking the Lord to remind me of anyone who needs my forgiveness, and I am asking Him to forgive me if I have held on to anything that has to  be let go.

During this month, let us all join together in doing this. Let us take time to be with the Lord in that quiet place. That secret place. And then let it become a serious need in our life, something that we will never let go of! Let us hunger and thirst for His precious fellowship! Let us be jealous of it, and make the time! Let us pray...

Father, in Jesus precious Name, we come before You and worship You in Spirit and in Truth. Father, our desire  is to know You more. Our desire is to meet with You in that secret place, and have sweet fellowship with You. Our desire is to hunger more for You, to truly make You Lord of our life! Lord, I am jealous for Your time and attention. I want You and I need You! Precious Savior, I ask You to take  hold of this reader and draw him or her closer to You! Draw me closer too Lord! Thank You Father, that You hear our prayer. We love You and adore You. We worship You! All honor and praise to You Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! God bless you!

Rev. Barbara Anne Yovino, Ph.D.