Issues

The disciples once asked Christ, “Master, teach us to pray.” The prayer that Christ taught them, and which is today spoken by Christians all around the world, is the revelation of God’s plan of salvation. It encompasses everything that is pleasing to God and includes everything that human beings need in life. This issue contains several lectures in which our spiritual teachers, Joseph and Lene, explain the individual appeals of the Lord’s Prayer and thus reveal its profound significance. We should not just mindlessly recite this prayer, but speak it with sincerity and devotion, understanding and carefully considering every request we make. Prayer can then come alive within us and develop into a power that always reminds us to do the right thing and empowers us to refrain from wrongdoing.

In the question-and-answer section of this issue, spirit-teacher Joseph discusses the petition “Lead us not into temptation” and explains that this is actually an incorrect translation. God does not lead human beings into temptation – it is the lower powers who do so, and they are always ready to assail human beings. We should therefore say, “Lead us when we are in temptation,” because these temptations are tests that God permits.