Are you ready for the break down? Go ahead and read The Lord's Prayer one more time before we begin.

Awesome.

Jesus used this prayer as an example of how to pray.

The prayer begins with acknowledging to God and giving God praise. In other words, you should give God glory and praise in your prayers. God is listening, so give Him thanks because you have his attention.

The kingdom mentioned in the prayer is God's kingdom of righteousness. Asking for God's Kingdom is giving God permission to take charge of your life in order for His will to be done in your life.

The prayer continues with asking God to set the world right as He has done in heaven.

Now 'the food we need' can be interpreted as two different things.

1. Jesus lived his life during his ministry poor and as a nomad. This is mentioned in Matthew 8:20 when he explains "The Son of Man (himself) has no place even to lay his head." It is explained further in Matthew 10:9-10 when Jesus gives instructions to his disciples to not carry money, valuables, change of clothes when they are traveling doing their missionary work. Jesus also says "Don't hesitate to accept hospitality because those who work deserve to be fed." In other words, food was more important than money, clothes, or even a place to rest because without food, starvation will occur and hinder the mission.
2. The "food" is known as "our daily bread" in other Bible translations which can be interpreted as your daily read of the Bible. The Bible is food for your spirit. If you don't feed your spirit The Word, your spirit will not be strong in God. In Ephesians 6:17, The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The Word of God is important for you to combat any negativity you face daily. With that in mind, getting your daily supplement of The Word is just as important as having your daily meal.

Asking for forgiveness for your sins is humbling yourself before God. Matthew 23:12 best explains this that if you humble yourself before God, He will bless you; however, if you pride yourself before God, you will be humbled.

Telling God you "have forgiven those who sin against you" is allowing God to bless you. God cannot bless you if you have an angry heart towards your "haters", so make peace and learn to forgive. It is difficult to shake a hand with a fist.

Finally, the prayer is asking to strengthen us to help us fight against evil forces. This final portion of the prayer is most important because when you are able to defend yourself from The Evil One, you are able to live your life in God's righteousness allowing you to serve the Lord. The Evil One (Satan) has a plan to throw you off course. Satan wants you to hate your haters. Satan wants you to starve. Satan wants you to live your life without God's righteousness.

If you are new to prayer or having a struggle praying, use this prayer as an example how to pray. This prayer covers everything you need to get you through your day and bring you closer to God.

For Valentine's Day, my wife bought me this book called, "642 Things to Write About".

It literally has 642 things to write about. Seriously. It has 642 prompts from the San Francisco's Writers' Grotto.

The prompts lead you to write stories, poems, and other random stuff for me to create. Some prompts require short responses or long responses. Either way, they are all witty and are geared at making you think outside the box.

So... I accepted the challenge to tackle each of the 642 things to write about and share my responses to each prompt with y'all.

Vamanos!

#1) "What can happen in a second?" (short response)

In one second I made the decision to jump to #2.

#2) "The Worst Thanksgiving Dish You Ever Had" (short response)

The worst thanksgiving dish I ever had was fruit cake made by a family friend. The cake pretty much smelled funky and looked like it was rejected by Oscar the Grouch. The texture was that of pudding with chunks of meatloaf in it. The flavor was blah! Just remembering it makes my stomach twitch.

#3) "A houseplant is dying. Tell it why it needs to live." (short response)

Houseplant! Oh, Houseplant! Don't go into the glorious rays of sunlight! I need you in my life to purify my air. The air that I breathe to continue forth with my life in this house which you made my home. Houseplant? Do you remember the day you were just a seedling in my hands? The day I took your seeds and placed them in the soil of this pot you sit in. It was that day which began my journey into horticulture. Because of you I have branched out to grow various jalapeno plants, tomatoes, and onions. All these crops have yielded great salsas. I am can make great salsas because of you, Houseplant! You made me a great salsa maker! Now, I can finally thank you by finding you a home outside in the elements where you can grow roots and live forever. You will no longer purify the air in my house... You will purify the air for all of the world. Stay strong, Houseplant, for soon you will grow and be a positive impact for all. Tomorrow, you will turn a new leaf. You will live boldly and freely in my garden where all the other crops will look up to you. Don't give up, Houseplant... I will not give up on you.

 #4) "Write your Facebook status in the year 2017." (short response)

I remember when Facebook was cool.

[4 down, 638 to go!]

"Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God."

This verse is one of those verses that lays the foundation of your faith. Paul knew it (that's why he mentions this verse in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11).

So let's break it down...

"The Proud" refers to people who are conceded, narcissistic, believe that they can do anything based on their own personal abilities and they measure themselves based on monetary success or power. These people put all their trust in what they believe they can do on their own. In other words, they do not rely on the power of God to propel them in life. These people rely simply on their own their perception of their self worth resulting in them not living their best life and always having drama surround them.

However, "the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God." If "The Proud" were to put their ego aside and ask God for help, God will bless them. God will make them realize that life with God is better than life without God.

God wants you to put all your faith in Him and trust Him completely to solve your problems. He will lift you up when you are down, carry you over the next hurdle, help you find peace during a time of stress, (insert your dilemma here and God will solve it). You just have to have complete faith in God and your solution will arrive.

"...If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed." - Habakkuk 2:3