Prayer 101 - God is Our Father
Are you praying correctly?
The Lord’s Prayer
is
Every Disciple’s Prayer
“Prayer
honours God; it dishonours self” [1]
Prayer
begins and ends NOT with the needs of man but with the glory of God.[2]
Our prayer
should be concerned primarily with:
1. who God is,
2. what He wants, and
3. how He can be glorified.
Those who
teach otherwise are not preoccupied with the extension of Christ’s kingdom or
the glory of God’s name. But they are only concerned with their own agendas. To
believe that God is really some kind of genie, waiting to grant our every
desire, flies in the face of Scripture’s clear teaching.
The Old
Testament Saints knew they were to recognise God in His rightful place and
bring their wills into conformity with His.
While in the
whale belly, Jonah did not cry out of his own predicament for his sake. Instead, he said:
“When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD,
and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
But I with my voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”[3]
Daniel was
often in dangerous situations because of his strategic role in the Babylonian
society. Over his concern over Judah’s captivity, he prayed:
“I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying,
“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant
and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his
commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted
wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments
and rules.”[4]
The prophet
Jeremiah lived the majority of his life in frustration and confusion, all the
while weeping with a broken heart over his people. While he could easily be
despaired over his ministry he never became preoccupied with his own painful
circumstances. Instead, he would pray and extol the name of God.
“Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have
made the heavens and the
earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm!
Nothing is too hard for you.”[5]
And that is
what Jesus taught His disciples when He said:
“Pray then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
Hollowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.”[6]
The pattern of Jesus prayer was very different from the prayers of the religious leaders of His day which had corrupted the Jewish prayer life.
Hence, our Lord gave us a divine
pattern that all believers could pray in a way that is pleasing to God.
Another vital development in the manner of prayer was that Jesus introduced us to His Father. God YAHWEH who was always adored and worshipped as LORD is now a Father to His children. And Jesus reconciled us to His Father made us His brothers and sisters. What an amazing grace.
This prayer should be called the Disciple’s
Prayer because it is the conversation that will grow children into maturity.
GOD IS OUR FATHER
Prayer
should always begin with the recognition that God is our Father, the one who gave us life and who loves, cares
for, provides for, and protects us.
The fact
that God is our Father means that only believers in Christ are
children in His family.
We remember
the words of prophet Malachi:
“Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?”[7]
Scriptures
makes it very clear that God is the Father of unbelievers in creation. But spiritually, unbelievers have another father. In His severest condemnation of
the Jewish leaders who opposed Him, Jesus said:
“You are of your father the devil”[8]
John in his
third epistle clearly identifies two families: the children of God and the
children of the devil. The former does not continue to commit sin; the latter
does.
The apostle
made a clear distinction between the children of lights and the
children of darkness:
“For at one time you were darkness,
but now you are light
in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”[9]
Peter in his
second epistle says that only those who believe have been made
partakers of
the divine nature.
“By which He has granted to us His precious and very great
promises, so that through them you may become partakers
of the divine nature.”[10]
It is only those
who receive Him that Jesus gives them the right to become children of God. Only
to those who believe in His name.
“But to all who did receive Him, who
believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who
were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of
man, but of God”[11]
Who is God to the believer? A Father who is...
Near
A father is
closer than an uncle or a cousin or a friend or a neighbour. Psalm 68 says
that:
“God is a father to the fatherless”[12]
A
Gracious Father
A father is
forgiving, tender-hearted, merciful, and gracious to His children, which is
very true of God.
“As a father shows compassion to his
children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.”[13]
A
Guiding Father
A father
leads his children and gives them wisdom and instruction. That was also true of
God’s relationship with Israel. He said of them:
“With weeping they shall come,
And with pleas for mercy, I will
lead them back,
I will make them walk by the brooks
of water,
In a straight path in which they shall
not stumble,
For I am a father to Israel,
And Ephraim is my firstborn.”[14]
A Father who requires obedience
Because God
was the Father of Israel, the people were required to obey Him.
“Do you not repay the LORD,
You foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created
you,
Who made you and established you?”[15]
When Jesus
arrived on the scene in Israel, He reintroduced His Jewish audience to God as a
loving, beneficent Father to those who know, love, and obey Him. In all His
prayers, Jesus used the title “Abba” which is the equivalent to our term Daddy,
Jesus would have used it to emphasize the personal and intimate relationship
God has with His children.
Calling
God our Father implies several things.
Whatever you seek, whether it’s peace, fellowship, knowledge,
victory, or boldness. God has an abundant supply in the heavenlies. We need
only ask our Father for it.
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will
but the will of Him who sent me.” [20]
Obedience to God is one of the supreme marks of our
relationship to Him as children.
Yet in His grace, God loves and cares for His children even
when they are disobedient. The way Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal son in
Luke 15, should be titled the Loving Father instead. The father in the story represents
our Heavenly Father, who can forgive and rejoice over both a self-righteous son
who remains moral and upright and a rebellious son who becomes dissolute,
wanders away, but then returns.
When you
begin your prayers by calling on “Our Father who is in heaven,” you indicate
your eagerness to go to Him as a child, knowing He loves you. And you will find
that He is eager to lend His ear, His power, and His eternal blessing to the requests
of His children if it serves them best and further to reveal His purpose and
glory.
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, we ask Father that you bless us today. Give us wisdom in these things that Your Word teaches us and guide our hearts against prejudice and against self-righteousness and
piety, but also, Father, against fear, against a lack of courage to make
difficult decisions towards our spiritual maturity. We want to please You before we
please man. Allow our hearts to be guided by Scripture.
Lord we
thank you for Your Word. Thank you for the power that You have made plain and
evident in all that You have done, for the righteousness that You have
appointed in the work of Your Son Jesus Christ. By our faith in that work,
Father, You have given us what we could not obtain on our own. We have become
Your children and we can call you Abba. And we thank You, Abba, beyond all
measure. And we will thank You in all eternity.
In
Jesus Precious Name. Amen!
[1] E
M Bounds, Purpose in Prayer, 43
[2] “Whatever you in my name, this I will
do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son”
[3] Jonah
2:7,9
[4]
Daniel 9:4,5
[5]
Jeremiah 32:17
[6]
Matthew 6:9-13
[7]
Malachi 2:10
[8]
John 8:44
[9]
Ephesians 5:8
[10] 1
Peter 1:4
[11]
John 1:12,13
[12]
Psalm 68:5
[13]
Psalm 103:13
[14]
Jeremiah 31:9
[15]
Deuteronomy 32:6
[16]“If
you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Matthew 7:11
[17] “I
will never leave you nor forsake you” Hebrew 13:5b
[18] “Praying
at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep
alert
[19]
Ephesians 1:3
[20] John
6:38
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