THE LORD'S PRAYER SERIES: OUR FATHER

 Matthew 6
 ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from the evil one."


I want to spend a few days meditating on and writing about what we refer to as the Lord's Prayer. Anyone who has been a Christian for any time (and many who aren't believers) know this prayer and repeat it. The best way to describe this prayer is actually the "model prayer" because this is the purpose Jesus gave it to us for. This is why He says, "This, then, is how you should pray". Notice He didn't say "this is WHAT you should pray". This prayer should be an outline that we fill in so that we can come effectively before our God as we communicate with Him. The Lord's Prayer (the prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples both then and now) is found in John Chapter 17.


The first phrase that Jesus used to show us how to pray is "our Father in heaven". We look at God as our Father for several reasons. First, He is the Creator of all things and the literally the Father of all we see in and on the earth. He spoke all of the universe into existence and without Him and His word sustaining us, the world would crumble and dissolve. We also refer to Him as Father because He was the actual Father of God's manifestation on earth. Jesus was conceived miraculously by the Holy Ghost and the God/man was born. Jesus prayed and communicated with God by calling Him Father and so we also view Him that way. The most important reason is the fact that the scripture tell us in Galatians 4:4-7  "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,  to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir." This passage tells us that we are through the process of being saved, CHILDREN OF GOD AND HIS HEIRS. So, we have a natural tendency to call upon Him as our Father.


When we call on our Heavenly Father, we are recognizing Him in several ways and declaring our relationship to Him. He is our ultimate authority for living. When God speaks and we obey Him, He is pleased and we open the door for His blessings to come upon us as His children. Also, we see Him as our protector and provider of all things we need in life.The true essence of our relationship to God is manifest because we know by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us that we are HIS CHILDREN. 


Knowing Him as Father, puts us in the place of being able to approach the throne of Grace with boldness like a child running for his daddy's lap. Hebrews 4:16 says "Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." I think I need to go there more often....that's what I am thinking....