“Our Father…” Matthew 6:9
By nature, we cannot pray this prayer. By nature, we are alienated from God and dead toward Him. By nature, we are more concerned about our names than God’s Name. By nature, we think that life revolves around us, and so, left to ourselves, if we prayed at all, we would start with ourselves and our needs.
But Jesus came to bring us into an entirely new relationship with God. God is His Father, and through faith in Him, we come to know God as our Father too. Jesus brings you into a new relationship with God in which you love Him, trust Him, worship Him, serve Him, and obey Him. In the love of this perfect Father you find new peace, new strength, new hope, and new joy.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). In Christ, we have been adopted into the family of God and because we are His children, God has sent His Spirit into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:4-6).
The Lord’s Prayer has six petitions and all of them are addressed to “our Father.” Father, glorify Your name. Father, let Your kingdom come and Your will be done. Father, give us what we need. Father, forgive our sins. Father, deliver us from evil.
These are the prayers of Christian disciples. They are not the things we would ask of God if we were left to ourselves. They are the prayers into which Jesus brings us. They are the prayers of God’s children.
Is it hard for you to think of God as your Father? Why or why not? If God is your Father, how do you think that should affect your prayers to Him?
