More Than A Prayer (1) - "our Father"

TEXT: Matthew 6: 9-13

"...Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

GOD, THE FATHER

'Our father who art in heaven' is a prayer guideline given by Jesus to his disciple while teaching them how to pray. But, it is much more than that. It points the discerning disciple to who God, the father is. Here are a few things the Lord's prayer tells us about God, the father.

GOD IS OUR FATHER. GOD IS MY FATHER

He is our father. He is my father. 'Our' is plural and general, 'my' is singular and personal. God is father to many, but is he your father? As many as receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and believe in his name from their hearts have been given the rights to call God their father (John 1:12). He is a common father to all by creation but he is a special father to believers in Christ by adoption. Gal 4:6 says: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Jesus cried to God in the days of his passion, "my father, my father; why has thou forsaken me?" God wants us to know him intimately as the father. God will answer you when you cry to him as a loving father answers a devoted child in Jesus name. Prayer is a route to making God your own 'Daddy.' Our father is my father. Is God your father?

GOD HAS A LARGE FAMILY

If Jesus is the only Son of God and you are adopted as a son into the family of God and God is your father, then Jesus is your brother. This also makes you a joint heir with Jesus of everything that belongs to the father. "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom 8:17). What a wonderful privilege to be called sons of the living God. You can therefore say that all things belong to you. 1 Cor 3:21says:

"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours." It may not appear so now but when Jesus Christ shall return, the Bible says we shall be like him.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).

YOU CAN BE A MEMBER OF GOD'S FAMILY

If you have not accepted Jesus as your Saviour then you don't have the right of sonship. But you can rectify that now by confessing and repenting of your sins.

PRAYER:

Father, help me to do your will and enjoy the privilege of calling you my father and my God in Jesus name.

DECREE: God is my father.

God bless you. Shalom.