The Lord's Prayer 1 Series

One of the attribute of a good leader is to be able to pass on your knowledge or skills unto your followers. There can never be a success without successor! If when you leave no one else is able to do what you do in a similar way to how you did it then you have failed. Jesus in this wise was passing unto his disciples one of the gifts or knowledge that helped him in ministry. I want to say that before you can teach people anything in life you must first have practiced it. In Acts 1:1 Luke was opening his account and he made a profound statement in the later part say.. Of all Jesus began both to do and to teach. Which means Jesus never taught anything he didn't do himself. So he here speaking to his disciples starts to teach them on how to pray. If Jesus taught on prayer I believe prayer is important for us as Christians. I know prayer is something of hardwork for us as Christians but it is very crucial. Jesus would wake up a great while before dawn and go out to pray. It is the power generated in the secret place of prayer that he come to the open to demonstrate. So he wants his disciples and us as Christians to know how to pray. Teach us how to pray Lord!

The first thing I can get from this prayer is the word 'our' . Though it is a personal pronoun it is also indicative of inclusivity. Too much English you would say (smiles). In simple terms the word mean that whatever or whoever is being referred to belongs personally to me but at the same time I'm sharing that personal relationship with another. He is MY father but not only does he belong to me he is also my brother's father. This would teach us that Christianity is a relational experience. Enough of all these just me and God no relation with other people stunt. It is unscriptural and borne out of pride. He is my father, your father, his father, her father, their father.. Our Father! It is so amazing that the creator of heaven and earth would come to our level so much that we can own him - Our Father! Jesus could have decided to claim sole ownership of him because he had the right- he was born by the direct implant of the Holy Spirit in a virgin's womb. No, he is not like you and me. He teaches his followers that God is as much his father as much as he is their father as well. Christians like exclusivity, first you had to be Jewish, pure blood descendants of Abraham, then you had to be Christian, connected to Jesus, then you had to be a born again Christian, then you had to be a spirit filled born again Christian, then it became tongue talking demon chasing born again Christian... The list is endless all in the name of exclusivity. None of this is of God! There's neither Jews or greek with God as he is not a respecter of any person or race.. Our Father! He is the father of the struggling Christian as much as he is the father of the bishop.. Our Father!

Without dwelling too much on the our let me try to look at Father! Father!! Father!!! What diverse memories this brings to us. The english dictionary has different meanings for this awesome word that you would be amazed. The first one is a male person whose sperm unites with a female egg resulting in conception and consequently the birth of a child!! Another one says a man who adopts and takes responsibility of raising a child. A male ancestor. A man who creates or births something. The list of meaning for a father in the worldly terms is endless. The word means different things to different people especially in this day and age of absentee fathers. About 65 percent of the world population don't know what it is to have a father hence their difficulty in relating to God as their father. Fatherhood brings pain anger and resentments to their heart hence it is difficult to relate to anyone as their father. Their idea of a father is the man who got their mum pregnant and ran away for good only to show up 13years later to inform them that he's their father and he's still alive. Some fathers even tried and stayed till you were 10 years old and found another love and another family else where and like a flash they are gone. Even the ones who managed to stay are just their physically but they might as well be gone! These are the perverted sense of fatherhood that we are familiar with but I'd like us to know that that is not the true meaning of a father. Some of us have been priviledged to have a true father or a father figure in our life and it is a great thing! A father nurtures, guide, guard, and god his child. He provides for the child's needs. He represents authority in the life of the child hence the child is not left to live anyhow he pleases. He corrects and rebukes the child when he's wrong, praises the child when he's right. He builds up the self esteem of the child so that the child is confident wherever he or she goes. Whilst the child is asleep he watches over the beautiful young face and glows over the child. The father teaches the child about life and life issues. I could go on and on about what a father is but none of it would suffice to describe Our Father! Our Father! Who would never leave us or forsake us. OurFather! Who knew about us before we were a beep on the pregnancy monitor. Our Father who knew us and loved us whilst we were still and embryo in our mother's belly. He before I formed thee I knew thee. No not like the man that ran and left us! Knew what we would become yet still loved us. When we cried our first he was there. Oh what love he has for his children! He said can a suckling mother forget the child of her womb? He said even if they do he would never forsake the cry of his children-Our Father! You mum or dad may forsake you but this Father never forsakes. You know how your parents can give up on you because you're bad, this Father would come looking for you when you're down to your last. Ohhh the dept of His love! Whilst we were yet sinners he sent his son, his first born as a sacrifice for our sin. Our Father! The thought of God being my father is so overwhelming I can get over it. You know your father might want to help you but under certain circumstances or conditions he might be handicapped but no not Our Father! He sits in heaven and this whole earth including the galaxy is just his footstool- Our Father! He is so powerful that he rest his legs on our planet! He's so rich that the gold ( treasures ) of the earth are just foot dust in his presence. He own a cattle upon a thousand hill - Our Father! Not only is he willing to help in times of trouble or need he is also very able- Our Father! The God of ability, the able God.He say he's able to do exceeding Abundantly above all we can ever think or ask according to his power at work within us -Our Father! I love the song that says I have a father that would never never fail me. I have a father that would never never fail me Jesus is my father and he'd never never fail me rock of ages never never fail. Our father!