““This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,’”
”
As we start our journey of experimenting with the means of grace, we will look to pray and learn to “riff off” of the Lord’s Prayer. We will post some thoughts from John Smed’s book, ‘Journey in Prayer’, regarding each line of the Lord’s prayer to help you plug into the heart of Jesus behind this prayer.
The First Thing in Prayer is ‘Our Father’
It is striking that the very first words which Jesus models for us in prayer are ‘Our Father in heaven’. Take a moment to think about that – we have the privilege of calling the creator of the world and the heavenlies, who dwells in unapproachable light, our Father. To some, this may sound arrogant, but in reality it is the most humbling privilege afforded to us. We don’t call God ‘our Father’ based on anything to do with us – we get to call God ‘Our Father’ based solely on the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
We are adopted – chosen – by Our Heavenly Father
As we read today in John 1, we get to be called “children of God” (vv.12, 13) because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins and thereby we have been adopted into God’s spiritual family. This is humbling, because it reminds us that it’s not because of our birth right nor by our deeds that we are called His children – we have been purchased by the extravagant love of God demonstrated by sending his only begotten Son to die on the cross on our behalf.
Since He is Our Father, we cannot do anything to make Him love us more or less
It is out of Jesus’ redeeming work that we can “boldly approach the throne of grace” (Heb 4:16), and make our requests known to “Our Father”. Our ability to come before God in prayer with the assurance that He not only hears us, but wishes to intimately speak to us, comes from our identity as the adopted children of the living God.
“4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”
Points to Pray:
· Thank God that He chose you to be part of His family, to be able to call Him Father and to know His love.
· Thank God that He is in heaven – that He is seated on the throne above all else, that He is the sovereign King who will one day bring His Kingdom to earth and therewith bring an end to death, suffering and sin.
· Thank God that since He is in heaven, we too are citizens of heaven by adoption.
· Ask God to lead you into intimacy with Him as your Father. Our relationships with our earthly fathers may not be perfect, but our relationship with our heavenly Father is one of ever increasing love and grace.
· Pray for those who do not yet know God as their Father. Pray for them to receive Jesus, to “believe in his name” so that they may become “children of God – born not of the will of man […] but of the will of God” (John 1:12-13)