Our Father in Heaven
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Clip from comedy show
Prayer can be confusing and difficult.
Responses to my question on FB.
Some parts of life can be easy to pray for.
At times we feel like we don’t talk to God enough.
Sometimes we feel weird when we pray.
Stats and info on Christians and prayer
Responses to my question on FB.
Some parts of life can be easy to pray for.
At times we feel like we don’t talk to God enough.
Sometimes we feel weird when we pray.
Prayer is the “default” practice of people everywhere and in virtually every culture and time.
There’s an instinctive part of us that chooses to “talk” to someone who’s not even there.
Jesus impressed his disciples with his prayer life and asked for guidance.
1 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Matthew’s gospel has the longer, more detailed version so we’ll use that as our template.
We Find Comfort in Prayer
We Find Comfort in Prayer
9 Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
Our Father - A biblical way of thinking about God
5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
but not on the level of intimacy that Jesus gives it.
Abba - Aramaic for “dearest father.”
Jesus presents God as someone approachable, open.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
16 Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?
6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Implications of saying “Our Father” in prayer:
Our - when we pray we are engaged in a common practice and experience with God who has brought us all together in Christ.
When you pray “our” - in that one small word - you are including everyone in your spiritual family. In essence, you are praying for and with the church.
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.
Father - To call God our Father is to:
Adore: Acknowledge His paternity. To accept His right to guide and lead us.
Confess: Rely on that relationship in our petitions and in our confessions.
(This could be part of the obstacle to prayer, btw. We’d rather tell anyone besides Dad what we’ve done.)
Thank:
20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Supplication: Ask Him for anything.
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
[IMAGE] I think of this picture when I think of the comfort that God gives us as our father.
But to call upon God as Father is not to presume to the point of familiarity which could lead to contempt. Rather, we also gain confidence because the Father we appeal to is also creator.
We Have Confidence in Prayer
We Have Confidence in Prayer
9 Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
We have confidence that our prayers are not only heard by our Father but he has the power to ACT on those prayers.
Everything else Jesus teaches us to pray about requires that we ask in confident faith.
12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
1 john
So when we pray (ACTS)
He hears our love.
2 Save me and rescue me,
for you do what is right.
Turn your ear to listen to me,
and set me free.
psa
He accepts our confession
13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper,
but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
prov 28:
He accepts our thanks
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors,
for you have given me wisdom and strength.
You have told me what we asked of you
and revealed to us what the king demanded.”
He acts on our intercession
1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
Conclusion:
[IMAGE] John-John Kennedy
comfort and confidence from his daddy who, btw, was considered the most powerful man in the world at the time.
Comfort and confidence to pray anywhere, anytime.