Prayer to our Father

Our Father in Heaven Hallowed be your name.

As we reflect upon our lives and celebrate Fathers day there is a great calling upon our lives to be the examples for our children and to teach them the ways of God. This obviously is more than a mere outward show but requires an inward dependence upon the person of Jesus Christ. This would be a prayer that we as men would do good to be the prayer that defines our lives and our praise. For when this Truth is driven deep within our hearts we then rightly come to the place in our character to be the Leaders that God expects of us within our homes. Time is too short to waste.

do not be like the hypocrites.

RECAP: do not be like the hypocrites.

For even when they do their charitable deeds they sound a trumpet.

Closest relation we can have to this is getting off the interstate and sounding a trumpet before you gave some money to a homeless man.

So as we looked at last week the heart to why we pray is just as crucial to the content in which we pray.

Do we seek the praise of men or the praise of God

Do we seek His plans, and HIs ways, or do we seek to use the power of God for own pleasures and lusts.

As we seen last week the heart of prayer this week we will look at the direction of our prayer to whom we call upon.

After this manner

Not a liturgical prayer but rather a model prayer. We must be careful that we do not turn it into a vain repetition as the heathen would do for thinking the power lies within the prayer itself and not to the one to whom it is prayed. This is great to learn, memorize, and teach but let us continue deeper in the manner which Jesus taught us. That this might not be the beginning and end of our prayers but rather the beginning that teaches us the foundation of mens prayer towards God and their heart behind it.

JESUS himself didn’t use it in such a way for in was not repetitive

Nothing wrong with memorizing it and even repeating it but the one who understands the content will understand the content to all the greater degree that can pray in more honoring ways.

Jesus lays for us a personalization to prayer that had not been heard like it before.

Notice the direction of His prayer.

He referred to God as Father, and in following suit he calls us into a similar manner by his example.

Father: Christ lays our for us a personal relation with God the creator.

Now real i must say that the Bible is not chauvinistic when it calls us to cry Father. For the sake of following modern day movements we must not replace Father with Mother. There are instances where God refers to himself like a mother in Isaiah.

Isaiah 66:13 NKJV

As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 49:15 NKJV

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.

The bible gives woman more dignity, worth and clarity for their lives than any other religion. Yet with this we must never tamper with the clear revelation that God gives us about himself.

The bible gives woman more dignity, worth and clarity for their lives than any other religion. Yet with this we must never tamper with the clear revelation that God gives us about himself.

Now i understand that some in here this morning didn’t grow up with a good Father. Whether through abuse or neglect, it should not be the filter or lense in which we understand the God of Heaven.

For the God of heavens is not like mere mortal man nor asks as such.

He see by Jesus’ Example that we cry Father. And what a privilege it is to cry such a Holy name in a personal way.

Ask equally amazing as the priesthood of the believer that is able to enter into the holiest of holies is also the utterance on the behalf of men to cry Father unto God.

In a Father Son, Father daughter relationship we can see in our world that....

A Childs well being is directly related to the character and nature of his Father who cares for him.

This directness of prayer displays a relationship between God and man that doesn’t come naturally to us since the Fall in the garden of Eden.

A Childs well being is directly related to the character and nature of his Father who cares for him.

Though we would do good to say that God is the father of all men for he is creator of all, the manner Christ prays begins to distinguish the hearts and souls of men.

Not everyone that says Father is truly a son of God.

For this is not the natural nature of man.

And as describe by by the word that we neither seek after God nor love Him.

We would much rather feed the desires of our flesh than honor the ways of God.

Ephesians 2:3 NKJV

among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

We would much rather feed the desires of our flesh than honor the ways of God.

We must not relate Gods wrath to human anger. For even in Gods wrath he is longsuffering and patient. Others we all would be done away with in a moment. But in Gods holy nature we must know that He by no means winks at or condones sin and those who walk in it. Being Holy, righteous, and good sin must be accounted for.

Psalm 51:5 NKJV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

John 3:36 NKJV

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

As brought forth in iniquity we are of a different Father

John 8:44 NKJV

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

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So positionally we as men are in trouble. We do not rest in the good graces of peace with God but rather are the enemies of God.

As following under the care of our father the devil, we are in darkness, deceived by lies smoke and mirrors. He doesnt care for us, He does not love us, but rathers that we would waller in sin and the filth of this world.

And as describe by by the word that we neither seek after God nor love Him.

We would much rather feed the desires of our flesh than honor the ways of God.

So man is certainly in a predicament. How can the enemies of God, the children of wrath come to a position in which they are able to cry Father.

1 John 4:8–12 NKJV

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

1 john 4

God made an inititive born out of love for that which didnt love him in return

John 1:12 NKJV

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

So for those who come by way of faith, stripped of all earthly merit, to cry before a holy God and plead the cross of calvary. The only hope of man lies with the substitutionary act of Christ on the behalf of sinners. Believing in the sufficiency of His work and not ours.

By way of grace (for we do not deserve it), through faith, in Christ we see that God gives the right to become the children of God.

Through this act of Love on Gods behalf giving to us that which we didn’t deserve He adopts us into his family as children

Now with a heavenly hope, and inheritance.

With a new name

Romans 8:12–17 NKJV

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

By way of grace, through faith, in the cross of calvary, we are given the spirit of God which lives inside of us, with a new found privilege of crying ABBA FATHER, to which we had no right before.

Galatians 4:6 NKJV

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

As Children of God it is says that we have become a new creation. That we have been given life. With this transformation by the indwelling spirit we no longer walk as we once walked. For we have been removed from the domain of darkness into his marvelous light.

Who is in Heaven..

Wellum, S. (2003). God. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (pp. 659–660). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

The place of dwelling for God is not in temples made with hands but in the expanse of the universe. For his throne is above the earth for He is God.

This brings a much needed distinction for God in comparison to man. He is not like us. He is in heaven and we are not. He is God and we are not. And rightly acknowledging as such. This brings out the bigness of God and the smallness of man.

Psalm 8:1–4 NKJV

O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

psalms 8:3-4

an estimated 250,000,000x250,000,000 stars in the universe and God knows them all by name. The bible teaches us that he has breathed them into motion.

In retro-spec to the vastness, and greatest of Gods creation the psalmist is mesmerized that God is mindful of us. That he would care for us.

For the fatherly Love towards his children that puts the child at ease.

as we will talk about in weeks to come God clothes the lilies of the fields and feeds the birds of the air. He says to not worry but trust.

as we will talk about in weeks to come God clothes the lilies of the fields and feeds the birds of the air. He says to not worry but trust.

He becomes our defender and shield, our strong tower, our savior, our hope, our life, and our provider.

Child of God are you not taken back by the grace of God toward us. Does your life speak the same acknowledge. For redemption does not just bring life in our future death but also brings life to our once dead works. We live to him. So how are you living.

Child of God are you not taken back by the grace of God toward us. Does your life speak the same acknowledge. For redemption does not just bring life in our future death but also brings life to our once dead works. We live to him. So how are you living in light of this truth? How are you praying in light of this truth?

He knows our needs) , He sees all (He sees our situations and circumstances

When we come before as a Son or daughter and have been given the right to call him Father, listen, we will be treated as such. Coming under the loving care, provision, and heart of Father in heaven who is the alpha and omega, beginning and end. He knows all (He knows our needs) , He sees all (He sees our situations and circumstances), and He is in control (who is working all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose).

), and He is in control (who is working all things together.

For who could better care for us?

Let us not turn to the passing pleasures of this world and our comforts but rather in our time of need may we turn to our Father of heaven who has great care for us.

When you properly understand this you will understand like David that your greastest treasure and possession in this life is not that which can be acquired by our hands but rather to have God as your Father and shepherd.

Psalm 23 NKJV

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

When we come to the throne of Grace

Our prayers beginning by a directness to our Father and proclaiming the position of Him which puts the servant in the proper mindset of humble servitude ready to commune with Him who has adopted us graciously into his family.

When we come before as a Son or daughter and have been given the right to call him Father, listen, we will be treated as such. Coming under the loving care, provision, and heart of Father in heaven who

So this i must ask Is He your Father?

The bible is clear that this is not a right attained by way of man and our earthly merit but rather through faith in Christ. Have you believed?

And if He is, is your life a reflection of that great care. I pray from this week forward that it will amplify your prayer life as you recognize the position and privilege we have in calling upon our Heavenly Father. May we all the more come boldly to his throne of grace for help in our times of need.

From the positional Revelation of the child of God by the Spirit of God we are able to properly utter the words...

“Hallowed by your name.”

Hallowed: to be venerated: accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character.

Matthew

Matthew 5:19 NKJV

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

"a venerable statesman"

Accorded a great deal of respect because

Age: He is eternal and was before time

His wisdom: He is all knowing, and does not need to be taught or counseled.

And his character: He is Holy

synonyms:respected, venerated, revered, reverenced, worshipped, honored, esteemed, hallowed, august, distinguished, acclaimed, celebrated, lionized;

God does not need us to render him Holy for he is Holy.

The one who benefits from such a rendering is the one to whom sees God in such light.

When a man sees God and acknowledges Him as Holy he realizes that he is not that which God is.

He reveres God understand how God is set apart from all of creation.

He attributes to God honor seeing the position of authority that God is in unto all of creation

They worship God in such light.

Hallowed be your name.

When one sees God in such light it revolutionizes his prayer life.

For He understands God is from beginning to End, Eternal, and His wisdom is held in such light for he knows all things from beginning to end, and He alone is Holy. So as we pray to one of such character We are rightly attributing to God what He alone possesses. We humbly bow to the one who our lives are subject. Willing to obey the voice of his commands, understanding we only see in part, we trust in him knowing He is creator and all things are upheld by his power, and we trust his words for he is faithful and holy and deception is not found in him.

And lives lived in such light will properly direct others through their actions and deeds to their heavenly Father, For they live a life which does not come natural unto men.

honoring our heavenly father

Matthew 5:16 NKJV

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.