Our Father in heaven (Dan Wells)

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This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven…’ (Matthew 6:9)

 As part of the Thy Kingdom Come initiative, we are going to spend some time over the coming days looking at the Lord’s Prayer in our daily encouragements.

The Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer to pray, and an instruction for prayer. Jesus tells his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, “This, then, is how you should pray…” He then goes on to tell them the Lord’s Prayer, which begins with how we should address God.

Jesus could have begun in lots of different ways. There are so many attributes of God and ways in which he can be addressed. Jesus could have begun his prayer remembering that God is creator, “O God our Creator, you made heaven and earth…” He could have started by addressing God as King, “Sovereign Lord, who reigns over every kingdom…” Jesus could have kicked off the Lord’s prayer by addressing God as holy, or awesome, or beautiful, or majestic. He could have prayed to God as judge, provider, sustainer or law giver. But he does none of those things. He starts with God as Father.

All of those attributes of God are perfectly true and can, and should, be brought into our prayers. But we begin prayer by knowing God as our Father. We begin with relationship, that God knows us intimately. We begin with family, speaking to a God who invites us to be sons and daughters. We begin with love, for, despite what our experience of earthly fathers might have been like, here is a Father who is filled with love for us.

To pray well is to know well the God to whom we are praying. First and foremost, in prayer God is Father, and we have to start there.

Father in heaven, thank you so much that you invite us to be part of your family. Thank you we can know you as our Father and our Friend. Thank you that we can begin every prayer knowing your love. Amen.

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