Posted on 03/13/2017 4:35:46 AM PDT by metmom
"Our Father who art in heaven" (Matt. 6:9).
Prayer begins with the recognition that God is your Father and has the resources to meet your needs.
The term Father is one of the most commonly used terms in our prayers, and rightly so because that's how Jesus taught us to pray. But as common as that term is to us, it was very uncommon to the people of Christ's day.
Then, most of the people who worshiped false gods thought of them as distant, capricious, and immoral beings that were to be feared. Even the Jewish people, who should have understood the fatherhood of God, had removed themselves from His Fatherly care through their sin and apostasy. Consequently He seemed remote to them. Even some who did claim God as their Father were rebuked by Christ, who called them children of the devil because they rejected the Son (John 8:44).
Against that backdrop, Christ's teaching was revolutionary. He proclaimed God as a caring and gracious Father who desires intimate fellowship with His children. That fellowship can come only through faith in the Son.
Beyond that, Jesus revealed the Father's character in everything He said and did. When Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus replied, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
Jesus also proclaimed God as a Father who has all the treasures of heaven at His disposal and who makes them available to His children so they might glorify Him: "Your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. . . . Do not be anxious then . . . but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all [you need] will be added to you" (Matt. 6:8, 31, 33).
Your faith in Christ is what makes God your Heavenly Father. He loves you, listens to your prayers, and supplies your needs according to His abundant resources. Look to Him today and live as a thankful, obedient child.
Suggestions for Prayer
Thank God that He is your gracious and loving Father. Praise Him for the abundant blessings He gives to you. For Further Study
Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and Matthew 7:7-11.
What are you exhorted to do? What specifically will God do for you? How should those passages affect your relationship with God?
Studying God’s Word ping
This might sound like a silly question but should we 1) pray to the Father in the name of Christ, 2) Christ to intercede for us to the Father, or 3) pray to the Holy Spirit to help us submit to Christ’s will?
I will confess that I usually do all three just to get it right. :O)
ACTS.
A - Adoration. Proclaim God's Holiness, grace, love and mercy.
C - Contrition. Remorsefulness and repentance of sins.
T - Thankfulness. For all God's blessings in one's life.
S - Supplication. Asking humbly for what we need from God.
Some might argue this is a "new believers" way to pray and that may be true. I'm of the opinion however that having a framework by which we pray to God with consistency is never a bad thing.
Just to "Get it right" or because you believe in the Trinty and your heart tells you to?
I'll tell you that I often ask the Holy Spirit for help in recognizing God's will for my life and then living within his will.
I generally pray by putting my supplications between bookends of praise, which is Christ’s prescription regarding prayer.
The bookends of praise in the Lord’s Prayer are (paraphrasing) “Our Father in heaven, your very name is holy, your kingdom is coming, your will comes to pass, on earth as in heaven...” and “for yours is the kingdom and the (miraculous) power and the glory forever.”
For His truly is the miraculous power (Gr. dunamis), which is why we’re praying to Him.
Prayer is worship. It’s the acknowledgement that we’re not in control, and we’re worshiping and bringing our requests to the One who is in control.
Been there, done that.
Didn’t get the t-shirt though.
I think everyone has questions about that.
I’ve prayed to Jesus and the Father the most. Not so much to the Holy Spirit.
It seems to me that we are to pray to the Father in Jesus’’ name as we are in Him and so our appeal to the Father is based on being in Christ.
"Our Fathers; who art on earth" Roman teaching
Lord...
...teach us to pray.
Our god is One.
Elsie is also one, but you can get his attention by landline, cellphone, email, snail mail, or just plain yelling.
When we pray to one (The Father, Son, Holy Spirit) aren't we praying to all three? I cannot remember where exactly in the Bible I've read that however I distinctly remember reading it....
I suppose that that is technically true.
I finally decided that I’d just pray and let God figure out who it was meant for cause He knows my heart anyway.
And that right there is the most important thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.