Posted on 03/14/2020 4:27:00 PM PDT by metmom
"Our Father who art in heaven" (Matt. 6:9).
With God as your Father, your life has eternal significance.
Author H.G. Wells wrote of a man who had been overcome by the pressure and stress of modern life. His doctor told him that his only hope was to find fellowship with God. The man responded, "What? That—up there—having fellowship with me? I would as soon think of cooling my throat with the Milky Way or shaking hands with the stars." Poet Thomas Hardy said that prayer is useless because there's no one to pray to except "that dreaming, dark, dumb thing that turns the handle of this idle show." Voltaire described life as a bad joke. He added, "Bring down the curtain; the farce is done." Such is the blasphemy and despair of all who insist that God is uninvolved in human affairs.
The Greek and Roman philosophers of Jesus' day rejected the fatherhood of God because it contradicted their philosophical systems. The Stoic philosophers taught that all of the gods were apathetic and experienced no emotions at all. The Epicurean philosophers taught that the supreme quality of the gods was complete calm or perfect peace. To maintain their serenity, they needed to remain totally isolated from the human condition.
Scripture refutes all such heresies by declaring that God is an intimate, caring Father. The significance of that truth is staggering. He conquers your fears and comforts you in times of distress. He forgives your sins and gives you eternal hope. He showers you with limitless resources and makes you recipients of an imperishable inheritance. He grants you wisdom and direction through His Spirit and His Word. He will never leave or forsake you.
When you humbly approach God as your Father, you assume the role of a child who is eager to obey his Father's will and receive all the benefits of His grace. Let that take you beyond your present circumstances and motivate you to dwell on what's eternal.
Suggestions for Prayer
Thank God for the joy and purpose He gives you each day. Commit yourself to pursuing His will today.
For Further Study
Read Exodus 3:1-5 and Isaiah 6:1-5. What attitude should you have when you pray to God? What does Hebrews 4:16 say you can receive when you approach God in prayer?
Studying God’s Word ping
Thank you for posting!
Unfortunate title choice. John’s title is followed with a reference to Heaven, as if Heaven is outside of the temporal. The throne room of God is in the Third Heaven, IN the Universe God has created. It just exists in a much more complex or simple coordinate system than we now sense. There are three Heavens, according to the Word of God. Paul says he was wafted to the third heaven, outside of Ephesus if memory serves.
Any person that puts his faith in man and our supposed intellect is surely a fool . Just look and focus on the smallest organism (that we are currently able to see) and how it ties into the chain of life and we end up with more queries .....THIS is the perfect brilliance of God our father whose infinite wisdom we will never understand . As a human father garners joy from witnessing his child do an act of kindness for no gain or profit , God surely must smile when one of us (his children) do a similar action ....for NO gain , profit or expectation of a reward/blessing from our father God .
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