Our Father Who Art In Heaven
In the Old Testament, the name of God, Yahweh, was so mysterious and transcendent that the Jewish people rarely even spoke it out loud. The idea of addressing God as a "dear Father" or "beloved Father" would have been utterly foreign to them. Similarly, the pagan gods of the Roman, Greek, and Persian cultures were seen as capricious beings who did not truly care for humanity. The only way to interact with these gods was through ritual and sacrifice, to manipulate them into granting good fortune.
Jesus shatters this view, repeatedly referring to God as his Father – over 170 times in the New Testament. This concept of God as a loving, engaged Father who seeks a personal relationship with his children was radically new. It is the lens through which those who call God “Father” view prayer.
Instead of praying to a distant, reluctant deity, Jesus teaches us to approach God as a caring Father who wants what is best for us. This changes everything about the way we pray and relate to the divine.
The first key point is that the goal of prayer is to be with God. Jesus warns against the hypocritical public prayers of the Pharisees, who were more concerned with performing their piety for others than truly connecting with God.
Instead of the public performance approach, Jesus encourages us to find a private place to pray. This private prayer time is where God can truly "parent" us – rewarding us, imparting wisdom, providing comfort, and shaping us into the people he desires us to be.
The second critical point is that the goal of prayer is not to manipulate our Father to do our will, but to learn to be submissive to his. Jesus rebukes the Gentile practice of "babbling on and on" in an attempt to sway the gods. But our Father is different – he already knows what we need, even before we ask.
This means that our highest and best prayers are those of submission to God's will, not efforts to strong-arm him into granting our desires. Jesus modeled this perfectly in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he agonized over the coming crucifixion but ultimately yielded to the Father's plan.
If we truly believe that our heavenly Father is working for our good, then we can trust him even in our darkest moments. Whether facing broken relationships, illness, financial troubles, or besetting sins, we can lay our burdens at the feet of a loving Father who sees the big picture.
This is not easy, of course. Many people struggle with this concept of God as Father because their own earthly fathers failed to reflect his perfect love and care. The wounds inflicted by absent, abusive, or disappointing fathers can often make it hard to trust in the Heavenly Father.
But Jesus wants to heal those father wounds, replacing the negative images with the truth of God's fatherly love. Through forgiveness and grief, he can restore our ability to see God rightly as the perfect, caring Father we've always longed for.
As we learn to approach God in this way, it will transform our prayer lives and everything else about our walks of faith. No longer will we see prayer as a means of bending God to our will, but as an opportunity to draw near to our loving heavenly Father. And as we submit our lives to his good purposes, we will find the rich and satisfying life that Jesus promises.
This is a radical, revolutionary teaching that still upends our common assumptions about God today. But if we have ears to hear, it can bring profound healing and freedom.
Jesus shatters this view, repeatedly referring to God as his Father – over 170 times in the New Testament. This concept of God as a loving, engaged Father who seeks a personal relationship with his children was radically new. It is the lens through which those who call God “Father” view prayer.
Instead of praying to a distant, reluctant deity, Jesus teaches us to approach God as a caring Father who wants what is best for us. This changes everything about the way we pray and relate to the divine.
The first key point is that the goal of prayer is to be with God. Jesus warns against the hypocritical public prayers of the Pharisees, who were more concerned with performing their piety for others than truly connecting with God.
Instead of the public performance approach, Jesus encourages us to find a private place to pray. This private prayer time is where God can truly "parent" us – rewarding us, imparting wisdom, providing comfort, and shaping us into the people he desires us to be.
The second critical point is that the goal of prayer is not to manipulate our Father to do our will, but to learn to be submissive to his. Jesus rebukes the Gentile practice of "babbling on and on" in an attempt to sway the gods. But our Father is different – he already knows what we need, even before we ask.
This means that our highest and best prayers are those of submission to God's will, not efforts to strong-arm him into granting our desires. Jesus modeled this perfectly in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he agonized over the coming crucifixion but ultimately yielded to the Father's plan.
If we truly believe that our heavenly Father is working for our good, then we can trust him even in our darkest moments. Whether facing broken relationships, illness, financial troubles, or besetting sins, we can lay our burdens at the feet of a loving Father who sees the big picture.
This is not easy, of course. Many people struggle with this concept of God as Father because their own earthly fathers failed to reflect his perfect love and care. The wounds inflicted by absent, abusive, or disappointing fathers can often make it hard to trust in the Heavenly Father.
But Jesus wants to heal those father wounds, replacing the negative images with the truth of God's fatherly love. Through forgiveness and grief, he can restore our ability to see God rightly as the perfect, caring Father we've always longed for.
As we learn to approach God in this way, it will transform our prayer lives and everything else about our walks of faith. No longer will we see prayer as a means of bending God to our will, but as an opportunity to draw near to our loving heavenly Father. And as we submit our lives to his good purposes, we will find the rich and satisfying life that Jesus promises.
This is a radical, revolutionary teaching that still upends our common assumptions about God today. But if we have ears to hear, it can bring profound healing and freedom.