Monday, September 22nd, 2025
Our Father in Heaven…
For the Christian, prayer is essential to our growth in our relationship with God. It is direct access to the throne of God – an invitation we have been given to enter into his presence and commune with him. It is communication with the maker and his creation, and he longs to have this time with us. It is a time to connect with him, face to face, with everything else striped away – no pretense between us and holy God.
Last week we started a series on The Lord’s Prayer, titled “Pray Like This.” The Lord’s prayer is a model Jesus gave us to help us pray in the right way – a way that will help us live and look more and more like him every day. Our key truth for this series is, “To pray like Jesus prayed is to see like Jesus saw, trust like Jesus trusted, and live like Jesus lived.”
Every line of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us something and the first four words, Our Father in Heaven, helps us to know exactly who he is and what that means for us.
Praying to Our Father
The name “Father” may invoke many different feelings for everyone. Many children have had the privilege of having a father who loves, cherishes, supports, and is committed to them. A caring father who nourishes an intimate and loving relationship makes a profound effect on a child's life. God is more than willing to help make up for absent fathers. As a Christian we have a unique relationship with the Creator of the universe who is our heavenly father as well and we need to make sure our children understand that concept of God.
The name Father holds position and privilege for his children. It puts us in a position to know him intimately. We are his adopted sons and daughters which means that we share his treasures as an inheritance. Everything that is his is ours as well. It also means that we are under his care as we submit to him by praying to him as “Father.” He comes when we call. He hears when we cry. He listens when we pray. He never leaves us. Because he loves us, he disciplines us as our Father, as any good father would.
When we pray to our Father in heaven it reminds us of his power and authority. He is over all and all things were made in him. He is the mighty and sovereign creator of the universe, who created, controls, and will judge all things. “In heaven” also reminds us of his holiness and glory, seated on his throne in authority overall.
We pray to God Our Father as part of God’s family. We are to pray for sinners and our brothers and sisters in Christ. He knows us as our father and as a part of the family of God we share in the Gospel. We pray for each other. We realize we desperately need him and each other.
Whatever your concept is of your earthly father, you have Heavenly Father who loves you and wants the very best for you always. He is a father we can trust and lean into. He is a father we can count on in times of trouble, who will come when we have exhausted ourselves into a heap. He comes and puts us back together again and draws us close to him in comfort. He is the father we have all wanted and the father we all need.
Are you someone who can call God your father? Have you trusted Christ as your Savior and entered a relationship with God as your Father that is only possible through Christ?
Are you tapping into the privilege of utilizing the greatest source of power known to any by praying to the one and only true God of heaven?
As to your responsibility as God’s son or daughter, have you taken God’s call to pray for one another seriously? Are you earnest and faithful in your prayers for others? How might this change your prayer life?
