Come as a child

“Our Father in heaven” Matthew 6.9

It is interesting to listen to prayers and note who is being addressed in them. Most people speak to ‘Lord’, presumably on the understanding that this covers all options! However, Jesus encouraged us to talk to our ‘Father’. It isn’t a matter of your prayer becoming invalid if you don’t speak to the right person, but instead is an invitation to share in the same relationship with God that Jesus himself enjoyed. It was his great delight to call God ‘Father’, and his longing is for you to enter into that relationship aswell.

Some people prefer to pray to Jesus because the very word ‘father’ reminds them of negative images, perhaps caused by an unhappy childhood or an abusive father-child relationship. However, it is important not to create an image of Father God from earthly memories or ideas. Earthly fathers may well be far less than perfect, but this does not mean our Father God is the same.

Out of his incredible love for you, and his desire that you should have a real sense of your heavenly father, Jesus gave himself so he could reflect the wonder of God’s fatherhood. He himself said: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9). At the end of his ministry, Jesus was able to say to his Father: “I have made you known…” (John 17.26). If there is any doubt in yourmind about the nature of God the Father, his kindness or what he wants for you, look at Jesus.

Take time to whisper the word ‘Father’, and as you do so, let it begin to express something of the way God sees you as his child.

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