Our Father
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy."
The first words that Jesus uses in teaching us how to pray is naming God as Father. For some of us, it might be easy to just skip over that. Maybe you didn’t have a Father growing up, or your Father was there, but not present. Jesus seemed to think that it was important that we recognize and interact with God as our Father. What does that mean? A Father loves so deeply that he is willing to do anything to protect and love on his kids. God is the same. Isaiah 64:1-4 says:
1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!
That is the God that we get to call Father. He loves you, he was willing to send his Son Jesus to die for you, and he can do awesome deeds beyond your highest expectations.
AND he is holy. Holy seems to be a word we hear and use a lot, but do we grasp what this means? Holy means “set apart”. Sounds good, but what does that actually mean? It means that God is completely pure, so pure that sin isn’t even able to be in the presence of Him. You and I are not equals to him. He is totally separate from anything and everyone else. His power is unique only to him. No one can match him. Certainly not us.
So as Jesus prays “Our Father in Heaven, may your name be kept holy” he is inviting us to interact with God as our Father, one whose love for us is so deep and wide that he is willing to burst from the heavens for those who wait on him, but we must never forget that we are not His equals. He welcomes us with the intimacy of a Father, but we should never approach Him with casual indifference. There should be a reverence for his presence and work in our lives.
As you seek God this week in prayer, before saying a single word, imagine yourself walking into the throne room of your heavenly father (Read through Revelation 4 for a visual) He isn’t distant but he is not ordinary. Let his love draw you close and let his Holiness fill you with awe.
Then begin your conversation with him.
At Home Activity
Either by yourself, or as a family, grab a piece of paper and make two columns. In one column write down all the things that God does because He is our Father. In the second column, write down all the things that make God unlike anyone else.
Talk or journal about why both columns matter.
Walk and pray the Lord’s prayer over your neighborhood.
Worship Songs
Good Good Father - Housefires
Holy Forever - Bethel Music
