The Love Of and For the Father

UV 4280/10000 The Love Of and For the Father Pray, then in this way: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name. Matthew. 6 v 9 Jesus was for the first time since the creation of man taught man, the crown of His creation to pray addressing God as Our Father. Jesus knew God as His Father but He was revealing to the disciples that His Father was also their Father who loves them and ought to be loved by them. Till then the Israelites knew God only as El Shaddai, the Almighty One to be revered, to be worshipped with awe. For the first time in human history, Jesus was initiating a personal relationship between creature, man and Creator God. It was a giant leap of faith to believe and to know that God is our Father and not just our Creator and that He loves us like He loves His Son Jesus. Like our relationship with our earthly father, He provide, protects, promotes, preserves us. He has compassion on us as a father has on his children. The transformation of our relationship with God is what happens in just these two words by which Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father..” That transformation leads to further to the transformation of our lives for we come to know that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. The time Jesus taught the disciples the Lord’s prayer, He had not been sacrificed and He had not ascended to Heaven, to the Father’s right hand. Hence, the reference to “Our Father in heaven..” After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Father is no longer just in heaven but He is in us. He lives and dwells with us. He is Immanuel and present with us all the time. He inhabits us or is tabernacled in us. He is no longer distant and in heaven but at our right hand or most proximate to us. The third aspect of this uni-verse is that God, though He is our Father and though He is in and with us, we are to recognize that He is different from us, holy, awesome, to be revered. His very name is holy and though we are His children, we are not to take Him for granted or become familiar but always respect His name. As we bear His name as His children, obtained by faith in His Son, we are to be like Him, holy, righteous, principle-centred, worthy to be called His children. In the span of just eight words, Jesus taught us to love God and to live like Him. We exercise power, authority and dominion over all creation in the name of our Father. Our Father is only a prayer away. In fact, He is closer to us than our own skin for He dwells in our souls. In Christ, then, we have fellowship in the trinity of our being-spirit, mind and body with Our Father, His Son-Our Saviour and the Holy Spirit. We belong to the holy family, the community of God. The Father is the head of our family and He leads us in all our ways.