Today’s Inspiration – F is for Father
“After this manner therefore pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen,’ ”
Matthew 6:9-13
This, of course, is a very familiar portion of Scripture known to many people as the Lord’s Prayer. It probably better would be titled the disciples’ prayer.
When Jesus teaches us how to pray, and this is the model of how to pray, beginning and end of that prayer focuses on God, hallowing His name, praying that His kingdom come, praying that His will be done. And then the few petitions that are listed there, followed by “thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.” The focal point of the prayer then is on the glory and the kingdom, the honor of God, the extension of His kingdom. Everything has to fit into that context, so that all prayer in a sense is controlled by the kingdom, by the glory of God. And this, I think, is really basic to our prayer life.
In fact, in John 14, Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son,” John 14:13. Whatever you ask in My name, I’ll do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Prayer begins and ends not with the indulgence of man, but with the glory of God, not with the building of my empire, but His kingdom, not with getting what I want, but doing His will, not with the elevation of my name but with the hallowing of His name. Everything in prayer revolves around who God is and what God wants and how God is to be glorified. And that is the sum and substance of proper praying. And any praying that is self-consuming, that is self- indulgent, self-aggrandizing, that seeks whatever I want no matter what God wants, any praying that makes God have to deliver to me because I have demanded it takes His name in vain, sins violently against the nature of God and against His will and Word.
Let’s look at just those first two verses and the four initial elements of prayer that give us the focus on prayer as an act of worship. Prayer is primarily worship. It is Godward. It is not to get for me; it is to allow God to be glorified. I have to see that in my prayers. My prayers are not primarily for what I can gain but for the glory of God. First of all, God’s paternity, that is that God is Father. “Our Father who art in heaven.” This is the basis, by the way, of our boldness in prayer. We go to God because He is not our King only, He is not our monarch only, He is not our judge only, He is not our creator only, but He is also our father. And that beautiful expression gives us the sense of access and the boldness to come, intimately, into His presence as a son or a daughter would come to the presence of their own father.
Isaiah 64:8, “Now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay and Thou our potter. We all are the work of Thy hand.” That’s the recognition. Lord, You made us. You gave us life. You gave us birth. You supply our resources. We belong to You through the link of common life through faith in Christ. We’re Your children. And when I come to God in prayer, I come first of all to one who is my father. Very different than the pagans who came to a vengeful, angry, violent, unfair, unjust, cruel, jealous, envious man made deity whom they had to appease. We don’t have to appease God; we come to our loving father.
* This commentary was an excerpt from Prayer as Worship by John MacArthur. I encourage you to read it in it’s entirety HERE
SOURCE: This article originally appeared here at Grace to You.
Copyright 2015, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The inspiration for these alphabet verses came from Crossroad
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