Prayer
Our Father ...
Matthew 6:8-15
8 Don't be like them, because your Father knows
exactly what you need even before you ask him! 9 Pray like this: Our
Father in heaven, may your name be honored. 10 May your Kingdom come
soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. 11
Give us our food for today, 12 and forgive us our sins, just as we have
forgiven those who have sinned against us. 13 And don't let us yield to
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 "If you forgive those
who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if
you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
NLT
Our Father which [Who] art in heaven
The opening line of this prayer might correctly be thought of as its preface, for it sets the stage for the remainder of the prayer. It describes Who we pray to. This simple phrase tells us Who God is!
First, it is only fitting that
God the Son address God the Father as "Father." This shows the relationship
of the Trinity and contributes to our understanding of this doctrine.
There is an order of progression to the Godhead and this order is recognized
in Christ's statements that He has come to do the work of the Father,
to do His Fathers Will.
John 5:19-21 19 So Jesus answered them by saying,
I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing
of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees
the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in
the same way [in His turn]. 20 The Father dearly loves the Son and discloses
to (shows) Him everything that He Himself does. And He will disclose to
Him (let Him see) greater things yet than these, so that you may marvel
and be full of wonder and astonishment. 21 Just as the Father raises up
the dead and gives them life [makes them live on], even so the Son also
gives life to whomever He wills and is pleased to give it. Amplified
Since Christians are Christ's
brothers and sisters, Christians are the children of God and have the
right to call Him Father as well.
Galatians 3:26For you are all sons of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. NKJV
This prayer reflects upon what God has done for us, for we are sons only through the Person and Work of Jesus. It is only through the Son of the Godhead that we have the right to call upon the Father.
John 1:13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. NKJV
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. NKJV
It is this love of God that allows us to come into fellowship with the Godhead. God has seen the plight of mankind and shown sympathy, mercy, and grace upon the human race by sending Jesus into the world to create the bridge back to a relationship with God. Just as a father will listen and care for his own child, so, too, God will listen and care for us.
John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. NKJV
Thomas Watson writing in 1692 has called prayer the "soul breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father." What a marvelous description of prayer.
