Out of all the things the disciples saw Jesus do, they asked him to instruct them concerning how to do one thing:
“Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1).
The next words he spoke were recorded and are often recited as the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). Out of all the language Jesus could have used and all the names he could have called upon, he called upon God in a specific way.
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy…” -Matthew 6:9
Instead of praying with lofty titles of grandeur, Jesus prayed to our Father. Abba. Daddy. Papa. This was a very intimate term to use in this rabbi’s prayer. He is our Father. He is our Father who lives in heaven, but He is our Father! And yet if Jesus’ instruction concerning to pray started by approaching God as our Father, shouldn’t we process all that designation entails?
To get a good grasp on who our Heavenly Father is, we have to learn to distinguish him from earthly fathers. Whether you have a great father or a not-so-great father, God surpasses them all!
God is not like your father.
Your earthly father may have characteristics of your Heavenly Father, but the reverse is not true. Even if you had the best in an earthly father, your Heavenly Father’s character greatly surpasses the character of your earthly father.
Let’s see what God’s Word says about your Heavenly Father. Notice what this teaches concerning the character of God.
- Yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him, and we exist for Him. -1 Cor. 8:6a
- One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. -Eph. 4:6
- Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. -Eph. 1:3
- God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows. -Ps. 68:5
- Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. -James 1:17
- Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands. -Isaiah 64:8
- Is this how you repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t He your Father and Creator? Didn’t He make you and sustain you? -Deuteronomy 32:6
- Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? -Hebrews 12:9
- Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. -2 Corinthians 1:3-4
- So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. -Luke 15:20
- The LORD your God who goes before you will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt. And you saw in the wilderness how the LORD your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place. -Deuteronomy 1:30-31
- “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! -Matthew 7:7-11
You have a good, gracious, and powerful Father. He is near to you today. Don’t let that truth escape you!
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.