Is God Our Father?
Matthew 6:5
“Our”
You may or may not have noticed this before but this entire prayer is stated in the plural! OUR Father, Give US this day OUR daily bread, forgive US OUR debts as WE forgive OUR debtors, do not lead US into temptation but deliver US from evil. It’s all in the plural! What does that tell us? How can that impact our view of God, of ourselves and others, as we approach God through The Lord’s Prayer?
We are never alone because we belong to Christ and we also belong to everyone else who belongs to Christ! We say “Our” because it means something really significant.
“Father”
For Christians, prayer is not merely sending our “thoughts” or, our “best wishes.” When we pray “Our Father” we are approaching Someone.
And addressing God as “our Father” also reminds us of who we are. When we place our faith in Christ, we become God’s children, God the Father’s sons and daughters.
“What is a Christian? The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.”
J. I. Packer
“When Jesus gave his followers the Lord’s Prayer, he was sharing his own prayer life with them, inviting them to step into his own ongoing relationship with the Father.”
N.T. Wright
“To call God Father enhances everything you do in prayer. If you don’t know that God is your Father, it flattens and reduces and thins out every prayer.”
Tim Keller
“Prayer is addressed to God the Father, in the name of Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The triune God commands us to pray, helps us to pray, and hears and answers our prayers.”
Brian G. Najapfour, Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer
