Word of Encouragement (3/16/2021)

As we think about what to pray for, it is only right that we start with the Lord’s Prayer. If God hears us when we ask anything according to His will (1 John 5:14), what clearer expression of God’s will do we have than in the Lord’s Prayer? (You all have my book, The Lord’s Prayer: Jesus the Teacher, Jesus the Answer. I’m going to highlight what I said in the book in the coming days. If you want a fuller exposition, you are welcomed to go back and read

In it, our Lord teaches us to address God as “Our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). Because of the Lord’s Prayer, we are used to calling God “our Father.” But it is truly an awesome privilege to call God “our Father” when we consider the infinite gap between God the Creator and man the creature, the holy God and the fallen sinner. If we can call God “our Father,” it is only because we are united with Jesus, God’s only Son, who alone had the right to God “My Father,” in whom we are adopted as God’s children: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...” (John 1:12); “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom. 8:15); “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).

This is a radical shift from the time of the Old Testament. The Old Testament saints called God by many names and titles. One of the favorites among them was “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6). Why did the Old Testament saints cherish this divine title? In calling upon God by that title, they were invoking God’s gracious covenant with their Patriarchs. They were also expressing their longing to share in the intimacy the Patriarchs enjoyed in their covenant relationship with God. But we see that, in the New Testament, that divine title has been modified as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:6, 2 Cor. 1:3, Eph. 1:3, etc.).

This change signals that we are no longer simply invoking God’s gracious covenant with the Patriarchs. Rather, we are invoking God’s covenant with Jesus Christ—the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! And when we invoke this New Testament title of God, we are expressing our longing to share in the intimacy our Lord Jesus Christ enjoys in His inner-Trinitarian relationship with His Father! And this longing is not something we came up with on our own. It is stirred up by the gracious invitation of the Son of God Himself! So then, we have the assurance that this longing of ours will be satisfied in God’s fatherly love for, and care of, us as His beloved children! God does not love us, then, merely as the paragon of His creation. God does not love us merely as His own redeemed people, the chosen subjects of His kingdom. He loves us with the love with which He loves His only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18)!

If we do more than just mindlessly call out God’s name, if we can only remember that the almighty God of heaven and earth is our Father in heaven, most of our prayers will be answered right there and then, simply in the knowledge of who our heavenly Father is. If the almighty God is our heavenly Father, whom shall we fear, of what shall we be afraid? This truth can calm the raging storm of anxiety in our hearts, no matter how strong. Our heavenly Father loves us more than we love ourselves. He knows what is best for us better than we do. He even knows what we need even before we ask! He always has our best interest in mind. Of whom can we say such a thing without any tinge of doubt? What is more, God is more than able to do what is best for us! Whenever we pray, whenever we call out to God as our heavenly Father, we have an opportunity to glory in this amazing privilege and joy!