How Then Shall We Pray? – Part 1

1. I.              Our Father

We are to remember that, as believers, we are the children of God, people who can legitimately say to the Almighty God, “my Father.”

But the question is “How did we come to be His child and so have this privilege of calling the Almighty God ‘Father’?”

            James 1:18

            18        Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. KJV

He ‘begot’ us.  He did so according to His Own Will.  And He did so with (or through) the Word of Truth.

But, what is this thing of being ‘begotten’ by God?  What does that mean?  When we think of the word ‘beget’ we think of birth, of procreation.  We were all ‘begotten’ by our parents.  This is how we came to be here.

But, ‘begotten’ by God?

You will recall that Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that a person must be ‘born again’ or ‘born from above’ in order to “see the kingdom of God.”  By that He meant that on order for a person to have a relationship with God, something must happen that is somehow akin or similar to the birth experience that we know about.

As Nicodemus questioned Jesus about the difficulties of a second physical birth, Jesus explained that He was talking about a spiritual thing.

            John 3:6‑8

            6          That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

            7          Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

            8          The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. KJV

So, if you are in a Father/child relationship with God, it is because you were ‘born of the Spirit.’  But, how did you come to be born in this way?

Some will say, “I believed on the Lord Jesus and was saved by faith,” and that would be a correct answer, but incomplete.

Where did you come by this faith?  How did you come to believe on Jesus Christ?  Some might mention a sermon that they heard, or a book that they read, or some experience they had with God in prayer, and each of those answers would also be true, but still incomplete.  It still does not explain how you, who once did not believe, came to a place that you did believe on Christ.

            Consider this text.

                        Eph 2:8‑9

                        8          For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

                        9          Not of works, lest any man should boast. KJV

The faith by which you were saved did not come originally from you.  It was given to you as a gift from God.  Once you had it, of course, you used it and trusted Christ for your salvation.

But, again, what did you do, what good thing did you accomplish, what religious deed did you perform, that God would grant you such a valuable gift?

            See the verses above the ones we just read.

            V.1 – You were dead in trespasses and sins.

            V.2 – You were living like the rest of the world, like the Devil wanted you to live.

V.3 – You were living according to your own sinful desires, by nature “a child of wrath” not a child of God.

            I ask you again, how did you come by the faith by which you trusted in Christ?  Look again.

            V.4 – God, in His rich mercy, loved you and had compassion on you.

V.5 – He brought you to life, even though you were dead.  (Birthed you, caused you to be ‘born again’)

V.8 – You were indeed saved through faith, but it was not your faith, it was a gift from God, given to you in the New Birth.

Just like you were born into this life before you ever breathed the first time, you were born of the Spirit before you believed.  Your faith is the evidence that you were born again, not the cause of your spiritual birth.

The story some people tell of their conversion reminds me of a ridiculous scenario that I have imagined from time to time.

Teenager to mom – “Mom, I sure am glad that I decided to get born.”

Mom – “What are you talking about?”

Teen – “Well, I just think that is was a good choice that I made.”

Mom – “You know, the choice to breathe.  A person has to breathe to be alive and I obviously made the good choice about that.”

Mom – “Well, you did choose to breathe, but your choice had nothing to do with you being born.  I conceived you quite apart from your help.  I carried you for 9 months, suffering all kinds of discomfort and risks to my own health.  Finally, I literally put my own life on the line to give birth to you.

“When the Dr. helped me push you out into the world and it was either breathe or die…you did chose to breathe.  But, believe me, I had to do a lot of work so that you were finally able to choose life.  I am glad that you did, but you most certainly did not ‘decide to be born.”

So, as you begin your prayer, you are to remember that you are a child of God, by grace, an object of indescribable love and mercy, one who would never have been His child had He not acted first and bestowed upon you the amazing gift of spiritual life.

            James 1:18

            18        Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth…

But one must also ask himself and consider the answer as he prays, “How is it that the Holy, Righteous and Perfect God has brought me into this relationship with Himself without corrupting His Own Holiness?

We know that God is Holiness in Absolute Perfection.

            Deut 31:30‑32:4

            30        And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

            Deuteronomy 32

            1          Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

            2          My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

            3          Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

            4          He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. KJV

            Ps 22:3

            3          But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. KJV

And we are not.  Oh, how much we are not!

            Rom 3:10‑18

            10        As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

            11        There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

            12        They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

            13        Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

            14        Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

            15        Their feet are swift to shed blood:

            16        Destruction and misery are in their ways:

            17        And the way of peace have they not known:

            18        There is no fear of God before their eyes. KJV

He is so Holy that He will not look upon us or our sins with approval.

            Hab 1:13

            13        Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: KJV

So, I ask you again, how came you by this arrogance, this self-confidence to call God the Holy your Father?

The scriptures teach that the Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, called ‘The Son,’ became flesh and dwelled with human beings for a time.  John 1:1-14.

That same Person, the Holy One of God, took your sins, your unholiness to Himself and was ‘made sin’ by doing so.  Then, He gave Himself to death in that state to satisfy His Own Justice concerning your sins.

            2 Cor 5:21

            21        For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. KJV

He not only transferred your sins to Himself so that the debt of them might be paid and taken away, He gave, transferred, to you His Own Righteousness so that you could call His (legitimate) Father your ‘Father.’

There is no greater honor that God can bestow upon one of His creatures.  Angels have less status.  He never sent His Son to die for them.  Those who rebelled have no hope, no provision, of redemption.

But here you are, able to speak to the Lord of Glory and address Him as Father.  Remember how it came to be so as you approach Him to pray to Him.  Jesus would have you consider that.

1. I.              Which Art (Who Is) in Heaven.

Why would it be so important for us to think of God as in heaven that Jesus would put this issue here in the first line of His Model Prayer?

One of the first things that we learn about God is that He is Omnipresent, He is everywhere, all of the time.  So, why would Jesus point us to a mental image of Him ‘in heaven’?

            Actually, this is never explained to us outright in scripture, so we can only surmise some things.

1. We are not to be overly casual toward Him.

– It is true that God Himself has condescended to enter our world, bear our sins, and open a channel for communication with us.  But, we must remember that He is still God and we are creatures who only have this privilege of communication by an incredible act of Grace and Mercy.

1. Rather than be ‘casual’ we are to labor to envision Him in His glory, seated upon His throne, worshiped by angels and men alike.

            Isa 6:1‑4

            1          In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

            2          Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

            3          And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

            4          And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. KJV

            Ezek 1:22‑28

            22        And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

            23        And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

            24        And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

            25        And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

            26        And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

            27        And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

            28        As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. KJV

            Dan 7:9‑10

            9          I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

            10        A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. KJV

Now one might wonder why I would say that we should labor to envision this.  Is this not the effect intended by such powerful word pictures?  What else would we do with them?

1. The effect of seeing Him this way in our ‘mind’s eye’ is that it brings us to be in awe of His Glory and, at the same time, a sense of our own smallness, sinfulness, utter meaninglessness apart from Him.  If the best of god’s men – Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and ultimately John – were humbled into the dust by their vision of Him, should we be otherwise?

1. I.              Conclusion

So, as we open our prayers, each time, there should always be a sense of awe.  We help to bring this to our minds and souls by remembering how we have come to be the child of God and Who He is.

In order to be properly positioned in our minds and heart for prayer we must be in awe:

 – of His Majesty.

– of His Willingness to Condescend to us.

– of the Grace He has extended to us in bringing us to faith AND into His very family.

– of the Great Price He paid to have it be so.

– of (1) our unworthiness, (2) His willingness to have us speak to Him, and (3) His further willingness to hear and answer our prayers.

May God grant to each of us the spirit of prayer, the willingness to be guided by the instructions of Christ, and a spirit of worship, awe, and wonder at the great privilege of having God as our Father.

And, what if you cannot call God your Father?  Trust Christ, repent of and forsake your sins, cast yourself upon His mercy.  He is incredibly merciful.