“Our Father in heaven…” - Matthew 6:9 (NKJV)
A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What comes to your mind when you think of God? Judge? Creator? Friend? If what comes to your mind lines up with Scripture, then you can know it’s true. But before any other truth about God from Scripture, Jesus said to address God as Father.
The word “father” carries such significant meaning for every person to walk the earth. Everyone has a father. Some of us have a father who “created us” but then left us behind. Some of us have a father who nurtured, protected, taught, and provided for us. Some of us have a father who struck fear in our hearts. And still others of us have a father who was present but had “bigger” worries and cares on their minds than tending to our needs.
With all of this information being drilled into our heads since birth about what a father looks like, how then should we view God when Jesus tells us to pray, “Our Father?” The Bible helps us with several depictions of God as our Father: Our heavenly Father lavishes love on us and calls us His own children (1 John 3:1). Our heavenly Father has compassion on us (Psalm 103:13). Our heavenly Father provides for us (Matthew 6:26). Our heavenly Father protects us and says that no one can snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28-30). Our heavenly Father corrects us when we get off course (Proverbs 3:12).
When our thoughts and feelings about God as our Father don’t line up with Scripture, ask the Father to replace those thoughts and feelings with the truth. Jesus referring to God as “our Father” tells us that God wants to have a personal relationship with us. He is proud of us. He wants the best for us. He wants to nurture and protect us. And like a good dad, God will also push us to do more than we ever thought we were capable of doing.
He is also our Father in heaven. Dallas Willard says, “Unfortunately, ‘Our Father who art in heaven’ has come to mean “Our Father who is far away and much later. In many of the translations ‘the heavens’ are erroneously translated ‘heaven.’ But ‘heavens’ sees God as far ‘out’ as imaginable but also right down to the atmosphere around our heads. This wording of the plural robs the wording in the model prayer of the sense Jesus intended. That sense is, ‘Our Father always near us.’”
This use of the word “heaven” reminds us that God is forever enthroned, and that He is our spiritual Father here and now, by the Holy Spirit. We can experience the fullness of a close relationship with our heavenly Father now. This is a beautiful and comforting truth in which we can rest.
“Our Father in heaven, thank You for the truth in Scripture that reminds me that You are my Father. Would You work in my heart to show me the areas that my view of You as my Father is skewed from what Scripture says? And would You reaffirm the areas in which I do rest in truth? By faith, I believe that You are my loving, caring, truth-filled Father, and I believe that You will continue to guide me in that truth. Amen.”