Prayer is "Heavenly"

Author:
April 21, 2018

We pray, “Our Father who art IN HEAVEN”.

  There is much we know of Fathers, both good and bad, because we have earthly fathers. But when it comes to heavenly things we struggle.  You can’t see heavenly things, unless God reveals them.  That is a rare thing.  Our heavenly Father who loves us so much through His Son wants us to respond by faith and trust.

  When we pray that our Father is in heaven, we are praying that our faith grows and we see more with our hearts than our eyes.  We are praying that the Holy Spirit be involved. After all, it was the Holy Spirit who brought us into the faith, and he alone has the power to keep us in the faith.  The Holy Spirit, then, who provides faith will help us pray confidently, and even boldly. So, we should call upon the Holy Spirit to help us in prayer. As Romans 8:26 would have it, “Likewise… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words.”

  Prayer is conversation with God.  Obviously, he initiates it. God is always talking to you.  He is ever-present, and all knowing.  Prayer is also deeply spiritual. Our problem is that we are not always listening because of its spiritual nature.  Its hard to hear messages from heaven when you are so distracted by earthly things.  The devil knows this and uses it against you.  And your sinful nature isn't helping much, either.  How very important it is that we get away from it all at times to hear God’s voice.  To be alone with Him.  To open the Bible which is His means to speak to you. To listen to a sermon, read a devotional or meditate on a Bible verse. To review, and remember how God has been active in the events of our lives (such as Baptism), and the many times He was at your side through good and bad.  

So when the disciples asked Jesus, “Teach us to Pray!” He began by telling them how important the LOVE of the FATHER is to prayer.  Then He called Him “heavenly” because prayer is a faith relationship with our God.  It requires Jesus as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our advocate.

Let us Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your words give us boldness and confidence to acknowledge You as our true Father and ourselves as Your true children. May Your Holy Spirit lead us to trust in Your fatherly goodness, call upon Your name in every need, and glorify You as the author and giver of every good and perfect gift; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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