Our Father in heaven -

Our Father in heaven - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/our-father-in-heaven-2/?cat_orig=faith

 

Pastor Greg Laurie emphasizes intimate way Bible instructs us to address God

 

I believe that the father who stands by his commitment to his wife, to his children and to his grandchildren, and who walks with God as well, is a rare bird. I think he is an unsung hero in our culture today. If more fathers were doing this right now, our country would be in a completely different place than it is.

 

Some have fathers like that, hands-on fathers, while others have fathers who are somewhat distant, disinterested and not really engaged in their lives. Sadly, others have fathers who abandon them altogether. And some have fathers who have died.

 

No matter what kind of father you have (or had), there is one thing we all have in common: We have a Father in heaven. Regardless of how your father on earth has treated you, you have a Father in heaven who has always been there for you and will always be there for you.

 

David wrote in Psalm 27:10, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me" (NKJV). In another psalm, David wrote that God is "a father of the fatherless" (68:5 NKJV).

 

So yes, we have a Heavenly Father, and the way we communicate with him is through prayer. The greatest prayer ever prayed could be called the Lord's Prayer, which is contained in the greatest sermon that was ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. In that particular sermon, and in that particular prayer, Jesus taught us to pray as follows: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name" (Matthew 6:9 NKJV).

 

That was a revolutionary thought to a Jewish person, by the way. You see, the Hebrews feared God and attached such sacredness to his name they would not even utter it. In the entire Old Testament, God is referred to as Father fewer than seven times. And when the Old Testament does refer to him this way, it is either indirectly or rather remotely. In fact, when Jesus referred to God as his Father, he was accused of blasphemy. One of the reasons they crucified Jesus was because he spoke of this special relationship he had with his Father.

 

And now, because of Jesus' death and resurrection, we can have that relationship, too. After his resurrection, he said to Mary Magdalene, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John 20:17 NKJV).

 

When we think of our Father in heaven, we might react differently. If you have a disengaged, disinterested, passive father, you might think God is that way. You may perceive him as sort of disconnected and oblivious to what is going on in your life - or not really caring what goes on in your life. Then again, if you have a hands-on, involved, loving, nurturing and affirming dad, you might apply that toward God.

 

But we shouldn't view God the way we view an earthly dad. We need to view God as he is presented in the Scriptures as a Father.

 

Not only does God tell us in the Bible to address him as Father, but we are to do so in an intimate way. The apostle Paul wrote, "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, 'Abba, Father'" (Romans 8:15 NLT).

 

This word Abba speaks of intimacy, like calling your father Daddy or Papa. I don't know what you call your father, but my guess would be that you probably call him Dad or Daddy or Papa or Pops. I am not suggesting we call God Pops, Daddy, or something like that, though I suppose we could. The idea is that it is an affectionate relationship we have with him.

 

My grandchildren call me Papa. Little Lucy, when she was first starting to walk and wanted to be picked up, would raise her hands and say, "Uppy, Papa!" How can you resist that? So of course I would pick her up.

 

Notice Jesus taught, "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven ...'" (Matthew 6:9 NIV). He did not say, "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our creator in heaven.'" He is your Creator, but that is not how we are to address him. Nor should we even pray, "Our God in heaven," though he is our God. No, there is intimacy in the way we are to address him. There is relationship. There is closeness. There is affection.

 

The fatherhood of God is featured prominently in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus mentions the Father 17 times, and 10 of those references include the word heaven or heavenly. So Jesus is saying that God is our Father in heaven.

 

Jesus also said in John 14:9, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (NKJV), and "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also" (John 8:19 NKJV).

 

If you want to know what kind of Father we have in heaven, just look at Jesus. Just look at him with the little children in his arms, blessing them. Look at him with tears streaming down his face at the grave of his friend Lazarus. Look at him washing his disciples' feet in the Upper Room. That is what your Father in heaven is like.

 

There is a Father in Heaven who can be known, and he is chasing after us - not to hurt us but to throw his arms around us and rescue us.

 

There is a Father in Heaven we can speak to ... a Father who listens ... a Father who loves us.