Jesus taught us to pray “Our father in heaven”. As Mary DeMuth points out there are no singular pronouns in the entire Lord’s prayer. Jesus did not say MY father, he said OUR father. We are all included in the prayer. We are all God’s children. We are a community of God’s beloveds. And that’s how we should pray too. Communally. For each other. For those difficult people. Because that’s what being a family is meant to be.

And we are a family because we share a loving father who has adopted us. It is amazing to have a heavenly God who wants to have a real relationship with us. But that’s what Jesus taught us. He is our father, our papa who loves us very much.

This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. (Matthew 6:8, MSG)

The Lord’s prayer has a very powerful beginning: Our father. Just two simple words that lead us into sharing our most innermost thoughts and feelings with God. Because he is ours. Because he is our father. He is no more a distant God.

The next two words make it even more meaningful: in heaven. God is personal but at the same time he is all-powerful and almighty. With the words of Mary “God is as near as our breath and as far as our imagination. As we wrangle our way through a difficult relationship, as we languish in the land of regret and injury, we have a way up. We have prayer—a treasure we direct to God, who sits as King over the universe.”

Yes, we have a way up. We are not confined into our earthly existence. We have prayer. We have our papa in heaven who wants to hear from us, help us, and love us. Jesus showed us the way up. It simply starts with “Our father in heaven”.

Our Father in Heaven,
Thank you for including all of us into your family.
Thank you for being our papa.
Thank you for being above everything
yet personal and loving.
Enable us to pray simply
and trust you strongly.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: How does these four words affect your faith, life, and prayer?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you cherish and embrace “Our Father in Heaven”!

Image courtesy of Jeff Boriss, design by Mari-Anna Stålnacke.  Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty, Hear it on Sunday, use it on Monday, Playdates with God, and counting blessings with Ann Voskamp:  #1049 Our father in heaven is amazing, yet he loves us completely and unconditionally.

I am part of Mary DeMuth’s launch team for her new book  The Wall Around Your Heart and I have to say that this book absolutely rocks. It’s not only well  written but it is full of uplifting stories that I can’t capture here on the blog. But make sure to visit other blogs that are linked up here. They are also blogging through the book. Maybe together we can give a more vivid picture of the book. And the launch date is coming up too!