Our Father Which Art In Heaven

“Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name” Matt.6:9 KJV

Im going to do a series on the Lord’s Prayer, I hope it will benefit some folks. I should start with the beginning phrase or what theologians sometimes call it the first petition of the prayer. The first petition is “hollowed be thy name”.

But firstly I want to go back to the first words of the prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven” we are to pray “Our Father” not “My Father” though of course if you are a Christian He most certainly is your heavenly Father. And we should nurture a personal relationship with our father in heaven. He loves you and wants to be a father unto you in a very personal and intimate way. Therefore you have every right to call Him “my Father” because he is indeed your father on a one on one basis and you should pray that way often when you are talking to Him. But when saying the Lord’s Prayer we are instructed to say “Our” father.

Now why is that? The reason is because this business of having a personal relationship with the Almighty creator God is a lot bigger then you. You are a part of something big, really big and that should make you excited. There is something really really big going on that God is doing and guess what? You are a part of it, and so are all the rest of the true believers all over the world going back all the way to Adam and Eve to Revelations 22. Yes you probably guessed it, its the Church.

The Church is God’s family that he is creating. He has adopted us as sons and daughters of the Most High. This is real, it is a real adoption and it is an eternal adoption and we will receive all the rights and privileges of sonship. And we will all receive an inheritance. Some of these things we receive now and some are reserved for us in heaven. I like to tell people I know what heaven is going to be like, we are going to have a lot of fun. How can you not have fun when you are hanging around with millions of people who are all your brothers and sisters?

To which of the angels has God said, “you are my son” or “you are my daughter”? The answer is none but to us He has called us sons and daughters of the Most High. When Gabriel and arch angel appeared to Zacharias, John the Baptist father he said to him, “ I am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God.” Which I am supposing is the highest honor for an angel to have, after all this is no ordinary run of the mill angel, this is Gabriel.

Contrast that with what Jesus said, 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Imagine you are a little chick and you go scurrying under the mother hen for protection. That’s how your Father in heaven treats you. Gabriel is standing in God’s presence, we are huddled under the wings of our loving Father. We have cut into the front of the line bypassing all the angels in heaven both great and small and walked up to the throne of God and God has picked us up and is holding us in His arms. That is why the bible teaches us that we are greater than the angels, it has nothing to do with how powerful we are or how wise, it has everything to do with status. Angels, ministering spirits. Us, royalty. Angels, standing in the presence of God. Us, being touched, held, adopted, family.

And it is not just you, yes my darling you are special but you not  that special. You are a prince/princess but you are not the only prince/princess. There are millions and millions that will be in heaven with you and we will all be part of the royal family. You have been forgiven and you have been accepted into this family. Now listen to me carefully, there is no higher honor that could possibly be bestowed on you. And there is no greater movement that you could possibly be involved in than the Kingdom of Heaven. Congratulations you are in, now behave yourself and act like the prince/princess you are.

So the next time you pray the Lord’s Prayer, and you should pray this prayer often, I do every day, remember exactly what it means when you say “Our Father which art in heaven” lift your head up and thank your lucky stars that He has honored you to be part of His great big fun loving family.

Next time I will talk about, “hollowed be thy name”