Talking to God: A Guilt Free Guide to Prayerਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 2 - Our Father: A New Way to See God

Matthew 6:9 – “Our Father in heaven…”

Devotional Thought:
In the first century, when people came to a Rabbi, which Jesus was, and asked him to teach them to pray, what they were really asking was…what’s your worldview? You see, the way a Rabbi taught his followers to pray said a lot about the way the Rabbi saw the world, saw others and saw God.

So, when Jesus began to teach his disciples to pray, they may have expected him to begin his prayer with “Almighty Judge” or “Righteous King” - but He didn’t. He started his prayer with…“Our Father.”

When Jesus opened with ‘Our Father,’ it would have made people’s jaws drop. Because no rabbi in their right mind taught you to start a prayer like that. It was too personal, too intimate. It suggested a God who actually wanted to be close.

For many people, the word “father” is complicated. Some have had great dads. Others have distant, absent, or hurtful ones. So when Jesus calls God “Father,” it might not land well at first. But what Jesus is inviting us to is to reimagine what a perfect Father is like.

A Father who is: loving, present, trustworthy, not disappointed in us, but delighted when we show up

And not just His Father. Ours.
He invites us into that relationship too.

So what if we paused and asked, ‘If God really is the perfect Father, what does that mean for me today?’

Prayer Prompt:
What comes to mind when you think about God as a Father? Talk to Him honestly about that - even if it’s messy.