“Now it came to pass, as Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” So Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has sinned against us. Lead us out of temptation, and deliver us from the evil one.” Luke 11:1-4

There were two things that Jesus repeatedly acknowledged while on earth. He oft referred to Himself as the Son of man, and He always referred to God and prayed to God as “Father.” Jesus was God in the flesh; He had always existed from eternity past as the second person of God, the Word of God. But as a man Jesus had a beginning: He was born of the virgin, Mary and the Holy Spirit, making Him the only begotten Son of God, and the Son of man.

The whole Bible testifies that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, came into the world as a man to do the will of His Father. He was sent by His Father on a mission, and that mission was to save the world of lost sinners. God hated sin, but loved the sinner; and so, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16

As the Son of man, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit; and He continually stayed in touch with His Father through prayer. His disciples witnessed His praying and wanted to pray like He did, and so they asked Him. Their request was not, “How to Pray”, but, “Teach us to pray.” And so Jesus plainly and simply told them and tells us: “When you pray, say:”

“Our Father in heaven.” Do we have any conception of the price that had to be paid for sinners like us to even dare to think we could approach Holy God at all? Let alone, call Him our Father? But the Firstborn Son, by His own precious blood has removed every sin, and everything that separated us from God, and has reconciled us to God.

And not only reconciled us to God, but by faith in Jesus we have been justified before God. It’s a legal way of saying that through the offering of Christ, the Holy Spirit can present a believer to Holy God as holy. And, because a believer has been made holy by Christ’s sacrifice, God predestined them to be adopted as His children. And so, when a sinner turns to Christ and believes in Him, he is born again: by birth we become a child of God, and God becomes our Father.

“…As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13

A sinner who has been born again is truly and presently a child of God; and has been given the eternal life of Jesus. A new heart testifies to us that God is truly our Father, and that in Christ, we have access to Him, and may boldly go to Him at all times.

What we refer to as the “Lord’s prayer”, is actually the child of God’s prayer, for it was given to us. The prayer stays fresh to a child of God; it never grows old. It refreshes our hearts every time we pray it and say it, for it renews in our minds and hearts, the priorities of: Our Father In Heaven.

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net