Pray to the Father
When his followers first asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he began with the words ‘Our Father’. Jesus prayed to the Father and continually talked about his relationship with his heavenly Father.
Understanding that God is your Father is essential to having a genuine and effective life of prayer. And to living as a Christian, in fact. When you became a Christian, you were ‘born again’ so that you became a child of God. You have the Spirit of God living in you and one of the things he does is continually convince you, deep inside your own spirit, that you are a child of God and God is your Father.
The Perfect Father
It is possible that you had a bad, even traumatic, experience of your natural father. And none of our fathers have been perfect. It is important, therefore, that we don’t get our idea of God’s fatherhood from our natural fathers. God is the perfect, heavenly Father. If we want a good idea of what our heavenly Father is like, we just need to look at Jesus. He told his followers that he came to show them what his Father is truly like.
Practical Implications for Your Life and Prayer:
He wants to do you good.
The Bible word for this is ‘bless’. Believe that God wants to bless you. He does not want to bully you or constantly find fault with you. His whole desire is to pour out his love and blessing upon you and, through you, to those around you. Remember that as you pray.
He knows all about your needs and will provide for you
In your prayer, you can bring all your needs and concerns honestly to God. But you don’t need to do this in a worried way, thinking that you have to try to convince and cajole him. He already knows what you need. It is true that what you need is not always what you want and you have to trust that the Father knows best, but never doubt that he is a good Father to you and loves to bless you.
He guides, directs, and corrects you
Like a good Father, he will guide you in life and give you instructions on how to live wisely and well. He does this primarily through the Bible. As a loving Father, he may also discipline and correct you but this is always because he loves you and wants the best for you. Don’t be disheartened when you suffer the consequences of bad choices. Your good, heavenly Father is using this to teach and guide you. Just learn the lessons and trust him that good will come from it as you learn. As part of prayer, be honest with God when you mess up. Tell him you are sorry and receive the forgiveness of a loving Father.
He wants a relationship with you above everything
God does not just want to give you things or even just guide you. Most of all he wants a relationship with you, as a good Father with the child he loves. Prayer is not a means to an end. It is the way you develop this relationship. Keep that central to your prayer.
From the Bible – A Good Prayer
I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
(Ephesians 3:14-18)
More From the Bible on This Truth:
If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, see the First Steps notes on Finding Your Way Around The Bible to help you with these. If you are going through these notes with a friend, ask them to help you. You will soon get used to it.
Matthew 6:7-8
Matthew 7:11
Romans 8:15-17
Hebrews 10:5-11
For reflection and discussion:
Think about these questions and, if you are going through these notes with someone else, talk about them together.
- Do you find it easy to think of God as a good, heavenly Father? What might make it difficult?
- If you really believe that God loves you, and that he is a good Father who wants to bless you, how will it affect how you pray?
- What can you do to make the development of a relationship with your heavenly Father central to your praying and to your life?
Remember this:
This eternal everlasting God has become our Father and the moment we realise that, everything tends to change. He is our Father and He is always caring for us, He loves us with an everlasting love… (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
A Different Kingdom 
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