As promised, the notes used for the devorional on the Lords Prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13 Luke 11:2-4

God’s Fatherhood.

While the concept of God’s Fatherhood is mentioned in the Old Testament, it is never used as a basis of approach to God. David prayed “O Lord, the great and awesome God...” So the thought of appealing to God from the basis of an intimate relationship with Him as children is a new one for the disciples.

"Our"

Notice that the first word is not “my” but “our.” Like children who mist learn not to be self-centred, so the Holy Spirit teaches us also in out Prayer life to shift the focus from ourselves to God.

Vertical

The word “our” infers a relationship of some sort. I think our Lord Jesus was not only thinking of our relationship with the family of God on earth but primarily with Himself and the Holy Spirit. We cannot think of ourselves as children of God apart from the work of Jesus Christ. Positionally we are “in Him” and in God’s sight “accepted in the Beloved.” We may only approach God because of Jesus Christ and His finished work in the cross. Furthermore, we are heard only as we abide in Him and His words abide in us. Only then may we be assured that we have what we ask for. His words must influence our nature so that what we pray would express His will and not our self-centred desires. Our vertical relationship is further strengthened by God having sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying “Abba Father.” Prayer thus springs from our fellowship with the Son and not our own isolated will. And our relationship with Jesus is supported by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit who puts the child’s cry on our lips. Our acceptance is complete when we stand before God, and we need not be puzzled to know what we should pray for as we ought, because the Holy Spirit is with us to help our infirmity – not displacing us – but interpreting to us the mind of Christ. Even when in my closet, I know that the moment I open my lips to say “Our Father” I am being drawn forward as a responsible spokesman regarding things on earth to plead as one with the Lord Jesus, in His Name and with the help on the Holy Spirit.

Horizontal

We are probably better acquainted with the horizontal significance of the word “our.” So that when we pray we find ourselves linking hands with all of God’s saints across the world who are bound up with is in the family relationship of the Church, sharing in their problems and pleading for them as guided by the Holy Spirit.

There is a searching quality also to “Our Father.” We may have personal dislikes and animosities to some of our fellow brothers and sisters, but we cannot limit God’s Fatherhood. So there is a call for us to deal with ou inner hostilities and animosities and to forgive, as we pray later in this prayer, that our fellowship with one another may not be broken and our prayers not be hindered.

Refer to "Born for Battle" by R. Arthur Mathews for a fuller consideration of this text.