Our Father In Heaven

Week of Prayer

Day One

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

The Danger & Delight of Prayer

Prayer is a dangerous endeavour when we capture the full breadth of the One to whom we pray.  He is the One “who art in heaven,” to use the old english of The Lord’s Prayer. In prayer we approach the One who stands above all things, the One in whom all things hold together. David’s poem reflects what we sometime forget: “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:8-9).  Prayer is dangerous because in it we address the Holy and Almighty God who both creates and brings to ruin with a single word.  

Yet, this dangerous God comes to us as Father.  He is Our Father in heaven.  In the Aramaic language it is the word is Abba, which we can translate as “kind Father” or “Daddy.”  The picture that the word conjures up is a father who delights in his children; it is the picture a parent who invites his children onto his lap not because of anything they have done, but simply because he loves them, because his heart delights in them.  

As you enter into prayer today may you catch a vision of the God who invites you to sit on his lap and to be the object of his delight.  And as you pray may you open yourself up to the mighty power of your kind Father who rules from heaven.