Luke 11:2 KJV
[2] And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven,
A story is told of a young boy who is seated by his dad at a worship service and attempting to stay awake. As he is nodding off, out of the corner of his eye, he sees his father abruptly raise his arm. He braced himself, thinking his father was going to hit him. To his pleasant surprise, his father put his arm around him, drew him close and looked down and winked at him. The boy said, “I say my father in a different light that day and went to sleep in his arms.”
Our perception of God determines how we relate to him. When his disciples ask him to teach them how to pray, Jesus tells them to approach God as a father. This speaks of the relationship we should have with God. He is our father, and we are his children.
Now because the reference point of whom a father is and what he does is our earthly fathers, we project the same to God. Like the young boy in the story some think that God is the kind of father waiting for us to make a mistake so that he can strike us.
God is love, and he is the good and perfect father. He has a good plan for our lives and he desires to connect with us his children in ways we never even thought possible. Like any good father, he has great plans for his children, he has a great inheritance for his children as well, and he provides for his children, he says he knows the things that we have need of.
Remember he is the one who created us so he knows better what we need more than we even think we know. Everything he has, already is ours but unless we have that revelation and walk in it then we will not access anything.
Like any good child, we should seek a good, deep and meaningful relationship with our father. As he says, our pre occupation should be to seek after his kingdom and not things. When we do, then all these other things are already laid out, and they will follow us, we will not even need to ask for them.
We are the children of the King and our father’s kingdom is the richest and most powerful kingdom that will ever exist. May we learn to relate to him as a child relates to a father, may we love him and walk with him. As children, may we not worry about things that are in his domain and his responsibility.
Reflections.
What kind of relationship do you (or did you) have with your father?
How did your relationship with your father affect your perception of God the father?
What must you do to strengthen your relationship with God as your Father?
