“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven.’” – Matthew 6:9a

The Lord’s Prayer – Address

Jesus teaches us to pray “our Father” because we have been adopted as his children. As God’s children, we are worthy to bring our prayers and petitions to him because God has declared us holy, free from sin which separated us from him. The Holy Spirit brought us to faith in Jesus so that the righteousness of the Son of God became our own. Since we are justified by faith before God, we can pray to God, our heavenly Father. We can approach him boldly in prayer because of our special relationship with him by faith in Jesus.

God is honored when we come with our prayer. He is not bothered as though we are pestering him with our requests. The fact that we recognize our dependence upon God and put our trust in him to give us what we ask, brings glory to God. So we are invited to pray to him for anything and everything. Nothing is too small or too big for God to accomplish for our good. He is our perfect Father, and in Christ we are declared to be his perfect children. Thus we can be confident that he will hear and answer our prayer.

Our heavenly Father answers the prayers of his children out of his great love for them in Christ. He knows exactly what his children need, and he graciously grants them his blessings. Jesus explained, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11)

The knowledge that God has justified us through Jesus and that he loves us with a perfect love gives us the boldness and confidence to pray, “Our Father in heaven.”