Our Father in Heaven

I never called my dad, “Father.” He was always my Dad and the God in Heaven is my Father. My Dad was a great Dad who was a godly man, but our Heavenly Father is a perfect Father. He will never leave you or forsake you. He will always do what is best. He loves you so much that He sent His One and Only Son into the world to pay for our sins. Jesus gave His life for us. He and the Father are one. And he has adopted those who believe and trust in Jesus, that He lived, that He gave His life, that He paid for our sins on the cross, and that He rose again on the third day and sits at the right hand of God the Father. He has called those of us who accept that gift children of God. And we can call Him, Abba, Father.

Romans 8:14-17

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Abba, Father is a very intimate term like saying, Daddy! He is our creator and our Father. As we believe in Jesus Christ, as we trust Him to save us from our sins, we are born again. At that moment we become His children. That is why we pray, “Our Father…”

Matthew 6:9-10

In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Our God is holy and to be “hallowed,” or revered. He deserves all our praise and worship. He also wants that intimate relationship with us as a loving father has toward his child. He is the perfect Father. There is no greater love than the love He has toward us.

Galatians 4:4-7

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

That is how much our Father in heaven loves us! He sent forth His Son to pay for our sins. That is the gift He gave us…to become His children if we believe and trust in the One True King, Jesus Christ, The Son of God.

John 6:35-40

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jesus is the true Bread of Life sent down from heaven by the Father. Our Heavenly Father knows each of us and even through our sin, loves us enough to make that sacrifice for us. His will is that none of us should perish but have eternal life with Him.

Colossians 1:9-14

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Let us always give thanks to our Father and praise His holy name, for He is good and merciful, patient and forgiving, whose love is unending. He always was and always will be, and His power and strength is beyond measure. And more than anything His desire is that we all come to repentance and have fellowship with Him. That is why He sent His Son Jesus, so that anyone who believes will have eternal life with Him.

1 Peter 1:1-5

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The apostles were witnesses of His greatness. They experienced His love through His Son. Some heard His voice saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” From the beginning the Father had a plan for us to be rescued from the bondage of sin.

1 John 1:1-3

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Some may ask, why am I talking about Jesus so much when we are speaking of the Father? Because they are tied together. The Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God in 3 persons. Each has a specific purpose. As Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Matthew 11:25-27

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Our Father in heaven provides all our needs. He provides food and shelter, He provides the rain and the sunshine and everything good on this earth; He provides others to help us in time of need, He provided His Son to pay for our sins that we may have eternal life. He provides His Holy Spirit who guides us and strengthens us.

Matthew 6:25-27

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Our Father is a loving father who will supply all of our needs. He gives us more than our earthly father ever could. He gives us eternal life. He gives us salvation. He gives us the Holy Spirit and through Him we can have the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, good, kindness, gentleness and self control) and spiritual gifts. And He meets our physical and emotional needs. I’ve gone through some trials that I struggled with before I met Christ, but I have a whole new perspective now. Life doesn’t become easier and being a believer doesn’t make us perfect, we just appreciate what we have been given and handle situations better if we rely on Him.

Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Our Father gives us good gifts. Not the material riches of this earth as some false teachers try to make you believe, but the joy and peace in our hearts, the hope that one day we with be with our Father and Jesus Christ in heaven, and the rewards that await for us there. I believe He has given me a good life on this earth as well, not without struggles, but He has put wonderful people in my life, He has guided me through the trials, He has provided me with many things in life.

James 1:17-18

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Our Father gives us good gifts. Our Father is the Father of Lights, of all things good. He never changes and always keeps His promises. He always gives us what is best for us and blesses us in so many ways. His word is true and we have so much to look forward to by accepting His free gift of salvation by faith in His Son Jesus Christ.