"Father"

We are looking to the Lord’s Prayer to inform our faith, stimulate our hope, and shape our focus in prayer. In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus is portrayed as a man of prayer and as teacher while his disciples are portrayed as learners in need of instruction. It’s unlikely that their desire and request came due to ignorance or unfamiliarity of how to pray. But rather a way to distinguish Jesus’ disciples from John’s or other Jewish groups like the Pharisees. Praying like Jesus identifies us as His followers.

Understanding the Lord’s prayer not only provides a structured pattern for Christians to guide their prayers but also a rich theological foundation that affirms our position through Christ as children of God, the anticipation of the future consummation of God’s redemptive work, the forgiveness of sin and debt, and our disposition in the face of testing. In this first part of this series our emphasis is on approaching God as Father. This practice was appropriately unique to Jesus Christ alone that has been granted to us by Him alone.