HE enjoys meeting the needs of HIS children…

we are looking here at the phrase in the LORD’s prayer, hallowed be YOUr name or honored be GOD’s name.  now we are looking a many of the different names in the bible of GOD and how each name corresponds to a need that we may have.

now when you think about honoring GOD’s name, don’t forget the one at the beginning of the LORD’s prayer.  our FATHER.  FATHER is one of GOD’s names.  one of the ways you and i honor GOD’s name is by acting like HE is our FATHER.

those of you who are parents.  suppose you’re driving home and one of your kids – let’s say they’re eight – you find your kid setting out on the street corner and they have a sign scrawled in crayon that says, “will work for food.” 

how would you feel as a parent, driving past that?  you’d stop and go, “what are you doing?!?”  and they’d look up at you and say, “you’ve taken care of me for eight years now.  i figure i’m on my own now.” 

that’s crazy.  you’d say, “get back in the house!  first of all you’re embarrassing me being out here.  and secondly, i want to take care of you.  it’s my job.  i like to take care of you.  i like to meet the needs in your life.  it’s what i’m supposed to do.”  

GOD enjoys meeting the needs of HIS children.  HE enjoys meeting your need.  HE desires to meet your need.  and you and i honor GOD’s name when we realize HE wants to be our FATHER and meet our needs. 

look at what the bible has to say about GOD’s heart towards us.  psalm 79.8 (tlb), let your tenderhearted mercies meet our needs.

did you know that GOD has a tender heart towards you?  and because of that tender heart, HE wants to meet the needs of your life. 

HE is our FATHER. 

the bible tells us in philippians 4.19 (nirv), GOD will meet all your needs. HE will meet them in keeping with HIS wonderful riches that come to you because you belong to CHRIST JESUS.

i have to admit, it doesn’t say HE will meet all of our greed.  but he will meet all of our needs.  everything we need in life, GOD will meet those needs.  that is HIS promise.  why does he do it?  because HE’s our FATHER.  because HE loves us.

just a thought from the front porch…

one of the greatest needs in your life…

one of the greatest needs in your life is to have the approval of your father.  even if your dad was an absolute jerk there’s still something inside of you that wanted to have that connection and you wished and longed for that even if it were painful or abusive.  you want that approval of your father.  but you may never get it, truthfully.  the truth is your father may be unable to give it because of his own hurts and pain.  or your father may have walked out of your life years and years ago.  or been in your life but totally detached and he’s not going to change.  or your father may have died. 

but there is a father who knows you intimately.  and loves you completely.  and accepts you unconditionally.  and wants you.  you can go to that FATHER for HIS approval and for HIS acceptance and for HIS advice and HE is your heavenly FATHER.  that FATHER – GOD – has seen every moment of your life.  HE watched you being formed in your mother’s womb.  HE watched you take your first breath.  HE watched every tear that’s fallen, every success you’ve had, every joy, every regret, every jealousy, every envy.  HE knows the good, the bad and the ugly about you and HE still loves you.  and HE wants you as HIS child.  and HE wants you connected not just created. 

unlike your earthly father HE understand you completely.  turn to HIM.  say, “FATHER, i’m coming home to YOU.”

maybe you’ve allowed the experiences of your human father to warp your view of your heavenly FATHER.  i urge you to trade your misconceptions for the truth today.  pray this prayer.  say “dear FATHER!  i want YOU to be my heavenly FATHER and i want to be YOUr child.  i want to be connected to YOU not just created by YOU.  so i ask YOU to accept me into YOUr family.  by faith i put my trust in YOU and YOUr SON, JESUS CHRIST.  thank YOU for sending JESUS to teach me about YOU.  thank YOU for being a caring, consistent, close FATHER.  i want to relax and i want to start trusting YOU today.  would YOU give me the inner peace that comes from knowing YOU?” 

(now you are able to truly pray as JESUS taught you to pray.  you now can say, our FATHER because HE now truly is your FATHER.)

“in YOUr name i pray.  amen.”

just a thought from the front porch…

is GOD everybody’s father? yes and no…

here is a good question that you might have.  is GOD everybody’s father?  is everybody a child of GOD?  the answer is yes and no.   yes, everyone was created by GOD but not everybody is connected to GOD.  there’s a lot more to being a father than just creating a kid.  there are millions of kids in this world who have never known their father.  millions!  it takes more than birthing to be a dad.  it takes more than creating.  it takes connection. 

yes, everyone in the world is created by GOD but no, everyone in the world is not connected to their FATHER, to their heavenly FATHER who made them.  GOD wants them to be connected in HIS family. 

how do i get connected to GOD as father?  that’s why GOD sent HIS SON JESUS CHRIST to earth, to make the connection.  JESUS said, I am the way and the truth and the life.  no one comes to the FATHER except through ME. if you really knew ME you would know my FATHER as well.

there’s only one way to get to know the FATHER – through JESUS CHRIST who GOD sent to earth to make the connection.  that’s why HE sent HIM to earth, so we could get to know HIM.  you wouldn’t even know GOD was your father if JESUS CHRIST hadn’t come to earth.  you wouldn’t even know it.  HE sent JESUS to earth to make the connection.

we are children of GOD through faith in JESUS CHRIST.  it is through faith.  how do you become a child of GOD?  there is only one way.  through faith in HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.  there’s not a single verse in the bible that says you get connected to the FATHER GOD through religion.  HE doesn’t want a religion.  HE wants a relationship.  HE wants you to know HIM as FATHER and you know the FATHER through the SON.  through faith in JESUS CHRIST. 

just a thought from the front porch…

designed to keep you from prayer…

i know so many people who, when they pray, their first thoughts are, “i haven’t prayed enough.” “i feel guilty over my prayerlessness in my life.”  “i’m not sure this will do any good.”  “i’m not sure i have enough time to do it adequately or know how to do it right.”

listen, those thoughts are from the evil one.  they are designed to keep you from prayer, and you must discipline yourself to not allow them to occupy your mind.  you must set them aside and start with the name FATHER.

when you say that, this is GOD’s heart as you come to HIM in prayer.  GOD’s heart says, “this is my son.  this is my daughter.  I love it when you call me FATHER.  I love it when you set aside time to speak with ME about whatever is on your heart.  maybe what we have to say to each other will involve sorrow.  maybe it will be about joyful things.”

“maybe you’ll want to express thanks.  maybe you’ll need to confess.  it doesn’t really matter. once we’re face-to-face, we’ll get around to everything we need to.  I’ll make sure about that.  but I love these moments when you come to ME in prayer.”  JESUS, the master of prayer says, “start with these words, our FATHER because that’s the who of prayer.”

what was JESUS’ intent when HE started the LORD’s prayer with our FATHER?  dallas willard says it like this. “JESUS intent was to bring HIS apprentices to the point where they dearly love and constantly delight in that the heavenly FATHER is made real to earth in JESUS, and are quite certain there is no catch, no limit to the goodness of HIS intentions or HIS power to carry them out.”

JESUS’ design is to bring HIS apprentices  –  HIS friends, you and me  –  to the place where they dearly love and constantly delight in that the heavenly FATHER is made real to earth in JESUS, and are quite certain there is no catch, no limit to the goodness of HIS intentions or HIS power to carry them out.

that’s what it means every time you say our FATHER.  that’s the one to whom you speak.  there is no catch, no limit to the goodness of HIS intentions for you or HIS power to carry them out.

just a thought from the front porch…

how you acknowledge a relational context…

JESUS begins the LORD’s prayer in matthew 6 by saying, our FATHER and that holds great significance to HIM and to us.   

when you use a name, you make a statement about the nature of the relationship you have with another person.  that’s why names are so powerful.  a name expresses the relationship you have.  you acknowledge a relational context.  you state how much closeness exists.  in a fairly formal relationship, you say mr. or mrs.  if it’s a friend, you call them by their first name.

now if it’s a real close friend you might have a nickname. if it’s a family member there might be a pet name. that expresses the fact that this is a uniquely close relationship.

i only have two people on this earth that call me “father,” and that single word gets my attention probably quicker than any other.

if i pick up the phone and i hear that word first, “dad?” that establishes a context between me and the one who’s speaking to me that is stronger than iron.  and everything else they say, any requests they make, any confession they have to make, anything else they say takes place within the context of the relationship that’s expressed by that one word “father.”

now there were records in the old testament of people using the image of a father to describe GOD.  that had happened before.  but there is no record of anyone ever coming to GOD in prayer and addressing him as FATHER until JESUS did it.

then HE uses an aramaic word “abba.”  it’s a real tender word.  little children used it.  adults would use it too.  it’s not quite exactly like our word “daddy” because it was an adult word as well as a child’s word, but it was a very tender word.

and there’s no record of anybody coming to GOD in prayer and calling him that until JESUS.  and JESUS not only does it, HE invites you and me to do it.

that’s unbelievable. so when you pray, you put everything else aside.  you put aside a hurried mind.  you remember that you’re not just sitting there thinking right now or worrying, and you begin with the word our FATHER.

just a thought from the front porch…