DISCIPLESHIP PRAYER
Heavenly Father | Day 2
As we come into God’s presence in prayer, it is important to begin with praising God for who God is — most high, most holy, most loving, and much more — and remembering that it pleases God to love and be loved.
It is God’s pleasure to give the gift of renewed goodness and re-created perfection (wholeness and purpose) to those who sincerely seek the face of God.
All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
― James 1:17–18 (NET)
“Heavenly Father…”
By the time of Jesus, the kaddish had become a hymn of prayer recited regularly as part of worship. In its earliest form, this prayer began as follows — “Exalted and hallowed be God’s great name, in the world that He created according to His will; may He cause His kingdom to reign….”
When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he uses a similar form, but instead addresses the Almighty as “our Father” (Matthew 6:9), an intimate term that in Aramaic (the language of Jesus) was likely Abba…Papa…Daddy.
Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.
― Mark 14:36 (NET)
When we put our faith and hope in Christ, part of that is remembering and trusting that everything good, right, perfect, and true comes to us by the divine initiative of our Heavenly Father, who is:
God Most High
God is the Creator of the heavens, earth, and all that exists in the universe — both things we see and experience and those which remain beyond our sight and reach (Genesis 14:2). There is nothing and no one greater or more powerful the Almighty God, who is above all things (Isaiah 46:9).
Then they will know that you alone are the LORD, the Most High over all the earth.
― Psalm 83:18 (NET)
God Most Holy
The greatness of God is grounded firmly in holiness (Leviticus 11:45). God is wholly separate (different) than the created world (Joshua 3:14); completely pure and free from contamination (Deuteronomy 32:4); entirely perfect, complete, and whole, lacking nothing; and defined from beginning to end by love — holy, perfect, cross-bearing love (Psalm 13:5).
God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne… No one is holy like the LORD! There is no one other than you! There is no rock like our God!
― Psalm 47:88; 1 Samuel 2:2 (NET)
God Most Loving
Self-sacrificial, cross-bearing, perfect love is God's foundational, defining nature (1 John 4:16). This love is also the essence of holiness and the motivation behind every display of divine creativity and power.
In a faraway land the LORD will manifest himself to them. He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.
― Jeremiah 3:13 (NET)
As we come into God’s presence in prayer it is important to begin with praising God for who God is — most high, most holy, most loving, and much more — and remembering that it pleases God to love and be loved.
As we kneel before the Lord, seeking to be renewed and re-created in God’s image (the Imago Dei) and to grow in Christlikeness, it is God’s pleasure to give the gift of renewed goodness and re-created wholeness and purpose to those who sincerely seek the face of God.
As we begin our journey through this chapter and those that follow, we need to remember that the life of the disciples of Jesus Christ begins and ends with Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane — Abba, Father…
…not what I want, but what you want;
…not my priorities, but your priorities;
…not all about me, but all about you;
…not my stuff, but your stuff.
Key points:
- When Jesus prayed, he used the language of a close relationship — Abba, Father, Daddy.
- There is no one or nothing greater than God Most High.
- God Most Holy is perfectly complete, lacking nothing.
- Perfect, self-sacrificial love is the unmistakable mark of our Most Loving God.
Pray:
Our Father in heaven, you are Most High, Most Holy, and Most Loving. There is nothing in this universe greater than you. You are the Creator who created all that exists, and you are perfectly complete, lacking nothing. Your greatness and your holiness are seen most clearly in your perfect love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and displayed for us to see in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Abba, Father, we kneel in your presence today, asking you to help us learn to trust in your greatness, grow more mature and complete in you, and let the mark of our lives be the mark of Christlike love shown to all people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Read the previous article in this series
Read the next article in this series
