Pray to the Father
During the thirty-three years Jesus spent on this earth, He spent a lot of time praying to His Father, and He instructed us to do the same. Notice He didn’t tell us to pray to Him (Jesus); He told us to pray to the Father in His (Jesus’) name. There’s a difference, and sometimes we miss it.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t talk to Jesus. If we are born-again believers, it is only right and natural that we should want to converse with and express our undying gratitude to the One who opened the door to restore us to right relationship with the Father.
Have you noticed it’s easier to talk to and about Jesus than to and about the Father? Why is that? I have to believe that a lot of it comes from our lack of an unconditional love example from our earthly fathers. I was blessed to have a father who lived his life in such a way that I never doubted his love for me. Not everyone has that in their relationships with their earthly fathers. That is often the root problem when it comes to Christians relating to the heavenly Father. They feel safer—more unconditionally loved and accepted—with Jesus, and so they talk almost exclusively to and about Him. However, though it’s natural and right to talk about Jesus, the Scriptures clearly instruct us to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name. The Holy Spirit guides us to do so, and we clearly see the Trinity in that picture. Today, pay attention to the focus of your words. Does the Father have His proper place in your words and in your heart?
A young man recently visited his earthly father for the first in many years. After a positive experience, this young man said, “Spending time with my dad made me feel complete.” We’ve all heard of this God-shaped void inside of us, and it is God’s Spirit that fills that void thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice. If we leave the Father out of that equation, the void is not yet filled. We need to regularly, lovingly, and intimately say with Jesus, “Abba Father,” for then, like the young man who was reunited with his father, we will truly be complete.
QUOTE: We will truly be complete, and any God-shaped voids filled, when we spend time with our Father.
“But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you,” Matt. 6:6, 8 NET.
Today’s devotion is by Kathi Macias, award-winning author of nearly 30 books, including Mothers of the Bible Speak to Mothers of Today. She penned the best-selling devotional A Moment a Day and assisted with Zondervan’s New Women’s Devotional Bible. A mother and grandmother, Kathi and her husband, Al, call California home.
