Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Greatly loved
1 John 3:1
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
CO-HEIR WITH CHRIST
Romans 8:17
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” –
Amen. So let’s begin.
The passages today, they speak of two different sides of prayer. The identity of who prayer is to and our identity- those praying. So, what is the church? Many beautiful things. But one thing we must never forget is, it’s the spiritual family. We have a bond with each other that supersedes all other unifying factors. And how were we made into this family, as John puts it, by the great love lavished on us by God, the Father.
His love truly is great. The Bible describes us pre-Christ as his enemies. But, amazingly he sought us. Out and was willing to give Christ on our behalf to have us. One pastor described it as this. It’s one to seek something, but to seek out is a huge step up in effort. We before we knew Jesus was like a coin lost. Not that valuable but the owner valued us none the less. We were lost in a sewer. We were lost in garbage and waste and he dirtied himself to find us. This how God loves us and when we pray, we pray to him, our Father in heaven. He is holy and awesome beyond compare. When his son came down and went through the havoc and pain of the cross, God felt it right along with him. This is how much we are loved by God. I can’t put it in words, these are so limited but just know that he loves you, and he loves me. His love is indescribable!
By his great love, underserved and amazing, his enemies are now his beloved ones. We are his children, brothers and sisters in Christ- adopted into this holy family. We are heirs, the father has many great things for us. One of the greatest things is found in Matthew 28.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Since we are co-heirs of Christ, we have this same authority, and therefore, we can and must use it to gather the hearts. This takes us back to our first verse, the latter part. ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,”
Through prayer, we pray to our father, boldly coming before him through the one true son’s love, sacrifice, obedience. Our duty is to make his name hallowed. We pray for God to be seen throughout this world as God above all. Our very lives, they should be used to help God be seen as the holy one that he truly is.
May our prayer for this sincerely be prayed, heard and come to pass. Amen