Praying to the Father
In Mark 14:36, Jesus prays, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
This prayer shows us both Jesus' relational intimacy with God (calling him "Abba," which quite means something akin to "Daddy") and his submission to the Father's authority and will. In this example we learn two things: prayer to the Father should always be respectful but need not be formal.
I grew up in a religious tradition where the prayers were very memorized, very ritualized, very formalized. And this trains us to think we have to jump through certain religious hoops to get our prayers heard.
God is a loving Father who loves to hear his children. He welcomes our prayers. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:15, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'."
I'm a dad of five kids. When wanting to go swimming, they don't approach me, saying, "Dearest Father, I beseechest thou to swimmeth with me because of thine deep mercies." They just said, "Dad, wanna swim?" They don't have to hem and haw, don't have to make a fifteen-minute speech, don't have to be uptight. They know that I love them and that they have the freedom to ask me for things.
Some of us are just way too serious with our prayers. I don't mean that prayer isn't serious business. I just mean we can wrongly think that if we pray in certain ways and with certain speech, God will be more inclined to hear us. But God is our Abba Father, our Dad. He wants to hear us, to answer us, and to help us. He doesn't require any more formalized rituals than any other loving daddy would. We don't have to be uptight about prayer.
This is why the Bible says in Hebrews 4:16 that we can approach the throne of grace boldly! Our Father loves us and wants to hear from us. Dad cares. He's available; we just need to talk to him.
We also need to remember that prayer is not telling God something he doesn't already know. You can't surprise God!
In counseling people with various issues I always ask, "Well, have you talked to God about this?" and it is remarkable how often some say, "Oh no, I could never talk to God about this!" There's no information that you know that God doesn't know and that you telling him would put him in the know. You're not going to shock God or catch him off guard.
My kids often tell me things that I already know, but their telling me is about talking to me, about experiencing relational intimacy with me. It's about the experience of me loving them, serving them, helping them, instructing them, caring for them. Conversation is key to all relationships.
When you have a problem or a concern, take it to God and talk about it with him, just as Jesus did.
Think about a good father you know, and how they interact and converse with their child. What can you learn from them about conversing with your Father through prayer?
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