Our Father In Heaven...

This Sunday, we began a new section in our Foundations series as we turned our attention to the subject of prayer with a sermon titled Our Father in Heaven.

After spending the last several weeks focusing on Communion, we now move into one of the most essential parts of the Christian life: prayer.

In Matthew 6, Jesus gave His disciples a model for how believers are supposed to approach God. The central question of the message was simple:

How did Jesus teach us to approach the Father?

The sermon opened with the story of George Müller and the orphanages he operated in England during the 1800s. One morning, the children sat down for breakfast with no food in the building and no money to buy any. Yet Müller still thanked God for the meal before it arrived. Soon afterward, a baker unexpectedly delivered bread, and a milk cart broke down outside the orphanage, providing milk for all the children.

I. Prayer Is Relational

Jesus began the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “Our Father in heaven.” Those words remind us that Christian prayer is rooted in relationship.

Through Jesus Christ, believers have been brought into the family of God. We don’t approach Him as strangers trying to earn an audience. We come as children approaching their Father.

Romans 8 and Galatians 4 both teach that believers have received “the Spirit of adoption” whereby we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Prayer is not about impressing God with polished words. It’s about fellowship with the Father who already knows and loves His children.

The sermon also pointed to Hebrews 4:16, where believers are invited to “come boldly to the throne of grace,” not because of our own goodness, but because of what Christ has done for us.
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II. Prayer Is Reverent

Jesus also taught that prayer must be reverent.

Right after saying “Our Father,” He said, “Hallowed be Your name.” The word “hallowed” means holy and set apart. Jesus was teaching that the God we approach in prayer is not common. He is holy.

Ecclesiastes 5 warns against approaching God carelessly, and Isaiah 6 gives one of the clearest pictures in Scripture of God’s holiness. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he was undone by the realization of God’s holiness and his own sinfulness.

The message emphasized that our view of God directly affects our prayer life. A small view of God always produces shallow prayer. But when we see God rightly, prayer becomes sacred again.

III. Prayer Is Surrendered

The final section of the sermon focused on surrender.

Jesus taught His disciples to begin prayer with God’s name, God’s glory, and God’s will before focusing on personal needs. Prayer is not about convincing God to follow our plans. It’s about surrendering ourselves to His.

The sermon looked at the Moravians and their century-long prayer movement that helped fuel worldwide missions. Their lives were not centered on comfort, but on the glory of God and the spread of the Gospel.

The ultimate picture of surrendered prayer was found in Jesus Christ Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Not My will, but Yours, be done.”

As the sermon closed, we returned to the story of George Müller. His confidence in prayer didn’t come from a formula. It came from knowing who his Father was.

Jesus didn’t simply give His disciples words to repeat. He gave them a pattern for how the children of God approach their heavenly Father: relationally, reverently, and with surrendered hearts.

Stay tuned as we continue this new mini-series on the Christian prayer life next Sunday.
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– Pastor Charley Munro
Living Grace Church, Tyler Texas