Welcome to Week 6 of A 2020 Prayer Life!
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our prayer lives.
Do not short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Take one day at a time.
Do not short-circuit the process by reading only. Spend time in prayer. And allow your prayer time to be guided by each day's reflections and instructions.
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our prayer lives.
Do not short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Take one day at a time.
Do not short-circuit the process by reading only. Spend time in prayer. And allow your prayer time to be guided by each day's reflections and instructions.
February 5
Perhaps the most prominent title for God in the New Testament is "Father." That is what Jesus called God. Paul makes frequent references to "the Father." When we talk about the Trinity, we say, "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." And this is the starting place for our most basic affirmation of what we as Christians say we believe.
In the Apostles' Creed, we begin with the affirmation, "I believe in God." By itself, that is too generic. In a world that has believed in and worshiped so many different gods, it is inadequate simply to say, "I believe in God." And so we must specify which god. And the Creed specifies which God by saying, "the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
For the past two weeks, we considered the truth of God as "Maker of heaven and earth." Now we turn to this profound and lovely truth that He is "the Father Almighty."
Perhaps it is already an easy and natural thing for you to call God "Father." Or perhaps it feels foreign or awkward for you. In any case, we must remember that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, that is what He Himself taught them to call God. "Our Father" is the title and salutation both used and encouraged by Jesus.
"Our Father" is the staring place for our conversations with God!
In your prayer time just now, make that your title for God. Call Him "Father." Make that part of how you address Him during your prayer times this week. And as you do, talk with Him about these questions.
(1) What does "Father" reveal about You?
(2) What does "Father" reveal about my relationship with You?
(3) How could my calling you "Father" impact and influence my relationship with You?
In the Apostles' Creed, we begin with the affirmation, "I believe in God." By itself, that is too generic. In a world that has believed in and worshiped so many different gods, it is inadequate simply to say, "I believe in God." And so we must specify which god. And the Creed specifies which God by saying, "the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
For the past two weeks, we considered the truth of God as "Maker of heaven and earth." Now we turn to this profound and lovely truth that He is "the Father Almighty."
Perhaps it is already an easy and natural thing for you to call God "Father." Or perhaps it feels foreign or awkward for you. In any case, we must remember that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, that is what He Himself taught them to call God. "Our Father" is the title and salutation both used and encouraged by Jesus.
"Our Father" is the staring place for our conversations with God!
In your prayer time just now, make that your title for God. Call Him "Father." Make that part of how you address Him during your prayer times this week. And as you do, talk with Him about these questions.
(1) What does "Father" reveal about You?
(2) What does "Father" reveal about my relationship with You?
(3) How could my calling you "Father" impact and influence my relationship with You?
February 6
Before we know God as "Father," we know other human beings as "fathers." No doubt we have seen some good ones and some poor ones. Perhaps our own father was more or less present in our lives. Perhaps he was more or less positive in our lives.
Borrowing from our human understanding of what it is to be a "father," list some differences between a good father and a bad father. (Again, don't hurry, lest you shortchange the insight available. Take two full minutes to contemplate and list the differences.)
When you have finished the previous list, now make a list of attributes that would specifically describe a good father. (Again, don't be hasty. Stop to invest a few minutes in thinking about and listing the attributes.)
Now with those lists before you in prayer, tell the Lord what you have learned about Him as a Father.
Tell Him about the human fathers you have known and the impact they have made on you.
Praise Him for the kind of Father He is.
Call Him "Father" in prayer, and talk to Him about what that means for your relationship with Him.
Borrowing from our human understanding of what it is to be a "father," list some differences between a good father and a bad father. (Again, don't hurry, lest you shortchange the insight available. Take two full minutes to contemplate and list the differences.)
When you have finished the previous list, now make a list of attributes that would specifically describe a good father. (Again, don't be hasty. Stop to invest a few minutes in thinking about and listing the attributes.)
Now with those lists before you in prayer, tell the Lord what you have learned about Him as a Father.
Tell Him about the human fathers you have known and the impact they have made on you.
Praise Him for the kind of Father He is.
Call Him "Father" in prayer, and talk to Him about what that means for your relationship with Him.
February 7
Having given careful thought yesterday to what a good father is like, and thus gaining insight into the nature of God, give some thought to your experience of your human father. Write out a description of him -- what he was like, what kind of father he was.
Sometimes people who have had an unfavorable experience with their human father find it difficult to embrace the image of "Father" for God. But we must not let an inadequate human being cost us this lovely truth about God. Rather than a human father ruining the word "father" for us, let us pray that our heavenly Father would redeem the word "father" for us.
Talk to the Father about the ways in which your human father was like Him.
Talk to the Father about the ways in which your human father was not like Him.
Give thanks for the ways that your human father represented well your heavenly Father.
And give thanks for the ways that your heavenly Father exceeds your experience of a human Father.
Sometimes people who have had an unfavorable experience with their human father find it difficult to embrace the image of "Father" for God. But we must not let an inadequate human being cost us this lovely truth about God. Rather than a human father ruining the word "father" for us, let us pray that our heavenly Father would redeem the word "father" for us.
Talk to the Father about the ways in which your human father was like Him.
Talk to the Father about the ways in which your human father was not like Him.
Give thanks for the ways that your human father represented well your heavenly Father.
And give thanks for the ways that your heavenly Father exceeds your experience of a human Father.
February 8
As we have noted earlier, a part of the beauty of the titles that Scripture uses for God is that they are so often relational. As such, they not only reveal things about God; they also reveal things about us, for the titles for God suggest counterpart titles for us.
If you call God "Father," that suggests that you are "son," "daughter," "child." Choose the right counterpart title for yourself, and use both "Father" and your own title in prayer. And as you do, talk with Him about these questions.
(1) What does my counterpart title reveal about me?
(2) What does my counterpart title reveal about my relationship with You?
(3) How might that counterpart title impact and influence my relationship with You going forward?
If you call God "Father," that suggests that you are "son," "daughter," "child." Choose the right counterpart title for yourself, and use both "Father" and your own title in prayer. And as you do, talk with Him about these questions.
(1) What does my counterpart title reveal about me?
(2) What does my counterpart title reveal about my relationship with You?
(3) How might that counterpart title impact and influence my relationship with You going forward?
February 9
Three times in Scripture, Jesus is referred to as God's "only begotten Son." When we called ourselves His children yesterday, therefore, we were not making a claim to something that is automatically ours, for Jesus is His only son.
What Scripture bears witness to is not that being God's creature equals being God's child. Rather, when the Gospel-writer John tells about the coming of Christ, he says, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:12 NASB)
Our status as the Father's children, you see, comes through Jesus. It is by virtue of the Father's only Son that we are enabled also to become His sons and daughters.
The Apostle Paul expresses this gospel truth in terms of adoption. Adoption, after all, is the way that someone is who not naturally this individual's child legally becomes his or her child. God "destined us for adoption," Paul writes, "as His children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5-6 NRSV)
Pray through those verses from Paul. Talk to God as your Father about each of these truths:
What Scripture bears witness to is not that being God's creature equals being God's child. Rather, when the Gospel-writer John tells about the coming of Christ, he says, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:12 NASB)
Our status as the Father's children, you see, comes through Jesus. It is by virtue of the Father's only Son that we are enabled also to become His sons and daughters.
The Apostle Paul expresses this gospel truth in terms of adoption. Adoption, after all, is the way that someone is who not naturally this individual's child legally becomes his or her child. God "destined us for adoption," Paul writes, "as His children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5-6 NRSV)
Pray through those verses from Paul. Talk to God as your Father about each of these truths:
- You destined me for adoption as Your child
- through Jesus Christ
- according to the good pleasure of Your will
- to the praise of Your glorious grace
- that You freely bestowed on us
- in the Beloved
February 10
Adoption means a change of status, a change of relationship. Our relationship to God was something else previously, but now -- by His grace -- it has become a Parent-child relationship. In love, He has chosen to make us His own.
As the Apostle Paul ponders that great truth, he writes to the Romans about it, saying, "You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Romans 8:15 NASB)
Paul offers two dramatically different images. On the one hand, there is the slave who serves fearfully the master to whom he belongs. On the other hand, there is the child who lives joyfully and confidently in the love of the father to whom he belongs.
Talk to your heavenly Father about these two pictures. Which one most looks like you in your relationship with Him? Which did you look like five years ago? Ten years ago?
Perhaps neither "slave" nor "son" quite captures it for you. What other picture might you use to describe what your relationship to Him has been like?
Now thank Him for the picture of how He wants things to be -- the relationship He offers you to have with Him.
As the Apostle Paul ponders that great truth, he writes to the Romans about it, saying, "You have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Romans 8:15 NASB)
Paul offers two dramatically different images. On the one hand, there is the slave who serves fearfully the master to whom he belongs. On the other hand, there is the child who lives joyfully and confidently in the love of the father to whom he belongs.
Talk to your heavenly Father about these two pictures. Which one most looks like you in your relationship with Him? Which did you look like five years ago? Ten years ago?
Perhaps neither "slave" nor "son" quite captures it for you. What other picture might you use to describe what your relationship to Him has been like?
Now thank Him for the picture of how He wants things to be -- the relationship He offers you to have with Him.
February 11
As we come to the conclusion of Week 6, think about this advice from the late 17th-century French theologian Francois de Fenelon, and let it inform your praying just now:
“When you pray, ask for what you will with firm faith. If you are not confident when you pray, little will come of it. God loves the heart that trusts in him. He will never ignore those who place their complete trust in him. It is like a father listening to his child.”
Father, do I pray with "firm faith"? Am I confident when I pray? And if I am not, why not?
Father, help me to grasp the heart with which You listen to me when I pray.
Father, help me to so rely on Your love that I place my complete trust in You.
“When you pray, ask for what you will with firm faith. If you are not confident when you pray, little will come of it. God loves the heart that trusts in him. He will never ignore those who place their complete trust in him. It is like a father listening to his child.”
Father, do I pray with "firm faith"? Am I confident when I pray? And if I am not, why not?
Father, help me to grasp the heart with which You listen to me when I pray.
Father, help me to so rely on Your love that I place my complete trust in You.