Praying Like a Kid
[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
[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!” [16] The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
[18] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
When we pray the “Our Father,” do we really catch the impact of those first two words? Do it! Pray it two words at a time, maybe three.
The way that Jesus taught us to pray begins, fundamentally and steadily, on the fact that God is our FATHER. He knows us better than anybody. He knows what we like and dislike. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths.
He stands by with freedom and love when we do stupid stuff and He reaches in and gets involved in His own wise way when we call for help.
He is also our king, calling us into service as a part of His kingdom. He calls us to enjoy what He enjoys and to endure what He endures. Sometimes it’s caviar, but sometimes it’s a fast.
Ask any family that has adopted a child and they’ll tell you, it takes time for the kid to really feel like family. Sometimes it takes breakthrough after breakthrough.
We are no different in our adoption by our Heavenly Father. Some of us have lived as children of evil for so long, we still aren’t sure what it’s like to have a Heavenly Father. We still barely believe it!
But believe it. Keep going back to Him and asking Him to bear witness in your soul that you belong to Him. He loves to answer the prayers that He told us to pray.
It’s one thing to pray the Lord’s prayer as something you’ve memorized or something that (not critical, I think it’s a good thing!) ends a support meeting. Take some time today to pray through the Lord’s prayer as a kid calling home.
God will take the call and He’ll be so glad to hear from you.
Matthew 6:9–13
[9] Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
[10] Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us this day our daily bread,
[12] and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
[13] And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. (ESV)
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