By Keiko Chibana-Shinn | Rediscovering Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… Matthew 6:9
Jesus says to us: I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me. To many, this is an offensive concept. Once upon a time, it offended me. I would think, Why should there be just one way? There are so many paths, many beliefs, and many cultures. Can’t we all celebrate each other’s differences in belief? There is a certain truth to these thoughts, for God does celebrate our diversity for He is the Grand Maker of our individual identities and rejoices in the collective identity found within culture, language, and ethnicity. Learning about world religions and varied perspectives continually adds to our understanding and evolves us into a more integral people. For we are all unique but it’s clear that we all derive from the same foundational quest to find meaningful purpose in life.
Jesus struck me as truly unique in my personal quest to discover who I truly am. Jesus welcomes you to accept any perspective, worldview, mindset or religion. However, He assures us that there is no other who has the authority to reestablish the very fabric of your identity; to seamlessly graft you into the image of God through His paternal glory. He alone awakens your perspective on faith, love, and hope by fully reinforcing your identity through the fatherhood of God in Christ Jesus. You are sons and daughters of the Most High God. This is not a mere religion, worldview, or a 10-step program to become a better you. No, it’s holistic relationship that orients us not only to the Godhead-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but it’s a reunification and restoration of the forever Family of God. Jesus imparts to us the greatest gift humankind could ever receive. Jesus’ Words reveal it to us:
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me… Jn. 17:22-23.
Jesus knows what we are in need of and our greatest need is the presence and love of Our Father. That’s why His greatest mission on Earth was not to condemn us but to reveal the love of our Father to us. Jesus responded to His disciples when asked about how to pray: “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven…” He didn’t address the Father as His own but addressed God as Our. Father. Prayer is about rediscovering your identity as a child of God. Jesus makes it simple, when we enter into a time of conversation with God, we are to embrace Him in the confidence that God is as much our Father as He is Father to Jesus. Jesus affirms this by ultimately saying, My Father is your Father. What is Mine is also yours. We are to receive the love of the Father and come to know what His love imparts to us for our daily living.
Jesus’ initial teaching about prayer begins with a familial tone of belonging, a loving relationship, and of divine protection and possession. The Father’s love is ours. What more could we need? He loved us so much that our Father delivered up the centerpiece of His love, His Son for us that we could enjoy the richness of His loving devotion and splendor.
Everything God creates is meant to be filled with purpose and identity. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He comes to keep you in void and in a perpetual state of lack. But God, for His children, He endures in faithfulness to all generations. The Lord’s heartbeat is for none to perish but for all to gain abundant living under the protection of His will so that life can continue to prosper as we lay down our lives for the good of others.
A little bit of Jesus can go a long way in our lives. The vastness of our God is too great to comprehend for all of heaven’s power is found in the supremacy of Christ. Who can measure the greatness of our God? For is it not He, God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it? With all His omnipotence, Jesus chooses to magnify the majesty of the Godhead through the fatherly attributes in humility and loving kindness. Jesus’ primary mission while on Earth was to lead us to the Father. Therefore, we cannot live the Christian life without the love of the Father.
The Fatherhood of God prospers us. Every area of our lives is to be influenced by His fatherly love. There is a well-known theory in the field of psychology that asserts all human beings have an inherent basic hierarchy of physical and emotional needs that are to be met in order to reach one’s full potential. Our Father fulfills each and exceeds our expectations by far. The Majesty of our God touches our physical life as much as our spiritual one. In His love there is safety, belonging, purpose, meaning, creativity to thrive, to innovate, and to empower one’s life to motivate another. If that were not enough He lavishes His love by instilling in us everlasting life to flow through us by His power for today and for eternity.
Like any good parent, God wants us to live a life of blessed assurance that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. He wants every area of our lives to prosper, for us to be in good health, and for our very souls to prosper. Why? Because He is a Good Father and He believes in His children. Let us then reclaim our position as children of Our Father in heaven.
The Spirit of the Lord says to us today: The search is over. I Am here- always have been and will always be, for you. That is My promise. Receive a willing spirit to surrender your doubts and fears to Me. The love of the Father is being poured out upon you to break the orphan spirit that oppresses you through constant feelings of abandonment and rejection. Though your earthly mother and father reject you, I receive you as my own. My hands have made you, not by mere human decision or by human descent but by My will. I unleash My Spirit to restore your identity and I break the yoke of fear and doubt off you that you may receive my love, my power to live and to think with a sound mind in Jesus’ name. Receive the revelation of My love as your Father, today!