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In Order. Our Father

Isaiah 64-66

Our Father

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him,

“Lord teach us to pray….” (Luke 11:1)

Jesus’ teaching of how to pray began with these words,

            “Our Father in heaven…” (Luke 11:2)

The prayer began with a reminder of the relationship the God of heaven has with His people.  He is their Father in heaven.  For all of mankind, He is the God of heaven.  For those who are His people, He is “our Father in heaven.”

This has been true throughout human history.  Isaiah said concerning the nation of Israel,

64:8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. 

Our Father in heaven is a Father who molds and shapes us the way a potter would mold and shape a lump of clay.  We are the work of His hand and yet there are two ways we can respond to our Father.

There is, what we might call, a negative response.  God describes this response in this way.

65:2 I (God) have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; 

3 A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face;

Then there is the positive response:

64:5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways.

In God’s description of both the negative and the positive, He shows us the response of His people and His response to them.

We can be rebellious, which God explains as those who walk in a way that is not good, according to what they think.

  • God’s response? Provoked to anger. 
  • Why? Because, no longer is He the potter, molding and shaping the life of one of His children.

We can rejoice and do righteousness, which God explains as those who remember (and obviously follow) His ways.

  • God’s response?  He meets with him or her.  He has a good relationship with this individual.
  • Why? Because He can continue to mold and shape the life of one of His children.

We know that in every relationship between and child and a father, the relationship can be either good or bad.  The same is true for God the Heavenly Father and His children.

It is within our “power” to not cause this relationship to be a bad relationship.  We allow Him to mold and shape how we live our life. We let Him mold and shape how we think and how we act in every situation of our daily life.

Our daily personal desire and prayer from Luke 11:2 is: “My Father in heaven, Hallowed be (make holy) Your name (in my life)…..Your will be done in me, as it is in heaven.” 

Robert McClendon

Bob McClendon grew up in Pennsylvania, spent most of his adulthood in Colorado, and is now ready to learn how to be a Texan. He married his high school sweetheart, Tracy, in 1975. They have two...more