Week 6, day 1: Small words making a massive connection with God

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (New International Version)

“Our Father in heaven: may your holy name be honoured…” (Good News Bible)

Greg Nixon writes:

“Our” and “Father”. Two short words that could be said in less than a second, or instead pondered for many minutes. There is an amazing context to “Our” that can take you from thinking of your family, to those facing trouble or persecution, to those whom we’d love to follow Jesus, or to those where we realise the need to patch things up, get in touch, encourage or support. This is a very connecting, relational prayer.

After consciously pressing into God-as-my-Father in the last couple of years, I’ll generally pray to my “Father” in public. But on my own it’s “Dad”. I find this freeing, familiar, and less formal – making it easier to be real about my thoughts, issues and hopes. My Dad knows me: He has created me and watches me grow, He knows how I choose, how I speak, how I go – He knows the way I’ll turn, what I care about, what worries me, what makes me sing. So, I’m turning to the One who knows my depths and my shallows, and who consciously adopted me as His own – that’s my Dad.

Liz Nixon writes:

When I pray the first line, I’m reminded of how much God has done in me and my heart to secure in me the knowledge that I am His beloved daughter. And it’s not just head knowledge – He’s rooted it deeply in my heart and it’s transformed the way I view Him and the way I live each day. Remembering that naturally leads me into praising and worshipping Him for His kindness in adopting me into His family. I’ve also recently started praying to Him as “Abba” – it’s a much more intimate term and in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture, is what a young child calls their Dad - it's effectively saying "Daddy". For me, it’s about stepping away from my independent streak and saying to myself and to God that He fills that role of strength, security, provision, protection and love in my life. Starting my prayers with “Abba” or Father reminds me whose I am and who I am and it’s this that then defines each day.