Jesus preached forgiveness, taught about inner freedom, cured the sick,
fought for the under privileged. Jesus took time from his hectic work to
pray. We may wonder why Jesus had to pray. The prayer of Jesus was his
communication with the Father in Heaven. Jesus sanctified his work in and
through the Father in Heaven and in union with the Holy Spirit. His
prayer gave him strength to overcome temptation. Jesus spend forty days
and nights in the desert without food and he felt hungry. At the end he
felt hungry and Satan went to tempt him Mt.4.1-4. Jesus got strength to
withstand the devil from his union with the Father in Heaven. That was
the secret! of our Lords prayers.
Jesus took time out to communicate with the Father in heaven in prayer.
Jesus literally prayed One day Jesus was praying in a certain place
Lk.11.1. Jesus thus set us a role model to find time for personal prayer.
Often times we dont ask permission from God before we start certain
things. I think asking permission is accepting the Fathers love. In many
a culture, the parents, especially the Father of the child preserves the
right to name the child, which shows leadership, authority. God named
Adam and Adam named Eve and their children. Adam named all the animals
too. Adam named his wife Eve Gen.3.20 so the man named the birds and
all the animals Gen 2.20
Jesus prayed with his disciples and even taught the disciples to pray.
One day as Jesus finished his prayers, his disciples asked him to teach
them to pray. Lord teach us to pray Lk. 11.1 and Jesus taught the
famous Lords Prayer. Jesus mandated them to pray in a certain way.
Jesus was aware that the Father in Heaven knew prior to us asking for our
needs. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him Mt.
6. 8. God knows all our needs. One day Jesus was teaching about trust in
God and he concluded the session saying, Do not be upset always. Your
father knows that you need all these things Luke12. 29. Jesus affirmed
the all-knowing God and he said, This, then, is how you shou! ld pray
Mt. 6.9 and Jesus taught the prayer, the only prayer we have as a uniform
prayer, although the other prayers vividly clarify the Father image of
God.
The Father figure is part and parcel of the teachings of Jesus. When
Simon Peter declared Jesus as the Messiah, the reaction of the Spirit
filled Messiah was This truth came to you not from any human being. It
came from the Father in Heaven. So I tell you Peter you are the rock
Mt.16.17. Jesus confirmed our faith in the all-providing God the Father
in Heaven. If an n earthly father in his sinfulness knows what to provide
for his children How much more then the Father in heaven give good
things to those who ask Him Mt. 6 11. Jesus taught about fasting and
prayer and he asked them not to be hypocritical. Jesus asked them to have
a happy heart as the! y did fast and pray. Do not put on a sad face Mt.
6. 16 so that others cannot know that you are fasting except your
Father in heaven Mt.6. 18. Often times I feel that many of our pious
people have the wrong notion that they need to put on a sad face as they
fast and pray so they look more holy.
One day Jesus was preaching to a good number of people. He might have
been inside a house. Meanwhile his mother and company arrived so one of
the listeners said, Your mother and brothers want to speak to you
Mt.12.47 and Jesus responded. Whoever does what my Father in Heaven
wants is my mother.. Mt.12. 50. Jesus was talking about the end of
times and he said the time is hidden from the Son of Man, from the angels
in heaven, It is only the Father who knows Mt.23.36 the hour of the
great! destruction. Jesus lived a life to testify to the truth. Jesus
lived a life to fulfill what the Father in heaven had set for him and
prior to the Last Supper Jesus offered his Messianic prayers for his
disciples Jesus prayed for the Disciples. Father the hour has come John
17.1.
The Jewish people sentenced Jesus because Jesus claimed to be the
Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus taught his disciples that he and the
Father is the same. I and the Father are the same. The disciples of
Jesus asked him who are you then John 8.25. In answer to the questions
of the disciples, Jesus said, when you lift up the son of man, you will
know that I am who I am John 8.28. This is reminiscent of the revelation
to Moses. Moses asked God, what he might tell the Israelites, if they
asked who send him. In answer God said, I am who I am. This is my name
forever/SP! AN Exodus 3. 14-15. This Father that Jesus refers to in
the Lords Prayer is the creator God. Jesus said about himself before
Abraham was born, I am John 8.58. This creator God is the Abba, the
Father in heaven. It is to this Father that we pray always. Just before
Jesus ascended into heaven Jesus said God then, to all peoples, cities;
baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit Mt.28 19. Jesus
