Our Father
by Chris Courtois
For many of us the Lord’s Prayer is something we can rattle off without even having to think about it. Perhaps today might be a good time to stop, think and meditate on this verse.
For some of us the ‘father concept’ is a difficult one because our natural fathers didn’t reflect much of the character and personality of our Heavenly Father. If our father was very busy and didn’t have time for us, we expect God to be the same. ‘It’s really a bit much to expect that God would have time for me’, we might think.
If our father was a very strict disciplinarian, we would expect God to be the same: a disciplinarian who’s going to punish us for the smallest mistake we make.
So isn’t it wonderful to hear Jesus call God ‘Our Father’? In Hebrew the word ‘Abba’ means father, dad, daddy, or ‘my daddy’! Jesus is telling us to call the Creator of the whole Universe ‘Our Father’, ‘Our Daddy!’.
From His side Abba accepts us – each one of us – as His children. We are God’s kids. As any good father, Abba knows each one of us and He knows us in a deep, deep way. It’s hard to understand that the Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, knows each one of us and every detail about us and yet He does and he still accepts us.
You could live for 50 – 60 years in the U.K., be a good citizen and all that goes with it, but do you think the Queen knows you? Does she know your name? Does she have time for you? Can you go to the Palace to have tea with the Queen? Not usually! But the King of Kings knows even my name. He has time for each one us. We can go to Him without an invitation. We can share everything with Him, the good and the bad, because He’s our loving Father. He’s Abba now and will always be Abba: my Daddy!
Prayer: Thank you God that you are the very best of fathers - a father who knows and loves all his children - including me! I want to come to you and share with you all that's happening in my life - thank you for being interested in me. In Jesus, Amen
Chris Courtois is originally from Belgium and has lived in South Africa for 30 years. During that time, he and his wife Colleen became involved in Christian Telephone Counselling with Telefriend. In 2002 Chris and Colleen joined the Ellel Ministries team in the UK and now find it a great privilege to bring freedom to the captives through healing and deliverance.
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