e-votional
a message to encourage and uplift from College Heights Baptist Church
Wednesday February 11, 2009
If you would like any of the previous e-votionals, just reply to this email and let me know. Likewise, if you would like to stop receiving them.
We are excited to be able to provide the first twenty-six e-votionals (including a gospel presentation) in a printed booklet. The booklet, entitled Tough Life-Big God, is now available. The cost is $2 per book. You can email us if you would like to reserve a copy (or copies), or just pick some up on whenever the church is open. Also, you can check out my blog at www.docdeer.wordpress.com. It has several posts each week designed to help us grow in our walk with Christ.
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven’” – Matthew 6:9 (NASB)
Every dad knows what it’s like to hear those first mumbled words from their newborn child. Sooner or later, the bright eyes and the gibber jabber utter a phrase as clear as day – dada! It’s an awesome moment. To hear someone so dependent on you acknowledge who you are is an incredible thing. I’ve been blessed to hear those first words on three different occasions.
As Jesus begins to teach His disciples to pray, He teaches us to address our prayers to our Heavenly Father. There is something both simple and powerful in that title. The fact that our Father is described as being in heaven points to his majesty and greatness. We are not approaching a pauper. We are not approaching someone who lacks the means to work in and through our situation. God is the all-powerful creator and sustainer of all there is. Look around. See anything that does not bear the fingerprint of God? Nope. It’s all stamped “Made in Heaven” on the bottom. It is this omnipotent God that we have the privilege of addressing as our Father.
The fact that Jesus teaches us to call God “our Father” is intriguing. Many first century Jews may have used similar language in their prayer life, but none would approach God with the sense of intimacy encouraged by the New Testament. Jesus models that type of intimate relationship with God. In the most pressing moment of His earthly life, when He was in the garden prior to His crucifixion, Jesus prays to His “Abba Father” (Mark 14:36). Paul teaches us that because we are adopted by God into His family, we can approach Him and cry out “Abba” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). That word “Abba” is an Aramaic term perhaps best translated “da da.” It is an incredible term of closeness.
God is not just able to work in our lives. He is willing. He has both the power and the desire. We are His children. I would do anything for those three kids that called me dada. I would do all in my power to help them through whatever they were enduring. Jesus teaches us that if that’s our desire as earthly parents who are corrupted by sin, how much greater is God’s desire to do so (Matthew 7:11)?
Tap into the close relationship God has provided to you through Jesus. Because He loves us so much, the most holy and majestic being in existence has offered us a close, intimate relationship with Him. We are taught to boldly approach the throne of grace in order to find the help and mercy we need (Hebrews 4:16). Our omnipotent, loving, majestic, perfectly holy, able and willing dada is there waiting to work in our lives.
Pastor Darrell
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