Our relationships naturally express themselves in communication. When my ringing phone lights up with the picture of my mother or my close friend, I’ll happily answer even if I’m hauling groceries to the house in the rain. (But, on the other hand, when it flashes an unfamiliar number, I rarely feel compelled to respond.) The mutual love I share with certain people makes me eager to talk with them.
Our most important relationship, of course, is the one we have with God, and prayer is the precious communication that expresses our love. In the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he deliberately told them to begin with “Our Father”—just two small words that remind us our God is no distant deity but a loving and relational father. We approach God as his eager and confident children, expecting that he will listen and respond by giving us what is good.
Having God as father also reminds us of the relationship we have with all of his other children. Not only do we say “Father” but we say “Our Father.” We don’t come to God alone but we come connected to all who also belong to him. Like children at the dinner table, we share in a family conversation with our heavenly parent.
And we pray for God’s other children as we pray for ourselves: Not just my daily bread, but our daily bread. Not just my need for forgiveness, but our need for forgiveness. Not just my rescue from sin, but rescue from sin for all of us.
Let us pray.
Megan Hill is the author of Praying Together: The Priority and Privilege of Prayer in Our Homes, Communities, and Churches. You can follow her on Twitter at @mevanshill. These devotions draw upon themes in Praying Together by Megan Hill, ©2016, published by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. www.crossway.org.
