FATHER...DADDY
Keypoints from Max Lucado:
- Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt "Oh Daddy!"
- Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.
- Forget greatness; seek littleness. Trust more, strut less. Make lots of requests, and accept all the gifts.
- It's hard to show off and call God "Daddy" at the same time. Impossible in fact.
- God apparently likes to chat in the closet. He's low on fancy, high on accessibility.
- Just as a happy child cannot mis-hug, the sincere heart cannot mis-pray.
- If prayer depends on how I pray, I'm sunk. But if the power of prayer depends on the One who hears the prayer, and if the One who hears the prayer is my Daddy, then I have hope.
12.29.14 Abba, Baba, Dada....
Luke 11:1-2 MSG
One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”So he said, “When you pray, say, Father,....
Prayer begin by directing our attention and focus, by addressing God with the childlike, Daddy. The term Jesus uses is Abba, which is the Papa or Daddy equivalent in Aramaic for Father. This isn't a formal type of language. This isn't a stuffy, highbrow type of address. It is the joyful, exuberant, honest approach of a child to the source of strength and assurance. It doesn't HAVE to be Daddy. For some, to address God as Mommy feels very right and good. The key is to come into the conversation as if sitting in the warmth of a parental lap, snuggled into the security and strength therein, ready to share joys, hopes, hurts, and know God has his/her hands wrapped around with love. 'Come as a little child' really has merit here. (BTW...Baba is father in both Chinese and Greek!)
Further research on word Abba: (http://studentsoul.intervarsity.org/names-of-god)
Recent scholarship has shown that, although the New Testament was written in Greek, the main language that Jesus and his disciples spoke was undoubtedly Aramaic, an ancient regional language. The Aramaic word Abba appears three times in the New Testament (Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) and each time it is immediately translated as Pater for readers unfamiliar with Aramaic. It seems that when Jesus spoke of God as Father in Aramaic, he used the term Abba. It is particularly remarkable, then, that Abba is an intimate word for father. It indicates some of the very first syllables a baby might pronounce in reference to his father — something like Daddy or Papa, but even more like Dada. God, the Father of Jesus and his disciples, is Dada.Dada....that certainly puts our relationship with God Almighty on a little different basis.
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| This prayer to Abba includes prayers for family, healing, gratitude for moments of Creation glory and medical personnel, world events and places, members of our church family, and more. |
Matthew 6:5 MSG
And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?Come before God as a child - with childlike innocence, humility, exuberance. Come using the word 'Daddy' 'Papa' 'Abba' 'Dada' - it is hard to impress another when using these terms. God doesn't need eloquence, God wants honesty. God doesn't desire a Broadway play of liturgy. God wants the simple expression of our hurts and pains, our joys and desires. I wish more people who vow 'I can't pray in public' would remember this. Fancy words aren't important. Heart is everything. May we share our heart with God, curled up in our loving Daddy's lap, and pour out our thoughts and feelings. And then, while still wrapped up in that love, to be still and listen. What is my loving Abba telling me?
12.31.14 Closets?
Matthew 6:6 MSG
Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage.
God wants me in the closet? That would work, but probably any spot where we are alone and can focus on what's important: God. If we are to come as a child, maybe that spot would be in the middle of the playroom, among the toys. Actually, I like that analogy - come to God in prayer in the midst of WHEREVER we are. At work? Pray. Outside? Pray. In the kitchen? Pray. Driving? Pray. Sometimes driving alone or taking walks alone is my best time to chat with God. The key is to find a place and time when you can come honestly and simply. God is accessible everywhere and anytime. Prayer doesn't have to take place only on Sunday morning in a fancy church. Daily prayer. Hourly prayer. Living prayer. And maybe even in the closet.
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