Our relationship with our earthly fathers is very important, but how much more our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father. In your relationship with God and other people, you will only continue to grow if you continuously experience a deeper and fuller revelation of the Fatherhood of God.
Practical Guidelines
- Take time often to think deeply, meditate, reflect and pray about what it means that God is a Father, your Father and our Father.
- Talk to other believers and ask them how they understand the significance of God being our Father.
- Sometimes it is very meaningful to pray a one-word prayer, just the word “Father”, for days on end. As you spend time praying only this one word, you will experience how God, your Father, comes close to you and fills your whole being; that He is completely sufficient in all circumstances and for all your needs, including your need for security, care, acceptance and protection.
A Scripture-based prayer on the Fatherhood of God
Eternal Father, You are my Creator, who made me and formed me. (Deuteronomy 32:6) I declare that You are my Father, my God, the Rock, my Saviour. (Psalm 89:26; Isaiah 63:16) I am the clay, You are the Potter; I am the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8) That is why I declare with all the nations of the world: “I believe in God the Father, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” Thank you for your covenant promise that You will be a Father to us, and we will be your sons and daughters. (2 Corinthians 6:18)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10) Your Son, Jesus Christ, revealed You to the world. (Matthew 11:27) Reveal yourself to the church and to the world as the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. You are the One from whom all the good and perfect gifts come. (James 1:17)
I pray that we will all be one as You and your Son are one. (John 14:20; 17:21) Father, I want to know You for who You really are and I want to glorify You as your Son glorified You. I want to know You as the One who was from the beginning. The One who was and is and will always be. (1 John 2:13; John 17:1-4) Father, my desire is to have a personal relationship with You in the way Moses and Abraham lived face-to-face with You.
Father, I accept your discipline because I know You discipline those You love, and you punish everyone You accept as your children. I endure hardship as discipline; because I know You discipline me for my good that I may share in your holiness. I know that your discipline will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:6-11) I want to honour You like a son honours and respects his father, and a servant his master. (Malachi 1:6) As your Son brought you glory on earth, I also want to bring You glory. (John 17:4)
God, in your holy dwelling, You are a father to the fatherless, and a defender of widows. (Psalm 68:5) As a father has compassion on his children, so You LORD, have compassion on those who fear You. (Psalm 103:13) Because I am Your child, You sent the Spirit of your Son into my heart. Through the Spirit You have given me, I am no longer a slave, but your child. For I did not receive a spirit that makes me a slave, but I received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him I cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with my spirit that I am God’s child. Now if I am a child, then I am an heir—heir of God and co-heir with Christ, if indeed I share in His sufferings in order that I may also share in His glory. (Galatians 4:5-7; Romans 8:15-17)
Father, You promised Abraham that all nations will be blessed through him. Your Word says that those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Since I am a spiritual child of Abraham, I pray that You will bless all nations through me. (Galatians 3:6-10) Father, teach me to be a true worshipper who will worship You in spirit and truth, for that is the kind of worshipper You seek. (John 4:23) Your Word teaches that the Son could do nothing by himself; He did only what He saw You, the Father, do. (John 5:19) Father, show me what You want me to do, so I can do it.
