Essay
Our Father
William P Pelriine Jr.
As Christians, we are taught to honor our
father, and that there is no greater father than God the Father.
Practically any male (of age) can become a father. You didn’t need to take a
biology course to figure that out.
Anyone who has fathered a child knows that it is easier to father a child than to raise one. A dog can sire a litter of puppies just as easily as the average guy can father a family. Then comes the tough love: raising those children to become responsible adults. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). *
One of the things I found growing up was I was raised more by my mother than by
my father. My mother stayed home with us kids while my father went to work
and supported the family through his labor. In a way, I didn’t have a
father as much as I had a mother. When I wanted or needed something “Mom”
was the first word out of my mouth.
Even after I got out on my own, many times I found myself not knowing where to turn, crying out in spirit asking, “Why Mom? Why about everything? What should I do?” Unfortunately, Mom wasn’t there, and even if she was, she didn’t have the answers to my questions about my state of life.
When I was a child I learned how to pray "The Lord’s Prayer", also called "The Our Father". My parents took me to church as a child. In church we prayed "The Our Father". It wasn’t until I was 24 years old that I actually prayed that prayer on my own. After I started praying that prayer I realized that I not only have a mother, but I have a father. I have a father, who, I was taught, through Christ, adopted me and calls me son. He is a marvelous Father who is always with me and whose spirit fills me and causes me to call him Dad.
The Our Father is a prayer that Jesus Christ taught His disciples when one of them asked Him how to pray. Perhaps you are wondering how to pray and would like to know God in a personal way as I do. I would like to share this prayer with you and will close this essay with that. I believe we have a Father in heaven that loves us and cares about us enough to send His only begotten son to die for us to have our sins forgiven and have everlasting life. Pray this prayer often when you need to know where to turn and I pray that God will guide you.
The Our Father
“Our Father, in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your
will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us
not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
(Matthew 6:9b-13)*
May the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.