What Does It Mean to Address God As Father

Following Jesus’ teaching on how to pray, we rightfully address God as our Father (Matthew 6:9). But have we taken the time to reflect on what it actually means to call God our Father? What are the implications of Him relating to us as our Father?

God serving as the Father of believers means that He will take care of His children. The reason why Jesus tells us that we are not to be worried about our life is because the same God who feeds the birds and clothes the flowers will take care of our needs as well. for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things (Matthew 6:32). The remedy to our constant worrying is to remind ourselves that we have a Father who cares for us and will provide for our needs. To worry is in all actuality to distrust our heavenly Father. It indicates that we doubt His care and provision and think that we need to rely on ourselves or something or someone else. We can confidently ask God to give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) since He is our Father. Because He has promised to meet our needs (not our wants mind you). True rest for the weary can only be found in recognizing God as our Father.

The same is true in regard to our trials. When the most awful affliction or the most turbulent tribulation comes upon us, we have strength to bear it, understanding that our heavenly Father has ordained and arranged it. He does nothing intended for our ill but only for our good. As the author of Hebrews points out in relation to our earthly fathers, For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but [God] disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:10-12). The discipline of our trials are for our good, serving to grant us the privilege to become holy. So know that while you may not understand the pain of the trial you currently experience, you have a Father who knows what is best and intends it for your good. He loves us so much that He is willing to make us experience some of the most difficult seasons in order to teach us to trust Him more (2 Corinthians 1:8-9) and for us to have a greater understanding of Him (Job 42:5). What a great comfort to have such a Father in control!

It is because God serves as our Father that we can move forward with great confidence when our plans fail, when the “yes” we were hoping for turns into a “no,” or when our dreams may shatter. There is no such thing as coincidence and ultimately we do not chart our own course in life (Proverbs 16:9, 33; 21:1; Daniel 4:34-35; Ephesians 1:11). When a door closes, knowing that God is our Father softens the blow because we then realize that He knows what is best and promises to give us what is best. That those who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing (Proverbs 34:10). The closed door signifies that whatever it was, was not good or the best for us at the moment. Oh, how often we fret when things don’t go our way when really we should rejoice that our Father is looking out for us and seeking only to give us what is best for us. Since we don’t know what is best for us (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25), it is such a blessing that we have a Father Who does and gives what is good to those who ask Him! (Matthew 6:11). These are things that God knows is good, not necessarily what we may falsely think is good for us.

Let’s not take for granted the privilege we have to call God our Father nor forget what that actually means. Thomas Watson was right when he said, “There is more sweetness in this word ‘Father,’ than if we had ten thousand worlds!” And this is not a privilege that everyone in the world shares but only those who have been born again by God’s Spirit and placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13). Do you have this privilege to address God as your Father? And if you do, are you resting in it?

Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee