Only when I pray is a short series of thought-provoking reflections based loosely around the theme of prayer as found in Luke 11:1-13.

Today’s reading is from Romans 1:1-7

This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ. I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. NLT

Here is verse 7 again from The Message which uses the same phrase;

And I greet you now with all the generosity of God our Father and our Master Jesus, the Messiah.

Today’s reflection is a fresh look at our relationship with God! Our one Father.

Think about your own individual family relationships – brother, sister, mother and father. How would you describe each of these relationships? Are they special, close, distant? Is the family together and tight or has it collapsed and disintegrated? In particular, think about the relationship you had/have with your father. For some of you I understand this may be difficult for any one of a number of reasons – your father’s early death during your childhood perhaps, or your father’s estrangement from the family, alcoholism or some other ailment, illness or mental condition. For others it could have been a positive relationship that was supportive, loving, caring and providing for the family. For others still there may have been a Christian father in the home setting a faith-filled example pointing the family to his own heavenly Father.

This phrase in today’s reading caught my attention; God our Father. Yes, He is our Father. He is not exclusively my Father, or your Father - but ours!

That we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, in one sense for me, conjures up a very ‘60’s image of brotherly love, especially when I remember songs like, Kumbaya and The family of man keeps growing*. And yet, the implication of this fact of our relationship to each other is really quite profound; we are related! And we are related because we all have the same Father. Wow!

*Some of you reading this will be much too young to know anything about any of these songs, but if you should decide to seek them out, be warned, they come with an extra slice of cheese!

The beginning of the Lord’s Prayer (which, remember, was first suggested by Jesus as to how we should pray in Luke 11:2) begins with Our Father… Is that not confirmation enough of our relationship? Romans 8:16-17 confirms:

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. KJV

The Spirit Himself testifies and confirms together with our spirit [assuring us] that we [believers] are children of God. And if [we are His] children, [then we are His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory. Amplified Bible

Wait a minute! So, what this is actually saying is that we will share in Christ’s spiritual blessing and inheritance… Yes! That’s what it says; but have a look at that last line again…

…if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory.

Okay. So, there is a consequence or a caveat and we can look at the theological aspect of that at some other time; but being a joint-heir with Christ is the sweetest promise of quite an inheritance. How good is that! To affirm us as joint heirs with Christ, whom we know is the Son of God, is an undeniable, claim-refuting, statement of birth-right that is underscored right here! No lawyer, no matter how successful they were, could ever produce evidence that would deny our claim to this inheritance because of the guarantee of whom our Father is.

Today’s song is based on Jesus’ opening words in Luke 11:2 where He advises the disciples how prayer should begin. Listen to it now; One Father.

And there you have it; No matter where we go, no matter where we’ve been, no matter what we’ve said, no matter what we’ve done – nothing can change our claim of inheritance. Yes, we have to repent for wrong things we do and say, but understand it this way, on our spiritual Birth Certificate it is God who is identified as our Father! And nothing can change that. It has been signed in the blood of Christ.

Pray today for a fresh renewing of your relationship with our one Father!