"In Heaven"

“when you pray, you should pray like this:

'Our Father in heaven, may your name always be kept holy.
10 May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need for each day.
12 Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
13 And do not cause us to be tempted, but save us from the Evil One.’"       Matthew 6:9-13(NCV)

*Note: Periodically I will present the Lord’s Prayer in a different translation. Most of us know it from the King James translation (KJV) of 1611. Last week’s translation was the New International Version (NIV). Today’s version is the New Living Translation (NLT) which uses the contemporary language of Kenneth Taylor’s paraphrase, The Living Bible (TLB). I am hoping that doing this will help you to connect with the prayer in a new, fresh, and thoughtful way.

Reflection
 
Where is God? This prayer indicates that God is literally in the heavens (the word for heaven in Hebrew, “shamayim”,which is behind the Greek of the New Testament, is plural. The biblical picture of the residence of God is that the immediate world surrounding us, atmosphere, air, all of it, is where God is. This is not pantheism (God is everything and vice versa), nor panentheism (God is in everything) rather it is simply that God’s immediate presence to all humans is real.

I hesitate to use the following illustration, but I trust that you won’t misuse it. In the Lion King there is a scene where Simba experiences the immediate presence of his Father, Mufasa, from whom he receives affirmation and direction.
“ The immediate presence of his father”. The Lion King’s circle of life is not Christianity. Christianity teaches a beginning and final restoration of all things broken. Christianity is linear, not circular, a very distinct difference from other religions. Nor does Christianity teach that we can channel dead ancestors. That is unbiblical. However, the picture of a believer being aware of and attentive to the immediate presence of her or his “heavenly” (God’s immediate presence as close as the air we breathe) Father giving direction and encouragement is perfectly biblical.

Your Father “in heaven” is, as the biblical says in a myriad of ways, indeed “ever present” . And as Spirit, God’s Spirit “speaks” to your spirit in a multitude of different ways. Yes, your Father is there for you. Read 1 Corinthians 2:10-16
and let it sink in.         

Today's Prayer

“Our Father in heaven, thank you for reminding me that I am part of your worldwide family because you are my procreative Father and my Adoptive Father and I am among the billions whom you love. I also thank you that I am among those who believe and receive your love and have chosen to willing accept you as Father, Abba, Daddy. I realize this is true because you’ve given me the ability to believe and receive--- it’s all You. And Father thank you for the reminder that you are there, here, always encouraging, directing, loving and strengthening. Unbelievable! Yet, I believe. Amen”