1. Our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:9)

God is a Father.  He never became one, He always has been and always will be.  He is a Father because He has always had a son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus never came into existence; He always has been and always will be.  Yes, He came to this earth, born of Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, but that was not when He began to exist, but the moment He, the Son of God, became the Son of Man.  God the Son became the God-Man.

For some, God as a Father will be a wonderful image to get a hold of due to the positive experiences of our earthly fathers.  For others, quite the opposite.  Distant fathers, absent fathers, abusive fathers, departed fathers, never known fathers.  For such, the wonderful news is that God is the perfect Father who loves us with an everlasting love, the love He has always poured out on His Son through the Holy Spirit.  That is the love He has for you this morning.  Through Jesus, He has adopted us into His family so we can know God, not just as “Almighty God” but everlasting Father.  He is the Father you always wanted, needed and now have. 

Heaven is the place where God rules and reigns.  It is not so much a geographical location as a different realm, a different dimension.  It is the throne room of the universe and our Father is the one seated on the throne who is sovereign over all things.  What a comfort that brings to us as we pray and bring our requests before Him.  We bring them to one who is good, kind, loving and powerful.  He can do all we ask and much, much more. 

Finally, notice it says “Our Father”.  Even as we pray privately, we still pray together.  We join our prayers with prayers of our brothers and sisters in the church and know we are in this together.  We are made for community, for relationship.  There is no solo Christianity.