2 - AVINU - Our Father

 

Yeshua’s “Avinu” אבינו

(Our Father)
His Patterns for Prayer

  1. “Our Father...”

First, we acknowledge God as a Father.

It prepares us to be a son or daughter of the good Father.  Some call this “praising” God.  This poses a problem:  most people are quite unpracticed in “praising” anything or anyone. So the phrase may have no practical meaning.   We are natural born complainers.   To succeed in prayer (and many other areas of life) we need to find the good and praise it: in others.  In God.  Let’s start now.  

Fill in the blanks and pray for these things.  The items in blue are the things you do and say

God, you are a father to me.  You always do what a true father would.  Thank you for caring for me, for teaching me, for never leaving me.  

(Isaiah 9:6)  "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called 
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.


So here is the pattern of "OUR FATHER" patterned prayer, the first step


I am  listening to you, I bring my inquiry to you. 

(tell god how he   has shown you the way)

  • Father, I need your direction on this…. ________________


Wonderful, Miraculous פלא (Peleh)

You work wonders, you are too wonderful to conprehend


Counselor יועץ (YoAytz)

Even though you are peleh, miraculous, you lean in and hear my needs as a counselor

  • God, counsel me in this area, where I need your direction _______

  • Please help me as I turn away from these things which your counsel says lead farther from you:

    • paths .. ________________

    • arrangements… ________________

    • choices… ________________

    • associations … ________________

    • other…  ________________

    • (an affirmation, a praise)   ________________

Mighty God, אל גבור (El Gibor)

I recognize your power & might, I am confident in your leadership.  

  • Tell God how he has displayed his power.   Tell him you need to see his power.________________  

Fatherin Eternity 

אבי עד  (Avi Ahd)

You discipline and teach like a true father, do so in my need …

  • exert your power in….     ________________


Prince of Peace, שר שלום

I know that you make plans for peace.

(has he brought peace in areas of your life, commend Him for those gifs of peace)

  • Father, these areas need resolution, and the reign of Your peace…   ________________

No government is like yours, they rule by might, by force or [at best] consensus.   You rule by your love for us. 


There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

 From then on and forevermore. Isaiah 9:7


And the government will rest on His shoulders; Isaiah 9:6  

  • leader[s] we are praying for.  ________________ 

PRAY FOR, NOT AGAINST - 

1 Timothy 2:1-2. “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

 

YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE YOUR LEADERS. YOU HAVE TO PRAY FOR THEM.
The path to peace and salvation runs through prayer for leaders. As background, the leader at the time was not a Democrat or Republican, a Democratic Socialist, a Libertarian or even a member of Kanye West’s Birthday Party. He was Herodian. A political party drenched in open murder, taxation without representation, and religious oppression. The “leader” Paul knew at the time this was written was Herod the Great’s great grandson, Herod Agrippa II. The Herodians were non-Jews that ruled Judea and Samaria at the behest of Rome. Herod the Great, who built Masada, renovated the Temple and much else of Jerusalem, came to power and his first act by murdering 45 heads of prominent Jewish families. And that was not a one-off: As a non-Jew, Herod wanted a prominent Jewish wife and married Mariamne, a direct descendant of the Maccabees. When he suspected his wife of undermining him. He murdered his own wife a her AND her entire family. It’s God's will that we pray for our leaders. NOT that we like them.


THAT is the political party that Paul urges that entreaties and prayers be made for. I am humbled - I am supposed to pray even for a leader THAT awful? I am supposed to make NOT just prayers but... “entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2  for kings and all who are in authority” even if I hate them or their policies? In the most prophetic of terms, my answer is…

Shape me, Father, as you wish.

(Isaiah 64:8)  "But now, O LORD, Thou art our Father, We are the clay, and Thou our potter; And all of us are the work of Thy hand."

  • In these matters and those you bring to my mind, I want to be your person, formed and re-formed by you.    ________________

God, You are MY FATHER (an affirmation, a praise) ________________

(Jeremiah 3:19) [God is speaking here] ""Then I said, 'How I would set you among My sons, And give you a pleasant land, The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!' And I said, 'You shall call Me, My Father, And not turn away from following Me.'"

You are planning for my good, for the good of your people.  You have an inheritance for me.  I am making the choice to follow you



On to Part 3 >>>


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