Our Father

I find great hope in the fact that Jesus, in his model prayer, says to us, “Be cognizant of who you're talking to: ‘Our Father’.” Now, for those of us who've been in Christianity, that's not earth-shattering. When I said, “Our Father,” no one gasped, “How dare he!” But this was not a common practice amongst the Jews, especially of that day. You are saying, “I am equal with the Son of God.” In other words, “I am equal with God.” Is anybody else getting a little nervous now? When you say, “Our Father,” you are saying, “I have equal rights with God, the Son.” There's a reason why Jesus gives illustrations of prayer afterward because they were like, “Whoa, wait a minute. First of all, no one just walks up and says, you're my father, and you're going to listen to me. We have to make a sacrifice. No, there are ways in which this is done! We have to have a priest!” Jesus comes in and says, “If you want me to teach you how to pray, you need to have the right perspective.” I will tell you this right now. I am so exhausted. I'm so tired of reading books on prayer that do nothing but make me feel guilty. I'll tell you what - guilt never works on me. Do you want to try to guilt me? I will do the exact opposite every time. It's not right and not good, but that's who I am. But you want to motivate me with love? I will run through a brick wall for you because love is that powerful. In love, Jesus laid down his life! He was not guilted by the father. He was not shamed by the father. He was not pressured by the father. No greater demonstration of love than when Jesus said, “I laid my life down.” When people come around me and say to that God, “I'm going to pray, and you make me feel guilty when I don't,” something's off, something's wrong. He opens it up and says, “Guys, when you pray, understand the perspective you have - he's your father, that's who you're talking to,” - it's a perspective. He's gone through and removed the religion. He's gone through and removed the repetition, which is pagan. And then he says, “This is the man who is connected to you like a connection you have nowhere else.” By the way, he has to be clear, “Our Father in heaven.” Not just a father, but the father who resides over the universe.