Riff's Christian Journal

I do believe that most people would acknowledge that God, specifically Jesus who is God in human form, is the Creator of us all.

Joh_1:3  (KJV)  All things were made by him (Jesus); and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Now there came a time in a certain place when Jesus was heard praying by his disciples. They must have marveled at His praying because when he was finished one of them asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray”.

Jesus said to them, “When you pray say, Our Father.” By this Jesus told them that the first thing you should do when praying is to acknowledge to whom it is that you are praying. Not only is that person God but He also is your Father. However, who has the right to call God “Father” and why?

Throughout the New Testament, whether talking to groups of Christians or to individual Christian, the Apostle Paul would address them in this manor:

Eph_1:2  (KJV)  Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul specifically states that God is “our Father”, and he says that only when he was communicating with Christians.  So, how do we become a child of God?

Now everyone knows about John 1:12 that says:

John 1:12  But as many as received him (Jesus), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

It is by receiving Jesus, who is God, that people are given the right to become sons (children) of God.

However, very few people, even Christians themselves know about the next verse that speaks of the “sons of God” and reads:

John 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

People are not born into the family of God because they might belong to a religious family, nor are they born into God’s family because they earn their way into His family, or even will themselves to be born into God’s family.

In John 3: 3 Jesus says the following:

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

One must be “born again” before they not only can see the kingdom of God but also be able to enter into the kingdom of God, and it takes God to decide who will be “born again” and become His children.

In short, when a person is born of God (born again), as God chooses, does one receive the right to call God “our Father”. That is why Paul told the Christians, as he wrote to them, that God is our Father because they have been born into the family of God.

Therefore, only they who are true disciples of Jesus, who have been born again by the power of God, are the only ones who are given the right to call God “Father”. No one else has that right. God has no obligation to listen, or even to respond, to anyone who is not a member of His family. They have no assurance that their prayer will be answered.

How about you? Have you been born again? If so, then you have the right to do as Jesus says to do. When you pray, you can start by saying to God, “Our Father”.