Of course, we cannot normally say this of an earthly father; we do not choose our own human father. But sometimes, perhaps, if someone has grown up an orphan, he might have had the thought, ‘Oh, it would have been nice to have so-and-so for my Father.’ That thought may cross somebody's mind. But you can think it with God, and this is how you have to pray. You have to be of a mind whereby you want to have God to be your Father. You want to begin to respect God and obey him. You want to have him lead you and bless you, and own you and make you his child. The true God is a personal God. ‘Oh, if I could relate to God!’ That is the beginning of prayer. We cannot even begin to pray unless we want to have God for our Father, unless we can begin to say, ‘Our Father’, even if we are only seeking him. The Bible tells us he will become our Father if we seek him and find him. So I will go and say, ‘My Father’, ‘Our Father.’ That is the beginning of being able to pray: to really desire and feel that you want to be near to God and that you want to know his favour and his protection and his provision. You want him to know you and bless you and take you to be his child. Now, when we begin to feel like that, we can begin to pray.
‘Oh, but I never thought like that. I just was in a tight corner and I wanted some help. I couldn't think of anyone else to turn to. I just wanted God to help me out this once, and then I'll go my way.’ Then you cannot pray acceptably. You have got to be able to say, ‘Oh, God, I want to be your child and I want you to be my Father for ever, and I want to feel a relationship with you.’ If you can't begin to feel like that, you are wasting your breath. That is what prayer is about: being able to say, ‘Our, my Father.’ So we shall want that relationship, and we will be prepared to be his children, and obey him, and follow him, and depend upon him, and we will recognize his fatherly rights – that he has made us, that we belong to him, that he owns us – and we will reverence his dignity and his majesty as our heavenly Father.
‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.’ Oh, when you pray, you have got to be prepared to reverence your God and to acknowledge who he is. You have got to pause perhaps, and say to yourself, ‘He is my Creator. He made everything that is made. He is infinitely wise and powerful. He is eternal. He is everywhere. He knows everything. He sees into my heart. He is holy and he is just. I deserve to be condemned by him, but oh, he is full of mercy and love also. And he is a sovereign God. He has a great plan, and he is absolutely infallible.’ In my mind, as it were, will go on my knees and I will say, ‘Oh, Father, I worship thee and revere thee.’ That is the only way to pray: to have a lot of reverence for God, to realize who he is and how great and powerful he is, and how loving and how merciful he is. That is what the Lord is saying. ‘When ye pray, say [and feel], [My] Father.’ Now, when we begin to feel that we want him to be our Father and when we begin to revere and respect him and acknowledge who he is, then we are drawing near; then we are beginning to understand.
The Lord Jesus goes on and he says, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ If you're going to come to God and if you're really going to pray, this is the next thing. You have got to really want the Father's spiritual kingdom. ‘Thy kingdom come.’ What does that mean? First of all, it means this: ‘Oh, God, may thy kingdom come in my heart and in my life. May thy kingdom come in the case of thousands of others. May thousands of people be converted to thee so that thou dost rule in the hearts of many, many people, and thy kingdom comes eternally in heaven forever and ever.’ That is what we are asking. So in order to really come to God, we have to say, ‘I understand there are two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of this present world, and until I'm converted I belong solely to that earthly kingdom. We are just out for ourselves, out for the things we can have, serving ourselves in this life. But there is another kingdom, a spiritual kingdom which is made up of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and all the angels and all the people who've ever come to know the Lord and received spiritual life. They have been made members of Christ’s spiritual kingdom. They have come to know God. They are his children and I want to be a member of that kingdom. I want to leave the world side. I want to cease to give all my time and my effort and my life for this vain and passing world. I want to belong to the Lord's kingdom. I want to transfer from one kingdom to the other. I want to have spiritual life and know God and be his child.’ You are saying, ‘Oh Lord, I want to be on the side of the spiritual kingdom. I realize there are these two kingdoms. I don't want to go on as a rebel anymore. I want to belong to the kingdom of God.’
‘Thy will be done.’ It is a similar request. ‘I used to serve myself. I used to do only what I wanted to do. Now, I want to do the Lord's will. I want to be guided by him and by his word. I want to belong to him and obey him.’ The Lord Jesus says, this is how you have got to pray. You have got to desire that God would be your Father. You have got to reverence him. And you have got to recognize that there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of the rebels and the kingdom of those who have come to love the Lord. Then you have got to desire to be in that kingdom. You have got to want the good of that kingdom, and to stand with that kingdom.