Our Father

I was thinking about something today; at church we were gathered into a circle and a number of people were praying over a mission trip. Everyone opened up the prayer like this; "Father..."

It struck me in a way that I really hadn't thought of before, which leads me to try to make obvious how much salvation is a work of God alone. Let us compare some biblical texts. Here's the setup. You've got Jesus talking to the Pharisees about how they serve the Devil.

"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin...If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does...You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." 

Now he's talking to the disciples about how to pray to their heavenly Father.

Matthew 6:9-13

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ Pray like this:

   Our Father in heaven,
      may your name be kept holy.
   ¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon.

Christ makes clear that there are two factions of people. There are those who should pray to their heavenly Father, God and those who serve their earthly Father, the Devil. Colossians and 2 Timothy also says this;

Colossians 1:13

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 ^13 [a]For He rescued us from the ^[b]domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of ^[c]His beloved Son,

2 Timothy 2:24-26

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, ²⁵ with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive ^[i]by him to do his will.

 

So then, it is obvious that from birth you are in the dominion of darkness. Born there to suffer the torment of your depravity, until such time as you were elected to be transfered from that dominion, into the dominion of God. Since brother Paul says we're dead in our trespasses and it's not until we're brought back to life that we can even see the kingdom, how then can we say it's our 'choice'? Jesus also says this very thing to Nicodemus.

John 3:3

King James Version (KJV)

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

How does one make a choice to see something, that they can't see, until that choice is already made? We've got an antecendent problem, a logic problem and an exegetical error. The short answer is you can't. That would be like visualizing a tree, before you're born. You can't possibily do that because at a minimum there is no causal relationship between you and sight. You're not even born. Which takes me to the final point; which of us chose to be born and to which family?

 

Clearly; none of us. When we pray, let us make certain that our election is sure and that we pray to our heavenly Father and do not serve the Father of Lies.