Abba, Father!
"Our Father who is in Heaven!" (Lk 11:2)
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He pointedly told them whom they must address: "Our FATHER in Heaven!" (Lk 11:1,2). This was not a casual statement but a deliberate teaching. In the parallel passage in Matthew chapter six, see how many times Jesus uses the phrase, "Your Father" (vv 1,4,6,8,14,15,18,26,32). He linked every spiritual discipline, like praying, forgiving, fasting and alms-giving, to the Father. After resurrection He sent word to the disciples, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (Jn 20:27). I cannot understand where, when and why Christians slipped into the habit of addressing Jesus directly in prayer and closing it in Jesus' Name! We can't ask Jesus in Jesus' Name! Illogical!
Referring to the dispensation of the New Covenant that would begin with the death of Christ, He pre-taught His disciples, "In that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the FATHER in My Name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (Jn 16:23,24). Until Christ died the disciples had been directly asking Him whatever they wanted. They never asked the Father in Jesus' Name. Jesus emphatically pointed out the change in prayer pattern beginning with the new dispensation by the words, "Most assuredly I say to you..." The early disciples very quickly grasped this truth and we see them addressing the Father in prayer. This was also Paul's consistent practice. He said, "I bow my knees to the FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph 3:14; 1:16,17).
Let's now come to sin confession. Apostle John teaches that sins must be confessed to the "Father" and the blood of "His Son" will cleanse us from all sin (1 Jn 1:6-9). When we confess our sins "to" the Father, the Son as a merciful and faithful High Priest at the right hand of the Father advocates "for" us (1 Jn 2:1; Heb 2:17,18) and intercedes "for" us (Rom 8:34). The Holy Spirit also intercedes to the Father for us (Rom 8:26). Let's never forget this divine organisation in prayer.
Even though all spiritual blessings come through the finished work of Christ on the Cross, we are taught to ask the "Father" for them. Take for example, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the One who baptises us with the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16). But He has commanded us to ask the Father for this gift (Lk 11:13). Does this mean that we can never address Jesus in prayer? No. But praying to Jesus can be an exception and not a rule.
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