In Peter Allison's sermon 'Praying to Our Father,' the focus is on the transformative power of approaching God as 'Our Father' in prayer, as instructed by Jesus. The sermon explores the Lord's Prayer from Luke 11, illustrating the intimate relationship believers have with God through adoption. Allison emphasizes that prayer is vital to the Christian life, akin to breathing for an infant, and it reflects our dependence and communion with God. The sermon contrasts the 'orphan spirit,' characterized by self-reliance and insecurity, with the 'spirit of adoption,' which imbues believers with a sense of belonging, peace, and confidence in God's love. This adoption is not a result of human action but a divine choice, granting believers the status of children of God and joint heirs with Christ. The sermon highlights the privileges and responsibilities of this relationship, urging believers to cultivate a prayer life that reflects their adoption, and to embrace the security and assurance of God's eternal love and plans for them.

Please turn now in God's word to Luke chapter 11. As we continue our look at Jesus' instruction in prayer, And as I said last week, it's our intention, my intention to spend some time in looking at prayer and Jesus' instruction to His disciples. So hear God's word. To pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. So he said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And he said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, Lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him." And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give to you. I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you.

Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. And if a son asks for bread from any father among you, Will He give him a stone?

Or if He asks for a fish, will He give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if He asks for an egg, will He offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. May the Lord revive our hearts according to His loving kindness. Almighty Heavenly Father, we pray that as we hear your word that it might be mixed with faith and that what we have learned this morning out of your word may move us to closer communion and fellowship with you.

May ask, Lord, that you would sanctify this vessel of clay and these sinful lips to proclaim the riches of Your grace in Christ. Amen. Prayer for a Christian is like breathing for an infant. Infants breathe when they are born, and if they don't breathe, they don't live very long. They aren't alive.

And so likewise, Christians pray when they are born again. And no prayer, just like no breathing for an infant, no prayer, is evidence of no saving faith. A little prayer is evidence of pride, a self-sufficiency that sees no need, little need of asking God for anything. But even though prayer is something that is automatic as it were, it arises naturally from within those who are born from above, like breathing to a newborn infant. Even though it is in that sense arising naturally automatically as it were, it is something that can be studied by those seeking to grow and to excel.

Just like breathing can be studied by those seeking to excel in areas that require good control of our breath. Things like singing or running or improving one's health. There are things that we can learn about breathing. Things that if you're a singer that you need to know about breathing in order to do it well. And in the same way then this morning, we can say that we can learn, just as this disciple who heard Jesus pray, we can learn how to pray better.

This disciple that asked Jesus, Lord teach us to pray, probably wasn't somebody who had no idea how to pray. But after hearing Jesus pray, and hearing the fervency and the intimacy and the communion that he had with his father, after hearing that, he wanted to improve his praying. He wanted to grow in this area, and he asked Jesus, teach us. Praying, as we saw last week, is crying out to God. It's entreating God to provide what we don't deserve, and what We can't provide for ourselves, but we desperately need.

But it's not just seeking God for something. Prayer is also seeking for God. To pray is to have communion with God, our Father. That's the first point in Jesus' instruction, that God is our Father. And it's probably one of the most significant points in all that we think about prayer because it affects our very posture in prayer it affects our attitude it affects the whole context in which We come to the come and pray Because we are coming to our Father.

And so the very first point in Jesus' instruction on how to pray is that God is our Father. Our Father who is in heaven, a heavenly Father. And this is really an incredible statement. God is our Father. The one who created the world is our Father.

The one who holds the hearts of kings in his hand, and who points them in whatever direction he will, he chooses. He's our Father. The one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the gold that exists in the world. That is our Father. But probably most incredible of all is that God, who is completely above and separate from his creation, God who is not a man that he should change his mind, God who doesn't have a body like men, God whose thoughts are far above our thoughts, whose ways are above our ways, that this God should condescend to be our Father.

This is really the heart of what it is to be a Christian. It's to have God as our Father. To know Him as our Heavenly Father. Now like the Trinity, you know that God is three persons and one God, like the Trinity, this is not a concept that was emphasized in the Old Testament. There's only a very, very few places in the Old Testament that refer to God as our Father.

We don't generally see saints addressing God as their Father. The few places where it does occur are looking forward to Christ. They're prophetically speaking of Christ. David says in Psalm 89, He shall cry to me, You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. That was a messianic psalm speaking of Christ being the fulfillment of the covenant with David.

Or Isaiah 63 where the prophet says, you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer. From everlasting is your name. But there are very few places in the Old Testament where God is called our Father. We could say then that Father is the covenant name of God in the New Testament. It was how Jesus often, often spoke of God as His Father.

And So we have hundreds of times, three or four hundred times in the New Testament, God is referred to either in prayer or in a dress as our Father. So how do we become children of God? How does God become our Father? We became children of our earthly Father by an act of conception. Our sonship was a result of a decision that He made.

See, adoption is not the child choosing a father. That would be ludicrous, wouldn't it? Adoption is the Father choosing His children. Choosing those who were not naturally children, but choosing someone and making out of the family and bringing them into the family. And likewise our becoming children of the heavenly father is not a result of our decision or our action, It's a result of God's action, God's choice, God's decision.

As many, John said in John 1, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right or authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. This is a legal or a forensic declaration by God, on God's part. By it we become His children. He has given us the authority to as many as believe in His name. He has given the authority that's speaking legally.

It's not speaking of a transformation within us as sanctification accomplishes. It's speaking of an action, a legal action, that by God's choice, by God's decision, He has given to those who believe in Him the authority, the right, the legal right to become his children. This is one of the benefits of our salvation, and it is appropriated and received by faith. Now, adoption is this legal act, just like it is humanly. You go to court and there is a legal declaration made that brings a child who is not in the family into the family.

So adoption by our Heavenly Father is that, legal act, it is also a familial act. See, it is in love, it is in love The Father predestined us to adoption as sons through Christ to Himself. It is in love that this was done before the foundation of the world. And He calls us, our Heavenly Father calls us to imitate Him as dear children. See we are by nature children of wrath.

Jesus talks about our fathers, our earthly fathers, being evil. Being evil. But even these evil fathers, he says, know how to give good gifts. But we, by nature, were children of wrath. We had no inherent right to be adopted.

There was nothing in us that God desired to adopt. There was no benefit, as it were, to him. Sometimes Roman families who didn't have any children would look around to see somebody who was a young man, who was promising, who had good ability, good sense, who had gifts, and he would adopt that person to be his heir. Somebody that he could entrust his wealth to, somebody that would extend his legacy. But that's not why God the Father has adopted us.

There was nothing in us that he desired, nothing that we could give to him. God adopted us in love because He loved us. God loved us from before the foundation of the world. Before we were even born, God loved us. That means that there was an existence to us even before.

There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Paul said, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor powers nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor anything nor height nor depth nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. But then in the fullness of time in history, so God loved us before time, before the foundation of God, before we actually existed. But in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son that He might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. So no one is adopted who is not regenerated.

And no one is regenerated who is not also adopted. You see, justification addresses our relationship to the law. We are as children of wrath, we are under the condemnation of the law. In justification, Christ forgives us our sins and imputes to us His righteousness. He puts that on our account.

And so that addresses our relationship to the law. We are, Paul says, no longer under condemnation. That's justification. But we've passed from death to life. But definitive sanctification addresses our relationship to the power of sin.

Sin no longer has dominion over us. When we are saved, there is a definitive sanctification such that we are new creatures in Christ and sin no longer reigns in us. It's still present, but it no longer reigns in us. But adoption addresses our relationship to God. Our relationship to God.

He is not only our creator, not only our lawgiver, not only our judge, not only our sovereign, but He now is our Father. Adoption makes God our Father when He adopts us. Our adoption tells us a lot about our prayer. Because as adopted sons of God, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, we are adopted sons of God. Our adoption tells us that we are at the peak of grace and privilege, that we have God, the Creator as our Father.

A God who loves us, a God who has loved us, a God who always will love us, a God who owns everything in the earth, a God who is able to give us anything. There is nothing. Even the Holy Spirit, God will give us. God our Father. So what are some of the benefits then?

What does it mean? What's the significance of that God is our Father? Well, first we have His name put on us. We have His name. If God is our Father, and we are His children, then we have His name upon us.

And the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe, the Proverb says. See, only God's children have God's name put upon them. Only His children enjoy the protection and safety of His name. These are all things that ought to influence and ought to drive and ought to affect the posture, our posture in prayer. We are His children.

We have His name upon us. We have his protection, the protection of his name. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego ran to this strong tower when Nebuchadnezzar threatened them with death if they didn't bow down to his image. They said in Daniel 3, if that's the case, if that's the case Nebuchadnezzar, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He will deliver us from your hand, O King. Stephen in the New Testament, the deacon ran to this tower of refuge and was safe when the Jews stoned him.

Acts 7, the end of the chapter, records that as they stoned Stephen, he was calling upon God his father and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And God did. So the second benefit of adoption is that we are brought under God's fatherly care. Like as a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those that fear Him. A father has a natural pity, a natural concern, a natural empathy for what his children are going through, what they're suffering.

He knows and he has a pity for us. Pity is a response that leads someone to offer relief. When you have pity on somebody, when you take pity on somebody, you extend help, you extend aid. You reach out your hand, you open your heart, and you render aid. And so as our Father, God has pity on us in our distresses, in our needs.

As our Father, He knows our needs, even before we ask. Jesus says that he knows What we need that we need to eat and drink he knows that we need shelter Because God is our father we don't have to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear or where we will live. Jesus said, your Father knows that you need all these things, even before you ask. Because We are brought under God's fatherly care as His adopted children. We are given the privileges and the liberties of children of God.

Liberty, great liberty. The law of God is a law of liberty. And the fear of the Lord is a strong confidence, and his children have a place of refuge, Proverbs says. We are also, as God's children, that makes us joint heirs with Christ. If God is our Father and Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, that makes us fellow heirs with Jesus Christ.

He is our elder brother. That's certainly a place of privilege. That's why because We are united to Christ, in our union with Christ. We are crucified with Him. We are buried with Him.

We are risen with Him. We are ascended with Him. We reign with Him. We are joint heirs with Him in inheriting salvation. We have also as the children of God, we have the Spirit of His Son.

The Spirit of Christ is given to us because we are sons of God and Christ is our elder brother God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son by whom we cry Abba father. Abba father. Abba is a transliterated word. Another example would be messiah. That's the Hebrew word Messiah and we just transliterate it.

We keep the same sounds and just put English letters there. It's the same word in Hebrew. It's called a transliteration. Abba is a transliteration of the Greek, but That Greek word there was just a transliteration of an Aramaic word that simply means father. Av is father.

And avva or abba as it transliterates is essentially the father. The father. It's a form of address. But Abba then is father. And that's the way it comes to us.

So Paul, sorry, yes Paul in Romans, where he says that, I think in Galatians, he translated the Aramaic. And then right next to the translated Aramaic, he wrote it in Greek, hapater. And so our English translators have done the same thing. They've transliterated the word that Paul transliterated and brought it into the English as Abba, and then they translated the word for Father and called it and wrote Father. So that's why there is this Abba Father.

Jesus actually prays this way. Abba Father. He calls upon His Father and addresses Him as Abba Father. In a sense, Paul is explaining the Hebrew transliteration there by providing a translation of that word. So we have this spirit of adoption, the spirit of the Son by which we can cry, Abba Father.

Abba, Father. See this spirit of sonship, I'd like to spend a little bit, spend a moment talking about what it means. What does it mean that we have God as our Father and have been given the spirit of sonship, the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry Abba Father? We've been given this spirit by whom we cry out Abba Father. This was the form Jesus used in addressing our prayer.

See, this has profound implications for every area of our life, but particularly our worship and our prayer. We have this spirit of adoption as sons, by which we can cry out, by which we do cry out, Abba, Father. And I'd like to spend a moment and just contrast What the significance of this Spirit of adoption is and how it works its way out. What are the implications? For our life and our prayer that God is our father and we've been given the spirit of Adoption well it begins with our view of God who is God You see to to to people that don't have the spirit of adoption, God is this thing if they even want to acknowledge that He exists, and many don't, but if they do, They might see Him as a capricious, arbitrary, tyrannical master who just loves to play with them and enjoys torturing them and enjoys their misery.

There are people that have called God that. That's not the spirit of adoption. That's an orphan spirit. The spirit of adoption, we see God as a loving Father. We see Him as dependable.

He's constant. He's always there for us. You see, this spirit of adoption affects our very view of God. How do we view God as our Father? How do we view God Himself?

The spirit of an orphan is that of independence. It's that of somebody who has been rejected, who is not cared for. And so They're independent, they're self-reliant, they can't trust anyone. They don't have a spirit of adoption that they can trust. They can be dependent upon Christ for all things, including being well-pleasing to God.

The spirit of adoption allows us to trust our Father, the Father who loves us. It allows us to depend on Him because we know He is dependable and He will never forsake us, He will never let us down, He will never depart from us. Even in our duties to be well pleasing in His sight, we depend upon His grace for that. We know that what He requires of us, He will provide for us. An orphan's spirit is insecure.

They lack peace. The spirit of adoption, With the Spirit of Adoption, we know that we are at peace with God. We can rest in Him. We know that He is preparing for us a place of eternal rest. The spirit of adoption affects our need for approval.

Orphans, the spirit of An orphan is somebody who is striving for approval, striving for acceptance of men, striving for praise. That's an orphan's spirit. If you find yourself striving for other men's praise, for acceptance, for approval. That's an orphan spirit, not the spirit of adoption. See, the spirit of adoption, We don't need the approval of men, because we are accepted in the Beloved, in Christ.

Our place, our acceptance is guaranteed because of Christ. We are secure in justification. We are secure in the love of God. We know the Spirit of Adoption gives us a certainty about the love of the Father for us. So we don't need, We don't have to have, oh it's nice to have the approval of men, but we don't need it.

We don't have to seek for it. We don't have to beg for it. We don't have to go around, you know, always hungry for that. Because we know that we are accepted by our Father in heaven. And who cares if nobody else accepts us?

Who cares if nobody else loves us or approves of us? God does. Our Father does. And that makes us secure. It affects our motive for service.

See an orphan has a need for personal achievement because they have to impress other people. If they're not able to impress other people then there's really no motivation to do anything There's no motivation for service But for the but for With the spirit of adoption our service is motivated by a deep gratitude. Being unconditionally loved and accepted by God. Because we know that we were children of wrath. We know that there was nothing good in us and God has accepted us.

And so that gratitude is our motive to please God. Even in the areas of Christian discipline. Is it a duty? Is it a duty that we have to do? That's the orphan spirit.

We have to pray because, well, Christians do. Well, we have to read God's Word. I'd rather do something else, But I have to do this, so I'm going to do it. That's an orphan spirit. We're doing it to tick off a checklist, doing it to earn God's favor.

But for one who is a child of God, an adopted child of God, these things are a pleasure and a delight because they are how we experience communion and fellowship and intimacy with God. They are our means of enjoying God. This is how we enjoy God and this is our delight as his children. It's a motive. It also affects our motive for purity.

Is it we must be holy to have God's favor? And when we're not, there is an increased sense of shame and guilt. Or is it the spirit of adoption that we want to be holy? We don't want anything to hinder our relationship with our Father. We don't want anything to mar the intimacy of our communion with our Father.

For an orphan, The law is the rules for acceptance. It's how you are accepted and loved by the Father. It's based on your ability to do the right things. For God's children, the law is a law of liberty. We're already accepted by God.

And the law then becomes good, becomes a perfect law of freedom. For the orphan, they seek comfort in counterfeit affections, counterfeit love. They don't have the genuine love of a father. And so they look for that love in other places. They look for that comfort in addictions or in compulsions.

They want to escape it. They want to escape the fact that they aren't loved, to be so busy that they don't have time to think about it. But for those who are God's adopted sons with the spirit of adoption, They seek times of quietness and solitude to simply rest in the Father's presence, to bask in His love. The spirit of an orphan is that of a court rivalry, competition, jealousy toward others' success and position because you are jockeying for the attention of somebody who hasn't given it to you. You want recognition because you don't have it.

Whereas those who are adopted children, sons of God, and are secure in His love, they're able to rejoice over the blessings of others. You see, you don't all of us have at times the orphan spirit? It affects our view of ourself. The orphan is comparing himself to other people. And so he's either better than them, leading to pride, or he's not as good as them, leading to feeling judged and shamed.

So it goes. Proud, when they are better feeling judged and ashamed when they don't think they measure up. The spirit of adoption brings humility. It brings confidence. It brings joy in being accepted by God.

Sorrow when we displease God, but no loss of acceptance. The spirit of the orphan is to accuse others, it's to expose others' faults, to make themselves look good and others look bad. Because remember the orphan is competing for someone's attention. They don't have a father who loves them. They don't have a security in that relationship.

And So life is always a big competition. Whose sin can they expose? Whose faults can they compare themselves against to make themselves look good and others look bad? Those who have a spirit of adoption, love, covers a multitude of sins as they seek to restore others in a spirit of love and gentleness. Spirit of adoption has a big impact on how we handle other people's faults.

Spirit of adoption has an impact on how we view authority. Are we distrustful of authority? Are you standoffish? Do you see it as a source of pain? Is there an inward resistance to authority?

Is there a lack of a hard attitude of submission? Spirit of Adoption leads to a respectful honoring of authority as we see that Authority and those in authority are God's ministers for good in our life Because you see we know that authority flows from God, and God's our Father. And so all those that have authority over us, we see that authority is coming from our Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Father, our good and gracious Heavenly Father that loves us has given this authority to His ministers for our good. That's the spirit of adoption.

An orphan's spirit affects how we receive admonition. We all need to be admonished. We need the Word of God brought to us. We raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. An orphan is going to have difficulty receiving admonition.

They need to be right So their feelings are easily hurt. They become discouraged if they are corrected. They faint when they are rebuked by God. Their spirit is closed to being disciplined. The writer of Hebrews talks about that in Hebrews 12 that God chastens those whom he loves every true son He chastens because he loves them, but an orphan doesn't know of The love of a father and so they're resistant.

They have difficulty receiving admonition. But a son sees God's admonition as the loving admonition of a father. He sees it as a blessing and a need, something that we need so that our faults and weaknesses can be exposed and put to death so that we can grow in grace and knowledge of God our Father. It affects how we express love. The orphan spirit is guarded, it's conditional.

They aren't loved themselves by their heavenly father. And so they base their expression of love on other people's performance as they are seeking to get their own needs met. Whereas the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father is patient, it's affectionate. We are able to lay down our life and our agendas in order to meet the needs of others. Because we are imitating our Father, God the Father, who sent His only begotten Son to lay down his life for us.

So we're willing then. We're able to be patient. We're able to be affectionate in the needs of others. We have a sense, those who Have the spirit of adoption have a sense of God's presence, a sense of intimacy, of closeness, of fellowship with Him? There is liberty in our relation to God.

The spirit of an orphan is the spirit of a servant. Paul contrasts that we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, to slavery. The orphan feels like a servant. They're just doing this with no, doing it because they have to. Whereas the spirit of adoption, we are like sons and daughters.

We come to the Father knowing that He will give to us those things that we need because he loves us. Knowing that he is able to give to us all that we need and we come wanting to have a relationship, wanting to have fellowship, wanting to have communion with him, wanting to pour out our heart before Him. Because He's our Father, and He loves us, and we're His son or daughter. It affects our purpose in life. The orphan spirit has spiritual ambition, a desire to do something worthy of recognition, a desire to be seen, to be counted among the mature.

See that is a continual striving, a continual competition. So that's their vision, what can I do to make a name for myself? What can I do to be noticed? But the spirit of adoption as sons leads us to want to experience more and more of the Father's grace, of His power, of His presence, to see His kingdom advanced. The spirit of adoption allows us to rest in the certain hope of our inheritance in Christ.

The orphan is simply out fighting for anything he can get. Brothers and sisters, what unspeakable blessing, what unspeakable privilege that God is our Father. And this ought to color and permeate everything we do, including our prayers, and especially our prayers. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Verse John 3, 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God." 1 John 3, 1, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God.

And we should cultivate this spirit of adoption, especially in our prayer, especially in prayer, so that we are not distant from our Father. God's purpose in our adoption is His eternal glory. God has great plans for us. God has great plans for us. God told the Israelites that we're in captivity in Babylon.

God sent him a letter and he said, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and hope. I know the thoughts our Heavenly Father says that I have towards you. Thoughts of peace and not evil to give you a future and a hope. That's the spirit of adoption. And that's how Jesus says We come in a posture of prayer.

We're coming to our Father who has great plans for us, who has included us in His plan for His own glory. Maybe you didn't know your earthly father. Maybe he was someone you didn't want to know. Maybe he didn't want to know you or have much to do with you. Maybe he didn't even want you and maybe he told you that he didn't want you.

Well if so, this morning I can tell you with the authority of the Word of God that your Heavenly Father does want you, that He does love you. And he has loved you from before the foundation of the world and he will never Depart from you. He will never reject you You are accepted in the beloved as one of his children. He has many thoughts about us. David said that how many were the Lord's thoughts, how vast was their number.

That if he would try to number their thoughts, they would be as the sand. Our Heavenly Father always knows what's best for us, unlike even the best earthly fathers. Because Jesus says in our text that earthly fathers are evil, but our heavenly Father is good. He always knows what is best for us. He always wants what is best for us.

And He is always willing and able to give it to us. Sometimes our earthly fathers don't know what's best for us. Many times they do. Usually they are willing to give it to us or want what's best for us usually. But they're not sometimes always able to give us what they think might be best for us.

There's limitations. But with our Heavenly Father, there's no limitation. He is able to do and to give to us what is best for us. He is the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all how will he not with him freely give us all Things he's not stingy. He's generous.

He looks on us with a bountiful eye. He is rich to all who call upon Him. Is this your view of your Heavenly Father? Do you long, Do you long to spend time in communion and fellowship with Him? Do you long to spend more time in communion and fellowship with Him?

You will, as you have more and more the spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba Father. Almighty Heavenly Father, how we thank you that you are our Father, that we can call upon You, that You love us, that You know us, that You put Your name upon us, that You've given to us the Spirit of Your Son. You know, Father, how ashamed we are of our lack of prayer, that we have not enjoyed you as our Father, and not recognized and thought of you as our Father as we ought. So Lord we do this morning want to know you more, to know the power of your resurrection, to know your presence, to enjoy you with a greater richness and a greater fullness as we press on toward the high mark of our calling in Christ Jesus. And so Lord we ask that you might inhabit our praise and also our prayers.

That your Holy Spirit may form the petitions of our heart, and that you would deepen our love for you even as you have loved us. That we might be more aware of the richness of our inheritance in Christ. And that we would be moved more and more to prayer, to calling upon you, our Heavenly Father. In Jesus' name, Amen.