What are God’s key Fatherly roles and responsibilities?

What are God’s key Fatherly roles and responsibilities? God has many titles but Jesus His son taught us that when we pray we should call on Him as father. Calling God our Father reminds us of our rights as adopted sons of God through our faith in the finished works of Christ. In the prayer that Jesus taught, the roles and responsibilities of God as Father are clear. He provides, He forgives and He delivers. It is interesting to note how these roles and responsibilities of God which are actually His attributes are weaved throughout the stories in the bible from Genesis to Revelation. When we pray ‘your will be done in earth as it is in heaven‘, it is an act of declaration. We declare that we submit our will, desires, wants and needs to His authority. Fully trusting in His ability to provide, deliver and protect.

God provides

Jehovah Jireh means ‘The Lord will provide‘. In the Lord’s prayer we ask, ‘Give us this day our daily bread‘. I used to think that this referred only to provision at the micro level. However meditating on this scripture I have come to believe that it refers to whatever is our need on that day. So if it is the deadline for school fees, or rent or wifi that is what will be provided that day. Any need that you may have that day your Heavenly Father will supply to meet that need. Our hope and expectation is that God will provide what we need. He will supply what we need on a daily basis as we submit to His will. Submission is a spiritual discipline that one can learn at any age.

He forgives

Elohay Selichot, ‘the God who forgives‘, we pray ‘forgive us our sins‘. Two things strike me about this simple phrase, one that it is inevitable that we will sin. And two that God readily forgives our sins. It is assumed that we will struggle with sin because we live in a fallen world, however because of the principle of substitution forgiveness is a guarantee when we sincerely repent. Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins and at salvation we exchange our sinful nature with His righteousness. Let us remember that sin separates us from God and so we should strive to avoid it at all cost.

God delivers

Jehovah Mephalti, ‘The LORD my deliverer’. Matthew 6 verse 13 states ‘But deliver us from all evil”. We tend to forget that God is capable of delivering us from all evil. In truth we have nothing to fear if we believe and trust that 1)God is a good God, 2) that He keeps His word and 3)He loves us with an everlasting love. Jesus said that we should not fear because He has overcome the world and in Him we may have peace. Peace is what will get you through the storm, it will help you surmount the disappointment, it will anchor you in moments of grief or despair. I challenge you this week to take a new revamped look at the Lord’s prayer, do not say it by rote but pause at each phrase and see how it applies in your specific situation!