Oak Hill Church of Christ 11-17-24 Message: "Call Him Daddy"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the importance of developing an intimate, honest relationship with God.

Every language has multiple words for "father" and "mother" and there is almost always a tremendously simple one which children first learn to use. Often, it's a repetition of the same sound, like "Papa" or "Dada." How someone refers to their parents in different situations says a lot about their relationship.

If your father is a king, perhaps it's reasonable to speak of him in a public, grand setting along the lines of: "Dearest and most noble father, great king, and lord of men."

Even so, in private, the lofty prose is dispensed with. True, your father is still a king, but he is also your father. His duties as king don't outweigh his duties as your parent in the quiet of your home.

Truly, God is a king and Lord of all Creation. Still, He is your father, who made you and crafted you delicately in the womb. He knows all of your thoughts and feelings, desires, hopes, and fears. He is not distant, cold, and analytical; He is kind and loving, desiring a true relationship with you, not a transactional one.

Jesus provides us with a simple instruction in Matthew 6:5-8: Go home and talk to God there in private like you would to your own father. Dispense with the lofty, prosaic tones and adopt simple, honest, direct speech. Share your true feelings, unfiltered. After all, God already knows all the words you're holding back, so you might as well say them honestly.

Begin your private prayer less like "O thou almighty father, great, glorious and mighty! Strong to deliver, king of kings and lord of lords! I beseech thee, upon thy golden throne of might and glory that thou mayest provide for me some pittance of thy good graces..."

And more like, "Dad, some stuff happened to me this week, and I'm pretty messed up about it. I'll tell you what it is, and please help...."

See if that shift in your prayer style doesn't change the quality of your prayer life. Jesus is firmly of the opinion that it definitely will.