Jesus’ Intimacy With The Father
Jesus’ intimacy with the Father set the pattern for us to follow. He demonstrated this intimacy in the way he talked to his Father in prayer. Jesus didn’t use formal, religious language when he prayed. He used dinner table talk of a close family. “Abba” is an Aramaic word most often translated “Father.” But that is a bit stiff and does not really nuance the meaning. When Jesus prayed “Abba,“ he was really saying, “Daddy” — a special term of endearment. Jesus looked forward to his prayer times. He would heal crowds of sick people, feed the hungry, debate the Pharisees, and then slip away to spend time praying in some secluded place.
After Jesus healed a man covered with leprosy, Luke records that, “…the news about [Jesus] spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16).
When we first come to know Christ, many of us simply don’t know how to be intimate with God in prayer. Since we often don’t know what to do with this business of prayer, we lapse into repeating familiar little phrases. Have you ever prayed regularly with children over the dinner table, and they say “amen” and dig in, just before you finish? We’re pretty predictable in our prayer lives.
Think for a moment about your closest relationship. You’ve reached a level of love and trust with these people which allows you to be truly transparent with them. In order to develop an intimate prayer life with God, we need to be transparent — that is, completely honest and open with him. “Father,” you might say, “I have something in me that resists you. I have a heart that’s prone to wander. I have appetites and desires that are contrary to your appetites and desires. I have a will that resists you. All of these things, Father, would stop me from becoming more like you. In spite of all those things, I want you to help me to become like you.” He loves to answer a prayer like that!
John Wimber, Prayer: Intimate Communication (Anaheim: Vineyard Ministries International, 1997), 8-9.
