Prayer III: Call Him Father!

The first word a child normally says is either "dad" or mom". I say that my boys said "dad" first and my wife says they said "mom" first. We'll know the truth in heaven! When they said to me "dad" for the first time, my heart rejoiced in a way it's never rejoiced before. Even though I'm also a writer, boss, leader, pastor, I'm not interested that they call me so. I want them to call me "daddy" for the rest of my life!

I think that our heavenly Father desires the same!

When Jesus came and prayed to God calling Him Father, and every time He talked to others about God, always referring Him as Father, this was something revolutionary and even blasphemous for many Jews (John 10:36), but not for His disciples. Maybe at first they felt a little uncomfortable, but when they saw the fruits of His life, they got convinced that Jesus knew what He was saying. That's why that they approached to Him once to ask Him to teach them to pray. Jesus agreed to do it, and THE VERY FIRST THING HE TAUGHT THEM WAS TO ADDRESS HIM AS "FATHER"!

"Lord, teach us to pray. Jesus said to them: When you pray, say this: FATHER" (Luke 11:1-2)

We have learnt wrong. We got used to address to our heavenly Father by His many titles, but not for the one He Himself urged us to use! (Galatians 4:6). The Holy Spirit inside you is not bearing witness that you are His creation, His servant, His property. Though we're all of that and more, He is bearing witness that we are His children! (Romans 8:16).

Just like that it wouldn't be normal that a little kid call his dad: "Oh great CEO!", "Powerful boss!", "Majestic Businessman!", it's not normal that we, HIS CHIDREN, don't see Him as FATHER above any other of His titles. Just like the correct thing would be that a child proudly says: "My dad is the boss of that great company!", the correct thing would be that we boast saying: "My Father is the Creator of the Universe, the Powerful Savior, the Redeemer of my soul, the Almighty!"

The Law made the Israelites don't see God as their Father, but Jesus got us close to the Father, made us His children, now we're part of His family! When you learn to call God "Father" from the bottom of your heart, I guarantee you that your prayer life, and because of that, your life, will change.

Hope it helps!

Prayer I: The Arrow Prayer

We tend to get discourage when we see so much pain nowadays because we think: "What can I do? What can I do to help so many people damaged for the natural disasters, the ones running away with their families from wars and violence, sicknesses, human trafficking, etc., etc., etc.?!"

There is something you can do. YOU CAN PRAY!

We despise the power of prayer when we think: "The only thing I can do about it is to pray."

Don't pay attention to those that say: "I agree, we can pray, but if we are going to pray, let's do it right!" They mean that we have to pray in certain ways in order for the prayer to be effective. They're wrong. It's not necessary to pray a very long prayer at the top of your lungs, fasting and on our knees in order for the prayer to be effective. Jesus already did effective our prayer! Jesus made our prayers to avail much because He made you just! (James 5:16, Romans 5:1)

Sister Esthercita Lu, one member of Camino de Vida's intercessors team, taught me what she called the Arrow Prayer, based on the account of Nehemiah chapter one and two.

Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer on that time. It happened that, while he was serving wine to the king, the king noted that Nehemiah was sad, so he asked him if everything was ok. Nehemiah told him that his people was suffering, and then the king said to him: "What do you request?" The Bible says that "Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven and answered" (Nehemiah 2:1-5).

Now, I want you to realize that Nehemiah didn't go aside to get on his knees and pray "properly", neither he told to the king that he'd answer him after a three days of fasting and whipping. Nehemiah was serving wine to the king, and that very moment, he prayed.

How would've Nehemiah prayed?! How do you imagined it? Well, it definitely wasn't more than a whisper. I am sure that it was a very silent and almost inaudible "God, help me!", "God, put words in my mouth!" But the Bible has it registered as to Nehemiah prayed.

Do not despise when you pray in the street, on the bus, walking, in the shower, or any other moment that you remember something and for which you say a: "Father, do something for it", "God, bless them", etc. My wife Cecilia, every time she hears an ambulance's or firefighter's siren, she prays for them for a few seconds. Don't think that because you don't do it with the "right gestures and positions" following the right liturgy, your prayer isn't effective. Remember that you don't make effective your prayer with your method you pray. Jesus made your prayer effective with his sacrifice!

So, pray more for what is going on in the world today. Prayer in every moment! Jesus said that we should ask the Father for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Pray with the confidence that the ears of the Father are attentive to your prayer (Psalms 34:!5), and with the confidence that EVERY WORD you say is heard and received!

Hope it helps!

Please, pray with me for my country Peru

Father, bless my Peru. I pray for your unmerited favor over this land, over each Peruvian, but specially, over each of your sons and daughters that in these moments are lifting their faces to You with faith that they may receive the help that they need to go through this time of uncertainty and disappointment.

Give us the strength so we may decide to quit putting our trust and expectancy on our governors and authorities, and to start putting it on You alone, as always should have been. We take responsibility of being disappointment, because we are aware that disappointment comes when we received less than we expected, and we recognize that it was our mistake to expect from them what we always had to expect from You. We decide to put our trust no longer on a man or woman, but only on You.

We decide that peace, joy, the opportunities, the hope for a good future and the certainty that the best is yet to come, we no longer expect them from our authorities, but from You. You're our joy and peace! You open the door for us for the opportunities that we need! We believe that with You, nothing is never lost, but everything is getting better every time, from glory to glory, from victory to victory! We believe that with the little that we're able to give to You, You're able to do much!

We pray that You may turn into something good all this time of instability. You didn't send this evil of corruption, but we know that with You all things work together for good. We pray so that all of us may learn our lesson and take with responsibility and seriousness the next times that we'll have to go to vote to elect our authorities, not by only getting well informed, but also by asking You for wisdom to elect wisely.

We pray so that corruption may completely fall, that the light may illuminate in the darkness so that those selfish acts that have been done secretly to rob everybody's resources, might be exposed. We ask You that that won't happen again, that might be angels protecting what belongs to all Peruvians, that corrupters may be discovered and stopped before they fulfill their plans to steal. We pray that fear invades their hearts so they won't dare to take for themselves what belongs to all of us, that they might be unease until they desist to do those misdeeds, that their consciences won't le them be in peace, so that they decide stop their wickedness.

Heavenly Father, we ask You to put in our governors the conscience that the office they're on is holy because is designed to serve millions of people. We ask that they may realize the fact that their decisions affect so many people it's a privilege that not many people have. We pray for the conviction of being there to serve may be very real in them and that they may take it with responsibility, honesty, sacrifice and dedication. Bless them with the wisdom they need in every step they take. Bless their families and personal lives, and let them know that You rewarded them for their service.

Father, we decide to quit complaining, but to take responsibility from where we are. As your children, we decide to pray for them so that You may cover them constantly from all temptation and that they may be filled with guidance to execute their office with excellence. Speak to us Father, tell us the ways to contribute to form a better Peru, that we may not expect to receive a better Peru, but being, from now on, builders of it.

Thanks because we know that You hears us, that You're with us and that You will never leave us, and because of it, we know that we are going to go through this We will be in the other side, and we'll be stronger, wiser, better persons, better Peruvians and better Christians.

Amen.

The Power that Jesus gave to my Son

When Juan Esteban was two years old often suffered from nightmares. My wife and I were so worried because we saw his little face full of fear when he cried and called us at nights.

One night, I run to his room because he was crying once again, and when he saw me, he hugged me, and then he was frightened as he pointed to one corner of the room. When my wife and I looked at that direction, we saw nothing, but it was obvious that he could see something.

We prayed for many weeks until one day we talked to him about the authority that Jesus has given to him. We could feel that Jesus was talking to him in that moment. We said to him: "Son, Jesus has defeated the devil, he has no power and no authority over you. You can kick him OUT of that place because you have the power of Jesus!"

To be honest, we didn't know how much he understood us until that night, because we didn't wake up anymore because was crying or because he called us, but because we heard him yelling: "Out! Out!" Our son, being only two years old, was kicking the devil out of that place.

(this picture is when he was two)

I am absolutely sure that the answer of our prayers for him was that we felt to talk to him about the authority and power that Jesus gave him. I would never thought to do that because by natural instinct I myself was to defend him, specially at that age, but I can see that my Heavenly Father, who loves him and takes care of him more than me, wanted to defend him Himself. Instead of Juan Esteban depends on me, my Heavenly Father wanted him to depend on Him.

Moral: Better than worrying to take care of your kids all the time, let's teach them that the Almighty One, the Creator of everything, is their Father and that He Himself defends them.

I really hope this may bless you!