Matthew 6:7-8
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen (unbelievers) do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them; for your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

One area where Christian folks have got the Fatherhood of God muddled up is in their praying. We ought to go to God in prayer as a son would his father. How many sane human fathers require their children to deliver a speech, cry a little, and tell a heart-rending yarn before meeting the needs of those little ones? Yet some folks think, “If I pray more - and even add a fast - I will have His attention. I will make Him give me what I want”. I’ve got news for you - God wants you to have your needs met ‘more badly’ than you want them. Besides, He is the initiator of your prayer. He said, “Ask and it shall be given you” Wouldn’t it be plain wickedness for God to give you a guarantee that something is yours for the asking, and then turn around and hold it back from you for as long as possible? But God is not unjust. He is not unrighteous.

Matthew 7:9-11
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, HOW MUCH MORE shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

How much more! Isn’t that great? There is no earthly father who desires to do more for his children than the Father God desires to do for His. But we have had God mis-represented to us. As a result, our faulty understanding has kept us from His best. We haven’t let Him be Father to us. The Father is a Giver, a Nourisher. He delights in blessing His children. He does not with-hold good from us. It is the devil who strives to keep good things from us.

Psalm 34:10
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD SHALL NOT LACK ANY GOOD THING.

Psalm 84:11
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: NO GOOD THING WILL HE WITHHOLD FROM THEM THAT WALK UPRIGHTLY.

That is the character of our heavenly Father, His will is that we have every good thing. Food is good, isn’t it? Money is. A house is. So is a car. Religious people sometimes say stupid things like, “God knows best. He knows what is good for me. It may not be His will for me to own a car”. That’s stupidity gone to seed! There at times I wonder why people often know what’s good until they get some religion in their head.

Again, you probably have heard people say, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh”. Maybe someone’s child died as a result of disease or whatever, then people come around and say things like that. The Bible says that the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance. That means, when God gives you a gift, He does not take it back. He does not change His mind about what He blesses you with. God did not send that earthquake that leveled your building. God was not behind the accident that claimed your car. And God certainly had nothing to do with the death of your young daughter. The Father gives, gives and gives. He is love.

God does not take away, kill or destroy good. That’s the devil’s territory. So don’t blame the Father for what the devil did.

Again, some people pray and because they do not get what they asked for, they conclude that it must not be God’s will for them to have that thing. But isn’t it funny that people try to figure out what is God’s will by looking at their circumstances instead of standing on what God Himself has revealed as His will?

Mark 11:24
24 Therefore I say unto you, WHAT THINGS SOEVER ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye SHALL have them.

That tells me that the Father wants me to have whatsoever things I desire. People neglect the study of God’s Word and eventually become confused about the will and character of God. “… ask, and ye SHALL receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). Your joy isn’t full if your children are sick, is it? Your joy isn’t full if you don’t have a roof over your head and food in your stomach. Well, the good news is that the heavenly Father wants your joy full.

Start today, to renew your mind with God’s Word, and begin to relate scripturally to the Father. He responds to our faith-filled prayers and actions. The more we recognize the Father for who He really is, the more we will love and adore Him. But the move is yours. Will you let God be Father to you?