With the kind of job I’m in, I meet dozens of people for the first time on a weekly basis. And it’s all too common to not notice how every time you meet an acquaintance that we ask the same set of questions.

Where do you go to school?

What do you do for a living?

Are you related to/Do you know so and so?

And I correlated that with what I read this week on Luke 11:1, “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Just like that disciple (No one knows which disciple that was for sure, but he must have been close to Jesus to have to bother him right after devotions. I hate when that happens), we frame the capability of people based on credentials.

The inquiring disciple framed the power and authority of prayer according to the credentials of John the Baptist, John’s disciples and of Jesus. And that’s fine really. Credentials are great in that they give us a good frame of reference to what people are capable of. We use credentials to assign work, accept submissions to schools and even to determine whether a person can be a trusted friend or not.

What was missing in the disciples’ understanding what what he had used as a credential- which was the ability to pray. He wanted to be taught how Jesus, John and John’s disciples did so specially that they could speak in power and authority, cast out demons, heal the sick and all the things they did so miraculously. The disciple was looking to the disciplines, the skill set.

Jesus’ response was very different. He responds by saying, “Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven…’”. He starts and frames credentials based on a relationship. Jesus teaches the disciple that to receive power, he must first grasp the concept of God being his Father. The translation used was “Abba” which literally translates to “Daddy”.

Not only is Jesus establishing that God’s identity as our Father. It also sets our identity as sons and daughters, and therefore heirs to the power and authority that Jesus promised through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There are three things that we receive now as sons and daughters:

1. Discipline

Now as sons and daughters we now have the privilege to build on disciplines that draw us closer to him. Just as Jesus would draw from the crowds at a regular basis to pray and fast, just as John and his disciples would gather to fast and pray, we now have the opportunity to build on disciplines. We do so not out of compulsion, but as a response to an open invitation to come to God so easily.

Imagine if the richest man in the world told him that you can come to him anytime you want, wouldn’t you schedule your first 10 or so meetings with him right then and there? It’s the same with God. Now that we have access, we build disciplines, not in the context of law, but in the context of a relationship.

2. Power.

Jesus teaches us that starting that power comes as a result of love. The power of the Cross is a result of the Father’s love for us expressed through the Son’s sacrifice. The power of the Holy Spirit is a result of the grace and love of the Father.

We are given power, not because we deserve it. But because it is a gift freely given, in the context of a relationship. My point is this: The power of our prayer and ministry is only a result of the magnitude of God’s love for us.

3. Compassion.

Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses”.

As a result of God’s love and power, we are naturally and subconsciously drawn to minister, pray, prophesy to Judea, Samaria and to the end of whatever world you live in. If you want to be more compassionate, you must first sink deeper into the fatherly love that God has for you.

When all has been said and done, there is power in prayer and fasting. The Bible clearly says that, but power is not the starting point. Everything starts by acknowledging “Abba -Father- in heaven, hallowed be your name…”

How can you acknowledge God as your daddy today?