We Cry, "Abba Father"

"And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced” (Zech 12:10). 

About 2500 years ago Zechariah gave us this wonderful prophecy of the coming of the Holy Spirit. It was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost 50 days after Jesus was crucified, and “the Spirit of grace and of supplication” was poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Peter, addressing the crowd said, “… let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). On that day the inhabitants of Jerusalem looked, with spiritual eyes, on the One whom they had pierced, and were cut to the heart.

This Holy Spirit who was poured out on the day of Pentecost is the Spirit of prayer. He is also the one who points us to Christ, and he is the one who produces in us the peace of God as we pray, which is what this meditation is all about. So let’s look to Jesus as our example, and consider his greatest prayer to the Father. Mark tells us that when Jesus and his disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified “…he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (Mark 14:35-36). When Jesus prayed “Abba Father” it was an expression of complete trust and surrender to the will of the Father he loved and who he knew loved him for all eternity. Because the Spirit of the Son now lives in us who know the Father’s love also, we can pray in the same intimate trusting way, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom 8:15).

Not only do we cry “Abba Father,” but the Spirit within us who is also the Spirit of the Son calls out “Abba Father.”  “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal 4:6). “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Roma 8:27). Just as Jesus always prayed according to the Father’s will, so also do we when, by faith we yield to the Spirit and allow Him to lead us. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Roma 8:28). This is how we can know the peace of God. It is the fruit of the Spirit that grows and ripens in us as we learn from Him to pray as Jesus did, according to the Father’s will. The resulting "...peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil.4:7).