Intimacy Balanced By Reverence

Four times in Jesus' teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount He taught us to pray to "our Father". When He speaks of prayer elsewhere in the Gospels He also often makes intentional effort to point out the 'Fatherhood' of God. Indeed, when He prayed in John 17 He referred to God as Father at least 6 times. This repeated emphasis on the "Father" is a call to intimacy in prayer - a deep and abiding intimacy with God.
But in His model prayer He balanced this intimacy with the phrase "who art in Heaven." It was as intimate as a child with a father, but was also an intense reverence for the Almighty God to whom He prayed. He taught us to pray with a deep recognition of the authority and sovereignty of God.
As I have studied this model prayer this week I have come to understand that this intimacy balanced by reverence is the key to the whole prayer. It is because of our intimate relationship with the Father that we come to Him seeking His power, blessings, and aid. It is because we reverence Him as God of Heaven and Earth that we seek His honor, glory, and His will to be accomplished on Earth. The Master has taught us to pray with a great sense of intimacy and reverence - may we ever learn of Him how to pray in like manner.