Christian Gratitude
Why has Christ commanded us to address God thus: “Our Father”?
That immediately, in the very beginning of our prayer, he might excite in us a childlike reverence for, and confidence in God, which are the foundation of our prayer: namely, that God is become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith, than our parents will refuse us earthly things. 1
Why is it here added, “Which art in heaven”?
Lest we should form any earthly conceptions of God’s heavenly majesty, 2 and that we may expect from his almighty power all things necessary for soul and body. 3