Our Father
In a small village on the outskirts of Uganda lived a devoted priest, his wife and his son Tom. There was a small chapel which the priest took care of and conducted mass and delivered the sermon every Sunday. From a young age, Tom used to accompany his father to the chapel and assisted his father for the Sunday mass. Every morning and night the family prayed for the villagers.
Years passed by and more and more people came to the chapel. Tom grew up into a young man and joined the college in Uganda.
At that time, all the villagers found jobs as labourers in Uganda because of an abundance of mines for precious stones, gems, gold, copper and oil. They worked as miners under the British. There were also Punjabis and Gujaratis who set up shops for clothes and jewellery and also set up banks.
Tom and his friends learnt and witnessed a great change as Uganda became a rich and prosperous country and all were well off, living posh and luxurious lives. However, his village people were still poor leading a hard life earning very little with hand to mouth existence. Seeing the sorrow and poverty of their villagers, Tom and his friends were determined to loot the banks and jewellery shops. Accordingly, they started planning the day, time and other matters. The whole day, Tom was in his room but he was disturbed, distracted and restless just moving up and down in his room. His father noticed his son’s disturbed and troubled state of mind. Though Tom was distracted, he still joined his father’s sermon and prayers. The father in his prayers surrendered his son to God to bring him back in a right way.
It was almost time for Tom to join his friends and complete their mission. As Tom was concentrating on his plan, he switched on his small radio to hear the news on Radio Ceylon. But instead of the news, the preacher’s message was Matthew 3:2 “Repent ye, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He switched it off. After a few minutes, he again switched it on to hear the news, but he heard the same message. That went on till 11 pm. He thought that the message was for him alone. Tom stood up, he was in a dilemma whether to go to his friends or not. He prayed and God answered his prayers, in John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said unto them, “This is the work of God that we believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Tom got the secrets of power and without fear went and stood before his friends with head down and Bible in his hand. If he did not go to meet his friends, they would have harmed him and then his father would have come to know all his secrets. As soon as he reached in front of them, having known his intentions, they rushed furiously towards him to attack. As they came forward, each one became so weak that they were forced to throw down all their tools and stood peacefully, for the Holy Spirit held them up.
Tom embraced each one and told them all the changes that had taken place in him. He showed them the Bible and the words of God contained therein. They all witnessed and surrendered before God. They came to know that satan and evil spirit are agents of destruction but God protects the believers. Tom and his friends came and stood before his father and related all their plans. The father embraced each of them and blessed them all. They all prayed and accepted Lord Jesus as their savior. After that, Tom and his friends started to work for God. They studied the Bible with the help of Tom’s father. Slowly, they started to move onto the streets of Uganda to preach. People gathered before them to hear the Word of God. Each and every one receivd and accepted Lord Jesus, Bibles were distributed to all.
They showed everyone that it is Lord Jesus who chose the word ‘FATHER’. Lord Jesus came to reveal to us that God is more than a God of might, wisdom, power and creative genius. God is first and foremost our Father. We never find anybody in the Old Testament calling God, Father, not in the sense of Father of an individual. Abraham and David never called God Father. But when Jesus came He said, “This is the way to pray, say ‘OUR FATHER’” The scripture thus speaks of us becoming His children.
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