SPEAK TO YOUR “ABBA FATHER”

Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.

Mark 14:36

Calling God “Abba” is rooted in Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will’ ” (Mark 14:36).

Abba was an ordinary family word of Jesus’ day. It conveyed intimacy, tenderness, dependence, and complete lack of fear or anxiety. Modern English equivalents would be Daddy or Papa.

No Jew would have dreamed of using this very intimate term to address God. However, Jesus always used this word in His prayers (Aramaic abba or its Greek equivalent pater), with the exception of His cry from the cross.

And Jesus instructed His disciples to use this word in their prayers as well. We are empowered to speak to God just as a small child speaks to his father.