This series on Robert Henderson’s teachings is based off my notes, which I took as I read his book: Father, Friend, and Judge: Three Dimensions of Prayer that Receive Answers from Heaven, in Jan 2025.

The Lord’s prayer:

• We now look at our first dimension in effective prayer; approaching God as a Father
• When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus begins with the Lord’s prayer
• It can be seen as a model prayer, as it was His initial teaching on how to pray
• He begins by addressing God as Father
• Luke 11:2: Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

God as Father:

• The thought of God as Father would not have been familiar with the Jews
• Exo 20:18-21: They trembled at the revelation of God to them as a nation, at Mount Sinai
• They always had the concept of of God as this distant, far-off, strict and demanding deity
• The image of Him being a Father, who loved, cared, provided, protected, was a new idea
• But we don’t seek to perform well and obey, so we can be loved, it’s not based on our performance
• However we perform, because we long to please the one we love
• 1 John 4:18-19: Perfect love casts out fear, there is no fear in love, he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us
• Real love is the result of being loved, it births us the ability to love Him back

Revelation of God as Father:

• The revelation of God as our Father, is critical to allow us serving Him acceptably
• We will never go any deeper in prayer, than our revelation of God as our Father allows
• The revelation of God as our good Father, creates a Spirit of adoption in us crying “Abba Father” (Rom 8:15)
• Abba is associated with intimacy and familiarity with God
• Father is a term of authority and order

The secret place:

• Matt 6:5-6: When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly
• The “secret place” isn’t just a room, but a spiritual dimension, in the unseen realm
• Psa 91:1: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty
• Notice that the secret place is not just a place of visitation, but a dwelling place
• We are to make it our habitation, or where we habitually operate from in our prayers
• We learn to live in this place in the Spirit, and secure peace, security, safety that are there for our family and ourselves
• Living in the secret place, is a result of setting our love upon the Lord
• The secret place is a place where revelation and secrets are revealed to us, from our Father

Operating from the secret place:

• God is our personal Father, He cares about you and is concerned about your stuff
• Intercession from the secret place births revivals, sustains revival, and tends revival
• Entering the secret place, is absolutely essential to having our prayers being answered
• We need to be in the right place in the spiritual dimension before saying anything, else we are wasting our words
• If we can step into the secret place of His presence, before His throne of grace, the same words can bring great results
• Recall from Robert Henderson Three Dimensions of Prayer: Living in Two Places at the Same Time article, how we can function in both places at the same time
• So even when we are here physically on earth, we can step into this spiritual dimension in heaven and utter our prayers from there