Fatherhood: A Pale Reflection of God

Good-morning and welcome to each of you this morning.

Father's Love

The Fatherhood of God

An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old, highly-educated son.

Suddenly a crow perched on their window.

The Father asked his Son, “What is this?”

The Son replied “It is a crow”.

Good-morning and welcome to each of you this morning.

After a few minutes, the Father asked his Son the 2nd time, “What is this?”

The Son said “Father, I have just now told you “It’s a crow”.

After a little while, the old Father again asked his Son the 3rd time, “What is this?”

Its fathers day… and I’m speaking this morning - highly qualified… (unmarried and no children)

What is this?”

At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the Son’s tone when he said to his Father with a rebuff. “It’s a crow, a crow, a crow”.

There was an organization once that took Mother’s Day cards to jails for the inmates to send home and they very quickly ran out of cards. When Father’s Day came around they ended up taking most of their cards back with them to store for another year.

A little after, the Father again asked his Son the 4th time, “What is this?”

This time the Son shouted at his Father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?”

I think that sentiment is maybe even reflected in the history of Father’s Day. We first had Mother’s Day in 1914 and then for 60 years the mothers felt guilty and kept trying to organize an official Father’s Day but couldn’t get enough people exited. (Richard Nixon signed the law in 1972)

Yes, we love our mothers but we really can’t do without our fathers, they are vitally important to the family.

Here’s how one author reflects on the idea of God filling the role of father in his family…

People say strange things to a kid who's lost his dad. Well, they seemed strange to me. "You're the man of the house now," one aunt told me at my father's funeral, dabbing her eyes with bunched-up tissues. "You must take care of your mom and sister."

As a kid just finishing third grade, I wasn't sure what to make of this. I certainly didn't feel like a man. And I imagined that this honor wouldn't get much mileage in everyday life. One does not say to one's mother, "I won't be eating my vegetables this evening. I'm the man of the house now."

Another thing people said — once we started attending church — was that God would be my father. He was the "father of the fatherless," and the "protector of widows" (). Could any other truth be more appropriate for our family?

Are you not able to understand this?”

They meant well, I know, but I quickly recognized that the term father, as it applied to God, didn't have precisely the same meaning as the word used to describe a guy who lives with a mother and some children. Yes, God was the powerful Creator, the source of wisdom, truth and love — but He wasn't going to be there to help a kid with his history homework or to throw a football around. The Architect of snowflakes and solar systems wasn't known for taking 10-year-old boys out for breakfast.

A father was in a home — not on a throne.

I dislike spending this time addressing only 25% of the people in front of me. So, I’m not going to be making a nice list of ten things fathers should do so you can check it off and feel good.

“Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine.”—President James E. Faust

Beautiful, and true, but… not everyone can glimpse God in their father. No father is perfect and that is why it is a only a glimpse. Fathers can fog an cloud a child's vision of God as father.

Do we look to our fathers to see God or do we look to God the father to be a father?

My goal this morning is to help all of you get a glimpse of God as your spiritual Father. With that glimpse, I hope you fathers can be encourage and find direction for you in your fatherhood.

A little later the Father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his Son was born. On opening a page, he asked his Son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

I have three passages I’d like to read first.

Matthew 7:7–11 ESV

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

John 1:9–13 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

1 John 2:28–3:3 ESV

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My Son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child”.

I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child”.

While the little child asked him 23 times “What is this”, the Father had felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times and when today the Father asked his Son the same question just 4 times, the Son felt irritated and annoyed.

Prayer

that we can know him as Father

that we can trust him

guide my thoughts

bless the study of the Word

Men on Earth have the opportunity to become fathers and experience some of the same joys that our Heavenly Father feels for us.

Waking up and creeping over to watch them sleep

Providing food

Providing a home

I'm awake. I remember Him. I gaze upon them before I part. They lie in their bed, unaware of me watching. I leave, they sleep. The small home I help provide is their world. They play, they explore, learning to move, to feel, to see, to know, not once thinking how it all came to be. Crayons, toys, books; it's all for them. The fridge opens, the pantry exposed, they expect food to be there. Not a thought, not a doubt, just hunger. Cereal, milk, yogurt, messy fingers, messy faces, all fed. Tummies are full. Now it's nap time. My wife likes nap time. Once again, they lay in the comfort we provide.

All while I work, I'm far, but close; always thinking of them. My phone rings, I only hear breathing. I smile; my wife's phone is now missing. I do it all for them. I work, that they may grow. They trust so deeply; how I yearn to do the same. They see so little of how it all came to be, never questioning, only trusting. I come home; two-second hugs. Now I'm a horse. We eat dinner, brush teeth. Jammy time. Finally, it's bed time. Once again, they lay their heads on the pillows we provide. I will be their protector. I will be their gentle friend. I will be my wife's faithful husband. I am a father, I am also a son. And while I may not understand all that He does for me, I do know that all that I am, and all that I have is because He's a father to me. I now stand, very aware, of how it all came to be.

“All that we know of genuine human fatherhood at its best is but a pale reflection of what God the father is first to his Son and then to all who become his spiritual children.” - Derek Prime

Let’s be sure there is no confusion. The role of a Father does not go from men projected onto God but, instead Fatherhood comes from God down to men. We are to reflect the perfect fatherhood of God.

This is a mistake that can be made particularly if the memories of your father are not particular pleasant. The thought of God being a Father can be repulsive and scary for some.

To oversimplify, instead of projecting that kind of Fatherhood on God we need to understand that earthly Fatherhood is merely a smudged reflection of the perfect Father we long for; and unfortunately some fathers smear the image so bad it is difficult to imagine anything but what has been experienced.

"Earthly fathers have certain remote similarities to Him, the essence of fatherhood is found in God, not in human beings." - Gene Edward Veith

So, to sort through the nature of the fatherhood of God I have a few questions I’d like to look at and then we will look at a few characteristics of God as Father.

I'm awake. I remember Him. I gaze upon them before I part. They lie in their bed, unaware of me watching. I leave, they sleep. The small home I help provide is their world. They play, they explore, learning to move, to feel, to see, to know, not once thinking how it all came to be. Crayons, toys, books; it's all for them. The fridge opens, the pantry exposed, they expect food to be there. Not a thought, not a doubt, just hunger. Cereal, milk, yogurt, messy fingers, messy faces, all fed. Tummies are full. Now it's nap time. My wife likes nap time. Once again, they lay in the comfort we provide.

All while I work, I'm far, but close; always thinking of them. My phone rings, I only hear breathing. I smile; my wife's phone is now missing. I do it all for them. I work, that they may grow. They trust so deeply; how I yearn to do the same. They see so little of how it all came to be, never questioning, only trusting. I come home; two-second hugs. Now I'm a horse. We eat dinner, brush teeth. Jammy time. Finally, it's bed time. Once again, they lay their heads on the pillows we provide. I will be their protector. I will be their gentle friend. I will be my wife's faithful husband. I am a father, I am also a son. And while I may not understand all that He does for me, I do know that all that I am, and all that I have is because He's a father to me. I now stand, very aware, of how it all came to be.

Agnostic: I don’t know

Atheist: absolutely not (if there isn’t a God then he certainly can’t be a father.)

Carnal Mind: is ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of God. They deffer to mathematics and questions of science. The carnal mind never say, “I know God, He is my Father.”

if there isn’t a God then he certainly can’t be a father.

Bible: Sort of, but not really

In Paul is preaching to the Athenians when he says that God himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. He even goes so far as to confirm what one of their poets said, “We are indeed his offspring”

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

Acts 17:24–29 ESV

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

as even some of your own poets have said,

29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Just being created by God does not make us children of God in a spiritual sense.

“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

But in we have a very different story.

29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

In other words by nature we belonged to a completely different family

In we have a similar theme when Jesus says to the Pharisee, “You Are of Your Father the Devil.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “[Hey, what father?] We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies…”

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

John 8:39–47 ESV

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Acts 17:22–34 ESV

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” 32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

In we have a similar theme when Jesus says to the Pharisee, “You Are of Your Father the Devil.”

39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “[Hey, what father?] We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies…”

So we see the Bible says, “sort of, but not really.” Everyone is a child of God in the sense that we are the creative work of God but being the creative work or God does not necessarily make us the spiritual children of God.

As we just read in , if God isn’t our Father we will not love Jesus, but instead we will be doing the desires of satan. So, if we aren't naturally part of the family of God, how do we become a child of God?

And that's my next question.

Well, that's the story of the gospel. God crosses the sin barrier between himself and us through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He gathers his children into his family by a super natural birth. A bit simplified but that's the first part.

In theological terms its called regeneration.

He makes us spiritually new from the inside out. We who were dead in our trespasses and sins he makes alive. We who were without hope and without God have now been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:12–13 ESV

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

That’s what is talking about when it says

John 1:9–13 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

In other words, this is how it happens.

Romans 8:1–17 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The work of the Holy Spirit enables us as fallen sinners (guilty, responsible, lost, and accountable).

In that condition, the grace of God enables us to turn away from sin and to turn in faith, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe in Jesus as our redeemer, and to be granted spiritual life where there has only been spiritual death.

To believe in Jesus as our redeemer and to be granted spiritual life where there has only been spiritual death.

An encounter that runs along these lines is found in John 3.

John 3:1–8 ESV

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

You Must Be Born Again

Nicodemus starts with a nice introduction but Jesus goes straight to the chase and says, “Nicodemus, I've got to tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

And Nicodemus ask the question for us, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born?”

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Jesus says, “Nicodemus, I can’t believe you are asking this. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So, don’t be surprised that I said you must be born again.”

There’s two families here. A natural family and a spiritual family; a child of Adam and a child of God.

The rebirth is a supernatural result that came about by God’s grace.

Now the second part of becoming a child of God is through adoption.

And what the Bible tells us is, the work of the grace of God by which he receives us as his very own children is because of his love for us and is expressed in our union with Christ. (we are joint heirs with Christ)

This can also help answer our first question. If we were all children of God by nature then what possible need would their be for adoption. (A father doesn’t go to his children and say, “I think I’m going to adopt you.”)

So when God adopts someone into his family, He is adopting into his family by grace those who are not in his family by nature.

You’re a part of God’s creation but you’re not a child by nature.

Galatians 4:4–7 ESV

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

So, we become a child of God by His grace in regeneration (the second birth) and when we have spiritual life he adopts us into his family as an heir with Christ.

“All that we know of genuine human fatherhood at its best is but a pale reflection of what God the father is first to his Son and then to all who become his spiritual children.” - Derek Prime

The love of God best scene in Jesus Christ. In fact that was the whole reason for Jesus.

Romans 5:6–11 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Deuteronomy 7:6–8 ESV

6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Romans 8:31–39 ESV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God loves because he loves not because of who we are or because of some talent we might have. I think it is important for parents to love children because they are a person not because of their talents and abilities.

Romans 8:31–39 ESV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As the true Father, God's discipline and correction are always done out of love. It’s good to recognize the ways that God's Spirit corrects us in our everyday decisions and interactions with others, how we can feel Him prodding us toward decisions that reflect His love and truth, and how we feel convicted when we choose to disobey. This makes a father “real and tunes the child’s ear toward God’s voice.

Hebrews 12:3–11 ESV

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

As the true Father, God's discipline and correction is always done out of love.

It’s good to recognize the ways that God's Spirit corrects us in our everyday decisions and interactions with others, how we can feel Him prodding us toward decisions that reflect His love and truth, and how we feel convicted when we choose to disobey. This makes a father “real and tunes the child’s ear toward God’s voice.

Titus 3:3–7 ESV

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:5–7 ESV

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Fathers must forgive their children when they mess up, and try to help them make better choices in the future. Help your child recognize that this is just a glimpse of God's role in our lives. He is the ultimate model of forgiveness. We all wonder from our Father at times, but our true Father is constantly on watch for our return, running to us with joy when we turn back to His family ().

Luke 15:11–32 ESV

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

Fathers must forgive their children when they mess up, and try to help them make better choices in the future.

We all wonder from our Father at times, but our true Father is constantly on watch for our return, running to us with joy when we turn back to His family.

If you remember in says

Galatians 4:6–7 ESV

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

That’s a very personal way of addressing God. In fact that's the way Jesus cried out to God when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mark 14:36 ESV

36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

The relationship we will have with god will be something like the relationship that the eternal Father has with the eternal Son. In fact, Jesus says in

John 14:23 ESV

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Can you imagine being in the same home as God and Jesus? When you are in your earthly home you can be you. You can lay on the floor with you feet on the couch, maybe…

Is that what he means?

Jesus said in

Matthew 7:11 ESV

11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

this is a good point

As a kid just finishing third grade, I wasn't sure what to make of this. I certainly didn't feel like a man. And I imagined that this honor wouldn't get much mileage in everyday life. One does not say to one's mother, "I won't be eating my vegetables this evening. I'm the man of the house now."

Another thing people said — once we started attending church — was that God would be my father. He was the "father of the fatherless," and the "protector of widows" (). Could any other truth be more appropriate for our family?

They meant well, I know, but I quickly recognized that the term father, as it applied to God, didn't have precisely the same meaning as the word used to describe a guy who lives with a mother and some children. Yes, God was the powerful Creator, the source of wisdom, truth and love — but He wasn't going to be there to help a kid with his history homework or to throw a football around. The Architect of snowflakes and solar systems wasn't known for taking 10-year-old boys out for breakfast to talk about what sex means.

A father was in a home — not on a throne.

Is God the father of everyone?

Ephesians 1:6–8 ESV

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

It's true, of course, that God presents himself as a father. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus makes more than 150 references to God as a father. For the Jews of that time, this was a new way of addressing God. While Old Testament writers sometimes described God using qualities of earthly fathers (and mothers), Jesus referred to God using more informal, intimate language. He also invites us into this relationship, teaching us to address God as "our Father in heaven" (). It is only through Christ's work on the Cross that we are adopted into this family relationship ().

As a dad, I don't want my presentation of fatherhood to hurt my kids' ability to see God as their heavenly Father. But it's perhaps more important that we help our children recognize the foundational truth here: that God, in all His power and glory, is best understood as a loving, intimate Father.

1 John 3 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

1 John 3:1 Geneva

1 BEholde, what love the Father hathe shewed on us, that we shulde be called the sonnes of God: for this cause the worlde knoweth you not, because it knoweth not him.

My daughter Mikayla recently showed me some photos she'd taken. There were pictures of flowers and horses, along with a series of snapshots I can only describe as "sisters jumping down stairs." As I clicked through the photos, Mikayla talked about what those scenes had really looked like — how the flowers and horses had been more beautiful, the stair-jumping even goofier — if only she'd been able to get the focus, lighting and timing right. Hasn't every photographer, whatever their level of expertise, thought something similar?

I tell my kids that just as a photograph can never capture the full experience of something, the pictures we have available to understand God are limited by our inherent inability to recognize the depth of His glory and goodness. The image of an earthly father, as a way of understanding God, is a good picture — and it's made clearer the better dads do their jobs — but it is still just a partial glimpse at something much bigger.

God is the actual, literal Father. To help kids understand this, we can highlight the following five truths, which paint a profound (yet still incomplete!) picture of our heavenly Father:

Fathers have an important part in contributing to the life of children. As you lead your kids, help them recognize how their heavenly Father is the source of all life. Visit zoos, aquariums and arboretums together, enjoying the vast spectrum of life that wouldn't exist without our Creator Father.

John 10:10 ESV

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Emphasize also that following God's plan is the path to abundant life (). And when we accept His Son as our Savior, we are given new life — adopted into the Father's family ().

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As the true Father, God's discipline and correction are always done out of love (). Help your kids recognize the ways that God's Spirit corrects us in our everyday decisions and interactions with others, how we can feel Him prodding us toward decisions that reflect His love and truth, and how we feel convicted when we choose to disobey.

Do Not Grow Weary

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:3–11 ESV

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:3–11 ESV

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:3–11 ESV

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Show your kids all the ways God provides for our needs. Celebrate rainstorms and apple trees and lakes full of fish. How much joy the true Father must receive when we enjoy all the good gifts that He has provided through creation ().

Matthew 7:11 ESV

11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

It took Peter a while to get this, but he finally writes in

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

I say it took Peter a while to get this because he was present when Jesus said:

Matthew 6:31–34 ESV

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

James 1:5 ESV

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Fathers, help your children learn life skills and encourage them in their gifts and talents. Help them also to see that true wisdom comes from our Spiritual Father. His Word is the ultimate source of wisdom and truth.

We help our kids learn life skills and encourage them in their gifts and talents. But help them see that true wisdom comes from our heavenly Father. His inspired Word is the ultimate source of wisdom and truth ().

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

We forgive our children when they mess up, and we try to help them make better choices in the future. Help your kids recognize that this is just a glimpse of God's role in our lives. He is the ultimate model of forgiveness. We all mess up, but our true Father is constantly on watch for our return, running to us with joy when we turn back to His family ().

Luke 15:11–32 ESV

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

by Jim Servidio

The book of Revelation chapter 4 gives us a glimpse of God’s throne. In verse 8 impressive created beings address the One on the throne as Lord God Almighty. Two verses later 24 elders fall to the ground, remove their crowns and cast them before the throne. They do so to demonstrate great humility and to recognize the Almighty as the One who created all things.

The Bible reveals God to be all powerful—a Being of great strength. says, “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God” (emphasis added throughout). Further, records, “Our God is a consuming fire.”

Even though God is shown to be the omnipotent Creator and ruling authority who must be respectfully revered, He also describes Himself as a Father. That title carries several revealing connotations that give clarity and insight into God’s

The word father is used to describe one who passes on life or who creates, originates or founds something. For example, James Naismith is the “father” of basketball because he created the game over 100 years ago. Abraham is called the father of the faithful since the promises of eternal life through faith originated with him ().

We each have a physical father who gave us life, and thus it is customary in most cultures to carry the surname of our male parent, and most naturally call him “Dad” or “Father.”

However, being a father does not always project something positive. Jesus told some of the hypocritical people of His day, “You are of your father the devil” (). He did not mean Satan had given them physical life, but that they were following his example of spiritual wickedness. Satan is the father of lies and murder, inspiring others to do the same.

God the Father, on the other hand, is the source of truth and love (; ).

states, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”

These two verses show that God’s overall household or family is both in heaven and on earth. Through creation, God is the Father of both the angelic world (; ) and humans (; ). Almighty God is responsible for everything that exists; thus He rightfully is a Father to all who have life (). So, it was natural for the apostle Paul to refer to God as the head of a vast family.

God reveals to us that He was also a Father to the children of Israel, that is, Abraham’s family grown large through Isaac and Jacob. God refers to Israel as His firstborn (), meaning He is the One who gave these former slaves life and identity as a nation, calling them His own. In God says, “For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”

Jesus Christ is the Son of God in a unique and special way. He is identified as the “Son of the Most High God” (). says, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” Jesus referred to God as His Father on numerous occasions. The very well-known states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

Adam and Eve were created by God from the dust of the ground and given life by God, but they did not have a mother, nor were they conceived. Jesus Christ is the only Being that was born of a virgin by God’s own Spirit overshadowing Mary, resulting in a conception (). Jesus is literally the only begotten Son of God. All other humans have a physical father. So God is a Father to Jesus in a way that He is not to any other living being.

The gospel message brought by Jesus Christ reveals another vital message about fatherhood and God’s role in our lives. Though we all have physical life when we enter this world, God plans to offer all human beings the chance to experience an additional spiritual beginning that can result in eternal life in God’s Kingdom.

This aspect of the gospel message reveals how, through repentance, baptism and the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit (), God Almighty can actually become our Father in a very personal way. He becomes our Father, and we become His children, when we are spiritually converted. tells us, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

The apostle Paul tells us in , “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Of course, we are still literally flesh, but Paul was speaking of this from God’s perspective. We begin our spiritual life as babes (), but we are to grow in Christian maturity until our death or until Christ returns ().

Through this new life based on God’s Spirit living in us, we can begin to not only grasp spiritual truths and values (), but also have a very personal, close relationship with God our Father. Paul says that we are now able to address Him as “Abba, Father” ().

The Holman Concise Bible Commentary says, “Abba is the transliteration of the Aramaic term for father, implying great familiarity and intimacy.” Easton’s Bible Dictionary says it is “a term expressing warm affection and filial confidence.”

God reveals through the New Testament that we can have a warm, affectionate, personal relationship with Him that goes far beyond just acknowledging Him as the One who created us and who gives us beneficial rules to make our lives happy and complete. We are children in God’s eyes and enjoy the special connection and love only a father and his children can enjoy. We are not just servants having a master, but sons and daughters having a Father.

This brings us back to the first chapter of Genesis, where Moses records God’s desire to “make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (verse 26). Christians are able to share in the divine nature of God Himself ()!

God reveals Himself to mankind in the role of a Father in several contexts. The most important is that of a spiritual Father. Thus, Christians experience a God who expresses all the qualities of a loving Father. He gives us life (); He loves us (); He rewards our efforts (); He communicates with us through His Word (; ; ; ); He corrects us lovingly (); and, most important, He will grant us the ultimate gift of life—eternal life in His Kingdom through His grace (Roman 6:23; )—if we repent of our sins and obey His commands ().

If you have not yet experienced God as a personal, caring, loving Father, then you are yet to begin the fulfillment of the reason you were created by God. For more information about who God is and how you can become a child of God, be sure to read the articles:

My thought here is that many of us are so focused on us, who we are, how people see us, what we represent, are we succeeding. Just a constant stream of us, on our Facebook page.

We can forget our true standing. We are an heir of the Father; a joint heir with the Son. You are a child of God.

It is reality of who we have become by grace, that will prevent use from falling back into what we were by nature.

When you realize you are a child of God you will be asking yourself, “Is this what a child of God would do? If Jesus, my older brother know what I was doing, thinking, saying, reading, what would he say? Is this the kind of reading matterial for someone who is a joint heir with Christ?”

Throughout the Bible we find God portrayed as a Father. This portrayal, however, is surprisingly rare in the Old Testament. There God is specifically called the Father of the nation of Israel ( ; ; [twice] 64:8 ; ; ; ; ) or the Father of certain individuals ( ; ; ; ; ; ) only fifteen times. (At times the father imagery is present although the term "Father" is not used [ ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ]). This metaphor for God may have been avoided in the Old Testament due to its frequent use in the ancient Near East where it was used in various fertility religions and carried heavy sexual overtones. The avoidance of this description for God can still be found in the intertestamental literature. There its use is also rare: Apocrypha ( ; ; ; , ; ); Pseudepigrapha ( Jub 1:24, 28; 19:29; ; , ; T. Levi 18:6; T. Judah 24:2); and Dead Sea Scrolls (1 QH 9:35f.).

The teaching of the Fatherhood of God takes a decided turn with Jesus, for "Father" was his favorite term for addressing God. It appears on his lips some sixty-five times in the Synoptic Gospels and over one hundred times in John. The exact term Jesus used is still found three times in the New Testament ( ; ; ) but elsewhere the Aramaic term Abba is translated by the Greek pater [pathvr]. The uniqueness of Jesus' teaching on this subject is evident for several reasons. For one, the rarity of this designation for God is striking. There is no evidence in pre-Christian Jewish literature that Jews addressed God as "Abba. " A second unique feature about Jesus' use of Abba as a designation for God involves the intimacy of the term. Abba was a term little children used when they addressed their fathers. At one time it was thought that since children used this term to address their fathers the nearest equivalent would be the English term "Daddy." More recently, however, it has been pointed out that Abba was a term not only that small children used to address their fathers; it was also a term that older children and adults used. As a result it is best to understand Abba as the equivalent of "Father" rather than "Daddy."

A third unique feature of Jesus' teaching concerning the Fatherhood of God is that the frequency of this metaphor is out of all proportion to what we find elsewhere in the Old Testament and other Jewish literature. (Note 165+ times in the four Gospels compared to only 15 times in the entire Old Testament!) This was not justa way Jesus taught his disciples to address God; it was the way. They were to pray, "Father, hallowed by your name" ( ). This is why the Greek-speaking Gentile churches in Galatia and Rome continued to address God as Abba. They used this foreign title for God because Jesus had used it and taught his followers to do so. It should be pointed out that although Jesus addressed God as "Father" and taught his disciples to do the same, he never referred to God as "our Father." ( is not an exception, for here Jesus is teaching his disciples how they [plural] should pray. ) His "Sonship" was different from that of his followers. He was by nature the Son; they were "sons" through adoption. This is clearly seen in in the distinction between "my" God and "your" God. It is also seen in , , ; , , ; ; , where Jesus refers to "your" (singular and plural) and "my" father but never "our" father.

Because of Jesus' use of this metaphor, it is not surprising that the rest of the New Testament also emphasizes the Fatherhood of God. In the Pauline letters God is described as "Father" over forty times. It occurs in blessings ( ; ), doxologies ( ), thanksgivings ( ; ), prayers ( ), exhortations ( ), and creeds ( ; ). For Paul this fatherhood is based not so much on God's role in creation but rather on the redemption and reconciliation he has made available in Jesus Christ. This is why Paul refers to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" ( ; ; ). It is through the work of Christ that God invites us to call him "Abba, Father." It is through Christ that grace and peace have resulted and we have become God's children ( ; ; ).

The description of God as "father" is under attack today in certain circles. It is charged by some that this leads to a false view that God is a male. This criticism should be taken seriously in that God is not a "man" ( ). He is a Spirit ( ) without sexual parts. When God is referred as a father, this is simply the use of a metaphor in which he is likened to a kind and loving father. Elsewhere God's love and care can be compared to that of a concerned and caring mother ( ; ). Yet to avoid the metaphor of father as a description and designation for God is to lose sight of the fact that Jesus chose this as his metaphor to address God and that he taught this as the metaphor by which his disciples should address God. It also loses sight of the continuity established by the use of this metaphor with those who have called God "Father" over the centuries. These include the disciples; the earliest congregations ( ; ); the earliest church councils ("I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth "); and Christian churches all over the globe who over the centuries have prayed together "Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name."

Robert H. Stein

When you realized your in it together, your identity is one, you are one family, suddenly it’s not only about you and what you think, but what God and his family think.

I was 25 years old before I could say the word “father” while praying. The word was foreign to me. It didn’t roll off my tongue the way it did for many of my Christian friends. It felt like a word from a foreign language. In one regard, it meant nothing. It was jibberish. But in another, it meant a world of things. Amid the cultural barriers, it still struck a nerve, because while it meant nothing, it meant everything.

It meant broken things.

Scary things.

Hurtful things.

How was I supposed to use a word that, for me, brought to mind everything a parent shouldn’t be when I was in conversation with a God whom I’d been told was everything my dad wasn’t? How was I supposed to call God by a name I hadn’t used for most of my life; a name that didn’t mean to me what I knew Scripture insisted God is?

For me to call God a father was like calling an apple an orange. They didn’t mix.

Sure, I knew God was a Father, but how was I sure he wasn’t like my father?

In the Bible, the family unit gives us a picture of how God relates to us, his children. We understand that God, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, welcomes us home to be with him through the sacrifice of Christ. He desires a relationship with his children. He cares for us. We know we’re able to understand the nature and character of love because God loved us first. In Christ’s prayer in , we learn that God desires us to be with him, together as a family. In this regard, our earthly fathers give us a picture, a shadow, of what God the Father is truly like.

Dads want to be with their children. They want to spend time with them, to care for them, to love them. They want their children to know how much they would risk to protect them. Dads want children to know what they’d do if they lost them. This is what dads do.

So for a child of God, it should be pretty great that God is like a dad, right?

For the fatherless, this isn’t good news. We’re fearful of the shadow God has set in place. The result? We’re frightened by God the Father, because we’re terrified of our earthly fathers. How can we come to God without fear when we’re scared to go home when Dad is there? How can we understand God’s love and faithfulness when Dad left town because he loved someone or something more than us? How can God be a mighty fortress of protection when Dad hit instead of hugged? How can God be a firm foundation of trust and assurance when Dad built in us a mountain of disappointment and insecurity?

It’s devastating that the very thing God has given to reflect his love and mercy and faithfulness is the very thing keeping many from crawling into their heavenly Father’s lap.

It’s devastating that the very thing God has given to reflect his love and mercy and faithfulness is the very thing keeping many from crawling into their heavenly Father’s lap. I’m almost 31, and this is still a daily fight. It’s a fight to trust God thinks of me differently than my dad did. It’s a fight to not assume God enjoys disciplining me more than blessing me. It’s a fight not to think God is mad at me more often than he delights in me.

Some days it feels hopelessly exhausting.

What changed it all for me was a recalibration. It took a reorientation for me to move forward in trusting the Lord and calling him Father. What do I mean? Instead of looking at my dad and then back at God, I learned to look at God first. I realized if God wasn’t my first source of fatherhood, I was always going to be off-balance. If I didn’t start with God, then he would always be the replica rather than the original.

Instead of looking at my dad and then back at God, I learned to look at God first. . . . If I didn’t start with God, then he would always be the replica rather than the original.

This re-calibration took turning to Scripture to fill my mind with the true nature of God instead of turning to the empty shadow first. Through his gracious Word, he showed me he delights to lavish mercy. He doesn’t stay angry. He takes my wrongs and faults and covers them in his Son. Since his grace and mercy are new each day, I don’t have to wake up tiptoeing around in his presence. I can run to him, freely and confidently. Moreover, he doesn’t hang my shortcomings over my head; he treats me with constant grace. Through Christ, he has made a way for me to know and enjoy him. He can be found. He isn’t hiding. He didn’t leave. In fact, he came looking for me to rescue me from brokenness. He hasn’t given up on me.

In the Son, I see the Father isn’t hiding. On a cross, he proved he came for me. On a cross, he proved that—unlike any shadow we’ve seen—he alone always keeps his promises and always makes good on his commitments.

That is a question that only you can answer.

Has there ever been a moment when you stopped what you were doing as the truth finally dawns on you and you said “I get it.”

“It makes sense. I’m a sinner and I can’t fix myself. It’s not working. I’m broken beyond repair. There is no hope left. Jesus I turn to you and throw myself on you because nothing else will save me. There is no other hope.

Oh I hope you have all had that moment of truth.

This morning it is not to late to become a child of God. The heart of God is far beyond any father.

He lovingly corrects us.

Mercy

He always welcomes us back.

Intimacy

Generosity

He provides for our needs.

He gives us His wisdom.

Identity

He longs for your return. He has been waiting on the front porch sqinting into the sunset. He is pleading with the hearts of his lost children saying, “Come home, come home, just come home. whoever comes to me I will never cast out!”

He will always forgive. He will always have you back.

With his arms outstretched, long to care for you again he says, “Come home”

This doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s been a scary journey. But God’s glorious fatherhood should be, and can be, the great lighthouse that draws us in from dark storms and raging seas. It brings us in from rushing waters.

So step to the helm. Make the move. Turn the ship and go full-throttle toward the shore. Let the fatherhood of God be the beacon that draws you safely into the harbor, not the waves that keep you lost at sea.

Fathers, I hope you seek to reflect your spiritual Father to your children. Your family needs you.

Go home. Trust me. It’s safe.

And to all of you, I pray that you will run to your Father; get in his word; get to know him for he truly is greater than any earthly father.

He lovingly corrects us.

He is full of Love, and Mercy.

Mercy

He always welcomes us back.

Generosity

He generously provides for our needs.

He gives us His wisdom.

He will welcome us into the family and give us an Identity beside Jesus, as the child of the King of all the universe.

END

Men on Earth have the opportunity to become fathers and experience some of the same joys that our Heavenly Father feels for us. Fatherhood is a divine responsibility to be cherished.

Series: Embracing God as a Father by Mary Kassian

Leslie Basham: Mary Kassian says you can embrace God as your Father no matter how much hurt an earthly father has caused.

I'm awake. I remember Him. I gaze upon them before I part. They lie in their bed, unaware of me watching. I leave, they sleep. The small home I help provide is their world. They play, they explore, learning to move, to feel, to see, to know, not once thinking how it all came to be. Crayons, toys, books; it's all for them. The fridge opens, the pantry exposed, they expect food to be there. Not a thought, not a doubt, just hunger. Cereal, milk, yogurt, messy fingers, messy faces, all fed. Tummies are full. Now it's nap time. My wife likes nap time. Once again, they lay in the comfort we provide.

All while I work, I'm far, but close; always thinking of them. My phone rings, I only hear breathing. I smile; my wife's phone is now missing. I do it all for them. I work, that they may grow. They trust so deeply; how I yearn to do the same. They see so little of how it all came to be, never questioning, only trusting. I come home; two-second hugs. Now I'm a horse. We eat dinner, brush teeth. Jammy time. Finally, it's bed time. Once again, they lay their heads on the pillows we provide. I will be their protector. I will be their gentle friend. I will be my wife's faithful husband. I am a father, I am also a son. And while I may not understand all that He does for me, I do know that all that I am, and all that I have is because He's a father to me. I now stand, very aware, of how it all came to be.

Mary Kassian: Father is not an abstract word. How tragic and how very, very foolish and arrogant of us to shy away from this name because some human males have been a poor example of what fatherhood is.

Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of True Woman 101, for Wednesday, June 14.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: It seems that in every language and in every culture the first words that every little one learns to speak is the word “papa” or “daddy.” The same is true in the family of God. In fact, Jesus taught us that when we pray we should say, “Our Father.” Now I know that for some women that concept of addressing God as Father is easier than for others.

There are some women who find it extremely difficult to think of God as their Father perhaps because of a challenge or a breakdown that they’ve had in their relationship with their earthly father. This week, leading up to Father’s Day, I wanted you to hear a message by Mary Kassian, who is a dear friend of mine and no stranger to Revive Our Hearts. God has given Mary some rich insights from the Scripture about how we as women can relate to God as Father.

When I first heard this message, I knew it would touch a tender and responsive chord with the hearts of many women because all of us want to know how we can better have an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father, regardless of what kind of earthly father we may have had.

Now let's listen as Mary Kassian helps us embrace God as a loving heavenly Father.

Mary Kassian: Tonight forty percent of children in the United States and in North America are going to go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live. Forty percent. Now does every child need a father? Increasingly, our society's answer to that question is "no" or "not necessarily." But the Bible's answer to that question is a resounding "yes." Every child needs a father. Every child needs a father. Every grown child needs a father. Most astonishing of all, the Bible tells us that through Jesus every person has a Father. They have a perfect Father, the father of your dreams when you come into the family of God.

So the challenge today—what we're going to be talking about today—is women relating to God as Father. The challenge for us and the challenge for the women we minister to, particularly in this society, is to understand the Fatherhood of God and understand who we are in relation to God in that way.

is what we're basing our talk on today: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" That is what we are. That is what we are!

There are four truths that every woman needs to realize—four truths that you need to realize, four truths that you need to teach the women that you're ministering to, four truths that we need to teach our daughters as they are growing up. The first truth is this: God wants to relate to women as Father. God wants to relate to every one of us as Father.

God is our Father. Now that doesn't mean that God is male. In fact, in the Bible there are lots of beautiful, beautiful analogies about the warm, nurturing, kind, caring aspects of God. He carried the nation Israel in His womb. He cries out like a woman in labor. He birthed the Jewish nation. He has compassion on us like a mother has compassion for the baby at her breast. He nurses and nurtures us. He comforts as a mother comforts.

So why don't we call God "mother"? Why do we call God "Father"? That's a debate that is raging in many churches. It’s a debate that’s beginning to surface. And many, many denominations say there’s these beautiful analogies in Scripture about God mothering us. So why do we call God “Father”? Why is it important for us to understand the Fatherhood of God?

The first truth is that God wants to relate to us as Father. The first reason that we call God "Father" is a very obvious reason. It's almost too simple to be explained. It's because that's what He wants to be called. Throughout Scripture, He reveals Himself as Father.

The first person of the Trinity has many names. Holy, Holy, Holy. God Almighty. The Most Holy One. But when Jesus came to tear away the veil and to open up the mystery to us of who God was, He revealed God as Father. In fact, He referred to God as Father more than any other name. The the word that He used for God was “Father.” There are lots of other words, lots of other names for God; but "Father" is a very, very concrete word.

All of us have a clear idea of what "father" means or should mean. I don't know about you, but it's a little bit different from the other names of God: the Holy, Holy, Holy or Almighty One or Rock. Those are more conceptual names. They're very important names because they teach us about the character of God. But they're much more conceptual. They're not as concrete and personal.

"Father" is a very, very, very personal name. It indicates a personal being. That's reason number two. The term "father" indicates a personal being. This is astounding. The implications of this are incredible. Really, when you think about it, the implications are astonishing. God says, "I'm your Father." What that means is that God is someone we can get to know. It means that He is a personal being—someone we can bump up against in real flesh and blood, someone we can interact with and someone perhaps even that we can become close and intimate and personal with.

The third reason is that it is the term that best describes His relationship. Second Corinthans 6:16–18: "God has said of you, 'I will live in you and walk among you . . . and I will be your God and you shall be My people. I will welcome you and will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and my daughters.’”

Father is the name that God has chosen to best describe the relationship of a supremely personal being to His Son and to His children. "Father" is a Christian name for God. It is the name that sets Christianity apart from every other religion. Other religions have a great almighty god and an untouchable spirit, or the great metaphysical aura, the great mystic thing that binds the universe together. Some religions have a god who is far and almighty. But Christianity is the only religion that has a Father who gave His Son so that we can become children. It’s very, very personal. Very, very intimate.

He relates to us as father. He doesn't relate to us as father/mother. That would be hard for me conceptually as well, because I don't have a father/mother. I have a father and a mother. How my father fathers me is different than what I think about a mother mothering me. So God has in His wisdom—He is not male. He supercedes and transcends sexuality and masculinity and femininity. But in His wisdom He has chosen the best term to describe who He is. He has given us the earthly example of family and marriage, husband, wife, father—to tell us about Him.

Now what do you think of when you think of the word "father"? I know what I think of. I grew up in a family. I have five brothers. I'm a carpenter's daughter. My dad worked with his hands. So when I think of the word "father," I think of sitting perched up on the workbench and the smell of wood and watching my dad's big hands build things.

I think of the little, white doll cradle with the heart-shaped handles and the white doweling that I got for my sixth birthday that he made me. I think of growing older as a teenage girl and sneaking out of the house when I shouldn't have and coming back at 1:00 in the morning and trying to sneak back in and getting stuck half in and half out of the window, thinking, What should I do? and finally deciding the course of least pain here would be to call for my dad to help. Some pain involved there, but . . .

I think of the smell of Lysol because my mom was never good when us kids were sick. She would run the other direction. My dad would clean it up. I think of a nursemaid. I think of putting Band-Aids on my knees. I think of all those things when I think of the word "father."

I think of a man with tears in his eyes, saying, "Mary, in Europe we don't follow the tradition of giving away the bride. Please don't ask me to give you away because it would break my heart." I think of those things.

Now, I know many of you do not have good thoughts when you think of the word "father." For many of you and for many, many women in our society, when they think of the word "father" they think of anger or abandonment or shame or disappointment. Unpredictability. Conflict. Pain.

You see, "father" is not an abstract word. How tragic and how very, very foolish and how arrogant of us to shy away from this name because some human males have been a poor example of what fatherhood is.

Jesus' whole message when He was on earth was, “Come and meet My Dad. Come and meet My Dad. See these miracles that I’m doing? My Dad does that. Hear the words that I’m speaking? I’m just telling you what My Dad told Me. See the compassion I have? That’s the compassion of the Father. The love I have for you? That’s the love that the Father has for Me. Come and look at Me. Spend some time with Me. It’s like you’re spending time with My Dad. You’re getting to know Him.” His whole message was “Come meet Dad. Come meet My Dad. If you believe in Me, He can be your Dad, too.” God sent Jesus to show them the father heart of God.

Let's take a look at some familiar verses. You know all these verses. and 26. I'll just read them for you. "Righteous Father, the world has never known You, but I have known You, and these disciples know that You sent Me on this mission. I have made Your very being known to them—who You are and what You do. And I continue to make it known so that Your love for Me might be in them, exactly as I am in them" (paraphrased).

You see, Jesus makes known who the Father is and what the Father does. That's what Jesus came to reveal to us—who the Father is and what the Father does.

: "Jesus said to them, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.'" Oh, there's another part to that verse. What does it say? "No one comes to the Father except through Me." So when you're coming to Jesus, when you're introducing women to Jesus, where are you taking them? To the Father. We're missing that so often because of the "patriarchal misogynistic society." Right? We're afraid of saying, "I'm taking you to the Father. You're going to meet the Father and you're going to understand a father's love."

: "This is eternal life, that they may know You." Now isn't this interesting? This is Jesus praying. In this statement, , He is encapsulating what it means to be a Christian, what it means to have eternal life. Jesus is praying; and He says, "This is eternal life.” In a nutshell, Christianity 101, basic definition number one: “This is eternal life: Father, that they may know You and the Son that You have sent."

That's eternal life. So if we are not loving the truth and knowing the truth and preaching the truth about the fatherhood of God, we're missing Christianity 101. We're not getting it, and we're not transmitting it to our daughters and our sons.

: "Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus" (KJV). Our fellowship. What does fellowship mean? Fellowship means closeness. It means familiarity. It means getting to know someone. Our fellowship. You see, we are brought into a family relationship. So many of us think that Christianity is a lifestyle and a way of living—and it certainly involves that—but at its heart, Christianity is a relationship. It's a relationship.

What does it mean to be in a relationship with the Father? According to Jesus' prayer, it means first that we know Him; and second, that we experience His love. Just think about the person that you know the best in life. I think of my husband, Brent. We've been married for eighteen years. I've gotten to know him, and he is my best friend.

I know that he won't wear a green shirt. If I put green peppers in anything, he'll smell it from a mile away and will walk the other direction. I know when he is troubled. I hear it in his voice. I see it in his face. I see the way he walks. I know him, and I'm getting to know him even more. He surprises me. I go, "Whew! Do I know you really?" It's an ongoing process, an ever-deepening thing. I know what makes him happy. I know what makes him sad.

Are you like that with the Father? Do you know your Father? Do you really know your heavenly Father? Do you experience His love? . This again is Jesus praying. He is pouring out His heart to the Father. He's praying, "Oh, Father, I pray that these people may know that You love Me."

In verse 26 Jesus prays and says, "I have made You known to them and will continue to make You known." Then He gives the reason. Why? "So that the love that You have for Me may be in them."

So this is an incredible concept. When you become a Christian, the full force of the Father's love that the Father has for His Son Jesus, the full force of that Father heart is directed towards you. The full force of that. Doesn't that blow you away? That blows me away. The love that the Father has for His Son Jesus, He has that same love for Mary. He has that same love for me.

God has put a father longing in each one of our hearts. When we become Christians we are adopted into a family relationship. Now the Jewish adoption process is really, really interesting because a Jewish family would find a child they wanted to adopt and then they would pay off that child’s debts. Then they would take that child and sever all the relationships that child had and take them into a new family, a new relationship, and give them a new name.

It is a picture of what has happened to us when we come into the family of God. God pays off all our debts, severs our ties to sin and brings us into His family and gives us His name. And He gives us the Holy Spirit which is the proof of an adoption. In Jewish society there needed to be multiple witnesses for an adoption to be legal. And we are told in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is the witness.

What type of witness is the Holy Spirit? This is really interesting. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of sonship—the Spirit of sonship. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of adoption. He is also called the Spirit of your Father in .

It's this Spirit—the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of your Father—that lives right in our hearts when we become Christians. It's this Spirit that calls us and drives us to intimacy with the Father. It's this Spirit in our hearts that is calling out, "Abba, Father! Abba, Father!"

: "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (NKJV).

: "Because you are His sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'"

Did you catch the first phrase of ? "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage to fear." Isn't that amazing? Some of us (and many, many women and many of you in this room) are so afraid of God the Father. That is the thing I encounter the most in ministry to women, just a fear.

"I am so afraid that He is going to belittle me, just like my father did. I am so afraid He is going to reject me, just like my father did. I'm so afraid that He is going to yell at me, just like my father did. I'm so afraid that His love for me is conditional, that I need to perform and jump through hoops, just like I had to do for my dad."

That's not the Holy Spirit in you talking. God didn't give us a spirit of fear. The Holy Spirit in your heart cries out, "Abba, Father!" The verb cry is really interesting. It's a verb. It's ongoing. It's the spirit in your heart that is even now crying out, "Abba, Father!" It's longing for connection. It's longing for that intimacy. It's longing to become one. It's longing for closeness.

Some of you may wonder why you feel so much frustration, why you're living the Christian life and going through all the motions but there is no joy. Certainly we go through wilderness times. We do. But it could be that the Spirit within you is crying out, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" because that is what the Spirit does. And you are too busy to listen.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Mary Kassian has been showing us what it means for God to be our Father. And today’s program is just a taste of the kind of teaching you’ll hear from Mary at the Revive '17 conference.

The theme of this year’s Revive conference is Women Mentoring Women the way. Mary will be speaking there along with the host of Revive Our Hearts, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. You’ll also hear from Blair Linne, Damaris Carbaugh, Dannah Gresh and others. The bad news is . . . Revive '17 is sold out. The good news is . . . you have plenty of time to put together a group and make plans to watch the livestream of the conference together. You can see the whole event from your home or your church. Revive '17 will take place September 29–30. When you visit ReviveOurHearts.com, you can sign up for livestream updates as we get closer to the event. Click on events, then Revive '17, then livestream.

Tomorrow, we’ll hear more from Mary Kassian. She’ll explain why everyone has a longing for a loving Father. Please be back tomorrow for Revive Our Hearts.

To close our time, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth will tell us something she learned from her father. He was a businessman who had a heart for building God’s kingdom. And in that role, he faced a lot of challenges.

Nancy: I have to say that in watching my dad's response to pressure and trials that I learned more about the sovereignty of God than I've ever learned from a book or a classroom because I saw it lived out in his life. As I was getting ready to come in to the studio and record and I was working through email and had a lot of projects and things demanding my attention and I had not taken time first to get into the Word and to seek the Lord, the thought came to my mind of my dad, who started every single day, by giving to God the first hour of every day in the Word and in prayer.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wants to connect you with your true Father. It's an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

Fatherhood: A Pale Reflection of God

What is the nature of God’s fatherhood?

Is God the father of everyone?

Is God the father of everyone?

How does one become a child of God and know him as Father?

Regeneration

Adoption

​

What are some characteristics of God’s fatherhood?

Love

He lovingly corrects us.

He provides for our needs.

Mercy

He always welcomes us back.

He always welcomes us back.

He always welcomes us back.

Intimacy

Generosity

Security

Destiny

Identity

Am I a member of God’s family; is He my Father?

The Son's invitation

Glimpses of His character

He is the source of life.

He lovingly corrects us.

He provides for our needs.

He gives us His wisdom.

He always welcomes us back.

God as a Father

Why is God referred to as a Father? Whose Father is He? How does He act as a Father to each of us? What should we learn from this important aspect of God?

Many meanings of father

Father through creation

Jesus: His own begotten Son

Our spiritual Father

Personal relationship

A loving Father

Identity

Is God the Father Like My Father?

Fearing the Shadow

Hopeful Way Forward

Are you a child of God?

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