God The Father

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Romans 8:14-16

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!..”

1 John 3:1

One thing I have always struggled with is the idea of God as my Father. I think it’s real easy to get lost in the concept of God as a father when we see so much damage in this world inflicted by men who fall under the title of a ‘father’. It can often become truly hard to relate to a God who call Himself your Father if you have yourself never truly experience a loving relationship with your earthly father. 

This was a stumbling block for me for a long time. I heard preachers often say that it was wrong to allow your earthly parents behaviours to affect how you view Daddy God, and whilst I do agree with this, I do not think it is that simple. We all come to Jesus broken, wounded, often hurt by people. We are all washed in His blood and born again. We all become new creatures in Christ, where old things pass away. But like any relationship, our relationship with God develops across time. 

“…I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to grasp with all the kedoshim what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled up with all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:17-19

Paul wrote clearly that, whilst we are rooted in love, we continue to develop in the knowledge that surpasses knowledge, of His love for us. To me, this means that although I am aware of the love of God when I become adopted into His family, I must continue to grow into a greater depth and revelation of this love. So whilst there is certainly one part of me that can acknowledge that God is my Father, God is all good, and God loves me. There is another part of me that always struggled to relate to the ‘father’ aspect. Until God spoke so clearly to me this morning.

Eloy and I were worshipping this morning and there was a lyric in the song that just led me to start talking to the Father about my struggles.

“I’ve known you as a Father, I’ve known you as a friend” 

I said to God, I don’t feel honest in singing that I’ve known you as a Father because I do not feel like I have. The Lord instantly highlighted moments to my memory and people who have felt, at times, like a father to me. God got me good. He told me, do you not see me as your Father through these men? Through their words and actions towards you and how that is My nature in them expressed toward you in love?

He did not need to speak anything else to me for me to understand that revelation. I had, in a sense, always been waiting for this moment when God would step down out of heaven and stand in front of me and tell me how He was my Father – of course followed by a loving embrace. I had always been waiting for this ‘deep spiritual’ revelation of God as my Father that I thought would lead to a certain ‘feeling’, ‘emotion’ or ‘reaction’ from me. The reality was, even before I was born again, My Heavenly Father was continually revealing Himself to me through certain men He placed in my life. Men who could stand in front of me, embrace me, speak words of affirmation and love over me, and who could show me with their actions who the Father is. 

God never works in the way we expect, nor does He work in the ways we want Him to most often. But I promise you, that if you merely ask Him to reveal Himself to you and show you Himself as a Father, a Mother, a Friend, a Husband or a Wife – He will. And I think the way in which He shows Himself will astound you with revelation of just how involved He is in every single, minute detail of your life – the details we often overlook. 

I pray that for those of you who are struggling to understand God today in one way or another, be it as a father or a spouse, that He will reveal to you how He is that to you and so much more. When Moses asked God who He was, God simply answered – “I am” (Exodus 3:14)

God never changes. So even in your darkest days, God still is. God is your Father. God is your provider. God is your friend. God is your healer. God is your lover. I pray that you encounter Him in this way.