FOCUS ON HIM 2 - OUR FATHER

FOCUS ON HIM II
OUR FATHER

If you have been born again from the Spirit of God by receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are a child of God.

The Creator of the Universe is your Father. Paul tells us that we are not to be afraid of Him but to recognize that He is our Abba, our Daddy. (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6)

Once I wrote a humorous spiritual autobiography which I entitled “And God Just Shakes His Head.” It was after I completed it that I realized my picture of God was derived from my own father who often shook his head in disgust at my behavior.

Unfortunately that is usually the case with most of us. Our concept of God is distorted by the relationships we had with our earthly father.

Some of you may have been blessed with a wonderful, nurturing, loving, accepting earthly Daddy. Some of you may have been, as I was, blessed with a loving but demanding Daddy. And some of you may have had an abusive and cruel father – or an absent non-caring father. The type of father you had will influence your perception of your heavenly Father.

We need to all remember that God is the Perfect Father, better than the best Daddy anyone ever had in this earth – loving, forgiving, giving – the one who delights in you just as you are.

He gave you life, He gave His life for you, He fills you with Himself, He never leaves you, He forgives you for every infraction of His rules, He provides for all your physical needs, He provides all the education and training you will allow Him to give. He gives you everything He has as a free gift.

No matter how old you are, He sees you as His little child and loves you very much.

This winter while my husband was in VA hospital there was an older man in the same room who was in a lot of discomfort and had not been able to sleep for days. He said, “I just want to die. And I want to go home. Why stay here to die when I'm so uncomfortable?” The Spirit of the Lord rose up within me and I rushed to his bedside and put my arms around him and asked if I could pray. I already knew he was a Christian and not surprised when he said yes. The Lord had me pray “Father, remind Charlie that you are the Daddy that loves him, that no matter how old he is, you see him as your little boy. Lord, Your Spirit is the Comforter and we ask You to comfort him physically as well as emotionally.” Charlie later told his family “Peace immediately flooded me.” All we knew was that he slept pretty constantly for the next two days. Charlie got to go home for a while before he ended up back in the hospital, and we were able to visit him there three days before he ran into the arms of his heavenly Daddy to live in comfort and joy forever.

When you wake up on Father’s Day this year, before you do anything else, FOCUS ON HIM, the one who sees you as His beloved little child, and say aloud “Happy Father’s Day” to your heavenly Daddy. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to do that every morning. For He is your Daddy who loves you every day, now and forever.