God as Father

One of my favorite things about my Lord is that He lets me call Him Father. In almost every single spiritual conversation I have among this people, I love to share the joyous fact that if we believe on Christ as our Savior, we have authority to be called a child of God (John 1:12). I love this truth.

The Creator. Our Father. Righteous Judge. Our Father.  God of all gods. Our Father.  King of all kings.  Our Father.  OUR Father.  This is a truth we should never get over, and while I share it continually among a people who see God only as a mystic, impersonal figure, I think I had lost sight of the implications of God as MY Father.  In one of my Bible studies this week, I was forced to focus on this amazing and beautiful truth once again--to be still and know that He is God, My Father.

Hosea 11:1-4 says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt, I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them." (emphasis mine)

He loves us. He calls us from slavery and bondage.  We run after man made gods, but He keeps calling. He teaches us to walk and makes us grow. He takes us by our arms. He heals us. He saves us. He leads us with cords of kindness and bands of love. His burden is light.  He bends down to us and feeds us.

Ah! Don't you just love this picture?! God our Father who created the universe bends down to us. Why? For no other reason than He loves us and He longs for us to be satisfied by Him and in Him. He yearns for us. He longs for us to be in fellowship with Him for our own good and for His glory.  This is an incredible truth!  It is one that I can barely wrap my mind around, but I don't have to understand it to rest in it.  I can run to Him, crawl up in His lap and pour out my aching heart. I can tell Him all about the pain and hurt and fear, and He does so much more than just 'kiss it and make it better.'  He gives joy and gladness. He gives peace.

His plan from the foundation of the world was to be our Father and He made a way for us to be in His family through Christ.  The blood shed on the cross covers me and gives me a new name and a new everlasting inheritance.  My Father loves me.  I hope to never get over it!  I am His child. His!!! I pray that I will share this awesome truth with a renewed excitement, and that through Jesus Christ, the people of Macedonia will know Him as Abba Father for their good and His glory.