God's Father Heart

Written in June 2009 – Posted to PsalmsOfJohn in February 2010 – My first post !!

The Father Heart of God

Testimony – My Dad and Me

I was a wartime baby, conceived during that poignant time when my mum and dad knew he was going to war, but he had not yet left. My parents were very social. They wore formal clothes often! They loved the outdoors, trekking in the bush and skiing with friends. I think Pop was a happy, fun, guy.

My Dad was a navigator on bombers during WW II, he directed the plane to the target and pulled the trigger to release the bombs. A few years earlier my mother and he had had a wonderful honeymoon in the cities he bombed. He returned home from the war when I was about three. He was very saddened; he was not able to talk about the war. Most of his fellow airmen died. He bombed cities and people he had loved.

Us kids remember him as stern, distant, authoritative, bitter and without worldly success. We knew that he had at least one affair while we were teenagers. Once I was adult we rarely spoke.

When he was dying his sister said that I must go and visit him in the hospital, to see me was the only thing he wanted. The hospital registrar assured me that he would quickly get better and I should save my money until he was really sick. My aunt insisted. I went. We had about eighteen hours together. He could not speak, except with his eyes and his hands. We had eighteen hours of loving one another. Then he was gone.

What a waste . .

The Big Question

I’ve always been interested in discussion of the “big question” . . what are we here for?

When I became Christian I thought I had found the answer . . then I realised that I had not !! What I had found did not seem to be enough.

I really like preaching when the message includes Genesis One and Two, and John Chapter One, the beginnings of everything. A couple of years ago the lord had me looking into these three chapters for a whole year. I couldn’t have a quiet time without turning there and pondering in my heart.

I believe that He (the Lord) gave me some answers. I am convinced that God, the Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit, created the universe from love. The whole thing was, and is, from love and for love (1 John 4:8).

The Creation And It’s Purpose

Before “the beginning” there was just God

•  Our God.
•  Not the Muslim god, all alone.
•  Not Buddha, all alone.
•  Not millions of Hindu or Roman gods fighting and back-stabbing for power.
•  God. Father, Son and Spirit. Love. Eternally pouring out for one-another. Giving.

Family . . that’s why Father God is called Father. And why the Son is called Son. Family. Intimate.

Then they, Father, Son and Spirit, decided to make room for more. Clearly whatever they were going to bring into their presence would have to be very special:

•  The Father so loved the Son; it would be good to bring the Son a glorious bride, one who would be his delight.
•  The Son so loved the Father; it would be good to give the Father many sons, and bring them to glory with God (Hebrews 2:10).

They decided they would create creatures in their image. But not just spiritual. Physical. And call them “man” and “woman”.

There had never been anything physical at all. Nothing. So God created an entire universe as a place for these physical creatures. They would be the image of God and their destiny was to be included in God’s glory. They would participate in God’s life, eternally in the God-head; in heaven, ruling and reigning with God.

So God did. They created the whole universe just so that this tiny planet, Earth, would be safe and filled with colour and variety, and seasons and everything for life.

(Job 26:7) “He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing”.

(Genesis 1) God said “let there be . .” “let there be . .” “let there be . .” then, breathing out the words, said “let us make man . .” (God here, in the original language, was Elohim, which means "God" but is a plural word. So, God said - the three persons comprising the One God, together decided!

We are hand made. From his breath! His children. His.

Genesis 1:27-28) God created humankind in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

(Romans 8:19-21) the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

God designed the universe so it would have kids in it. This is a huge part of his plan. And you are one of those children; you were when you were little, and now that you are big, he still delights in you as being one of his kids!

So this should be a fantastically happy place full of fulfilled children, delighted in the family they are in . . Right ??

What went wrong ??

Sin. Humankind were separated from God. The family with Father God being Father, and the Son showing and sharing sonship with all the people is not realised.

We were born into a sinful world. Until we become Christian the sinful world is our home.

As we become Christian our parentage changes. Our whole DNA. God becomes our Father:

(1 John 3:10) This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

We know sin – it is not a stranger to any of us.

Some comments:

•  Sigmund Freud: “I could not point to any need in childhood as strong as that for fatherhood”.
•  Dr James Dobson: “Low self esteem” is by far the biggest problem among Western women, including Christian women ..
•  Dr Fiona Stanley: "All children need parenting and education to have a future in the world; until this happens for indigenous children they will continue to live chaotic lives".
•  Lucille Ball of the “I Love Lucy” TV show when discussing the collapse of Western society: “Where are the fathers?”
•  James Baldwin, African American novelist: “Children appear to not be good at listening to their parents, but always grow up imitating them”.

But God’s intention is clear:

(Galatians 3:26; 4:5; 4:6) You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, and receive the full rights of sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father”.

(Romans 8:16) The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

(Romans 8:17) Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

Jesus and Father God chose you and me:

(John 6:44) "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day”.

Words Have Power.

Some words have great power; they come with their own baggage. Today we see this with words like “terrorism” and “climate change” and “economic downturn” although this last appears to have more impact in the U.S. than here, because things are tougher and more threatening over there.

“Father” possibly has the most impact of any word. Certainly vast numbers of people have been negatively impacted by the fathering they received, or even, didn’t receive.

The Persistent Neighbour

“Jesus” is the answer to every question:

(John 14:9) "Philip .. he who has seen me has seen the Father".

After Jesus teaches his twelve disciples the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2-4), he goes on (Luke 11:5-8) to tell about the “one of you” who goes to a neighbour, late at night, to ask for bread for a surprise visitor. The neighbour says: “Don't bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give it to you”. Eventually, because the “one of you” is very persistent, the neighbour gets up and gives the bread.

Most people read this as though the “one of you” is the Christian of today, being persistent with God to meet real and present needs. But this story was from Old Covenant times. Jesus was not yet crucified and risen. The disciples were not yet Christians, not yet adopted as “my children”, so had to bang on persistently to receive from God.

Today, we are in the New Covenant. Every Christian is a child of God. God is our Father. We are fully adopted and fully heirs of god’s kingdom. Jesus is our Saviour, and also our Brother. We are in intimate relationship, he is in us, and we are in him.

We are the “children” inside, with the Father safely in bed, fed, bathed, safe, all our needs met without question. All we need is to say “Abba”. Friends and neighbours need to bang and knock. But not the beloved children of the house. All we need is to say “Abba”.

God chose you, drew you, brought you to Jesus who brings you to his Father. Jesus is our redeemer and our Lord. We are told this over and over in the Scripture. What does it mean?

REDEEMER: one who regains possession by paying a price.

LORD: one possessing great power and authority.

Our Father says about our Jesus:

(Psalm 2:7-8)  I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, "You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession".

This is what our redeemer and Lord says:

(Matthew 16:19)  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

(John 14:12)  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do . . even greater things than these.

(John 21:25)  Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Jesus’ Family and Ancestry

How is Jesus is introduced in the Bible? The Old Testament closes with the prophets who are trying, unsuccessfully, to get Israel to have a change of heart towards God who, they freely admitted, had brought them so far. Then there were 400 years of silence.

Then in our Bible we next find the Gospel of Matthew. How does that start? Matthew was written for the Jews, for Israel. When meeting someone, Jewish people want to know: “who is his father”?

(Matthew 1:1-2) The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren
. . The “begats” of Matthew One!

Why start such an important and exciting account, the birth and life of the Saviour of the world, with pages of “begats”? Who were these people? Jesus’ ancestors?

•  Judah: slept with his daughter-in-law thinking her a prostitute. When it becomes known who she is, and that she’s pregnant with twins, he tries to kill her.
•  Rahab: a spy and a prostitute – treacherous with two bob each way on the outcome of the war – Rahab became Boaz’ grandmother.
•  Boaz: married an immigrant girl, Ruth, from the hated Moabite country – later when David was under dire threat he was given sanctuary in Moab because of his wife.
•  David: adulterous with Bathsheba who becomes pregnant and bore Solomon. David murdered her husband Uriah to cover up the adultery, then married Bathsheba.
•  Solomon: David's and Bathsheba’s son of their adultery - loved many foreign women, Pharaoh’ daughter, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites who “turned away his heart”.
•  Manasseh: a prodigal son; an occultist and murderer.
•  Joseph: a good man, found that Mary was pregnant and not by him. Stood by her. Took her to Nazareth where Jesus was born in conditions of poverty in a stinking manger. (John 1:46) "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"

These are in Jesus family tree! How often do we think that our family was so bad, God can never see me as lovely . .

Jesus’ Delight In His Fear Of The Lord

Jesus loves his Father. We see this throughout the Scriptures and in everything he did. We know that this continues to this day.

(John 5:17) Jesus answered, "My Father works even until now, and I work".

Isaiah wrote about Jesus: (Isaiah 11:2-3) The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord - and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Jesus’ considered that being God’s Son was something more precious and majestic than anything else imaginable. The purpose of holy fear of the Lord is to preserve humanity in the glorious liberty of the children of God as royal sons and daughters (children) set over the entire created order.

(Romans 8:21) that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to corruption and decay, and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

The Son Who Was Lost Then Found

(Luke 15:11-32 My paraphrase) A man had two sons. The younger demanded his share of the inheritance, went to a far country and squandered the money on fast, immoral, living. Soon the money was gone and times got tough. The young man had to work for a farmer, feeding pigs.

He realised that he had made a bad mistake and determined to return home and repent before his father: “I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men”. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The father put his best robe around his son, sandals on his feet, the family ring on his finger and arranged a great feast for him.

Meanwhile the older son was angry because he had continually been with the father working the farm, and had never asked for special favours.

What Jesus is showing us:

•  The father never stopped loving the young son (Jeremiah 31:3; 1 John 4:8) God is love.
•  The son’s sins paled in light of the father’s love (Romans 5:8), but God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
•  Upon the son’s repentance, the father restored him fully into his inheritance (Colossians 1:12) the Father . . has qualified you to share in His inheritance.
•  He cloaked the son making him clean – we are clothed with Jesus’ righteousness (Galatians 3:27) you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
•  He received sandals as befitted a son (Romans 8:15) you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!
•  He received the ring as we have the authority of Christ (Colossians 2:10) you have been given fullness in Christ.
•  He was welcomed fully into fellowship with the father (2 Corinthians 13:14) the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.

The older son:

•  The older son did not enter into intimate relation with his father (Matthew 3:17) "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased".
•  He never accepted his position as son or as heir (John 15:15) no longer do I call you a servant.
•  He did not value or use his authority (Ephesians 4:14; Col 2:10) in him you have been made full.

We are positionally children of our heavenly Father.

So, we are truly in a place of great intimacy with our heavenly Father.

We can therefore expect to be experientially children of our heavenly Father.

We began today with my testimony of my relationship with my earthly father, Frank.

Now, we’ll conclude with my testimony of my relationship with my heavenly Father and my Lord, Jesus Christ.

My Testimony – Me Finding Jesus

A few years ago, when I had been a Christian for nearly twenty years and my kids were growing up, I realised I was stuck.

Already I was at Bible College. I had been a prayer leader, Parish Councilor, and lay preacher.

There was definitely something there, I was very committed, married to a wonderful Christian woman. Most of my kids were showing signs of “catching” Jesus and his salvation. But I knew that there was something missing.

I was told to read Watchman Nee, "The Normal Christian Life", which simply reinforced what I knew but could not express.

(Another great book: "The Three Battlegrounds" by Francis Frangipane).

With all my words I could not articulate this thing that was missing that I knew was vital. This “something” which was to do with Jesus and Father and me. That thing which was probably more than simple understanding, which would answer all the questions and quiet all the pain and yearning.

Well. It took a while but it happened. I’m still on the journey, praise God, I know it will never end. Many people helped. Many saw that I was searching and were so very kind, gracious and generous with their love and time for me.

Ultimately it was Jesus who did whatever was needful.

•  "As God changes me, he changes my concept of him"
•  "As my concept of him changes, my concept of myself changes"
•  "My concept of myself continues to change - I can look into a mirror and not be ashamed"
•  "Father God, you did a good job after all!"  (Ken Symington – 2006) 

I had many encounters with Jesus over many years. I even had an encounter with Father God, even though I knew that if I saw his face I would die (Exodus 33:20).

Both me and family members and people I know have received many healings and deliverances that I am completely certain about.

I learned that it was intimacy that I lacked. A preacher came, her name is Priscilla. She experienced what I recognised in myself. She sought and found the Lord and can now speak of little else, she is so excited, and so in love!

So I tried to find Jesus.

When I had some time; I might have put in a load of clothes and have a half hour while they washed. I would sit on the patio, in my favourite rocker. No Bible. No books, no note pad. Just me. I would say (and still do, to this day), “Jesus, I’m here. I have some time and I long to spend it with you!” then I would wait.

Later, when I walked the dog by the river, I would clear my mental decks: “Jesus, I’m here. I have some time and I long to spend it with you!”

Jesus started to visit with me. He really did (does!). I become aware that he’s there. He’s so completely normal. (Well, he is a person, after all!) I’ll be aware that he has come up and bumped shoulders with me. Or there he is, grinning at me, completely relaxed, my Friend come simply to hang out. We spend quite a bit of time together – this is limited by me, I get too caught up in stuff and forget. Can you imagine anything so dumb!

But Jesus is now my intimate Friend. I am reminded that John was the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20), and am very blessed to be called John. This is not an accident.

Jesus often comes to me:

•  He gives me amazing dreams.
•  He brings me gifts of visions of himself and me, and of the world and the church.
•  He opens up the Scriptures for me, in unique ways, ways I’ve never been taught.
•  He makes promises about the future. He has made it very clear that he trusts me, and has plans for me, plans of me giving and giving and giving; being his person in many situations.
•  No meeting is an accident.
•  He has brought me to our Father and healed my suspicions and fears.
•  We hang out together – he is my most beloved companion.

There was still something missing. Over the past two or three years I have been blessed to go on two Father Heart Of God courses. After each one I reported to Trish that “nothing had changed”, but that was not true. I was changed, profoundly, in ways I cannot describe but others can. Our Jesus changed me, Jesus who loves His Father beyond all else. He did it. I can take no credit for this and cannot look to any person. It was him. My Father, he came to me, he melted my heart.

Father and Son. They are keeping their promises to me.

I was justified when I was saved. Fully, Completely. All my sins were washed away and I was set free from sin and death. But now Jesus has brought me into sonship, the same Sonship that He knows, and has always known. Hallelujah!

Sonship and Intimacy Are For All God’s People

I pray the blessing of intimacy with Jesus for all of you who read this or hear it.

Thank you Jesus.

Why not pause for a few minutes. Talk to our Father, knowing that Jesus is right there with you; meditate on our family in Christ, about the Father’s love and our life, together with Jesus, here on earth.

Amen.

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Be blessed in Jesus.