05/29/2024
Understanding why we receive the gifts that God gives us has always been a perplexing challenge for me. We being sinners, fallen, and undeserving are not worthy of such attention, and yet He loves us and provides for us. In this quandary we look to scripture and it speaks to us in terms we can understand... He is our Father which art in heaven.
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Matthew 7:11 KJV
In Fatherhood we can see Him more clearly because we too experience this relationship with our own children. They are part of us and created through the joining of ourselves. In this they are precious and beloved. God created Adam from the dust, then from Adam, God created Eve, but there was one more ingredient instilled in us... His own breath of life. In that breath came a piece of Himself that made us more than a creation; it was a joining that made us His sons, and through Adam, Eve became His daughter as she received this same pedigree.
So now, in a small way, we understand, through the love of our own children, how God came to love us. We can't deny ourselves when we see our own children, and He will not deny Himself in us. Through this we realize the importance of the commandment...
“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
Exodus 20:12 KJV
And, in this commandment comes the first promise... "that thy days be long."
Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote eloquently of God's Fatherhood in these words...
"The encouragement to pray is transferred from our earthly father to our Heavenly Father - from the weak to the omnipotent. Our Heavenly Father is the highest conception of fatherhood."
As earthly fathers we are tasked with teaching our children to pray. This is a passing of the role of fatherhood between ourselves and our Heavenly Father. My earthly father died several years ago, but despite his death the role of Father continued. I have heard people say, in their grief, that they were orphaned upon the death of their earthly fathers, but that is not true. Through the love of our Heavenly Father we have not experienced a moment as an orphan. He is with us always... to our death and beyond.
So, God our Father loves us and we understand that love the only way we can... through the reflection of His fatherhood in the relationship we have with our own children, and they with us. In this we can read anew scriptures like Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21 with a fresh understanding.
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:4 KJV
“Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.”
Colossians 3:21 KJV
Our love is meant to be shared... father, grandfathers, and ultimately and perfectly, Holy Father. We pass ourselves forward from generation to generation and the breath of God is carried within us.
Jesus began the Lord's Prayer with the words "Our Father which art in heaven" and this is more than an honorary title... It is our pedigree physically and spiritually. This is why God answers our prayers with gifts; He doesn't desire to deny us because we are of Him... we are His children in every sense of the word; heirs and joint heirs with Jesus in Him.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Romans 8:16-17 KJV
When we pray this morning let's not forget to whom we are praying... We are speaking with the patriarch of our family, the head of our household, our God, and our Father. If you have been away like the prodigal son, and wish to return, He will greet you with open arms because you were lost but now are found. In Him is the love of a father for His child at a depth we can only begin to imagine.
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
Luke 15:20-24 KJV
Let’s pray together…
Prayer:
Father, thank you for my life, and for being my Heavenly Father. Thank you for my body, your breath, and the life and spirit, that abides therein. Thank you for loving me as your child, and teaching me about the depth of that love through the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the love I too have in me for my own children. I call you Lord, God, and Creator, but most endearingly I call you friend, Father, Papa, and Abba. From you I have received an inheritance like none other. From you I am given all that I have on this earth, and beyond these worldly trappings I am given righteousness, holiness, and eternity with you in your house. Through you who calls me your child I have a spiritual lineage that is undeniable, and the love that has overcome sin and death through Jesus Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God and my Father who was, and is, and is to come. Though my earthly father might be good or bad you are always good. Though my earthly father might or might not love me as he should, you love me always and beyond all measure. Although my earthly father will experience death, you are eternally with me. Or, in other words, though my earthly father is imperfect in many ways, you are Perfect in all things; especially your love for me. In these things and all others, I love you, and give you the glory. Your grace and mercy cover me like a warm cloak, the body of Christ nourishes me, and His blood washed me clean of every blemish as I make my way to your throne. Father I revere you and hold you above all things. I pray with each breath I take, and honor you with each word I speak therein. Hear me now Holy Father, and never take your hand from me, nor stop loving me as you do. Keep me safe in your presence, and let me sing your praises throughout eternity knowing always that you were, you are, and will always be the great I Am, my father, my Abba, my God… my creator… and every breath I breathe.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Amen!
Rich Forbes