Hello friends! In recognition of Father’s Day this Sunday I was led to ponder the reality of God as Father for this week’s post. I find it worthy of consideration that of the many creative and meaningful ways God has revealed Himself to mankind, one of the most beautiful, personal and tender is that as Father. For some, relating to God as a loving Father may seem a bit unusual, potentially irreverent, or perhaps even awkward, while there are others who respond to God quite naturally, referring to Him as Abba, Papa, and I’ve even heard declarations of Daddy God during times of worship. And in between these two distinct groups, are those individuals that fall somewhere in between the semi formal and incredibly intimate manner in which they respond and interact with God. And all of the varied responses regarding the ways in which individuals relate to God, are for the most part based on a combination of religious background, family experience, personality, scriptural knowledge and exposure to the Holy Spirit. And while I’m convinced that all sincere expressions of seeking and responding to Yahweh are beautiful, personal, and well received by Him, I also believe, based on the way God has revealed Himself through scripture, that He longs for His children to know Him not only as an Almighty, Powerful, Omnipotent God, which undeniably He is, but additionally, and equally if not more significantly, as a loving, compassionate, and merciful Father.
See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are!…. 1 John 3:1 (AMP)
What a beautiful verse that begins with the call to see. This is an open invitation for all who will, to come and see, come and witness, come and experience the amazing love that God the Father has for His children. I believe it’s worth noting that these are the words of the apostle John who unashamedly referred to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. And to be clear, Jesus never said anything like, John you are my favorite of all twelve disciples. I actually love you best. Obviously this is not true. It’s just that John had personally encountered the amazing love of the Father through Jesus. Because of this, the beloved disciple was totally confident and completely assured of God’s love for Him. Therefore, when John declares, come and see, in essence he is saying…
I have tasted and I have seen. Friend, come, see, experience the reality of the Father’s love for you!
So this leads me to my next point, which is how we are enabled to practically see and experience the love of the Father. And honestly, the primary way we come to understand the love God has for us is through the revelation of His Word. In fact and in truth, the entire bible narrative is the story of the Father’s radical love for His people. So much so that He would send His Son Jesus to reveal His love to the world….
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NLT)
I encourage you to pause for just a moment to take in the reality and revelation of the message of this verse.
This is how God the Father loved the entire world. And this is how God loves you and this is how God loves me; completely, sacrificially, unconditionally and eternally.
God’s love will never run out, run away, or run dry. His love, agape love, is a love like no other. It never changes. It is constant and consistent. It is powerful and transformative. Nothing in this world compares to the love of God. Earthly love can be beautiful, and should be embraced and celebrated. Love is a gift from God to us, and one that we are called to receive and extend. I am truly thankful for the loving relationships I have here on planet earth. First and foremost, I am grateful for the love I share with my husband, then with family, friends, as well as in community with other believers. But the sobering reality is, there are times when earthly love fails. It’s not perfect. And truthfully at some point it fades. It’s not eternal. But the love of God the Father is altogether different. It is perfect, never fails. never fades, and endures forever.
And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Ephesians 3:18 (NLT)
Many years ago I was involved in a community wide outreach called, Father’s Love Letter. The letter contained a list of scriptures specifically addressing The Father’s love for His children, and concluded with a personal invitation to receive His love, and was even personally signed, Love your Dad… Almighty God. The pastor who oversaw this outreach, actually walked the circumference of the city before the outreach began, praying for God to prepare the hearts of everyone who would receive this letter. Our church family met in teams for a full year distributing this letter to families in our city. This was a rewarding and unifying event for our church, and although we did not encounter explosive church growth or revival in our city resulting from this outreach, I believe it was a God glorifying event that will continue to bear fruit as God’s love never fails, (Ist Corinthians 13:8), and His Word always accomplishes what it was sent to do, (Isaiah 55:11). As I reflected upon this experience I realized that Jesus, while on earth, was in essence the Father’s tangible and visible love letter demonstrating the love of the Father to the world.
Believe the Words of the Father…
This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him…. Matthew 17:5 (NLT)
Receive the Words of the Son…
…Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father…. John 14:9 (AMP)
The Father and I are one. John 10:30 (NLT)
Hear the words of the apostle Paul…
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. Colossians 1:15 (NLT)
It is through the Logos, the Word made flesh, Jesus the Son of God, that we are able to continually experience the reality of the Father’s love.
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son… The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God…. Hebrews 1:1-3 (NLT)
And although He, (Jesus), is no longer present with us on earth, through His Spirit and by His Word He continues to manifest the love of His Father to the world.
The following are just a few of the countless and beautiful descriptions recorded in scripture, by which we can see the Father’s love revealed through Jesus…
Filled with Grace and Truth… (John 1:14)
As a Shepherd… who calls, leads, saves and sacrifices His life for the sheep (John 10: 3, 4, 9 & 10 & 11)
Displaying mercy… ( Matthew 20: 29-34)
Showing compassion… (John 11 :33-35)
Extending forgiveness… (John 8:10)
Providing healing… (Matthew 15:20)
Executing deliverance… (Mark 5:1-20)
As a teacher… In the synagogue, ( Luke 4: 14-21). From a boat, (Luke 5:1-3). From a mountain, (Matthew 5, 6 & &). In an upper room, (Matthew 26:26-30). In a garden, ( Matthew 26: 36-41). By example from the cross, (Luke 23:24, Luke 23:43, Luke 19:26, Mark 15:34, Luke 19:30, Luke 23:45, Luke 23:46). And finally as the resurrected Christ, (Matthew 28:16-20).
And lastly, and perhaps most significantly, Jesus said the following in reference to the Father’s love…
or the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. John 16:27 (NASB1995)
Once again, consider pausing for just a moment to personalize this scripture and even declare out loud…
For the father Himself loves me…
This is absolutely true my friends, the Father loves you, and I am so grateful He loves me too!
I believe one of the most powerful and visible witnesses in regards to understanding the Father’s love is hearing or seeing (practically lived out), the personal stories of individuals who have experienced God’s love first hand. For this reason, I asked my friend Daniel if I could share a portion of his story…
I met Daniel at church while I was serving as a greeter. He had that look that says, I’m new here, and indeed he was. After talking to Daniel I found out that he had come to our church to attend Grief Share, as he was recently widowed and processing through an overwhelming loss in his life. Shortly thereafter, Daniel began attending not only our church, but also the community group my husband and I lead, and he has since become a good friend of ours! Anyway, one evening in an intimate and supportive community setting, Daniel shared that what enabled him to hold on to hope, and walk forward towards healing and wholeness following the loss of his wife of forty years, was the reality of the Father’s great love for him. He said that he continually reminded himself that he was loved by the Father and additionally he researched scriptures about the Father’s love for him. When I heard this my heart was so full of love for our compassionate and gracious Father, and for Daniel, His child that loves and trusts Him even through overwhelming pain and sorrow. How amazing and beautiful is this?! I specifically wanted to share Daniel’s story as it illustrates a critical truth regarding the Father’s love. And the truth is when trials, tragedy, sickness, loss, heartache, pain, disappointment or hurt come into our lives, it never, ever, no not ever means the Father doesn’t love us. And we can know and experience the reality of God’s love for us even in the darkest seasons of life. God never promised in His Word that we wouldn’t encounter problems in this life, but He has assured us through His Word to always be with us. Our temporary trials and heartaches here on earth will never separate us from God’s eternal love for us
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38 (NLT)
What an amazing promise God the Father has made to us. Nothing can or ever will remove us from His love. In response to this truth I say,
Thank you gracious Father, Amen!
If you recall at the start of this post, I mentioned two distinct categories of people regarding the Father’s love. The first group were those individuals who naturally embraced God as Father. The second group were comprised of individuals who were potentially a bit more reserved in their response to God as Father. And then I also indirectly mentioned a third group of people, which are those individuals who have experienced severe loss, hurt, and other challenging circumstances, and either choose to embrace God as Father in their trial like my friend Daniel, or potentially question God’s love for them in their pain. And the final category that I must also include are those individuals who have not responded to the Father’s love at all because they do not believe He exists and therefore are completely unaware that God loves them. And it is precisely for this group of individuals that the Father sent His Son. The heartbeat of the Father is and always has been for everyone to know Him and His will is clearly revealed through His Word…
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost? And if it turns out that he finds it, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones be lost. Matthew 18:12-14 (AMP)
The message proclaimed through this parable is clear. The Father is not satisfied with a few, some or even a majority, rather He wants all of His children to know and experience His love.
In closing, I must say, I am continually blown away by the Father’s amazing love for us all, and it is my personal prayer that I never become complacent about this reality. The Father’s love is positional in that He has chosen to set his love upon us, and unconditional in that it’s not based on our behavior or responses. The Father loves us simply because He has chosen to love us. How absolutely amazing is this?!! Delight and rejoice in the truth that the God of the universe desires for us, (for you, for me), to know Him as Father and experience His unconditional love and mercy. May we never take this truth for granted, and may the reality of the Father’s love be for us a continual reason for hope and an endless source of true joy.
God bless you my friends!
You are loved by the Father!
Worship…
Refect…
As we approach Father’s day, take time to consider all of the many ways God the Father has and continues to demonstrate His love to you. Record your thoughts in a journal and respond with gratitude through prayer and worship.
Thank you for this post! Loved it!