The Father

We are in our series on relationships and we have been looking at how we can relate to God. We looked at how we need to relate to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Now we are going to be looking at how we can relate to Father God, Papa God, Daddy God, Dad or whatever variation of that you are comfortable with. 

How we view our heavenly Father is sometimes coloured by our experiences with our earthly fathers. However, it is difficult to compare our heavenly father to our earthly fathers because they are all varying degrees of imperfect. They are human and they are flawed. So the best way to visualise what our heavenly Father is like is to look at Jesus. Yep. Jesus. 

John 14:8-10 says, “Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.”

I think that is amazing news! If you have encountered Jesus you have encountered the Father, woohoo! The Father is loving, caring, compassionate, understanding, powerful, all the things that Jesus is. Jesus was the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

The aspect of the Father that I wanted to speak about today is His love.  God is love. Love is who He is and not what He does. I am a writer, but being a writer is not who I am its what I do. I was me before I ever wrote anything and I will still be me if I don’t write another thing. God is love, He cannot be Himself without love. You can’t separate God and love. Love is at the core of His being. John 3:16 tells us what Father God chose to do with that love and it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The Bible tells us that our Heavenly Father loved the world so He gave us Jesus. Our Father’s love is available to everyone. It is not exclusive. It is not for a special few. It is not just for those people who have their lives on track. It is for everyone. Saved or unsaved. Jesus died on the cross for whoever is willing to believe in Him. Our Father’s love is open to everyone. It is up to us however to accept and receive that love. It is up to us to accept and receive the blessings that are released from what Jesus did on the cross. 

Jesus was the Father’s way of reaching down into a broken world and forsaking all protocol worthy of a King and allowing Jesus to die the sinners death on the cross just so you and I could have a relationship with Him and He could be our loving Dad forever. What Jesus did on the cross cannot be put into words but the cross is the epitome of the Godhead working together as One. It cost God everything to set us free from the dominion of darkness and to translate us into His Kingdom of light. It cost Him everything and He was willing to pay the price because He is love and He loves us. 

The cross is the greatest symbol of love. Sacrificial love. God’s love for us is not just in words even though His words are powerful enough to create the world, the sun moon and stars, plants and animals and much more. His love is proven by His actions towards us. Indeed life sometimes gets hard, that’s part of living in a fallen world but we have this eternal hope that we are children of God. That we are loved, that we are cared for and that one day we will stand face to face with our Father and what a day that would be!

God loves us so much that he spoke everything else into being but with us, He reached down with His Hands and He created us, knit us together, formed us and breathed His life into us (Genesis 2:7, Psalms 139:13-14, Jeremiah 1:5). He cares about us and the cross is an open door. An open door into His loving arms. An open door to becoming a son or daughter. An open door to not only knowing but experiencing the love of the Father, His protection, His provision, His Presence, His peace, His joy, His goodness and faithfulness. He truly is good and full of love and nothing I write will ever paint a picture of Him clear enough, you just have to experience Him. 

Don’t waste the opportunity to believe that Jesus is the Son of God unto salvation. Salvation is simple, Jesus did all the heavy lifting for us. All you need to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you have to speak it out and what an awesome time to join the family of God such as the present. This Easter, remember that there is an open door just for you. It’s up to you to walk through it. 

I know for all of us this is our first time doing an ISO Easter (isolation Easter). Don’t despair, connect with loved ones online and tap into the Presence of God wherever you are. How awesome that our God is Omnipresent. And remember that never, no never will He ever leave you nor forsake you. He is with you always. Also, you can watch church online from the comfort of your home, see link below for my church’s online platform if you want to join us this Easter. 🙂 We are in this together, let’s keep praying for each other and encouraging each other. 

Maximize Church Online Sundays at 10:00am : www.Maximize.org.au 

Love and blessings, 

Melissa Tsingano.