The One True God is our Loving Eternal Father
Day Twenty-Seven
by Gini Crawford, MSW
www.BecauseOfGod.com
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Our perfect Father
In Isaiah 9:6, God is called Eternal Father. What do you think about when someone says, "father?" Do you have fond memories or memories of loneliness or possibly fear? No matter what your father was or is to you, your heavenly Father is the Father Who has and will always love and care for you (Matthew 6:26).
For clarity, we are going to look at God being our Father from the framework of the Trinity. Remember, on day four in this daily devotional we discussed the Trinity. The One True God chose to reveal to us His triune nature in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person has their role in the Trinity. The Father's role of directing, sending, and originating is similar to fatherhood. The Son's role is obeying, going as the Father sends, and revealing the One True God to us. The Holy Spirit's role is our Helper! An example of their roles in our salvation: God the Father planned it, sent the Son to accomplish it, and then had the Holy Spirit give us new spiritual life and the power to live that new life. (John 14:8-11, 26; Galatians 1:3-4; Titus 3:4-7).
Our Father - our dad
God our Father will always be there for you. When my mother died of cancer when I was five, I went to live with my father's mother, my grandmother. My father lived with us, but stayed away a lot. I felt lonely, even deserted, at times. In Psalm 27:10, King David stated his parents had forsaken him, but God had not. Keep in mind, your heavenly Father is always there for you even if your parents might not have been. He is the type of father you can easily call dad, because He will never give up on you, even if you do awful things.
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me up. Psalm 27:10 NASB®
Aren't you glad your God will never desert you or give up on you?
The love of the Father
I believe a mother's sacrificial love for her child is the closest human love to God's love. Yet, God tells us in Isaiah 49:15, His compassion is even stronger than a mother's love. In Sudan, a mother had a son, who had a cleft lip. The village people, even the woman's family turned against her, because they thought anyone who had a deformed child was cursed. However, the woman loved her son and lovingly cared for him, even when everyone else wanted her to abandon him. She finally found him help through Samaritan's Purse. Our heavenly Father's love and a mother's love give life, a safe refuge, strength, joy and hope for the future.
Can a woman forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. Isaiah 49:15-16 NASB®
Does Isaiah 49:15-16 make you feel wanted and cherished by our God? Does His compassion towards you give you joy, strength, and hope?
Jesus puts us in His family
The moment you believe in Jesus is the moment you become a child of God. Have you ever truly thought about what that means?
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13 NASB®
Romans chapter eight talks about how God sent the Holy Spirit to live within us, which enables us to be His adopted children. The Spirit gives us an eternal family relationship with God and an awareness of that relationship. Before the Spirit is dwelling in us, God loves us, but He is separated from us and is not in a relationship with us.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ ... Romans 8:15-17 NASB®
As God's adopted children: All debts from sin have been cancelled, we gain the full rights and privileges of a daughter or son of God on this earth, and we inherit all the benefits, riches, and promises of heaven (Ephesians 1:3-14). Amazing family that we live in as Christians, isn't it?
Life Application
You are God's child
When you think of adopting a child, you think of a parent choosing to love and make a child her own. Consider this marvelous truth: God, the Creator and Self-Existent One, Who is Sovereign over the entire universe - chose you to be His beloved daughter or son (Ephesians 1:3-5). This truth has always encouraged me to live in my eternal Father's embrace.
How do you feel about God choosing you to be His child?
Does it make you feel special, even adored?
Your Father's comfort. Many fathers either don't know how to comfort or just don't want to. Our heavenly Father is a father that comforts His children abundantly in every affliction. Read 2 Corinthians 1:2-5.
Explain God's comfort for you from 2 Corinthians 1:2-5.
Communication with your Father, When you need a father to give you advice, shouldn't you seek God? Remember Who He is, and that He has wanted to be your loving Father from times past. Prayer is very important to God your Father; He loves for you to talk with Him, and wants to answer your prayers with good gifts. Read Psalm 4:1, 5:1-3; Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:9-13.
Do you pray to God your Father? If you don't pray, ask God to get you chatting with Him. Believe me, He will answer. If you do pray, describe when, where and how you tend to pray.
I have found if I want to be communicating with God, I need to start my day with the thought and reality that God is with me. Then my prayer life that day seems to follow my mind-set and I just naturally talk with Him throughout the day. So I try to have a prayer time in the morning. I have also made meal time prayer more than a thank God for my food, but a time to specifically call to Him. I figure I desire and need to eat, so I should have the same attitude about prayer. (Colossians 4:2).
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