Who is the Father? pt II

In the last post I talked about forgiveness and the role of the Father. Now, I want to talk a little about his roles. (Check out the 1 Peter series for more).

Jesus is talking about the Father in the Sermon on the Mount and is telling the audience the Father is a good provider. Look at creation and see how God provides for the animals. The birds don’t farm yet God feeds them. The flowers don’t make clothes yet Solomon wasn’t dressed as gloriously as any of them. These things weren’t made in His image. Imagine how well the Father takes care of those made in His image! We don’t need to worry about anything. We will be provided for. Then Jesus says this, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32). I can worry about being provided for but the Father one ups me. He wants to give me the kingdom. In fact, He is pleased to give me the kingdom.

Our Father is also a king. A king has unlimited resources and reach beyond that of anyone else in the kingdom. He has authority to declare life and death, to imprison and set free, to bring peace and justice. He runs and is responsible for everything within that kingdom. He can give this authority to anyone he chooses as well. As the child of a king, we have access to the kingdom’s resources. It’s the concept of an ambassador. Never will you see a shabby consulate. Even the poorest countries have lavish consulates. The ambassador has the backing of that country and is a representative of that country.

But guess what, as a child of a king, we have access to his emotions as well. We can know not only the Father’s insight into a situation but we can also know his heart on it. Father God shares His emotions with us. Sometimes, all we have to do is ask.

As a child of the king we can spend time in the throne room anytime we want, not just in select times as a townsperson or even an ambassador can. He loves talking with us. There isn’t anything too small or too big that we cannot talk to him about. He loves talking with us. He has so many good things for us and longs to tell us how He sees us.

One of the things I love to ask Him is How do you see me right now? He sees all good things. There may be things I need to work on but it isn’t a negative thing. The Father isn’t disappointed in me if I doubt that He is faithful to fulfill His promises. He gets to prove himself faithful and through the process grows me in faith. Abraham is a good example of this. In the Old Testament, we see Abraham doubted all the time but in Hebrews it says he never wavered in his faith. God didn’t count the wavering. It was irrelevant. There was a time that Abraham believed God to be true and that is what God looked at. The times he missed it wasn’t what God focused on. It’s like a kid learning to walk. We don’t look down on them for falling down. It’s when they are walking that we count it and focus on it.

We don’t have lack in the Father. 2 Peter 1:3-4 says He has given us everything we need for life. He even gives us promises of what He wants to be for us and who He is making us into. We have the joy of getting to discover these. It’s like a treasure hunt. The promises are already there and our true identity is already there, we get to discover them.

Who is the Father?

If you know who God really is, trust is a non-issue. It is easier to take that step needed to turn a dream into a reality when you can trust the person who promised that dream. Corrie ten Boom tells a story of crossing a rickety bridge by car. By sight it did not look strong enough to hold a car. However, the driver inspected the bridge, not their faith in the bridge. The bridge was stronger than it looked, and they passed without trouble. “Very often, we tend to look at our faith, and we know our faith is big and strong, or weak and small. But we shouldn’t investigate our faith; we should investigate the Bridge.” (I stand at the door and knock, pg 38).

The last post focused on Jesus, and this time we are going to look at Father God. This is where we often put a lot of false perspectives on God. When we are hurt or there is a lack of a father in our lives, we often portray this onto Father God because we haven’t experienced anything else. However, Father God wants to give us a true view of Himself. He wants us to see Him as He really is.

Our Father is gentle. He is a shepherd over his people. He watches out for us and cares for us. He fights for us and comforts us. He speaks our identity over us. It is up to us to accept His good gifts. He wants to bring healing to our past hurts and free us to see Him as He truly is and others as He sees. I’ve learned that if it sounds too good to be true about the Father, it is probably true.

I recently heard a good teaching on Matthew 18 and the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. The king calls in one of his servants who has a monstrous debt of 10,000 talents. This was the largest number in Greek and the largest denomination of coin. Basically, the servant owed a billion zillion dollars. The first question is why did the king let it get this far. However, the king decides to forgive the servant.

Out of gratitude the servant goes out and tries to get his friend to pay him back. Instead of enjoying the gift he was just given, he decides to work his way out of it. He chokes his friend (a huge humiliation) to try to get him to pay. He humiliate his friend in an attempt to force him to pay back his debt. The servant knew that the debt does not go away. Someone has to take the hit. What he did not fully realize was the massive hit the king took on his behalf. He did not trust the king’s justice. Maybe he thought he would change his mind later. Because of this, the servant was handed over to the torturers. Jesus ends the story by saying this is what the Father will do if we don’t forgive from the heart. Wow.

So how do we forgive? The best way I have learned to do this is to imagine I’m in a court room. My Father is the judge, and Jesus is my lawyer.

Accuse the offender before my Father who is Judge. I accuse that person of everything my heart is screaming, no matter how illogical my brain says it is. When I have accused them of everything my heart screams, I choose to forgive that person. I ask Father to bring His perfect justice on my behalf and I give up my right to rehearse my lines against this person in this situation again. Then I walk out of the courtroom.

1. I ask for justice on my behalf and give up y right to accuse the offender of these things in this circumstance again.
2. I have to trust that the Father will bring justice on my behalf and that the justice will be enough. How do justice and forgiveness go together? Romans 12:19 says, “’It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the LORD.” This is why I ask Father for justice.

If I choose not to forgive the person, I am tortured by it. That unforgiveness, that sense of injustice, eats at me. It affects me in ways I don’t realize until I’ve forgiven that person. I am speaking from experience on this.

3. After I’ve forgiven the person, I then get to confess my part in it. I ask for forgiveness and the Father always forgives. It does not matter what I’ve done. He always forgives. Jesus paid my debt in full. There is nothing that He did not pay for.

Ultimately, forgiveness comes down to a trust issue. How much do you trust your Father?  

This next part will take some time. Sit down with a journal (and coffee) and spend some time talking with the Father. Ask Father to show you who He really is. Ask Him if there is anything standing in the way of you seeing Him as He really is. If there is a particular memory and you are angry that the Father did not show up, ask Him where He is in that memory. You may need to grab a friend to help you walk through this. Know that the Father loves you so much. It is so easy to walk away because of hurt but what if there is more? He wants to talk with you, snuggle with you, tell you how much He loves you. We only need to take the time to sit with Him and listen.

Do you know who you trust?

In Luke 4:14 Jesus is in Galilee and goes to His home church. He goes up front to read and the attendant hands him the scroll. However, instead of reading where they left off last week- as was customary- Jesus instead searches out one of His promise verses. He finds Isaiah 61 and begins reading his mission statement.

 

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour...

 

The rest of the chapter beautifully describes the healing and restoration He will bring and the restoration we get to bring because He has restored us.

 

When Jesus says He is coming to restore, it would remind them of the year of Jubilee. Jesus came to release us into the year of Jubilee. Take a look at Leviticus 25. The 50th year was a year of Jubilee. It was a year of celebration. You would not plant or harvest this year because it was a year of rest as well. God promised the 49th year would produce enought for three years.

 

You would also return property. If someone sold property, it was because of financial hardship. You did not move around in those days. You had your town and your family had been there for generations. When you sold land, you took away from your sons' inheritance. God wanted that returned to the seller so His people were not dispossesed and homeless.

 

Go back to Luke 4 and look at the power of Jesus' words. They create life. There are multiple times in chapter four where His voice and words are emphasized:

 

• 4:22- "All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth."
• 4:32-"[the people] were astonished at his teaching for his words possessed authority."
• 4:36-"For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out!"
• 4:41- In contrast, Jesus would not let the evil spirits speak. He only wanted His voice to be the one that speaks over us.
 

Jesus only needs to speak and things are created. He is, after all, His Father's Son. Back in Genesis the Father spoke and the world was created. Now, the Son is walking on Earth and His very words have healing power. another name for Jesus is the Word (Jn 1). Jesus follows His Father's example in this too:

 

John 14:10-14-- The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am giong to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name this I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth...

 

John 15:7-12-- If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you...

 

John 16:23-24-- Truly, truly I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full...

 

Take a look at those chapters. There is a lot of good stuff there.

 

 

 

Jesus came to bring us freedom. His words have creative power. Where do you need to ask Him to bring you into freedom?