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.