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.

God will Provide for you Financially

George Mueller was a director of an orphanage in England in the 1800’s. He never solicited monies or donations. He relied solely on prayer so that only God could be credited with providing for their needs. One day, there was nothing for breakfast, but Mueller had everyone sit down as they normally would. They prayed, thanking God for breakfast. When they finished praying there was a knock at the door. The baker had brought over enough bread for everyone, free of charge. A little while later there was another knock. The milkman’s cart had broke down in front of the orphanage, and he asked if they wanted the milk since he could not deliver it. This is just one of the hundreds of stories Mueller got to be a part of because he dared to trust God to provide.

This year I came face-to-face with the question are you willing to let God provide for you? This required me to humble myself and admit I needed help. It caused me to really look at my beliefs. Do I actually trust God enough to provide for me? This was really hard for me to come to grips with. At first my pride would not allow me to trust God or even accept anything from Him. But He was not content to leave me in that state. He wanted to show me more, to take me on an adventure. He started softening my heart through prayer and time in His Word. He began breaking down the misbelief that He would only provide when it came to ministry but not for everyday life. He showed Himself faithful on so many occasions.

Trust that He is faithful

This was hard. I did not have much of a base to go off of so we had to start small. I wasn’t ready for the deep end of the pool yet. At first I was trusting God to provide where I was short. Soon I had to trust Him to provide because I had very little. He will start small and ease you into trusting Him. He wants to gain our trust and not force trust on us.

One day, I got an update from a missionary couple in Italy. They were getting married in a few months and were asking for additional financial support. Among the different requests, they were asking for $150 for a wedding dress. At the time, I did not have money to give them but really wanted to help. I asked God for the $150 so I could give it to them. The next day I got an email from school that they were returning $150 because they overcharged me. It was like God was saving that money so I could bless my friends. How cool is that!

God then had me trust Him for something bigger, a job and financial provision until I got one. A year ago I graduated from college. I spent eight months looking for a job before God provided a full-time position. It was a long eight months. In all honesty, I only had enough saved to allow me to stay here for about three and a half months. God provided for the rest of the months. It was crazy. I felt like the widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 or in 1 Kings 17 (minus the widow and child aspect). I should only have been here for a few months but God kept providing for me. He allowed me to stay here until He gave me a full-time job.

This summer, the end of the month was coming to a close and I only had $30 in my bank account. Rent was due in a week and a half and I had no idea how I was going to pay it. There was absolutely nothing I could do but pray. I did not want to ask for help. Part of me did not want to ask for help because of pride, but a larger portion of my heart wanted to see God be a Provider. Throughout Scripture, we see God as a Provider. He provided a lamb in the place of Isaac in Genesis 22. He gave Elijah bread in the desert (1 Ki 17:1-6). He provided food for Elijah and a widow and her son during famine (1 Ki 17). Jesus fed 5,000 people (Mk 6). I wanted a story like that. I wanted to see God provide for me. It was the coolest thing. That week I got several checks in the mail. I had exactly enough to pay my rent. This was not a onetime occurrence either. I got to see God do this on several occasions.

I heard a quote that we should be leaning so far into God that if He is not there we would fall on our face. I want to be so dependent on Him that if He is not there, I will fall on my face. I am definitely at the shallow end of trusting God. I’m only ankle deep. But God is taking me deeper. He wants me to be swimming but we have to work our way up to that. One day I’ll be at that point but it is a hard thing to pray for. I like my comfort. A little too much sometimes. I know God is going to keep stretching me and asking me to trust Him for things beyond my comfort level. However, He is faithful. He will provide. If He gives a promise, He will not back out of it but will fulfill it (Isa 54:10, 1 Sa 15:29).

Dare to ask God to provide for you, and trust that He is faithful. He wants to show you more of Himself and take you on an adventure. It will stretch you and grow you but it is worth it.