For Tuesday, we're reading Romans 8:12-30.
We cry, Abba, Father! It wasn't until I got into the Word that I really grasped that God was so much more than my Judge and a disciplinarian. He is my up-close, loving Father, and I am His child and heir. Think about that for a minute. I don't want you to miss how loved and privileged we are as God's children. Send me your thoughts. Tami W.
Being a CHILD of God has been one of the most important aspects of my faith walk for as long as I can remember. Because of my faith tradition, I have been aware of that relationship my entire life and I feel very blessed by that. I recently realized the depth of that relationship upon visiting a friend's church. During worship, a song was sung stating "I am a friend of God." It blew me away because I have always known a much closer relationship . . . I am a CHILD of God. So, I changed the words as I sang. To me a parent/child relationship is so much stronger than friendship and I know that God loves me unconditionally, just as parents do their children. Today's passage reminds me of that again.
I was saved at a young age, and then turned away from my faith after leaving home at 18. I recently found my way back (rather, by God's grace, He opened my eyes and softened my heart), and I've been amazed at how different my perception of my Father is as an adult than it was when I was a teenager.
In my younger years, I always viewed God exactly as you describe: a disciplinarian. But, now I see what a loving and caring God he is, and how he wants nothing more than what is best for us; and calls us to be our best! We are indeed privileged to be His children. I can't think of anything more amazing than to know that I have been adopted as a child of the Creator!
-M
Hi Tami-
I didn't know a loving father. I was raised to believe there was a God and He stood waiting for your wrong move to clobber you over the head. I knew Him only as judge.
God was merciful to me in drawing me to Christ as my Redeemer when I was 15 y/o. It took several years to understand He was love and took several more years to come to know Him as Father. He is the only 'Daddy' I have known. Don't misunderstand me, there was a father in my home that I didn't get to know. After the divorce there was another marriage. That man we called dad, he provided for us, though took privileges with us that were not his to take.
Knowing God as Father is a shift in paradigm for me. It is a good shift. I've gone from the worst to the Best. In God as a Father to me I experience peace, unconditional love, and security. That security is not only in my physical life, but a security in my eternal future. He is a fantastic provider of my every need and has been gracious enough to give me some of my wants. He's the best Daddy a girl could ever hope for.
Now, He not only holds the role of Father in my life, but also as Husband. He is a fantastic Husband. I may have not started off with knowing the love of a father and I have lost a husband to illness, but now I have both wrapped up in one. What more security, what greater love, and what more of a perfect hope could I desire. What humanity was inable to provide, God has more than fulfilled. It came by my surrendering my fears and will to His command over my life and accepting the price that paid for my sin that should have been my payment alone. My surrender is a minute price to pay for such great reward. I wouldn't have any other way. What a blessing to call and know my God as Father and to know Him deeper as Daddy.
It is an awesome wonder to know that God is my father. Why is that you may ask. Well for man reasons i suppose.
The fact that God is my father, means that he is concern about everything that concerns me, no matter how small i may think it is.
He provides for me. He comforts me. He gives me good advice to make the right decisions in life along with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He loves me and because of his love he also chastises me when necessary for my own good. He listens to me. He is there whenever I need him. He encourages me. He gives me hope.
Indeed Lord you are the Father of all time.
Reading this passage and the previous comments brings back some incredible memories for me. Like Gloria, I grew up in a home without much in the way of fatherly love. He just didn't know how, so we never knew what it could be. When I became a Christian I struggled for years with the idea of God as my Father--it just didn't sink in.
But at a women's retreat we were discussing the majesty of God and asked to visualize ourselves kneeling at His feet in adoration. The trouble was, I couldn't ever get there. What the Lord kept showing me was Himself, sitting on a rock, and me as a little girl sitting in His lap and held in His embrace. That was the beginning for me. It took several more years to fully sink in, but eventually it took hold.
What I eventually came to realize (I'm a bit slow sometimes, it seems) is that our Father is so many-faceted, but because He loves us so much He wants us to know that side of Him especially. As a good Father, He disciplines when necessary, but as my Daddy He shows me love that knows no bounds. There is nothing better.
Its Tuesday! It was raining and now the sun has came out.
My dad was a task master. But, I never hated him as some of my brothers and sisters did.
I’m Glad that our God is so much more. Let’s give him Glory and Praise.
I didn’t know what to expect or even think about what God would be. I first experience as I said before came when I was 40.
There is something that I will never forget that happened to me back in 1992 after my wife had left taking our three children. I wasn’t able to see them, for me it seemed a long time. But it was only weeks from the time I made Jesus the Lord of my Life. I was finally going to get to see them again, and as I lay down on my bed the night before. I was thinking about seeing them the next day. As I said, I will never forget this experience. And it brought back memories from my childhood of similar feelings, but then I didn’t have a clue ( understand ) of what it was that I had felt back then.
The only way to describe it is like this. When we pick up a baby or small child and hold them close and secure, letting them know how much we love them by our touch. They would feel our arms around them in an ever so loving way, and know that we love them and care about them.
That’s the feeling that I will never forget. That’s what I felt. God, our Father, Abba, Loves us more than we can ever truly know. He will express it in ways far beyond our expectations.
I don’t remember that kind of feeling growing up from my parents. I’m sure they did when I was a small baby, because I saw it shown with my younger siblings when they were babies, as I was the oldest of seven. But it was not shown, as we grew older, because my dad wanted to make us strong. ( In the worldly since )
God is so good, loving us, Teaching us and Blessing us in so many ways. Praise be to God our Father.
Parts in the Lesson we are to read are Verses 26 and 27. I know he helps us, But the part about groanings too deep for words. I would like a better understanding of this.
(Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God)
Jesus came to give us life, life more abundantly. May each of us enjoy that life he has given us.
One of my top 5 favorite songs which just touches deep inside my heart everytime I hear it or sing it.
The song is title "Your favorite name is Father" by the group Newsong. I dare you to listen to it without getting emotional, it's impossible.
here's the lyrics.
Almighty God
Lord of all creation
Ancient of days
The Holy One
So many names You've given us to call You
But one remains
Your favorite name
[Chorus]
Your favorite name is Father
You love to hear Your children calling
You're there to catch us when we're falling
Your favorite name is Father
Eternal King
Alpha and Omega
Jehovah God
The mighty One
So many names You've given us to call You
But one remains
Your favorite name
Your favorite name is Father
Abba Father Holy is Your name...
I am in the middle of reading "The Shack" and this idea of God as "Papa" has really cause me to stop and explore all of my thought, feeling and impressions about God. I always called my father "daddy" and in my prayers and devotions I am now trying to refer to God in that way. It is difficult to do but it forces me redefine the way I approach God and how I relate to Him - it is changing my relationship with my God, my Father.