P3505 A good, good Father.

“The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God.” …. As you can see, maturity means we will understand our position before the Lord. So we volunteer to flow with the Holy Spirit seamlessly. The Holy Spirit will make our Heavenly Father real to us. Then whatever He wants is such a joy we can’t wait to comply with His wishes and ideas!

“… And you will never feel orphaned, for as He rises up within us, our spirits join Him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s Fatherhood real to us as He whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!”” Romans 8:14-16 TPT. Amen!

In these tragic days, many people have no concept of what having a father looks like. So many fathers are absent. Not all have moved away, but sadly, some male role-models are working hard to provide food and shelter for their families and they are using up their time, to provide. Plus the first thing to break under the stressors and temptations of marriage today is the bond between husband and wife. This can mean many children lose their father figure. (About 1 in 6.).

In our current society the pressure to be good parents is huge. Everything parents do, or say, is judged and can be found wanting. At the same time, it seems like a child’s needs have become the centre of everything. Children don’t just have a place in society, they have become more important than everyone else! It seems we are making up for the neglect of the past with overindulgence. Now let’s look at that thought another way.

The primary need every child has, is to have both parents! Whether they are good or bad, kids need role models. Without that, they are reduced to patterning themselves, or they can end up admiring people, through rose-coloured glasses, who are not worthy of their attention. Many other parents just ‘don’t have enough quality time’ to parent — and so they abrogate their responsibilities to other people – including the media – a vehicle that exists to make money – not look after kids! The danger is obvious. Unless I actually know you in real life, I can’t possibly know if you are someone who preys upon innocent kids to steal their innocence away.

Likewise if we don’t know our earthly fathers, then we can be disappointed and disillusioned by that consequence – because fathers provide children with security, significance, and stability. We need our Heavenly Father’s input to help us understand these things, as it seems that our ideas about what male love looks like – has been reduced to judgment. So if someone proves to be human and weak, then they are pronounced faulty. Good time to remember all of us are broken!

Father God understands mankind’s plight so well, He chose to became one of us. I am not commenting on surrogacy, but this morning as I typed this blog, I suddenly realised Father God understands surrogacy. He put His seed inside a young woman and watched His Son grow from a distance. He also understands having to give up His right to parent His only Son, to someone else. He gave Joseph the privilege of raising Jesus. Plus He understands being an adoptive parent because He has chosen to adopt us! Sadly He also understands the loss of a Child. He is a true Father, with a true Father’s heart, and His wisdom and loving kindness has voluntarily shared man’s predicaments, despite our penchant for sin.

When we are meditating on the goodness of our Heavenly Father we cannot afford to compare Him with, or expect Him to have, the flaws of a human parent. That’s a mistake many people make. They transpose their idea of an ideal father onto SomeOne we cannot possibly even begin to describe. And when that juxtaposition does not work, they choose to regard Almighty God as faulty because He doesn’t meet their logic.

God is not answerable to our logic! To understand Him, even a little, we must use the tools He has provided for us – the Holy Spirit’s help, the bible, the gifts He has given to the church. And we need to start by “ …believing that HE IS, and that He is a rewarder of those who genuinely seek Him.” Applying our own rules borne from fatherless situations, is bound to lead to failure, because then we are putting ourselves by means of our own judgment – into His role. Almighty God is above our understanding, That’s why Jesus came here in the first place, because man’s idea of Who Father God is, is too limited and cannot provide us with a complete picture of His Ways. We need faith not logic.

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!—a worthless piece of broken pottery among other pieces equally worthless [and yet presuming to strive with his Maker]! Shall the clay say to him who fashions it, What do you think you are making? or, Your work has no handles?” Isaiah 45:9. “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the One who formed it, ‘Why did You make me like this?’” Romans 9:20.

We need to understand that HE IS Who He says He is: “A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” Psalm 68:5-6. He is a good good Father, and He always has a good purpose, even if we cannot see it, YET. Bye 👋.

P 3115 Obedience is action.

We sometimes kid ourselves about stuff in our lives that we cannot seem to overcome and say: ’God will understand.’ Yes He does, praise Him! The Lord knows we are all just glorified dust. But that is not our cue to merrily go on our way, and do nothing about whatever our problem is. His understanding, comfort and compassion are not His permission to continue down that road.

Jesus bore those weaknesses of ours upon Himself on the cross —He totally identified with us in our weaknesses … and then He overpaid. He took those things on Himself so we can live free of them! When something is already paid for, you don’t have to pay for it, again. But ignoring our flaws, weaknesses and ongoing battles with sinful attitudes, means we are postponing the power of God in and through our lives for everyone else’s good. A part of our inheritance is to be able to overcome sin with His power.

Hypothetically, if Abraham had just said “Yes,” to God and he didn’t start walking and following the Lord to the Promised land – he would not have had an heir from his own body! Those steps he took were obedience in action, and each one increased the patriarch’s faith. We must choose to step into our God-given inheritance, and live like Jesus did, by faith. Obedience reveals our inheritance. It is fatal to faith to cling to our weaknesses like they are some sort of excusable behaviour. Some of that junk we’ve been cultivating and giving into for years is destructive to US and others.

When things get hard in our lives, it means our Father knows we can get through them with His help — He strengthens us against the things that try to paralyse us. He stretches our faith so we can face what comes next. Have you ever wondered why somethings that used to flatten you are no longer that powerful in your life? Almighty God had mercy upon you and helped you. We can never do any of this by ourselves. The Holy Spirit wants to help us… He longs to help us! Let’s learn to ask for His help to do things His Way, because His Ways are higher, and far more fruitful than ours.

Instead of asking for what we think we need, we can practice asking Him for what we actually know we all desperately need – transformation. Let’s not pray to get out of trouble, and instead we need to pray He will help us go through! Then when we need help, we will be tuned into Him. We have His promise that He will be right there, with us, coaching us through our wrong ideas and thoughts into a new way to think. 

He will never cross our will, because our Heavenly Father God has respect for the man He made. He made us in His image – sin has spoilt that image! His kind of love allows us the freedom to choose to act like His kids and be a part of His kingdom …or not. However, His love is not based on indulgence, it is based on what Jesus did for us. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every Name” Philippians 2:5-9.

We need to choose to learn from the Holy Spirit, our Personal Trainer, our Father’s Ways of thinking and being and doing. At the bottom of most sin is the way we think. And sadly, we sometimes think that we already know things! Try agreeing with conviction when it falls on you, and then follow Him into a better place! We can easily think we know ourselves better than He knows us! So we cry and beg the Lord for more time or more strength — when the bible clearly says He is happy to give His strength to weak people, and there is a time for everything – including change.  

Isaiah 45:9 has something to say about all that: “Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!?” Good luck with wrestling with God about stuff that needs changing. Jacob tried that and walked away limping! Think of Samson, or Jonah, or the Israelite nation! Let’s remember that although our wonderful Father sent His Son to die for our sins, Christ’s death was not permission for us to remain the same! 

Our part in all of this, is to be grateful for His help, and stay obedient to our Heavenly calling. Because of what Jesus did for us, now we have His unlimited FAVOUR. We need to cherish that favour. The stories in the Old Testament are there to teach us what rebellion looks like, and how it doesn’t work out well for the people who are rebellious! The Father’s heart is revealed to us, through those OT stories. They make it clear what He likes and wants from mankind – our loving interactive companionship. 

He sent His Son to teach us it would be a battle: “… surely this time they will respect My Son…”!!! (Matthew 21:37) So let’s not play in the devil’s dirt, just because we can’t be bothered fighting him off! We need to take the Lord seriously, because He first took us seriously. My catch-cry is this: obedience needs action. Bye. 👋