Tender Loving Father

This week I'm sharing words from George MacDonald's book, "Discovering the Character of God" and the chapter entitled "God our Tender Loving Father." As you read this, ask the Holy Spirit to show you afresh how unbelievably wonderful and good God is!

"Our Lord was, is, and ever shall be divinely childlike. Childhood belongs to the divine nature.

"The Fatherhood and the Sonship are one, except that the Fatherhood looks down lovingly, and the Sonship looks up lovingly. Love is all. And God is all in all. He is ever seeking to get down to us - to be the divine man to us. And yet we are ever saying, 'Be that far from thee, Lord!'

"In our unbelief we are careful over the divine dignity...(but) better pleasing to God is the audacity of Job, who, rushing into God's presence and flinging the door of his presence-chamber to the wall, like a troubled - or it may be even angry yet faithful - child, cries out to him whose perfect Fatherhood Job is in the process of learning.

"The devotion of God to his creatures is perfect. He does not think about himself but about them. He wants nothing for himself but finds his blessedness in the outgoing of blessedness...He gives himself to us - shall we not give ourselves to him?

"For when is the child the ideal child in our eyes and in our hearts? Is it not when with gentle hands he takes his father by the hand or even the beard, and turns that father's face up to his brothers and sisters to kiss? When even the lovely selfishness of love-seeking has vanished and the heart is absorbed in loving?

"In this then is God like the child: that he is simply and altogether our friend, our father - our more than friend, father, and mother - our infinite love-perfect God. Grand and strong beyond all that human imagination can conceive of poet-thinking and kingly action, he is delicate beyond all that a human tenderness can conceive of husband or wife, homey beyond all that human heart can conceive of father and mother.

"He does not think of us in two separate ways. With him all is simplicity of purpose and meaning and effort and end - namely, that we should be as he is, think the same thoughts, mean the same things, possess the same blessedness. It is so plain that anyone may see it, everyone ought to see it, everyone shall see it. It must be so."

Oh dear Father, You are unbelievably good! Thank You that the more like Your Son Jesus we become, the more childlike and simple we are, forgetting ourselves in Your love and loving others in You. All praise and glory be to You forever and ever!

Are You Fresh for Everything? - Oswald Chambers

This week I want to quote part of the reading of January 20 from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:

"'Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God' (John 3:3).

"Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don't know where it begins - it is hidden away in the depths of our soul. Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living - a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We say to ourselves, 'I have to do this thing or it will never get done.' That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do?

"Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed 'that they may be one just as We are one' - with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don't pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.

"Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It give us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God."

Known and Loved by God

In keeping with the past couple of posts about God's unfailing and unending love, I'm quoting from J.I. Packer this week about being known by God:

“What matters supremely is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it — the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me, and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, and no moment therefore, when His care falters.

“This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort — the sort of comfort that energizes — in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based...on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me. There is, certainly , great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see, and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself.

“There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.”

For this truth to impact us, it's important to actually embrace it, accept it and practice it; so I encourage you again to pause a few moments during your day (doing this regularly) to listen for the Father's affirmation of you in His Son. For example, take these words of J.I. Packer and turn them into a personal statement by God to you, saying something like this: "Nita (your name), what matters supremely is not the fact that you know Me but that I know you. You are engraved on the palms of My hands, and I never stop thinking about you; I'm thinking about you right now. You know Me because I knew you first and continue to know you. I know everything about you, the good, the bad and the ugly, and I still want you as My friend; I want this so much that I went to death to win you for Myself..., etc."

Next book..."Holy Rewired"

Starting in February, I plan to go through a book by Dr. David Phillips entitled, Holy Rewired. It's an intriguing look at science and the Gospel in the journey toward wholeness. The short summary on the back of the book reads:

"The ultimate impact of sin has been to destroy our sense of identity. We have lost that sense of being created in the image of God and being created for perfect relationship with our Creator. Because we are a broken image, we are searching to discover who and whose we are. Our unhealthy behavior is an expression of that searching and longing that is within all of us. We long to be whole.

"Wholeness is journey back to the Garden. The journey results in behavioral change as God rewires who we are, how we think, and how we live.

"This is not a book about finding right techniques. It will not tell you to be more disciplined. Holy Rewired challenges you to allow God to touch the deepest part of your emotional life. Doing so leads to emotional health, allowing you to then change your thinking. Transforming your thinking transforms your living.

"Drawing on recent research from emerging brain research, psychology, and theology, Holy Rewired helps you discover a wholeness that you can embrace and a God that wants to help you get there."

If you want your own copy of this book, it's available on amazon.com.

Trust in God's Steadfast Love (Part 2)

Because of how foundational this message of trusting in God's unfailing love is, I'm going to add another thought or two to what I wrote last week along with a quote from Andrew Murray who says,

"His (God's) love lies at the back of everything, and we must rest upon that as the solid foundation of our Christian life, not growing up into that, but growing up out of it. We must begin there or our beginnings will come to nothing."

An understanding and acceptance of this unconditional love of the Father for His child is absolutely essential for healthy ongoing maturing to happen in the life of a believer. But in our fallenness and sinfulness, we are driven at our core to attempt to grow up into the love of the Father rather than to grow up out of the Father's love. The result is that "our beginnings come to nothing." In other words, as followers of Jesus, we don't mature out of babyhood.

We see this at work in our world today in natural families: children, deprived of unconditional love from their earthly father and mother, are living their whole life working hard to get love rather than working hard because they are loved. As generation after generation of children are being raised in this way, the whole of society is being impacted negatively.

I believe that as believers, we carry this mindset into our life in Christ Jesus, and our religious systems endorse and encourage this. Consequently, we are an immature Church, striving to please God rather than basking in the steadfast love of the Father and then bearing fruit for His glory as a result.

One way to cooperate with the renewing work of the Spirit in our minds is to regularly (daily, if possible) take 3-5 minutes, wait before God and listen for what He says about you to affirm you as His beloved child in Jesus and to affirm His deep affection for you, no matter what's going on in your life on any given day. As you do this by faith and consistently over time, His Spirit will renew your mind and reorder your way of thinking to align with His heart and mind. Growing up and maturing in God then becomes the natural outcome of receiving the unchanging love and affection of your Father.

My sense is that increased suffering and testing is coming in 2011 for God's children; when all is dark and confusing, the place of inner stability and peace can only be found in trusting in His steadfast love as demonstrated on the cross. He knows each of His own perfectly and is always motivated by perfect, selfless love. His love alone is the love that can be absolutely trusted! May His Spirit open our eyes to see His steadfast love in new ways as we move into this year ahead!

Trust in God's Steadfast Love

C.S. Lewis said something to the effect that it is a much safer practice to meditate on the love of God for us than to meditate on our love for God. This is true, of course, because our love for Him flounders and is weak, but His love for us is strong and unrelenting and unending.

The Scriptures are full of different ways of encouraging God's people to depend and trust in His unfailing love for us. Ultimately this is the only place of peace and rest for the human soul. When all looks hopeless and impossible in the natural, we find rest in knowing that God is love and that He will not relent nor quit in His pursuit of us and in His pursuit of those that we pray for.

He is an all-consuming Fire of desire for weak humans, and He is filled with divine energy to tirelessly seek and chase us down! This is where I find my confidence in prayer for myself and for others - not in my zeal nor my intercession nor my efforts nor my love, but in His unrelenting zeal, His unceasing intercession, His divinely initiated works, and His selfless love. The cross of Jesus is the highest expression of this reality in God, and this is the solid ground on which I plant my feet when my zeal falters and I'm surrounded with impossible situations. If my focus and trust is in my love for God, I will be discouraged; if I meditate and trust in His love for me and for those I pray for, my heart will be strengthened to believe and to remain steady even while trembling.

Hallelujah to the Father and Son and Holy Spirit! May His name be known and loved by more men and women and children in the year 2011 because we, His own, trust in His steadfast love to accomplish it...He is worthy!

How Much More...!

My heart is full to overflowing with the magnanimity (vastness) of the Father's heart! Just today I got word of a generous and sacrificial gesture made by a dad and mom towards their son that was not necessary nor particularly deserved, but was given purely for love's sake and because he is their son - that's all! No other reason needed!

I know these parents and I know they are imperfect; Jesus' words come to me as fitting for them: "If you then, who are evil (imperfect), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?"

There's lots of treasures to be mined from these words, but I want to focus here on the bigheartedness of God the Father so that our hearts are tenderized by His goodness and kindness towards us which comes our way simply because we are His children - no other reason needed! I believe that in these words, Jesus is addressing the suspicion that we fallen humans have of God because we imagine Him to be like us with our mixture of motives. So Jesus gives a picture of what fallen human parents are capable of (giving good things to their undeserving children simply for being their children), then adds, "...HOW MUCH MORE will your Father...give good things..." In other words, how much more eager and pure is the desire to give that comes from One who has absolutely not one trace of shadow or darkness in Him, One who is Pure and Holy Love and whose sole desire is for the well-being of His child even at supreme cost to Himself!

I believe that Christmas (Jesus' birth) and Easter (His death and resurrection) and His ascension and His soon return to place us in an honored position with Him throughout eternity are all loud expressions of the "how much more" of the heavenly Father! All of His giving flows out of that one great Gift of His own Life in His Son Jesus. He gives and gives and keeps on giving of Himself in His Son by His very own Spirit. If I'm moved deeply by seeing "evil" parents do extravagant and selfless things for their children for the only reason that they are their sons or daughters, how much more should I be moved by the perfect Parent who gives me good things when I ask, for the only reason that I am His daughter, no other reason needed.

If you are a parent, take a moment to consider how you would give anything for your child even when he/she is undeserving and unappreciative...THEN, in your mind's imagination, put yourself in the child role and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how much more your heavenly Father is like that towards you. Let your imagination, your heart's eye, see yourself as the one He wants to give good gifts to for the simple reason that you are His son/daughter, and bask in that kind of unconditional blessing.

If you are not a parent, pay attention to how healthy parents are with their children (and particularly when the child doesn't deserve the gift) and ask the Holy Spirit to give you a glimpse of how much more your heavenly Parent is like that towards you for the simple reason that you are His son/daughter, and revel in that reality of unconditional love.

Yes, we see this "how much more" of the Father played out in the birth, death, resurrection, ascension, and sure return of Jesus, but we also see it in living color around us in fallen human families. May the Spirit of Jesus open the eyes of our heart and imagination to see that He has bent over backwards to show us in everyday life and in His Word what His Father heart is like!

God bless you and expand your heart this season with the "how much more" of His fatherly heart!