Introduction
Have you ever wondered what God thinks of you?
Is it hard for you to believe He loves you as much as the Bible says He does?
What is He really like? Do you know Him?
What do you think of when you hear the word "Father"
protection, provision, warmth, tenderness, care, love, or do you have a different picture?
Our feelings towards God are often a result of impressions from own earthly father
Good experience -closer to God,
Bad experience - distorted picture of God
A baby is totally helpless,
God intends family to be where His love is demonstrated
As parents we start to see His heart towards His children
Understanding the character of God is essential if we are to:
love Him, serve Him, be like Him,
Has your relationship with God been hindered because of a failure of a parent?
The Fathers Authority
Example - when you visit a home, the the family dog, may cower away in a corner, bark at you or or leap all over you.
The exuberant puppy has usually come from a loving home.
The family dog is like man - our past experience often dictates our response when God reaches out to us.
When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. Hosea 11.1-4 Living Bible
God's authority is not harsh & vindictive but unspeakably gentle & longsuffering.
Example - I remember a time I lashed out with my hand & tongue at my 4yr old son because he continued to annoy me, I had to go & love him & ask for his forgiveness.
I should correct their disobedience but they must know my discipline is with love.
Think of the world today - What horrors of human selfishness is God seeing now?
Example - A drunk father bursts into the bedroom of his son, "I told you to put the garbage out - I'll teach you boy, " the boy is beaten mercilessly by the hulk of man he calls daddy.
Example - A 17 year old prostitute with blank empty eyes, mechanically performs through a night of degradation, she doesn't care what happens to her, she hasn't felt clean since the night she was molested by her father.
A wounded generation stumbles through their youth only to visit the same hurts on their children
Who will father the children of men?
Whose arms are big enough for all the lonely children of the world?
Who weeps for our pains? ONLY GOD
A BROKEN HEARTED FATHER who is rejected by the little ones He yearns to heal.
His command to parents, "Parents don't keep on scolding and nagging your children making them angry and resentful. Rather bring them up in loving discipline the Lord Himself approves" Ephesians 6.4
The Fathers Faithfulness
Every promise of God will be fulfilled,
He is constantly loving,
He never changes,
He only desires to show love & forgiveness.
Do you distrust God? Our distrust hurts him deeply
You are God's child and He loves you so much, but maybe you can't seem to fully trust Him.
As a child you may have experienced the absence of a father through
death, divorce, career or
is it the memory of broken promises
Jesus said, "I will never leave you or forsake you ... I am with you always even to the end of the age."
Have you said, "Well if He loves me so much, why haven't I felt Him or seen Him when I was in need?"
It isn't God who failed you it is me and those who say they love Him, we have failed to become His voice and His hands to those who are hurting.
God pursues us with His love always, even now your loving Father awaits you with outstretched arms.
He says, "Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, He remains faithful to us who are part of himself and He will always carry out His promises to us." 2 Tim 2.13 Living Bible
The Fathers Generosity
I recall in India watching the children play, play with a stick, it occurred to me these children would very seldom hear, "Don't touch that, leave it alone,"
On a simple earth floor, homes with little possessions.
In contrast our homes are stuffed with expensive and fragile appliances and we are constantly rebuking inquisitive toddlers.
We constantly remind them of the value of things, how seldom do they hear I love you.
Our children learn "things are more important then me"
Our concepts of God's generosity may have been crimped by our childhood experience.
God is incredibly generous,
look at creation, His attention to detail in our life,
God is not stingy, materialistic or possessive,
He wrote the first book on giving from his own experience.
"Trust in the Lord and do good so you will dwell in the land and enjoy security. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord trust in Him and He will act." Psalms 37.3/5 NASB
The Fathers Affection
Do you have any idea how attractive you are to God?
Yes, at times we do wrong things that hurt God,
but He still pursues us with affection and forgiveness.
Reflect on the history of Israel as told in the Old Testament, His chosen people, through their many ups and downs, their constant wanderings away from the Fathers love and being brought back to Him by the preaching of the prophets only to wander off again just a few years later.
Many children (boys especially) have no physical display of affection from their fathers or no real compassion when they are hurt.
Jesus is not like that, His sensitivity and understanding to suffering are measureless.
EXAMPLE
My son at 6 months old, limp and unable to move, doctors didn't know what the problem was, after 2 days of tests they conducted exploratory surgery, he was too weak to take an air ambulance to the capital city Children's hospital - he wouldn't make it.
My wife and I went to a room in the hospital and prayed. The doctors did surgery and came back about an hour later and said they had fixed problem, intercerception of bowel. We thanked God for His mercy.
6 months later, I was thinking about how Jesus died for me,
what anguish of heart God must have gone through,
the choice of saving His lost creation gone astray or
sending His own Son to suffer and die to free us all.
I was reminded of the sacrifice of his son God made, so you and I could be freed.
God spoke to me that day, "yes, I saved your son ..."
and I started to understand the Father heart of God
Conclusion
If you have been hindered in your relationship with God,
maybe your parents weren't the perfect parents,
you must find forgiveness for anyone who has hurt you,
if you don't your bitterness will consume you and you won't find peace with God.
Everyone has suffered some kind of hurts in their life,
our natural human tendency is to lay the blame on someone - usually God.
The important thing to know is that God loves you, it's people that let us down.
He wants you to receive His love and affection now.
Will you open up your heart and enter into an intimate relationship with your loving Heavenly Father and forgive those people who have hurt you along the way, letting go of the anger, bitterness, resentment and hurts and allow the love of the Father to flow through you and forgive them and allow the peace of God to flood your heart and soul.
Listen to Howard share this message on video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrbfy2oCNOA&t=947s
message starts at 15:45 if you want to go straight there.
while you are there, please subscribe to Beautiful Feet Task Force YouTube channel.
