Christian Living
You, O Lord, are our Father
How many Christians really know that God—is our Heavenly Father? How many Christians ever experienced a Father—son relationship with Almighty God? How many Christians ever struggle with looking at anyone one—even God as Father, because they really never had a father figure or their real biological father around all their lives? If you’re like me who never had a father around it may be difficult to really comprehend what a father is or what characteristics we should look for that outlines the role of a real loving father.
Acknowledging God as Father
Hi, I’ve been led by the Holy Spirit to teach about the names, titles, and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer for several weeks. Now I’ve been told to teach about God as Father. Yes, God is Our Heavenly Father. The Prophet Isaiah said, doubtless You are our Father. Though Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father. Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name (Isaiah 63:16 NKJV).
This prayer of Penitence by Isaiah the Prophet found here in Chapter 63 and 64 is truly amazing that we see how the Prophet came to describe God as their Father. You see, at this time in Israel’s history people have long considered Abraham as a go between start of a prayer to God. If we do a careful study in all the prayers done in the Old Testament they start off by saying, O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The point here is that Isaiah the Prophet came to revelation that God is his Father and Abraham wasn’t aware of the troubles or issues that the children of Judah were experiencing at his time nor is Abraham the Redeemer and Israel did not care about him or Judah. Surely, Isaiah had a high regard for the promises of God to Abraham and the Blessing of Abraham being the reason why God is Merciful. Yet, Isaiah also knew God intimately enough to realize that it’s God alone who desires to reveal Himself as Father to His children.
As we read the Old Testament carefully there were many men of God who came to the revelation that God is Our Heavenly Father. David being another man of God also came to the revelation that God is Our Heavenly Father. David said, as a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe] (Psalm 103:13 AMP).
The Practical Approach to this Topic
I’m not a Theologian so God instructed me to teach this with simplicity, practicality, and by revelation to bring across the most important topic we will ever encounter; THAT GOD IS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER!!!
I had been a Christian father to my daughter Gabriella for close to 3 years now. Before this I was a poor example of a father to my son Manny Jr. back in March 1985, thru August 1986. I became a Christian on December 1991, and did not come back into contact with my son until June 1999, on father’s day (Not a coincidence everything is planned by God). God brought my son back to me as a Christian father on father’s day. The point of sharing this information, is vital to the teaching God wants me to share with Faith-Writers.
David and Manuel’s Revelation
David only came to realize that God is a COMPASSIONATE, and a LOVING FATHER that exercises PITY toward HIS children based on the experiences and encounters that David had with GOD thorough out his personal life. Think about it, how will anyone come to know someone else if they had not experience all the ups-and-downs in their relationship with one another?
When we read David’s story thorough out the Old Testament David went thru hell and heavenly experiences on earth with God to come to this point of his life to write a Psalm about God’s Character of being that of a LOVING and COMPASSIONATE FATHER. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and impregnated her then tried to cover it up and it didn’t work; he decided to take another evil step further and have her husband Uriah killed (See 2 Samuel 11:1-27 NKJV).
A year and a half later, God sent the Prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin (See, 2 Samuel 12). Then we read about David’s Prayer of repentance in Psalm 51; But we also have Nathan who said that God has forgiven David, but that the child David had with Bathsheba will die and evil will arise out of his own house.
Then as we read on about David’s life, his son Amnon rapes his daughter Tamar, then 2 or 3 years later Absalom (Tamar’s brother) kills Amnon and decides to dethrone his father David. He went as far as to sleep with all of David’s concubines (See 2 Samuel chapters 13 thru 18). David cried through-out the entire ordeal. Joab the evil general of David’s army had to reprove David if not he was going to come against him too. Talk about drama in your home and kingdom.
There’s a lot to dissect here but the important point of all this drama is that we see David going thru thick and thin because of his sin against God. But as God was merciful to him--David was merciful to Amnon and then cried bitterly when Absalom was killed despite what he tried to do to avenge his sister’s awful experience of being sexually assaulted.
What’s My Point?
Like David, we will only come to know how to be merciful when we experience God’s mercy on our lives. The more we learn about God then try to apply His Word then fall and we get back up and receive God’s forgiveness and love. Then can we move on to learn about God being OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.
As a Christian I came across teachings about being a godly father figure. I applied whatever I remembered and began communicating with my son Manny Jr. sharing whatever I learned and researching further to be ready for future questions that I know would be asked. It was hard to be able to pick up where I left off because he was a baby when I left him. The guilt and shame of neglecting him would get in my way of trying to develop our relationship together. But overtime we became the best of friends, we communicate often and we share our experiences with one another and encourage one another.
As a FATHER PITIES HIS CHILDREN
David knew how God had pity on him. When he committed adultery, God was there… When he thought about being slick to cover it up by having Uriah sleep with his wife so that he may think it was his own child, God was there… It didn’t work, so he plotted to kill Uriah, God was there… David thought it was all over and swept everything under the rug, God was there… A year later Nathan shows up and wisely shares a sad story and reveals that he (David) was the bad guy in the story, God was there…
You see, God is there…in your circumstance, God is there…in your difficult situations that you have created, God is there…when you commit adultery, God is there… when you kill somebody like Moses, God is there…when you’re setting up your victim to be robbed and killed, God is there…when you’re about to gamble your life’s savings away and ultimately destroy your marriage and use up your kids college tuition.
God is there…at your worst moments, God is there when your Pastor is persecuting you because he’s jealous of what God gave you just like the story with David and King Saul. God is there…when you lose your mind, God is there…when you’re being abused and neglected by someone you thought will love and cherish you for the rest of their natural life.
Oh my goodness, God is there…when you go out to party like the prodigal son and waste daddy’s hard earn money, God is there…when you are difficult to communicate with. You can be a rock-head, an air head, a bubble head, a knuckle head and a dope head…God is there! He hasn’t given up on you like other people have…He hasn’t wrote you off like your relatives did…The Bible says that the prodigal son came to himself!
God is there…to wake you up from your misery. God is there…to bring you to an awareness that you don’t belong in the night club, you don’t belong in the topless bar, or any bar for that matter. He will cause you to see where you are and where you need to be in your FATHER”S HOUSE! Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t allow anyone to tell you that you’re a lost cause, a rebel without a cause—because God will reveal to you the Divine cause as to why you got there and how to get out! AS A FATHER PITIES HIS CHILDREN SO DOES THE LORD PITIES THEM THAT FEAR HIM!!! Hallelujah!
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