discipleship
Hearing the Voice of God in Prayer
Hearing the voice of God in prayer requires intention, expression, and communication. Prayer is an invitation to hear God speak.
The Father Heart of God: Understanding God the Father through the lens of Jesus changes everything for me.
The Father Heart of God
“I want to be on the side of Jesus when talking about the Father.”
I was struck when I first heard this quote years ago. It felt new, accurate, and almost scandalous. God the Father was never outrightly taught to be cold, distant and quick to smite or kill me, but there was always this subtle impression that He wasn’t exactly kind like we know Jesus to be (at least in my mind). This new thought was challenging a preconceived notion I didn’t realize I even had. I sort of thought the Father was ready with a million lightning bolts to strike down folks, and the only thing holding him back was Jesus’ somehow superior compassion toward humanity. I was challenged by an author I was reading to take the words of Jesus about the Father and only hold to them as the sole basis for my thoughts on the Father. I was shocked at what I found.
Jesus didn’t have one negative thing to say about his Father. Only love, honor, and respect. Imagine that..
In fact, He drew such a vivid picture of a kind, patient, loving Father, that I was drawn into a greater depth of God’s love for me, others and the world. It drew me deeper into the mystery and beauty of the Trinity. What we believe about the Father is ultimately what we believe about Jesus.
I was convicted by how vitally important our view of the Father is, and I believe it is one of the most important matters of our time!
It is not lost on me the significance of this issue in our modern world. Sources point to somewhere between one quarter to one half of American children growing up without a father in the home. The impact this has on them as individuals, and our country as a whole is seemingly never-ending. This reality has caused us to even further doubt the goodness of the one true Father of all. We see the failure of human fathers and translate that to the character of God the Father.
I was lucky enough to grow up with a loving father in the home, but in my adulthood, I have come to really understand and recognize the shortcomings of my earthly father. Thankfully, part of what I learned when uncovering the Father’s character has allowed me to place my own father in his rightful place, in the hierarchy of my heart. For all the good and bad, I can, in a way, let him off the hook, because I have anchored myself to the only Father I need.
Ok, now, back to Jesus. What does He say about His Father?
“If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:7.
Jesus is saying, “Hey, you see me? Then you have seen the Father. All the questions you have about Him, look to find your answers in Me, because we are one.”
God was kind enough to give us Himself, in the flesh, to paint a picture of His Father’s heart in the midst of our own broken earthly fathers. The Holy Spirit used this revelation in my life to also empower me to forgive my dad in various ways, and be the best father I can be to my children. Simple revelations of His Father heart will empower us to forgive the deepest of wounds, break generational patterns, and bring the Kingdom of light into our relationships.
Much of this new information about the Father Heart of God came through my YWAM Discipleship Training School. I had never thought to follow this rabbit trail, sniffing through scripture and my own heart, to discover some of my ungodly beliefs about the Father, until I was challenged to by some awesome Youth With A Mission staff that pushed me on to do something crazy; let Jesus define the Father for me.
Boy am I glad I did!
Even in the more difficult to read passages in the Old Testament, if I look at these stories in the context of their moment in history, the context of Israel as a nation, and what God was doing/teaching His people, I am able to uncover a beautifully patient, loving, passionate Father who is pruning the people He adores, as He forms them into a partner for Himself. At times, the Father uses decisive and swift actions to communicate a lesson, but it is always done from a place of overwhelming love. We can misinterpret God’s actions as cruel, the same way a child might interpret their parents’ discipline as cruel. But, a good and loving parent teaches their child boundaries, and upholds consequences because they want the best for their child, and they know this requires discipline.
He has always been a Father, looking to shape His children into partners…partners who see His heart, agree with His mission, and will join Him in His redemptive work on Earth.