The heart of the Father

Mother's Day is widely celebrated. My mother is a retired floral designer and I remember that the most busiest holiday for her was by far was Mother's Day. Father's Day however, is difficult for many. There are many good men who are great father's though not everyone has fond memories of their father. Some fathers were harsh, unloving, punishing, abusive, or absent. There is an epidemic of Fatherlessness both in the world and in the church. In the church there we have very few true spiritual fathers. In fact, we have very few Shepherds. Many leaders in the pulpit are driving the sheep instead of leading them in Jesus example. I am one of the few to have been blessed with a spiritual father and shepherd for a season of my life and because of the man who was my spiritual father, I would not be where I am today. Both in the church and in the world there are many who have been abandoned by their biological fathers and even abused by them. I was one of them. As a child I was naive enough to not even realize that what I endured was neglect and abuse. I thought that I had deserved whatever I had coming to me. I didn't know any different. Now that I have children of my own I know how untrue that was. I wish I could say that my own two have not been affected negatively by their own biological father.

When I think of my daughter, Natalie; almost all of her friends from school (a Christian school) do not live with their biological fathers because of either divorce, death, and or abandonment and abuse. We have an entire generation both in the world and in the church that does not know the love of a father. That is so sad considering that we were created for love. If you are one of those that have never known the love of a father or if you do not have a father in your life, there is hope. Psalm 68:5 says that our God is A father to the fatherless. Even if you don't have a physical father, you have a heavenly father who simply adores you! Below are a few descriptions of your Father's heart towards you!

1. Your Father's heart is affectionate towards you. Jeremiah 31:3 says of God, I have loved you with an everlasting love. The Hebrew word for love here means to have affection for. Your Heavenly Father doesn't love you out of obligation (which is not real love) but He has great affection for you!

2. Your Father's heart is full of unconditional love for you. He has so much love for you that He has given you His best, withholding nothing from you, even in the midst of your worst. He gave His only son to die for you. John 3:16. God so loved the world.... The Greek word for love in this scripture is Agape. Agape love is the highest form of love. It is the unconditional love of God for His children. God's love doesn't depend on what you do or don't do. His love is perfect and unchanging! He is God and He changes not! The wonderful thing about this is that when we truly grasp the height and depth of His love for us....we can not help but change!

3. Your Father's heart towards you is generous! “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom”. –Luke 12:32 What's His belongs to us. In John chapter 14 Jesus also says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

4. It pleases you Your Heavenly Father to be generous to you.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” — Matthew 7:9-11

I would like to add that even if your earthly father did not know how to give good gifts, you can trust that your Heavenly Father does and it pleases Him to do so!

5. Even if you have no earthly father, you are not an orphan! For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. — Romans 8:15-16 Abba Father literally means "Daddy God". He is not just your father, He is your daddy! How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! –1 John 3:1

6. The Father's heart longs for those who are far from Him. In Luke chapter 15 is the story of the prodigal son. The prodigal has left home, squandered all of his inheritance of which he demanded early. When it was all spent, and he had nothing left, he realized even the servants in his father's house were better off than he was. He took off for home. Even before he arrived, His father had seen him in the distance which speaks of the father purposely looking and longing for his son's return home. When the prodigal son returned, he did was not rejected or scolded. Instead, he was welcomed with open arms. The Father even though a party to celebrate his son's return. So is our heavenly father's heart towards you if you are far from Him. He is looking and longing for you!

7. Your Father thinks about you - a lot! One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Look at Psalm 139:17-18: How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand… and Psalm 40:5: Your

thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them,they are more than can be numbered.

These are just a few things the show us what our Heavenly Father is like. There is so much more in God's Word! I encourage you to search out the scriptures for yourself! Ask the Father to reveal Himself to you in a greater measure. So often we relate to Him according to how we related or did not relate to our earthly fathers. How unfair that is! We need to open our hearts to receive greater revelation of who our Heavenly daddy is. One way to understand who your Heavenly Father is? Look at Jesus. Jesus says if you've seen me you've seen the Father. - John 14:9 If you've wondered what the Father thinks about death, read about Lazarus. If you wonder what the Father thinks about social outcasts, look at how Jesus healed the leper, made the lame to walk, healed the blind, and allowed his feet to be washed by the tears of a prostitute. In John 5:19 Jesus told his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." Jesus had compassion on the multitudes because the Father had compassion on the multitudes.

This Father's Day, I encourage you to take some time to really seek your Heavenly Father. Ask Him to reveal to you His heart towards you in a greater way. Ask him if there are any father wounds in your heart that could be keeping you from an intimate relationship with him. He is not some distant God waiting for you to mess up so he can punish you. He loves you and wants to be near you. He wants to be your daddy!