As a Christian, one of the most important things to truly understand and fully embrace is the truth that through Jesus Christ, a person becomes adopted into the family of God where God becomes their Father. In the past year, as I have been raising my daughter Seraphina, God has been bringing me revelation after revelation of His Father's heart for His children. It's been an amazing time! What I've come to realize is that certain relationships will bring a greater depth of understanding and experience of differing dimensions and aspects of God's heart more so than others which then better help draw certain things out of and put certain things into a person's heart.
For me personally, I've sang worship songs, heard sermons on, and studied personally the Word of God in what it says about God being our Father, but it has been through personally having a child and becoming a father to her that the reality of some of things I've sang, heard and studied have in a sense come more alive and real to me through my relationship with my daughter. Even more so, the Holy Spirit has brought even greater depth and timely revelation of the Father's heart to me about how He loves and cares for me.
One of these revelations happened in a moment when I had a completely free day with nothing planned and no responsibilities that needed my immediate attention. So, my wife went to the gym and I spent the next few hours with my daughter. It was in this unhurried time with her where I wasn't looking at my watch or thinking about what I needed to do that day or hurrying my time with her because I was trying to squeeze in time with her. No, I was fully present with her and was enjoying the time with her when the Lord spoke to me through the thoughts in my mind and I heard, "This is how I am with you, I am never in a hurry with you. I enjoy spending time with you and am always fully present with you." My heart soaked in this revelation like a thirsty dry sponge which has helped to soften my heart and bring greater healing to me while further reprioritizing my heart to mirror God's heart.
Then, building upon that revelation, the Lord began to remind me that it is through my example of a father to my daughter that will influence and shape how she will one day see Him as Father. It's funny, I know this. I've heard testimony after testimony. I've counseled and ministered to countless people who have had fathers who have been poor examples, neglectful examples, even abusive examples of what a father should be and how this has created walls and barriers within them in seeing God as a good and loving heavenly Father. Yet, it was in these moments that the reality of this truth found good soil and sunk deeper into my heart.
This is a heavy responsibility, but the Holy Spirit continually reminds me that I am not in this alone, that each day He faithfully guides, leads, corrects and comforts me as He places His strength into my weakness and heals and redeems the broken areas within me. This is the one of the many great blessings of being an adopted child of God, the gift of the Spirit. The other is that it gave God great pleasure to do so.
"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, 'Abba, Father.' For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." (Romans 8:15-16 NLT)
"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)
Wow! Such an amazing verse, "it gave him great pleasure." Let these verses marinate in your soul. Engage and meditate on them by asking the Holy Spirit to show you the truth of these verses. And wherever you're at in this journey with God, know that you truly and genuinely give Him great pleasure. If you don't know Jesus yet, I encourage you to spend some time seeking to know this kind of love and pleasure that God has towards you. Just know that at times it can be challenging and painful as He begins the process of removing the barriers that have been built up within you, but it is so that He can bring the revelation of the love we all crave so much and the healing we all desperately need. I guarantee that if He is real (which I know He is), He will reveal Himself to you and do this amazing good work within you.
This is my prayer for you: "That the God of the universe would draw near to you and purposely intervene in your life in showing you His love for you and His destiny for your life. I pray the grace of God would begin to cover the many areas in your heart where a father has fallen short in loving you the way you needed and begin to bring the healing you need to help you to see in greater and greater depth God as a good, loving and caring heavenly Father. In Jesus Name, Amen"
