Our Father

Isaiah 46:⁴ “I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.”

Your understanding of God as your Father will determine the cause of your life. Your relationship with your earthly father directly affects your relationship with God as your Father, even though it should not. And when the understanding of God as Father is skewed, people struggle. A scientific study was done on fifty of the most famous atheists in the world. The study revealed that the fifty most famous atheists all had only one thing in common. Every one of them hated their dads. This gives even more weight to how important it is for fathers to be strong, present, and involved in their homes. So, we will look to no one else but Jesus to describe God to us.

Jesus described God to us in two words in Mathew 6:⁹ “This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven…” (NIV, emphasis added). God is our Father in heaven. And since God is our Father, we know that He is a person and not ‘a power’. People can relate to a God that is a force. Yes, God is powerful, but God is a person. God is our Father. There are four misconceptions people have about God and it affects their relationship with God as Father. The first is people think that God is unreasonable. We think that God is unreasonable, and He is always out to spoil our joy.

And when people think God is unreasonable, they pull away from God, because they feel they need to handle things by themselves. Have you heard people say, ‘Let me make my millions first before I come to God, because He may just want poverty for me’. People who think like this really don’t understand God. Some people think that God does not want love or marriage for them. So, they prefer to sort out the ‘boyfriend or girlfriend or relationship issues’ by themselves. So they keep their Bible under their arms, while they sought ‘things’ out.

Some people do not think God is unreasonable, but they think God is unreliable. Some even ask, ‘Can I depend on God?’ Some do not think God is unreasonable or unreliable, but they think that God is unconcerned. How can God care about the school I go to? Yes, He does. How can God care about the job I take? Yes, He does. How can God care about the house or the location I live in? Yes, He cares. Why? When you move out of God’s location, you move out of God’s grace. Graces are location bound. God says, ‘Stay there and I will be with you’. That is where His presence is. Some just think God is unpleasable. They feel they cannot please Him. Guess what? One key secret of life is that the only Person you can actually please is God.

Prayer: Father, help me know and relate with You as my Father, in Jesus Name. Amen!