God is your Father! Many people know God as their Saviour, which is important. Others recognise God as Sovereign and Omnipotent, which He is. But when you know God as a Father, your relationship with him becomes more personal.
The fullness of God's love
It’s a very lovely thing the Apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians 3.17-19, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and depth and height of the love of God.”
This is really beautiful, it’s Paul being very expressive and very explicit. We’re so familiar with two dimensions, flat, and with three dimensions where there is some depth and perspective. But Paul’s description of the love of God is higher and greater, more enlightening, it’s wide, it’s long, it’s deep, and it’s high – four dimensions – the height AND the depth! I’m intrigued! God’s love is not just the length which encompasses the world, it’s not just the width, but it has a height – and it has a depth – it’s an almost unfathomable mystery of God. And yet Paul wants us to understand it.
Held by the love of God
We are held by love, an invisible power that doesn’t let us escape out of the Grace of God! Oh, what a wonderful description of being a ‘prisoner of God’. We are held ‘captive’ to His Love… It so binds us, so holds us… But it’s not only God’s Love for us, but our love for Him! Our love for Him acts as a lock, a guard, to prevent us from getting away! So, you and I, we’re a ‘prisoner’ of the Lord! Not in the sense of pain and suffering, but something full of Glory, full of joy! I follow the Lord because I love Him! I preach the Gospel – because I love Him! I see the miracles – because I love Him! My whole life is governed by love. Love is surely one of the most powerful forces!
Jesus is calling you
Rejoice, Jesus is calling you. If I could offer one encouragement, I would tell you to rejoice, to be of good cheer. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. What does that mean? Jesus is calling you; He wants to lift you up and carry you home. he has heard your prayer and is asking, “What do you want Me to do?”
God identifies with you
God identifies with you. The Scripture speaks about taking up your cross and following Jesus - the cross is not just us identifying with Him, but Jesus identifying with us. When I was in prison for Bible smuggling, I felt so abandoned by God. In the Lord’s Prayer it says, ‘Who is in heaven…’, I argued, “You are in heaven, but I am in a stinking filthy cell, don’t You understand?” Then God reminded me of the truth: He sent His Son to die a criminal’s death. Jesus understood my pain - He identified with my suffering.
When heaven is shut
There comes a time in all our lives when heaven feels shut. We’ve prayed for deliverance, but the situation never improves, or worse, if there is an answer, God says ‘no’. How do we pray in these situations? It is in these times we realise the truth contained in the Lord’s Prayer - He does understand, He does care, He’s our Father.
Jesus loves you
God is love
God is love. He created love. He gives love. God loves you. The Bible says, ‘This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.’ (1 John 4:9-12)