People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16 NIV) Over the last few weeks, we have looked at some of the ways in which we can allow God to be a Father to us. We can give him the things we worry about, he can take our fears and we can have an upward gaze of knowing that we are 'in Christ'. It is, however, in these verses that we are given the greatest key to allowing God to be a Father to us. A childlike heart. In Matthew 11, Jesus tells us that 'these things' have been hidden from the wise and learned but have been revealed to little children. That must have been very offensive to Jesus' listeners but nonetheless it is the truth. All the things Jesus is talking about have been revealed to him, meaning he must have the most childlike heart of all. If it was the way for him, then it is the way for us as well. When I look at my little grandson, Asher, I see someone who is totally dependent on his parents for his food, his bathing, his clean clothes and to be put where he needs to be. As far as he is concerned he has no independent life outside his parents, he needs them for everything. That is a childlike heart. For God to be a Father to us we need to let go of our pride and independence and place our lives in his hands. Like Asher, having a childlike heart means being totally dependent on our Father. We can trust him for everything that we need, we can rely on his goodness and faithfulness for us. We can believe that his love will never fail, nor will it let us go. His love for us is everlasting, it will never run out. Just after Jesus rebukes his disciples we read the story of the rich young ruler. He had done all the right things but was lacking one thing. Jesus doesn't actually tell him what that thing was, he merely tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor. I believe that what the young man lacked was a childlike heart. He was too consumed with his riches and his inability to trust and therefore he was unable to have that simplicity of heart and dependence which would enable him to follow. My prayer for you is that 2 Corinthians 6:18 would be a reality in your everyday lives. That you will experience God being a Father to YOU in every area of your life. That you would have a childlike heart which allows you be totally dependent on your Father. After all, that's how Jesus lived. The fourth video on this page http://www.afathertoyou.com/musicvideos.html is a song about letting go of our pride and independence and coming to Father with a childlike heart, let this soak into your heart today. "I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV) The next Fatherheart 'A' School in the UK is in July at Cloverley Hall in Shropshire. This is an opportunity for you to experience Father's love and to know his comforting love filling your heart. All the details together with an online booking form are at http://fhmaschool.uk You are all very welcome. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:4-6 NIV) The other week, when Barry Adams spoke about our Divine Union on the Fatherheart.TV webcast, he talked about us abiding in the vine. This is a great picture of our union with Jesus, in the Father. The point which Barry was drawing out of this was that our remaining (or abiding) requires nothing other than to be totally dependent on the source of life. No striving or performance is necessary as all we do is rest in him. One time I did a study on the phrase "in Christ". I was amazed at how many times Paul mentions this throughout the course of his letters. It struck me how important it is for us to understand the reality of what he is talking about. As you read Ephesians 1 & 2 you see the incredible gift that is ours, through Christ; it is a promise of belonging and blessing, of rest and provision. Those two words, "in Christ", speak volumes. Where Christ is, we are. He has returned to the bosom of the Father, to his true home and we too can discover that the bosom of the Father is our home. He is seated in the Heavenly realms and we are there, sat down at his side. The Amplified version says we 'have joint seating' with Christ, that means we're on the throne next to him. He lives in an intimacy of relationship with the Father and so do we. I would encourage you to read any of Paul's letters and you will see for yourself the amazing inheritance that is ours as we ponder what being 'in Christ' really means. It means that there is a Heavenly reality for us to step into, it is the way we are truly seen by the Father,. As we allow God to be a Father to us we find ourselves looking upward rather than being consumed by our earthly struggles. He is the perfect Father and he wants to be a Father to YOU. "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (Psalm 27:4 NIV) The next Fatherheart 'A' School in the UK is in July at Cloverley Hall in Shropshire. This is an opportunity for you to experience Father's love and to know his comforting love filling your heart. All the details together with an online booking form are at http://fhmaschool.uk You are all very welcome. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18 NIV) It's amazing how many times the Bible says "do not fear". I guess it's because fear is something we are generally good at! If worry and anxiety are our daily concerns, then fear is the accumulation of those cares which ultimately can paralyse us and hold us in a prison. I believe that fear is one of the biggest weapons the enemy has to make us unfruitful and ineffective. Fear stops us stepping out in faith and entering our inheritance, into the wide open space our Father has prepared for us. Fear can often be our default response. The moment we let it take a hold of us something inside us closes down. I do not believe our Father wants us to live in fear. I believe he wants us to be free, to enjoy the glorious freedom of the sons of God and to discover that the life of a son or daughter is one of peace and rest. The opposite of love is fear and when we live outside of love it is often fear that controls or drives us. As we allow God to be a Father to us, so we begin to live in love. Love casts out all fear. Fear is to do punishment, guilt or shame, whereas love sets us free. Today, I encourage you to give Father your fears and as you do, you will find you are becoming more rooted and established in love. "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." (1 John 3:1 NIV) The next Fatherheart 'A' School in the UK is in July at Cloverley Hall in Shropshire. This is an opportunity for you to experience Father's love and to know his comforting love filling your heart. All the details together with an online booking form are at http://fhmaschool.uk You are all very welcome. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV) Over the last week or so I've been thinking about what it means, practically, for God to be a Father to us. What difference can and will this revelation and relationship make in our everyday lives? It's all too easy to become weighed down by the burdens of life: our job, our family, financial pressures, our future or our health. Of course, these things are very real and important to us and so often they determine how we feel. However, they do not define who we are. We are sons and daughters of Almighty God, he just happens to be our Father. Anxiety, or worry, can be very debilitating. It can wear us out and can cause more stress than we are already under. When we let God be a Father to us we can come to him and give him the worries that we are carrying. He is always there for us, waiting and able to take our anxiety and to bring us back to the place of peace and rest. He understands our humanity and, just as any father would do, he wants to do all he can to alleviate our suffering. There are things in life that we were never meant to carry and today I encourage you to give them to him and to allow him to be a Father to YOU. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7 NIV) The next Fatherheart 'A' School in the UK is in July at Cloverley Hall in Shropshire. This is an opportunity for you to experience Father's love and to know his comforting love filling your heart. All the details together with an online booking form are at http://fhmaschool.uk You are all very welcome. |
Weekly SignpostA Father to YOU is a signpost to the heart of the Perfect Father. When we became Christians we were given the right to become children of God (John 1:12). Sadly, many of us fail to take up that right and instead continue to live as slaves or orphans. But our true destiny is being sons and daughters who have a permanent place in the Father's family. This blog is an encouragement to help you know who God really is and who you really are. Click here to subscribe. |