Last week I wrote about how constant the plans of the Lord are. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the Lord and he does not change. He is loving us with an everlasting love. 

“I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you as sons and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me." (Jeremiah 3:19 NIV)

This is, I believe, the eternal plan of the Father. In Ephesians 1 Paul writes that, from before the creation of the world, we were meant to be sons and daughters to the Father. Although everything changed for us through the fall, God did not change. His plan remained the same and it does so today, for us.

This verse in Jeremiah summarises God's heart for his people: he wants to treat us as sons, he wants us to know that we belong and he wants us to live in the fulness of our inheritance. This is his desire but it seems there is something preventing that desire being fulfilled. 

What stops the Father's desire being fulfilled is our independence which is founded on rebellion. We do not come to him and call him 'Father'. He is reaching out to us. Can we respond with an 'Abba' cry in our heart? As we turn and acknowledge him as Father so we are able to walk into the affirmation of our identity, our belonging and our inheritance. We do not have to continue to live as orphans, we can come home. There is an open invitation for you to step into the arms of love.

There's a lot of chaos and uncertainty in the world and there doesn’t seem to be many answers. It's too easy for us to feed on this and all that does is instil fear in our hearts. Fear paralyses. Fear is the opposite of love; it destroys our peace and takes away our rest. However, there is another way!

The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you. (Psalm 33:10-11 20-22 NIV)

We have a choice. Are we going to focus on the chaos and uncertainty or are we going to trust the One whose plans are eternal and unchanging? The news is depressing but it is not something that phases our Father. He is aware of everything that is happening, he is aware of the pain and suffering and he promises to be with us as we inevitably go through it. 

We do not have to place our trust in the ways of the world. We can turn and put our hope in the Lord; he is the one who saves us, he lifts us up to a safe place, high above the reach of the enemy. He does not create fear or uncertainty for he is LOVE. Fear paralyses, love sets free. Fear robs us of peace and rest, love builds up. Fear is insecure, love is secure. Fear is a house built on sand, love creates the most secure and safe dwelling place for us. Fear punishes, love affirms. 

There is no fear in love and so today I encourage you to put your hope in the Lord, in the One whose eternal love is always with us. This is our peace and rest.

Maybe, over the last couple of weeks as you've read these blogs, there's been a desire for rest or to find home. You have a longing but you're not sure what to do about it or where to begin looking. If this is the case then it's time to stop!

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. (Jeremiah 6:16 & 7:3 NIV/ESV)

Sometimes we're just too busy. We don't give ourselves time to stop and reflect, to think about what really matters. We are caught up with the urgent rather than the important. At times like this there is only one thing to do and that's 'stop'. As we do we can heed the words of Jeremiah, we stop at a crossroad and look at the various options. It's too easy to choose the obvious, clear path in front of us but Jeremiah says there is another way. It's hidden, maybe overgrown with the busy-ness of life and therefore not so easily seen. 

The motorway gets you there quickly but how much beauty do you miss out on? Taking the ancient path may be slower, sometimes it may be harder but it will be the path that leads our souls into rest and peace. 

It is a choice and it may need us to change our lifestyle, our commitments or priorities. As we do, Psalm 23 will become our way of life:

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:1-3 NIV)

Last week I wrote about us finding our true home in the Father's embrace. For some, a homecoming can happen in an instant, whereas for others it's more of a journey as we set our heart in the direction of home. Over time, we are drawn deeper into the Father's heart and we start to feel content, we find our place of rest. 

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11 NIV)

After Cain had killed his brother, the Lord appeared to him and told him the consequence of his actions: he would be a restless wanderer on the face of the earth (Genesis 4:12). I see that same heart in all of us. A restless heart where we are constantly trying to discover what more we need to do in order to feel loved, valued or accepted. It's a tiring way of living and one that will not satisfy. Jesus said "come to me and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), he says that in the context of us knowing the Father. 

As our heart comes home we find rest. This place of rest is you knowing God as Father and allowing him to be a Father to you. It's much more than simply knowing about God, it's the same experience of relationship that Jesus lived in. If being restless is always seeking the 'more', then being at rest is knowing there is nothing more I need to do to feel loved, valued or accepted. It has all been done and we can rest from our works. There is a Sabbath rest where we take a day to rest physically, mentally and emotionally but there is also a Sabbath rest for the heart. This is not a single day but a way of living as we live in sonship rather than striving to be a good servant.

You can be busy but at rest, because rest is the state of your heart not your diary.

I believe that there's a longing in every human heart to know we belong, that each one of us can find a place we call home. This then begs a couple of questions: 'what is home?' and 'where is it?'

Those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. “I, even I, am he who comforts you." (Isaiah 51:11-12 NIV)

I enjoy travelling, I enjoy the whole experience (with perhaps the exception of endless airport queues). There is the excitement of new places, new people, new food and yes, yet another bed to become used to. However much I enjoy the travel, I am always glad to be going home, back to the familiar and of course the people I love. For me, there is a great sense of rest and peace to be back home. 

Our Father wants us to come home. Home to him, our place of true belonging. We see this very clearly in the story of the lost sons in Luke 15 but we also see this through the history of the nation of Israel. However far the people wandered there was always a Father calling them home; not only calling them home but providing the way for them to come home. 

We might live in a comfortable house and be content with our lifestyle. It may satisfy us in part but it will never be enough. What we seek, and what we desperately need to find is our home within the Father's embrace. It's a place of security where we can hear the Father say "you are my son or daughter and I love you", we hear him say "you are enough". That is the place of true contentment, it's when we know our heart has come home. 

Because the Father's love is not dependent on what we've done or not done, we can all turn and run into his open waiting arms where we discover the truth of who we really are. Let me recommend this song to you,  "I Will Run" - why not play it over and over and let the truth of the words soak into your heart. Allow the Father to bring you home.

(The link for this song is: https://www.afathertoyou.com/musicvideos.html)

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)
Some of the translations of the Bible say “see what kind of love”. Let’s take a look at the nature of the Father’s love and, as we do, we’ll see that it is more than a fact or theological concept. We’ll see the substance of love being poured into our heart. 

It is an extravagant, generous and marvellous love. Nothing is spared or held back. It’s like going to a feast where there is almost too much to eat. You want to try it all but you know you don’t have the capacity to do so. 

His love is redemptive. In order for us to become his children we have to be redeemed (or bought back) from the enemy who’d stolen us. The Father takes us from the destructive life of sin and brings us into his family. 

The Father’s love is a sacrificial and giving love. It cost the Father his Son, he paid everything in order that you and I might be brought home, into the centre of his love. 

And finally, it is an eternal love. God has always been and will always be loving, he is our true Father. That is the love with which we are loved. It’s not dependent on us, on how we feel or behave. It’s a love that originates in the Father’s heart and it’s a love which is generously poured out, without limit, into our heart.

How important it is for us to live from our heart. It is the place of deep encounter with God, it is the place where all significant relationships are held. It is deeper than our mind or emotions take us.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5 NIV)
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.(Romans 10:10 NIV)

Our heart is the place of true connection. Of course, our emotions and mind are very important, they are a vital part of our makeup or temperament but they are not the core of who we really are. They belong to us but they don't define us. Or do they?

If we are not able to live from the heart then maybe we do allow ourselves to be defined and controlled by our mind or emotions. Maybe they become more a part of us than they should. 

It is as we live in love and experience an ongoing homecoming with the Father that we discover (perhaps for the first time) the need for a renewed heart. A heart transformed by the power of love where the Holy Spirit motivates, or causes, us to walk in the Father's ways. 
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV)

Love always transforms. The Father is constantly pouring his transforming love into our heart; it will change us. As we receive this free gift we are set free to walk in the glorious freedom of our sonship. And so today, I encourage you to find time to make a simple, yet life-changing request, "Father, will you pour your love into my heart".

When did our story begin?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV)

I think we often believe it started on the sixth day of creation when God created mankind. Having made a home for us to live in, he then spoke a word and the first human rose from the dust. When we think like this, it means we miss God's eternal perspective as our story very quickly falls into one of sin and separation from God. We miss an important fact.

What we miss is that our story actually began in eternity, long before the clock started ticking in Genesis. Before the world had been created God was thinking about his family, thinking about us! In that timeless period he longed for a people made in his image who would live as sons and daughters to him. 

Like any father be wanted a family that would bring him pleasure. I believe that's the desire of earthly parents too, we want to delight and enjoy our children. 

We can see the Father's pleasure throughout Scripture. We see the longing for relationship, constantly re-iterating how much we, as his children, bring him pleasure and glory. We are not distant or a far off. He is close to us as he has promised to never leave us but rather to love us with an everlasting love. 

​God is our Father and always has been.

​I have revealed to them who you are and I will continue to make you even more real to them, so that they may experience the same endless love that you have for me, for your love will now live in them, even as I live in them! (John 17:26 TPT)
 
Over the last few weeks, I have been looking at how Jesus revealed his Father and how this was the central purpose of his time on earth. John 17 is his final prayer before he is led away to the cross and, as we've looked at it together, I hope you can see how it represents a summary of Jesus' life and ministry. 
 
He has shown us what the Father is like, he has given us the Father's words of eternal life, he has demonstrated how we can live in love and he wants us to be with him where he is. 
 
Now, at the end of his prayer, Jesus concludes with these words: "in order that the love you have for me may be in them".
 
Jesus concludes his earthly ministry by reassuring us that he has made his Father known and that he will continue to make him known. We are not left in any uncertainty, Jesus will continue revealing his Father to us, to you and me. 
 
It's a very powerful statement. You and I are loved by God, the Father, in exactly the same way as he loves Jesus. No if's or but's, just unconditional love which is totally dependent on him and not in any way on us. 
 
We can't earn his love, we can't make him love us any more through our actions or words. We can't stop him loving us. We are loved as he loves Jesus. 
 
Should this revelation make us lazy Christians? Of course not! It changes our hearts so much that we find we are motivated, or compelled, to walk in his ways and therefore to delight in doing his will (Ezekiel 36:27 and Psalm 40:8). 
 
The revelation (or series of revelations) we've looked at from John 17 really do present us with a clear picture of the gospel. To me, it is so simple, we are loved by the perfect Father who wants to be a Father to us. ​

​Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24 NIV)
 
In John 17, Jesus is praying to his Father and giving an account of the things he has accomplished during his time on earth. It reads like the completion, or fulfilment, of a mission statement: "This is what you sent me to do and this is what I have done".
 
The prayer contains an important list of things the Son has done is making his Father known. ​
 
"I want those you have given me to be with me where I am". As we read through this chapter we see how Jesus has shown what the Father is like, he has given us the Father's words of eternal life and he shows how we can live like the Trinity.
 
And now we are given a personal invitation. An invitation to be with Jesus where he is. 
 
Well, before we accept this invitation we need to know where Jesus is. Right now, in this present moment, where is he? That's where we're invited to be. 
 
We read in John 1:18 that Jesus came from the bosom, or side, of the Father. Once again a picture of intimacy; a son leaning against his father's heart. In John 14, we read that Jesus is going back home, to his Father's house and then he and the Father, through the Holy Spirit, will return and make their home with us. 
 
This is the invitation: we are invited to be at home with the Father. To be at his side, leaning against his heart. 
 
This is an invitation and, as such, it requires a response. It's Jesus' desire to take us where he is but he leaves us with a choice - do we want to be at home with the Father?
 
It's a question we can only answer for ourselves. We can look from afar or we can draw near and allow our hearts to come home. 
 
My encouragement is for you to come home. Allow yourself to be drawn into that place of intimacy with the Father. Allow Jesus to take you to the Father, his Father and your Father. ​