The Father’s heart
John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17
We apologise for the missing sound at the beginning of the audio recording
What does it mean to be sons and daughters of God? As we get captured by God’s love we are propelled out into mission.
God as Father is throughout the Old Testament and was opened out in the coming of Jesus. We have a right to be called children of God (John 1:12). God could have stopped at just making us right with Him, but He chose to make us His children. Father is the Christian name (1st name) of God.
What does it mean to be children of God? Being a child of God is enough for us in all that we are going through in life. When we give our lives to the Lord we are made sons of God, we are adopted by Him and become hers of God. Romans 8:14-17 is a legal process. There was no facility for sons to be un-adopted.
Ten filters that distort our view of God and His Fatherhood of us:
- God is conditionally loving
- God is poor at communicating
- God is controlling
- God is manipulative
- God is unreliable
- God is distant or absent
- God is inaccessible
- God is critical and uninterested
- God is cold and aloof
- God is not stingy
None of these are true and we need to pull down all our wrong thinking of God. Four steps to doing this are:
- We need to acknowledge our need for fresh revelation of Go
- We need to forgive those who have hurt us
- We need to receive forgiveness from God
- We need to receive the Father’s love for us