1) Father God loves you!
2) Father God is not angry with you!
3) Father God is well pleased with you!
I know for many of you who will read these three fundamental truths, you will blink a few times and quite possibly be caught in a deep sense of shock and unbelief. However, everything you have read is more authentic than the blood that flows through your veins and the air you breathe into your lungs. The love of the Father is real. So much so that it has become my constant reality.
I have grown from the place of feeling like an orphan (one who has no family) and a spiritual vagabond (one who has no home) to living and experiencing my daily life as a son of God—approved, loved, affirmed, and happy!
How? Again, I am glad you asked!
Over time, I have learned the value of walking in the reality of the Father’s love. I have learned how to live from that reality and draw my source for life and reason for living from that reality. And so I am simply here to share just a bit more of that reality with you. (The second part, to be exact!)
I believe that our primary goal in life is to be focused on receiving God’s love and giving it away. There is no higher joy than the preoccupation of existing in a place where the Father’s love overshadows you in every way. As I said in my last post, the essence of eternal life is to know God—in an experiential way. Nothing and no one can replace that.
So much of our world wars for our attention and our experience. Religion, family, education, government, media, arts, and business (the seven mountains of societal influence), all battle daily for our attention. Yet, the one thing that matters, the reality of the Father’s love, often comes in second, third, and last place to each of these things. But what would our lives look like if we accepted salvation as so much more than escaping hell, but as an invitation to deeper fellowship with Father God? What would our relationships look like and our family dynamics look like if we chose to participate in the reality of the Father’s love, or as I like to call it, “the fellowship of the burning heart?”
John says, “We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!” (1 John 1:3 MSG) There is so much joy and grace that comes when we realize how much Father God loves us, and we begin to walk in that daily.
The reality of the Father’s love is displayed in 5 ways, the first of which I want to cover in the remainder of this post.
1. God’s Love for God.
This first expression of perfect love is found in the relationships of God’s triune nature. Scripture gives excellent examples of how Jesus loves Father God, as well as how Father God loves Jesus.
“But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.” John 14:31 MSG
“The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts.” John 3:35 MSG
There is no mistake that God is one. And in this divine “oneness,” He forever dwells in three distinct persons who are coequal as divine persons. Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit each fully possess all of God’s attributes. Each person is entirely different from the others in function and authority in their various work—which is fully united.
Now I know this may be giving you major “theological brain-freeze.” That is okay; the Bible calls this a mystery and one rightly so because it calls us to worship God’s majesty and might as His sons and daughters. My simple explanation for the triune nature of God is: Father God is the destination we’re traveling to, Jesus is the road we go on to get there, and Holy Spirit is the vehicle we use to travel the road, to get to Father God. (Much better, right.)
The exact way we see Father God's love in the Trinity is the only way He knows how to love. This love is one of fullness and passion, and power, and uttermost purity. Father God always loves in fullness, and His love never diminishes or grows because it is infinite in measure and eternal in duration. Just think about that for a second, He does not love us with part of His love—that would completely deny His character.
Instead, the union within the Godhead reveals the nature, quality, and intensity of His love. The relationships of Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit are the ultimate model and source by which we can relate to God and other people. The wisdom, identity, affirmation, and acceptance that Father God pours out on us, along with the compassion, empathy, and kindness that Jesus shows us, is complete with the warmth, fire, and zeal that Holy Spirit puts inside of us. The reality of His love gives us a picture of what perfect love is, and how He relates to us as His children, and how we are invited to relate to Him as our Father.
May the reality of the Father’s love forever burn without our hearts.
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