Day 33

Trust Abba Father By

Experiencing Him

Seeing the Fulfillment of the Parables of Jesus

Roger and Eileen Himes

www.ThePracticalGospel.com

How do we truly come to trust our Abba Father the way he wants us to? In many ways, this question has already been answered in the 32 prior days. The answer, at least to me, is always the gospel, and truth that it reveals. But this answer is vague, not descriptive.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

GOSPEL TRUTH #65

Today, we will see and relate to 12 broad attributes of God, and see his Father heart, thus better embracing him in belief, faith and trust. We are told to KNOW him. To know him is to love him and trust him, so let’s know him as well as we possibly can in this earthly life.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

The Parables of Jesus that we looked at reveal a lot of the Father heart of God. We will not review those, but the parables are designed to reveal both individual characteristics about God, and about his Kingdom. Lets now look at the broad aspects of God’s pursuit of us.

THE SEARCHING FATHER

The parables of the lost sheep, and the lost coin portray God as always seeking relationship with us. Father pursues us with an ardent zeal, and he wants to give us his love, affection, and grace. Paul asks if God so loved us before we were saved, how much more now?

God always seeks our attention. He wants us to know he longs for us, and wants to lift our eyes from our personal business, and endless tasks, to acknowledge his presence. Several books have been written about ‘practicing the presence of God,’ and about ‘experiencing God.’ He wants us to know his constant presence. He searches us out and wants us to experience his presence in our busy everyday lives. He says, “I will never leave you.”

THE EMBRACING FATHER

Here we see him by means of his two prodigal sons that he cared so much for. One was a runaway, and the other lived in is house with him. But they were both prodigal. He sought to embrace his younger son each day, and looked for him coming down the road. When he saw him he ran, and embraced him. He sought to do the same with his older son, but this son would have no part of it. His religious ways had made him critical and judgmental, especially toward his younger brother, as well as toward his father. But the father loved both his sons the same, and he loves each of us equally. Pulpits don’t call us to God, but to doing good things for God, and getting good things from God. Good works don’t lead to embracing the PERSON of God himself.

THE INVITING FATHER

God always invites us to weddings, banquets, and just to ’follow him’ and see what he does. He wants to hang out with us. He wants to connect in any way. He’ll even sit and watch T.V. with us, if we’ll just acknowledge his presence (but he doesn’t like sex or violence).

He wants us to fellowship in his gospel with each other (Phil 1:5). How much more with him? Jesus died to give us the gospel, and he seeks to fellowship with us in it. In this way he can show us deeper and deeper levels of his light, love and life.

He wants us to live lives of thanksgiving and gratitude because he knows, in this attitude, we are open to receive. And he knows the impact worship has upon us, our spirits, souls, and even our bodies. Thanksgiving, an attitude of gratitude, and worship can do more to elevate our lives spiritually than anything else. They cause us to live in constant mental health: righteousness, peace and joy.

THE NURTURING FATHER

God wants to be our nurture. He wants us to feed on him. This is what communion is about: taking the body and the blood of Christ. He wants to be a constant channel of divine things into us. Thus Jesus gave us the illustration of the Vine and the branch. The branch, apart from the Vine, is lifeless and dead. It is worthless.

So many times, we draw our nurture from things of the world, not from things of God. Pleasure, sex, booze, drugs, T.V., friends, work, food, etc., try to nurture us and draw us into them. We are nurtured by parents, peers, pastors, our professions, and even by pornography — which can actually be any type of sense-fantasy, whether sexual or not. Most novels produce some unhealthy fantasy. We are nurtured by doing good — it gives us a rush to receive honor. Many times, good replaces God himself. GOD wants to nurture us. He doesn't want us to allow other things to do HIS job.

THE TRUSTING FATHER

I made the point earlier that God does not trust us as humans, but he does trust the process of his gospel in us. He knows the good fruit he gets from us when the gospel is at work in us. The gospel is not a subject to be studied as much as it is a life to experience. It’s God’s way of fulfilling his good purposes in us and through us.

He knows that what we receive into us is what we are going to become, and what we have inside is going to come out of us as fruit — either good or bad. Thus, he trusts the seed of his gospel. The maxim says, “We are what we eat.” Apply this spiritually.

THE FORGIVING FATHER

We all know, at least in theory, that God is a forgiving Father. He removes sin from us as far from us as the east is from the west, as Hebrews says. But we often don’t know this practically and experientially in our lives. Counseling offices are filled with people God has not forgiven, — at least according to their perception. And for this reason they have trouble forgiving others.

Have you read John 20:22-23 recently? We are given divine power to forgive other people. That’s how important it is. Jesus says, “Receive the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins you retain they are retained. But it must begin with knowing Father’s forgiveness.

THE PATIENT FATHER

I’m so glad God is patient with us. Often I feel like I’ve worn the carpet out going to God for forgiveness about an area of my life I have trouble getting victory in. In some ways I still struggle with this. Yet, if I really believe the GOSPEL, whenever I go before God and say, “Lord, I know I’ve been before you 100 times about this matter before, but…” Suddenly he interrupts and says, “No! No, I have no record of us talking about this before. This is the first time, ast least according to my record.”

This is the nature of our patient Father. He is so humble and forgiving that it’s like he forgets. He doesn’t really forget, but it seems like it, if you traffic in gospel truth. He keeps no record of wrongs, because of the finished work of his Son.

THE GIVING FATHER

“God so loved the world that he gave…” Jesus, and the salvation he gives would be totally enough, but God gives much more. Paul says that the God who did not withhold his own son from us will surely also give us all things. He gives us his entire kingdom (Luke 12:32). He says, “All that I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). We have all spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3). Everything is ours (I Cor 3:21-22).

If we keep trying to GET things from God, we are not believing. This merely shows we don’t believe what a GIVING Father he is. God gives us his righteousness, his peace, his joy, his love. He gives us ALL things. Do you know what ALL means? It means ALL. He knows the good things he gives to us produce good fruit in us and through us. “Things produce after their own kind.”

THE HEALING FATHER

Most often when we hear the word healing, our minds track to physical healing, and healing very definitely includes this. But there are other types of healing: emotional, mental, abuse, neglect, etc. The truth is this: God wants us to prosper and be in HEALTH as our soul prospers (3 John 2). Health is a higher reality than healing! This is something that gospel truth — love, light and life — produces in us when we truly walk in it. It produces a state of personal health that far exceeds anything healing can do.

And with regard to the spirit man, we received total healing when we were born again. Even if we have poor health, and no healing in this life, we are healed spiritually — for all eternity. That’s something most people in the world cannot claim.

THE COMPLETING FATHER

“He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). Most Christians MISread this verse. They think it says, “He who has begun a good work in you will COMPLETE it in the day of Jesus Christ” — meaning the second coming. This is not true. God has COMPLETED the work in us when we believed in the finished work of the cross. We simply have to allow him to continue to complete it in us, by his gospel process, until Christ returns.

THE ZEALOUS FATHER

God is zealous for good works from us. This does not mean he just wants us to do good works in the flesh. Paul calls those ‘dead works.’ This means he wants to do mighty, divine works through us. He wants the Christian life to be a SUPER natural experience for us. He wants to use us in signs and wonders, in healings and miracles. He wants to use us in every way, once he knows he can trust us with the process of his gospel in us and through us.

THE JEALOUS FATHER

I saved this for last, because it’s one I forgot about until recently. After the FIJI experience I shared with you, this is one aspect of Father’s character I had to relearn. Even though I didn’t intend or mean any wrong in FIJI, I was out of balance spiritually. When I got on the missions trip, and saw all the young people, it became my goal to try to connect with them. Could a 65 year old guy connect with teens? This doesn’t sound so bad, but I did so by totally losing track of Father.

You can probably tell I’m a very focused person. I give things all I have, including God. Prior to FIJI, I’d been drifting, and very lax, and not very focused. When I got there, my pursuits were focused on the young people, NOT on God. My desire was not bad or wrong, but it was not spiritually right-side up. It was ’basackwards.’ God knows how closely our hearts are linked to his every minute. Mine was very disconnected!

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

GOSPEL TRUTH #66

We’re told several times in the Old Testament that God is a jealous God. He pursues us and he wants us to respond. If we don’t, he pursues harder, and will do ANYTHING to get us to respond to him and connect with him. He is determined and he wants exclusivity with us spiritually. In one passage we’re told ‘his name is jealous.’ Jonah the prophet even tried to run from God. God sent a whale after him.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

P.S. A 40 DAY GOSPEL FAST was birthed due to FIJI, but that’s a long story. So all things work together for good. But after experiencing a negative time in FIJI, I repented, and related to a jealous Father, due to my spiritual disregard. It was five long months before the first idea for this project was birthed. Beware! Our God is a jealous Father. He will allow ANYTHING to bring us to himself. Many people experience much more difficult times than mine.