God as father is perhaps one of the most misunderstood biblical concepts. Our heavenly father loves us so much, He sent His only begotten son to die in our stead, and pay our wage of sin. In this insightful broadcast, Carl shares an anecdote from his own nation, regarding God’s providence and desire to take care of us. Tune in now, to find out how much God loves you…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Today friend, I wish to discuss with you, one of the most misunderstood aspects of Christianity, and that is, ‘The Heart of the Father.’ You know, most people have been beaten up by the travails of life, they are wounded and hurt, consequently, they wrongly think, because God is in control of everything and everyone, then He is responsible for their hurt. But that is not the case friend. The only way we can ascertain God’s will, is by knowing the oracles of God, which are found in the Holy Bible. We can choose to remain ignorant if we want to, but God will hold us accountable for false accusations made against Him. The reality is, God’s word points in all directions to a Heavenly Father who desires to take care of us.
God is described in scripture, as loving, tenderhearted, merciful, kind, compassionate, and long suffering. These are in unison with the character traits of Jesus Christ. Any wrath expressed by God in the OT is towards injustice, something God gets very upset about and rightly so. Jesus said, “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father.” On that basis, Christ was the embodiment of the father’s will on earth. So, what did Jesus do when He was here? He went about healing all manner of sickness and disease, healing the brokenhearted, casting out demons, performing miracles of provision, and delivering those who were oppressed of the devil. In truth, Jesus was the earthly manifestation of our Heavenly Father. No, God is NOT a curmudgeonly old man, who sits atop His throne, with long white fluffy beard and stick in hand, ready to whack people over the head, when they step out of line. Some Christians are like, ‘well I love Jesus but why is God so angry in the Old Testament?”
Well, if they had read the OT, they would realize, the old and new testaments are love letters to us, showing how to overcome the devil and demon forces which freely roam earth.
You see friend, you have been blinded to the full measure of evil, in this world. 1st Jn 5:9 says ‘the whole world lies in wickedness.’ Is it any wonder, why this planet seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket, not to mention the curses in the earth which are still in effect. It all started with sin, and humanity is responsible for the earth’s present state. Scripture says, Satan has blinded the minds of those who receive not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The vast majority of people are spiritually blind, its like ‘Neo,’ in the movie matrix, they are living out a lie in their daily existence, blinded to the works of Satan in this world, blaming God for all their problems, yet God offers the red pill, which can open our spiritual eyes.
Consider one of the final verses the Apostle Paul penned, as he recalls his encounter with Christ, on the way to Damascus, I’m reading from Acts 26:18. This is Jesus’ speaking, “I send you Paul, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Friend, only God can open your eyes to the power Satan wields in your life. God is not your enemy, that is why He sent Jesus in the first place, to ‘destroy the works of the devil.’
Now, this theme of Fatherhood is central to the Bible itself. Fathers on this earth are a direct paradigm of the human condition, ranging from the very good to the very bad. Some are absent all together. Modern society is infested with the disease of absentee fatherhood and many suffer because of it. If almost 60% of marriages now end in divorce and with Christian marriages almost at the same failure rate, we have a lot of angry people going around, who have never known a loving father, or are living with a stepfather, whom they resent. Don’t get me wrong, there are wonderful stepfathers out there, but left unchecked, some people will eventually become God haters, because God is the ultimate Father figure.
Our society is reeling from a lack of strong fathers, and the mentorship role they offer in our formative years. A lack of mentorship, foments an orphan spirit. In Moses’ final command to the people of Israel, in Deuteronomy, chapter 32, he speaks of the father’s role, of telling their children of the mighty exploits of God. One of the treasured legacies of being a father is passing on to the next generation, stories of the goodness and faithfulness of God. The books of Deuteronomy and Proverbs in particular, speak of fathers as teachers. Did you know the primary role of the father is to teach the Lords commands and set their children on the right path, in the eyes of God.
Institutionalized schools or governmental schools are a relatively new endeavor. Prior to the inauguration of the Boston Latin School in 1635, which was the first school in the United States, parents were the bastions of education for thousands of years up to that time and that’s the way God intended it. It’s a well-known fact that religious denominations established most of colonial America’s earliest schools and colleges. As the settlements grew, towns began to charter their own public schools. Even the ivy league institutions of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and so forth, were set up as divinity schools. God and education were never meant to be separated, but sadly we have greatly fallen from this ideal.
You see a good father takes care of physical and spiritual needs, just like our heavenly Father does. Now some people, have been aided by spiritual fathers who’ve come alongside them, even if the relationship with their paternal father wasn’t that strong. The Apostle Paul was a father to Timothy for example. Of course, if someone’s heart is wounded, then even if someone reaches out and loves on them, they recoil, despite an authentic display of God’s love. This is the danger of being wounded for extended periods, without being healed because we end up distrusting all authority figures if we’re not careful.
Scripture reveals, our Heavenly father promises to take care of us; he has compassion on all of us; he carries us in His arms, he provides for our needs, and gives good gifts to his children. He offers true bread; and disciplines those He loves. God has a particular propensity to help the orphaned and downtrodden in this world. He is the epitome of love itself. I’m reminded of a story right now, from my homeland. George Müller, who lived in the 19th century, was a Christian missionary evangelist and a coordinator of orphanages in Bristol, England. Through his faith and prayers, he cared for 120,000 orphaned children who were often abused by working long hours in the cotton and steel mills of the time. In his journals, Müller recorded miracle-after-miracle of God’s provision and answered prayer. He wrote, “One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, Müller went on to say, “Children, you know we must be in time for school.” Then lifting up his hands he prayed, “Dear Father, we thank You for what you are about to give us to eat.”
You must realize friend, there was no government support for the poor or impoverished in those days. If you set up orphanages, as Muller did, all throughout Victorian England, you had to rely solely on God’s provision and His promise to sustain. But friend, God is our sustainer; He promises to sustain us to the very end, according to 1st Corinthians 1:8. After Muller finished praying, there was a knock at the door. He was greeted by a Baker, who said, “Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow, I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and brought it.” No sooner had the Baker left, when there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.“
Friend, these examples of God’s providence are no coincidence. When God’s reputation is on the line, He shows up strong. In this case, His reputation as a loving heavenly father was at stake. You could say, God was in danger of being labeled, an infidel in this instant, because according to 1 Tim 5:8, “he who does not take care of his own, and especially for those of his own house, has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” As far as God’s concerned, those kids were His, as He promised to be a father to the fatherless. He wasn’t going to disappoint a man of faith like Muller. God has never failed yet, but what might have failed is our lack of faith and trust in Him.
Which begs the question, do you see yourself as a child of God? Or the byproduct of an amoeba that grew legs and escaped the gene pool? How you see yourself, defines your capacity to receive from God. If father figures have let you down, I apologize, on behalf of God, not that God needs your forgiveness, but some people have become offended at God because they think He has let them down. The parable of the prodigal or wasteful son, is the ‘go-to’ passage when ministers wish to purvey the father heart of God. I won’t go into detail about this passage now, but you can read it in Luke chapter 15: verses 11-31, for homework. In this parable something is often overlooked, In the very first verse, the father, divides his inheritance with BOTH sons. Many people miss this, when the younger son asks for his inheritance, God gives the rightful share to both sons not just the one who asked. And how offensive is it, to ask for an inheritance before your father died? Most people have the decency at least to wait for their parents pass away, before seeing what’s in the will. The point being friend, is that our heavenly father is not one for partiality, he loves both sons equally, and is deeply grieved, when the younger runs away.
When the prodigal son returns, having spent his time on the streets infested with hookers, drug dealers, and criminals and who knows what else, he lost his capacity to see himself as he truly was, a son and heir to the kingdom. And that is the problem. Friend, let me ask you; “have you lost sight of your true self, because the world has painted you with its own brush?…Are you acting like an orphan with no inheritance, instead of the rightful heir to the true riches in Christ?” It should also be noted the Pharisees questioned why Jesus hung out with sinners at the beginning of Luke 15, so the religious or pious elder brother who purveyed the wrong attitude, is a typology of the Pharisees in this famous passage. We either relate to the wasteful son or the religious son, something to ponder.
So, what are the true riches? Friend, the true riches are to know Christ but better still, to know who you are, in Christ. If you don’t know who you are, you have no knowledge of your inheritance, let alone how to make a demand on the promises of God. But how do we attain this inheritance? By meditating on God’s word. You can find them on our website, go to, ‘Essentials’ on the top panel of the site, then click, ‘the Lions plunder,’ and you will see 40 promises that identify you with Christ. This is your inheritance, make a withdrawal today, get familiar with the riches in your possession by meditating on each line item until it becomes a part of you.
When we review the lives of the patriarchs in the Book of Genesis, namely Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph; we see the good and bad of human fathers. The bible is candid and provides an anatomy who how earthly fathers can fail. We see dishonesty on display, and the habit of lying passed on to the next generation. We see fathers boiling in anger and the wrangling of wives in competition with each other. We also see the frailties of Jacob in particular who showed favoritism to Joseph, inflaming his other sons with jealousy, which nearly led them to commit murder. With nearly a thousand uses of the term father in the bible; fatherhood is a major biblical archetype. However, the relationship between God the Father and his son Jesus Christ is the perfect pattern for how God sees you friend. The father takes immense pride in His son, saying ‘He was well pleased with Jesus,’ at His water baptism in Matthew chapter 3. God said He was ‘well pleased’ with Jesus before His earthly ministry began, therefore God’s pleasure in us is independent of our works for Him. He loves us for who we are, not what we can do for Him. Good fathers imitate their heavenly Father. Jesus taught that our Heavenly father delights, in taking care of our every need.
In fact, there is no need to be reticent, we call him Abba, Father. Abba is an Aramaic word that corresponds to “Daddy” or “Papa.” It is a term of endearment, and the cry of a son, wishing to converse with his father. Our Heavenly Daddy, has prepared many rooms in our heavenly mansion, and one day He will throw his arms around us, kill the fattened calf, and shower us with Gold. When it comes to responsibility of the family, the buck stops with dad. We are to make sure our children marry well, aid them in finding their vocation and most importantly to fulfill the call of God on their lives. God has the same desire for each and every one of us. The patriarchs also demonstrated the Fatherly blessing being passed on to the next generation, via the spoken word. Jacob blessed Josephs children and prophesied over them prior to his death, as did other patriarchs before him. The words spoken over our children impact them greatly, so I would kindly ask that you use your words sparingly, and caringly, over them.
Our God as father, is a central theme of God’s Word. It is my desire that you get to know your heavenly Father friend. You have a lifetime to do so. The best way is to dive into His word and find out for yourself. I would like to pray for you right now. If you are able to close your eyes and bow your head, please do so, if you’re driving, ignore my request and listen to my words. Let’s pray; “Heavenly Father…”
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