Our Heavenly Father

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fatherhood and the influence of fathers in society. It was first proposed by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington in 1909. It is currently celebrated in the United States annually on the third Sunday in June. Father's have always play a big part in every society. Unfortunately, there is a father absence crisis in America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18.3 million children, that is, 1 in 4, live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home. Research shows when a child is raised in a father-absent home, he or she is affected in the following Ways. There is a four times greater risk of poverty; seven times more likely to become pregnant as a teen; more likely to have behavioral problems; more likely to face abuse and neglect; two times greater risk of infant mortality; more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol; more likely to go to prison; two times more likely to suffer obesity; more likely to commit crime and two times more likely to drop out of high school.

Although these statistics are real and even heartbreaking, nevertheless their is some wonderful news. God chooses to relate to us in terms we all understand, that is, terms of the family. Family is God's design for the foundation of society. Though God embodies the characteristics of both a father and a mother, yet, in a greater, more passionate way, He presents Himself as our Heavenly Father. When we put our faith in Jesus, we become children of God, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12–13) Jesus Himself taught us to call on God as Father, "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:Our Father in heaven..." (Matthew 6:6-9)

We also see in Psalm 68: 4-5 more wonderful news, especially to the fatherless, "Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yah, and rejoice before Him. A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation." Whether we have had a good earthly father or not, we know what a good father should be and what a good father should do. Our Heavenly Father is the greatest example of fatherhood by revealing to us in His very nature, as a good, good father. In His nature we find the need to be protected, loved, guided, valued, and even disciplined. And God will fulfill that role in our lives if we let Him. There is no need for anyone to be truly fatherless, because God is the perfect Father and He made provision for everyone to become a child of His.

Our Heavenly Father offers Himself as the ideal Father not only to those without earthly fathers, but to all who will come to Him, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." (John 6:37) "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God." (John 16:26–27) God gave His Son so that we might become His children, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) When we belong to Him, He expects us to call on Him, trusting His goodness. He wants us to give our worries over to Him to carry, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) and simply have confidence in Him as we desire to have confidence in our earthly father. God is the best Father there is, He will be a Father to the fatherless and He alone is capable of filling every void left by our imperfect earthly fathers. In truth, God is the only perfect Father and the One we all need most.

So, on this Father's Day as we honor our earthly fathers, let us also honor the greatest Father that ever was or will be, Almighty God, our Heavenly Father...

Please, Sit Down

The climax of the meritorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ is His glorification, that is, "the seating of the Lord at His (Father God) right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come." (Ephesians 1:20-21) This came about after Jesus had been made sin with our sin; after He had paid the penalty for our sin; after He had suffered unimaginably in spirit, soul and body, so that the demands of justice was fully met and paid for. Once this was accomplished, then Christ, was raised from the dead. We may know these facts but the good news is, we were raised with Him and seated with Him, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7) This was not our doing, but the Father's. The Father declares we are seated together with Christ.

God the Word became flesh, a man (John 1:14); He identified Himself with the human race  (Philippians 2:6-8); He became the substitute for the entire human race (John 3:16); He delivered the human race from the authority of Satan (Colossians 1:13); After He has conquered Satan, death, hell and the grave (Revelation 1:18), He arose from the dead; was reunited with His physical body (Acts 2:27); carried His blood into the Most Holy Place in heaven (Hebrews 9:12); He then sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High making redemption both eternal and available to the entire human race. We have the God Man seated at the Father's right hand as our advocate, (1 John 2:1), our mediator, (1 Timothy 2:5), our representative, our intercessor before the Father. (Hebrews 7:25) This is the crowning event of redemption. Jesus seated at the Father's right hand, and is the head of the new body, the Church. It's no wonder that the Apostle Paul proclaims, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3) 

Not only are we seated in the highest position in the universe with Christ, we are also blessed with every spiritual blessing that is necessary to maintain our place as members of His glorious body.
In the mind of God, every believer is in Christ now. When we go to the throne of Grace in prayer, it is as though Jesus Himself were going there, for we go in His Name. The Apostle Paul tells us, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3) Every believer is  hidden from the adversary, but we are visible to the Father. The writer of Hebrews says, "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Hebrews 9:24) 

Jesus is at the right hand of the Father as our representative, as our Lord, who gave Himself for us. If Christ sat down at God's right hand, it is because the Father accepted Him and accepted what He did for us. The fact that He is seated there is the seal of our acceptance in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6) This should cause us to see that our Redemption is a completed, eternal, finished thing. So, let us not get caught up in the worry and anxiety that the world would try to conform us to, but let us exercise our faith in the integrity of God's Word and know that as Christ is, "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come" (Ephesians 1:21) so we are also for we are in Him as we can see, "the Father has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:22-23) PTL...