Personally knowing our Heavenly Father
Regardless of where you find yourself with your earthly father today, we all have a Father to wish “Happy Father’s Day” to today. God the Father—the Creator of Heaven and Earth—is our universal Father who formed you in His image and whose paternity extends from generation to generation. While we all have the same Father, not all of us can say we know Him personally. Not because He doesn’t want to be near to His children but because He wants us to accept Him as our Abba Father.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
Romans 8:15 speaks of our extraordinary relationship with God through faith. It teaches us that through the Holy Spirit or the “Spirit of adoption,” every believer has been adopted and brought into God’s very own family so that despite being outsiders who sinned against Him, we were bought and redeemed by the blood of His Son, Jesus who died and paid our sin debt for us on the cross. Our Heavenly Father not only made a way for us to be saved but He freely gave all those who believe in Jesus the unmerited blessing of being called His son or daughter. Now, we are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness, forever indebted to Him.
Our relationship with the Father is not one of a hard taskmaster towards an abused slave who lives in constant fear of being reprimanded. No! Our Heavenly Father has given us access to an intimate parent/child relationship where we can freely call out to our loving Abba Father. Abba in Aramaic means “my father,” or more affectionately “daddy’ or “papa.” Our Father is the greatest father there is, who made you in His own image, marked you in His authority and crowned you in His righteousness. He is loving, faithful, forgiving, generous and just and through Him flows every good and perfect gift. By calling Him our Abba Father, we are not only establishing our relationship with Him but we are declaring Him as the compassionate Father that He is.
Do you know the great love of the Father today? If not, call out to Him! All those who declare with their mouth and believe in their heart that Jesus Christ is Lord will no longer be an orphan but gain adoption into God’s family. As we commemorate Father’s Day, remember to draw close to your Heavenly Father and thank Him for His immense love and the immeasurable inheritance He has given you. Rest in the wonderful identity that you are indeed a beloved daughter of God, who has redeemed you, who is forever with you, who has generously given you access to the Kingdom of Heaven and most of all, who loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you so that you may know and commune with Him.
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