God as Father

Luke 11:9-13   (NKJV)
⁹ “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
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I found a bookmark from Derek Prince Ministries (www.derekprince.org), "God is my Father" - which had the following thoughts and Scripture:

 

John 1:12   (NKJV)

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.

I am a child of God.

1 Corinthians 12:27   (NKJV)

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

I am a member of the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 1:5   (NKJV)

⁵ [God] predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

I have been adopted as a child of God.

Deuteronomy 32:6   (NKJV)

⁶ Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people?  Is He not your Father, who bought you?  Has He not made you and established you?

My Father has made me.

Ephesians 1:4-5   (NKJV)

⁴ … He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

In love, He has predestined me to be adopted as His child.

Matthew 6:8   (NKJV)

⁸ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

My Father knows what I need, even before I ask Him.

Psalm 103:13   (NKJV)

¹³ As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.

As a father has compassion on his children, so You, Lord, have compassion on me.

Romans 8:15   (NKJV)

¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

I did not receive a spirit that makes me a slave again to fear, but I have received the Spirit of sonship.  And by Him I cry, “Abba, Father.”

2 Corinthians 6:18   (NKJV)

¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

The Lord Almighty says to me, "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My child."

*********************************************************   Thank You, Lord, for being such a "Good, Good Father"! I love You - Happy Father's Day!

Songs: Good Good Father, by Housefires II
            No longer slaves, by Jonathan and Melissa Helser

                                           ... and my journey with Him continues ...

Please, come to Jesus NOW!!!

One Saturday morning at church, after corporate prayer had ended (with “corporate” pertaining to a united group of people), I just kept sitting in the room as music played.  I began praying in the Spirit and crying.  I wasn’t sad, and couldn’t think of why I was crying so much, so I asked the Lord what was going on. In my spirit, it was as if I heard, “I will do a thing you wouldn’t believe if I told you.”

Immediately I thought of Habakkuk and looked up the reference.  Verse 1:5 in the NASB version of the Bible says:

⁵ “Look among the nations! Observe!  Be astonished! Wonder!  Because I am doing something in your days—You would not believe if you were told.

As I read more of what God says to the prophet Habakkuk about the Chaldeans (in verses 1-11), I thought of the things that had been in the news lately concerning ISIS and Boko Haram:

¹ The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

² How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
³ Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.
⁴ Therefore the law is ignored
And justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out perverted.

⁵ “Look among the nations! Observe!
Be astonished! Wonder!
Because I am doing something in your days—
You would not believe if you were told.
⁶ “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That fierce and impetuous people
Who march throughout the earth
To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.
⁷ “They are dreaded and feared;
Their justice and authority originate with themselves.
⁸ “Their horses are swifter than leopards
And keener than wolves in the evening.
Their horsemen come galloping,
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.
⁹ “All of them come for violence.
Their horde of faces moves forward.
They collect captives like sand.
¹⁰ “They mock at kings
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They laugh at every fortress
And heap up rubble to capture it.
¹¹ “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on.
But they will be held guilty,
They whose strength is their god.”

I wasn’t sure what to do with this, so again I asked the Lord because I sorely need His wisdom.  (James 1:5 NLT 1996 says, “If you need wisdom-if you want to know what God wants you to do-ask Him, and He will gladly tell you.  He will not resent your asking.” [pronoun capitalization mine])  The answer seemed to be in Acts 13:38-41-

³⁸ So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you;

³⁹ And that through Him everyone who believes [who acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him] is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which he could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses and given right standing with God.

⁴⁰ Take care, therefore, lest there come upon you what is spoken in the prophets:

⁴¹ Look, you scoffers and scorners, and marvel and perish and vanish away; for I am doing a deed in your days, a deed which you will never have confidence in or believe, [even] if someone [clearly describing it in detail] declares it to you.

It was as if I was to urge people to “come to Jesus NOW!” beginning with this blog entry.  As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NASB), I now say:

Therefore, as an ambassador for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through me; I beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

… and my journey with Him continues …