2000-06-18  - God As Our Father

Perhaps you have been blessed with a godly father. Or maybe there is a gaping hole in your heart because you have never had a close relationship with your dad, or he is no longer with you. God is the perfect loving Father, and He is eager be an "Abba" or "Daddy" to you. He wants to be a Daddy Whom you tell about your day, a Daddy with Whom you share your deepest desires, dreams and hurts, a Daddy Who hurts with you and loves you as no one else does. You are the apple of His eye.

Psa. 68:5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows-this is God, whose dwelling is holy. (NLT)

Mal. 2:10 Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why are we faithless to each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors? (NLT)

John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan-this rebirth comes from God. (NLT)

Luke 15:13 "A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living. ¹⁴ About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. ¹⁵ He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. ¹⁶ The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man." ' ²⁰ So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him."

Jan

jan@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org