HEllo, friends! Since I last wrote you, we're up to
37 members! Praise God!

So, this devotional is a long one. It's about God's
heart for us. It's a really good one for those of us
who didn't grow up with the best examples of parents.
Often, we get confused about God being our Father
because we relate it too much to our earthly parents.
Remember - God is perfect, and they aren't. Any,
enjoy the devotional!


The Father Heart of God By John Dawson

Have you ever wondered what God thinks of you? Is it
hard for you to believe He loves you as much as the
Bible says He does? God is so big and He sometimes
seems so distant - but what is He really like? Do you
really know Him? You've heard His instructions, but do
you know anything about His emotions or His character?


One of the most wonderful revelations of the Bible is
that God is our Father. What do you think of when you
hear the word "father"? Do you automatically think of
protection, provision, warmth, and tenderness? Or does
the word "father" paint different kinds of pictures
for you? God reveals Himself in the Bible as a gentle,
forgiving Father, intimately involved with each and
every detail of our lives. It is not only a beautiful
picture, but a true one. However, every person seems
to have a different idea of what God is like, because
they unconsciously tend to attach the feelings and
impressions that they have of their own earthly father
to their concept of their Heavenly Father. Each
person's own experience with human authority is
usually transferred over to how they relate to God.
Good experiences bring us closer to knowing and
understanding God, just as bad experiences create
distorted pictures of our Father's love for us.

What did God have in mind when He created the family?
The Bible says, "God makes a home for the lonely
(Psalm 68:6 NASB) A family involves a circle of
relationship including an adult male and female, into
which tiny, dependent human beings are born and
raised. Why do we enter the world as such helpless,
inadequate persons, and then slowly grow up
physically, mentally, and emotionally into
self-sufficient adults? Have you ever wondered why God
didn't come up with some sort of reproduction system
that would produce a physically completed person such
as His original creation of Adam and Eve?

I believe God wanted us to come into this world
totally dependent and helpless, because He intends the
family unit to be a place where His love is
demonstrated to both parent and child. As parents we
begin to really understand God's heart towards us as
His children. And as children, it is God's will for us
to see His love revealed through parental tenderness,
mercy, and discipline.

But what if the ideal did not happen? What if you have
been failed in some way by parental authority? So many
have suffered hurt and rejection by their families
that it is hard for them to see God as He really is.
Understanding the character of God is essential if we
are to love Him, serve Him, and be like Him

I want to talk about six different areas of
misconception concerning God and His love for us. For
ease of communication I will be referring almost
exclusively to God's qualities of fatherhood. However,
a full revelation of God's parental love is incomplete
without the presence of the male and female attributes
of parental affection. "And God created man in His own
image, in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them." (Genesis 1:27 NASB) I want
you to look back into your personal past and see if
your relationship with God has been hindered in any
way because of a failure or absence of tender loving
care from one or both of your parents.

I. Parental Authority
Have you ever turned into the driveway of a friend's
house to be greeted by the family dog? The foolish
mutt will either cower away from you, trembling with
fear, or leap upon you with an unwanted display of
affection, demonstrated with tongue, tail, and dirty
paws. The browbeaten puppy that cannot be induced to
trust you has obviously been mistreated. The exuberant
mongrel attempting to give you a facial with his
tongue has obviously come from a loving home.

So it is when God approaches man. Our past experiences
dictate our response when God reaches out to us. A
weeping prophet named Hosea heard the voice of God
saying, "When Israel was a child I loved him, and out
of Egypt I called My son. But the more I called
Israel, the further they went from Me. They sacrificed
to the baals and they burned incense to images. It was
I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I
led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of
love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down
to feed them." (Hosea 11:1-4 LB) God's authority is
not harsh and vindictive, but to the contrary, He is
unspeakably gentle and long-suffering.

The other day I rushed into my den urgently needing
some information from my files. As I sorted
frantically through my papers, my five-year-old son
repeatedly blew his shrill tin whistle. I told him
again and again to stop. There was a period of silence
followed by a deafening blast right next to my ear,
including a spray of saliva. I reached around, swatted
him with the back of my hand and bellowed at him in
anger. Immediately I felt that the Spirit of God had
been grieved. I remembered the biblical statement that
God is slow to anger and delights to be merciful. I
took my son in my arms and asked him to forgive me. It
was only right that I should correct his disobedience,
but our children should always know that we discipline
them because we love them, and not because we are
venting our momentary frustration.

Our Heavenly Father is at this very moment being
slandered and misrepresented all over the world by
man's cruelty and selfishness. Not only in the home,
but in all forms of human government. His laws of love
have been ignored and our mangled hearts continue on
in carrying out injustice to all those smaller and
weaker than ourselves.

What horror is God seeing at this moment? A bedroom
door bursts open. A small boy is slapped awake by a
drunken and angry man in the middle of the night "The
sprinklers are still on. It's a flood. I'll teach you,
boy!" The terrified child is beaten mercilessly by the
dark, hulking shape of a man he calls "Daddy."

A 15-year-old prostitute with blank, empty eyes,
mechanically performs through a night of degradation
on Hollywood Boulevard. She doesn't care what happens
to her. She hasn't felt clean since the night she was
molested by her own father.

A wounded generation stumbles through their youthful
years, only to visit the same hurts on their own
children. Generation after generation it goes on. Is
there no one to comfort us? Who will father the
children of men? Whose arms are big enough for all the
lonely children of the world? Who weeps over our
pains? Who will comfort us in our loneliness? ONLY
GOD. A BROKEN-HEARTED FATHER who is rejected by the
little ones He yearns to heal. Our problem is that we,
like the browbeaten puppy, shrink away from the One
who we assume will be like the other authorities in
our lives. But He is not He is perfect love. It was
God who gave this command to parents in Ephesians 6:4:
"Parents don't keep on scolding and nagging your
children, making them angry and resentful. Rather,
bring them up with the loving discipline the Lord
Himself approves."(LB)

II. Parental Faithfulness
Every promise of God will be fulfilled. He is
consistently loving. His one heart motive remains the
same through time and eternity. He never changes. He
only desires to show love and forgiveness.

Do you distrust God? Our distrust hurts Him deeply.
What if I came home to my wife and children after a
long journey and they ran away from me when I opened
the door and called their names. I would be terribly
hurt.

You are God's child and even now He calls your name,
but maybe deep in your heart you doubt His
faithfulness. As a child you may have experienced the
complete absence of a father because of death or
divorce. Maybe you were orphaned by the demands of
your parents' career? Or is it just the childhood
memory of broken promises or neglect that haunts you?
Some of you screamed for hours as babies but nobody
came to relieve you of your discomfort and hunger.
Some of you whimpered behind locked doors, a small
child, forgotten and alone.

Do you have an inability to sense His presence with
you? Is your heart soft towards God or hardened with
cynicism and distrust? Look up into His eyes and see
His love for you. "I will never desert you, nor will I
ever forsake you... I am with you always even until
the end of the age. "(Heb. 13:5; Matt.28:20 NASB)

You may say to me, "But if He has loved me so much,
then why haven't I felt Him or seen Him?" It isn't God
who has failed you my friend, but I and those who know
His love personally. Too many times we have failed to
become His voice and His hands to those who do not
know Him. Far too few allow themselves to be driven by
the broken heart of Jesus into the dark corners of
this world where the poor and needy wait Jesus is not
attracted to pleasant places, but to hurting people.
He pursues us with His love from our first breathing
moment until the day we die.

Your Heavenly Father was there when you first walked
as a child. He was there through hurts and
disappointments. He is present now at this moment. You
were briefly loaned to human parents who, for a few
years, were supposed to have showered you with love
like His love. But you are and always will be a child
of God, made in His image. Your loving Father awaits
even now with outstretched arms. What would keep you
from Him?

Few people know God in all His loveliness while living
this brief life. Many of us are like the thief who
died on the cross next to Jesus. Outwardly he saw a
bloody, disfigured body, but soon he began to perceive
the true nature of Jesus, and at the last minute,
entered by faith into the family of God. We too must
see past the religious and commercial mutations of
Jesus, and behold the God of Love who still stands
with open arms saying, "I came that you might have
life and that more abundantly." (John 10:10 NASB)

"Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, He
remains faithful to us who are part of Himself and He
will always carry out His promises to us. "(11
Tim.2:13 LB)

III. Parental Generosity
A few years ago I stood in a native village in the
South Pacific, watching the children play. It occurred
to me that these children would very seldom hear the
words, "Don't touch that! Leave it alone! Be careful!"
Their homes were simple, consisting of earth floors,
thatched roofs, and mats that rolled down to serve as
walls at night.

In contrast, our modern homes are stuffed with
expensive and fragile furnishings and appliances that
represent a minefield of potential rejection and
rebuke for inquisitive toddlers. How many mothers have
exploded in anger at a child who has damaged a
treasured object of great expense or sentimental
value. Children are constantly reminded of the
importance of things - their value, and how to care
for them. Very few times do they hear the simple
words, "I love you."

A repetitious and destructive chant is working its way
into the subconscious minds of our children, "Things
are more important than me. Things are more important
than me!" What are we to do? Abandon our modem homes?
Obviously not. But we do need to realize that our
concept of God's generosity may have been crippled by
our childhood experiences.

The truth is that God is innately generous. Creation
shows an extravagance of color, complexity, and design
that goes far beyond simple functional value. At this
moment, high in the Italian Alps, a tiny white flower
glistens in the sunlight. It has never been seen by
the human eye in all of its seasons of bloom. It is
not an essential part of the food chain. It was
created by God in the hope that one day a son of Adam
or a daughter of Eve might glance at it and be blessed
by its beauty.

The greatest demonstration of God's father heart seems
to come with His attention to the details of our life.
He surprises us with those extra things, those little
pleasures and treasures that only a father would know
we yearn for. God is not stingy, possessive, or
materialistic. We use people to get things, He uses
things to bless people.

My family and I have worked as missionaries since
1972, trusting God for our daily needs. Our testimony
is that in providing for us, God goes far beyond or
basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. We serve a
truly generous God! The Psalmist said, "Trust in the
Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate
faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He
will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your
way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do
it." (Psalm 37:3-5 NASB)

IV. Parental Affection
Do you have any idea how attractive you are to God?
One of the biggest hindrances to our walk with Him is
a sense that our flesh is repulsive to Him because of
sin. When my small son is covered with mud from the
back yard, I pick him up and clean him off with the
garden hose. I reject the mud, not the boy. Yes, you
have sinned. Yes, you have broken God's heart. But you
are still the center of God's affections - the apple
of His eye. It is He who pursues us with a forgiving
heart. We say, "I found the Lord," but the truth is,
He found us.

Many children, particularly boys, have had no physical
display of affection from their fathers, or no real
compassion when they are hurt. Because of our false
concept of masculinity, we are told, "Don't cry son,
boys don't cry." Jesus is not like that. His
compassion and understanding are measureless. He feels
our hurts more deeply than we do because His
sensitivity to suffering is so much greater.

I once had to hold my screaming two-year-old while a
doctor stitched a large gash in his forehead. He
quickly forgot his painful experience and fell asleep
in my arms. But I was tormented by the experience and
grieved for hours. You have forgotten most of your
pains, but God has not. He has perfect recall of every
moment of your life. Your tears are still mingled with
His at this very moment

God was there when you experienced cruel teasing in
the school yard and you walked alone avoiding the eyes
of others. When you sat in a math class confused and
dejected, He was with you. At the age of four when you
got lost at the county fair and wandered terrified
through the huge crowd, it was God who turned the
heart of that kind lady who helped you find your
mother. "I led them with cords of human kindness, with
ties of love." (Hosea 11:4 NIV)

Sometimes we don't understand what a fussy, doting
Father God is. Your parents may proudly display
bronzed baby booties on the mantle, pictures in an
album, or trophies on the wall - but how does that
compare with God's infinite capacity to be overjoyed
with your every success? It was actually God who heard
you speak your first real word. The hours you spent
alone exploring new textures with baby hands were a
delight to your Heavenly Father. Some of His greatest
treasures are the memories of your childhood laughter.
There has never been another child like you, and there
never will be.

Moses once invoked a blessing on each of the tribes of
Israel. To one tribe he said, "You shall dwell between
the shoulders of God." What a fantastic blessing! But
that is where you dwell also. Whatever you become in
the eyes of men, even a person of great authority,
fame, or title, you will never cease to be more or
less than a babe in the arms of God.

V. Parental Attentiveness
There is one attribute of God that not even the best
parent can hope to imitate - that is God's ability to
be with you all the time. As parents we just cannot
give constant attention 24 hours a day. We are finite
beings who can only focus on one thing at a time. Not
only is God with you all the time, but He gives you
His whole attention. "Let Him have all your worries
and cares, for He is always thinking about you and
watching everything that concerns you." (I Peter5:7
LB)

God is constantly thinking an uninterrupted stream of
loving thoughts toward you as though nobody else in
the world exists. You say, "How does He do that? How
can He be personally involved with billions of
individuals at the same time?" I don't know, but I
know it's no problem for the Creator of the world.
Perhaps the explanation is the speed of His thought.
There are 5 billion people on this planet. God has
created things in nature that pulsate at incredible
speed. I have heard that the quartz crystal's
molecular structure vibrates at the speed of 9 billion
movements per second. If God could only think that
fast, He could think a loving thought towards you
about twice every second without straining His ability
to relate to the rest of His children. Who knows how
He does it? Just enjoy it! As far as you are
concerned, it's just you and God. You don't have to
get His attention, He's already listening. Don't worry
about taking His time... it's all yours.

Your parents were often preoccupied with their
activities, and sometimes showed no vital interest in
the small events of your life, but God is not that
way. He cares. He is a God of detail. Why does the
Bible say that God has numbered the hairs of your
head? Not because God is concerned with abstract
mathematics. He's not a computer wanting data, it's
just that He's trying to tell us in what detail He
knows us and cares about our lives.

A little boy has worked all afternoon pounding nails
into pieces of scrap wood. He finally emerges from the
garage and shows a three-level battleship to mom. He
can't wait until dad gets home. Dad is late. At 6:30 a
tired, preoccupied man finally arrives. A cold dinner
is waiting, and so are the income tax forms. The
excited boy proudly displays his handiwork to a daddy
who barely looks up from the calculator. Daddy never
looked, never appreciated, but God did. Father God
always looked, always took delight in the work of your
hands. He's your real Father, always will be. Don't
ever resent the failings of your human parents. They
are just kids that grew up and had kids. Rather
rejoice in the wonderful love of your Father God.

VI. Parental Acceptance
We live in a performance-oriented society. Acceptance
is always conditional - if you make the football team,
if you bring home a good report card, if you look
pretty, if you have money, if you win. The kingdom of
this world is a kingdom of rejection. The Kingdom of
God is a kingdom of unconditional love. God's promises
are conditional, we must obey Him to see blessing, but
His love is unconditional. You don't have to wait to
experience the love of God. Come as you are. Just be
honest with Him about your sin - He delights to
forgive you. Even in the depths of your past rebellion
He still loved you. Even God's judgments are motivated
by love.

Many of you have an inability to receive God's love
and approval. You are trapped in a slave-like
relationship with the harsh god of your imagination. A
true love relationship involves the giving and
receiving of love responses. There's one night I will
always remember - the night I proposed to my wife,
Julie. I kissed her and asked her to marry me. What if
she had responded like this, "I'll wash your socks,
I'll clean your car, and I'll type your letters." I
didn't want to hear that! I wanted a response that
matched my feelings of love for her. I wanted to know
that she felt the same way about me.

What is your response to God when He simply says He
loves you? Can you "Be still and know that He is God"
without rushing into frantic activity to earn His
approval? (Psalm 46:10 KJV) One of the greatest
pictures of human peace and contentment is that of a
baby asleep in the arms of a mother after having been
fed at the breast. The child no longer squirms and
demands, but rests in the embrace of loving arms. A
deep mellow contentment wells up into the sound of a
lullaby sung by mothers at times like this. The
prophet Zephaniah described a similar emotion in the
heart of God. "He will save, He will rejoice over thee
with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over
thee with singing." (Zeph. 3:17 KJV)

Don't be so restless in the presence of God. Corrie
ten Boom had some simple advice to offer this
generation. She who experienced so much suffering at
the hands of the Nazis, yet went on to great spiritual
victory, once said to my friends and me, "Don't
wrestle... nestle." What a profound but simple truth.

God already loves you. All through life you have had
to perform and compete. Even as a tiny baby you were
compared with other babies. People said you were "too
fat," or "too thin," or had "his legs" or "her nose,"
but God delighted in your uniqueness and still does.
It's when you bask in the love of the Father that you
cause God to "rest in His love and joy over you with
singing."

Yes, there is much to be done in your life and through
your life. There will be days when God comes bringing
deep conviction of sin, showing you areas of your life
that need to be changed, committed and submitted to
Him. But God is not always demanding changes. He knows
our limits and He gives us the grace and power to do
the things He asks of us. He is tender and
compassionate. Most of the time He just says, "I love
you," and softly speaks your name.

Conclusion
If you see that you have been hindered in your
relationship with God due to some kind of failure of
parental love, then take these things to the Lord. You
must find forgiveness in your heart towards anyone who
has hurt you. If you don't, your bitterness will
consume you and you will find no peace with God.
Realize, too, that you are not alone. I haven't met a
perfect person yet, or a parent who hasn't made
mistakes. Everyone has suffered some kind of hurts in
their life. One of the keys for release is found in
forgiveness. The important thing is that you go
forward and get to know God for who He really is - not
who you think He is. He is the Perfect Parent. He
always disciplines in love. He is faithful, generous,
kind, and just He loves you and He longs to spend time
with you. He wants you to receive His love and know
that you are a special and unique person to Him. Will
you receive God's love and affection? Won't you open
up and enter into an intimate relationship with your
true Father? He is patiently waiting for you to come.
It is my prayer that you will realize His love for you
and respond to the father heart of God.

=====
"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his
love has been brought to full expression through us." 1 John 4:12

www.brennakate.com
www.livejournal.com/~brennakate

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com