The Fathers Heart of God – 1
Two weeks ago, while in Ashville, the Spirit laid it on my heart to speak to the young people about the Father’s heart of God. It was confirmed twice before I had to talk about it that night.
There was a clear shift in the room when people started responding and asking for prayer from the older men and women in the room.
I want to spend a few weeks and bring some fresh perspective to this reality. So the discussion is going to be more like a road map than a formula. We have a start and an end in mind, but we might take different roads to get there. So it will be a road to discovery.
In general, we all heard it and know about the Father’s heart of God. But, unfortunately, the hindrance to apprehending this truth for many people is their past experiences.
We have taken our experiences with our earthly fathers, transposed that onto God, and made up our minds of who He is to us as a father. That is the worst thing we can do.
We must understand that our earthly fathers are not a perfect example of what God is as a heavenly father. On the contrary, we only give people an example of what fatherhood can be at our best. Add to the mix that many people have no good example of a father. Thanks to our culture, you can understand why people struggle with the concept of God as a Father.
If you tie your shirt and the top button on the shirt and the whole is off, the rest of the shirt is buttoned wrong. So we must get the first button and the first whole to align up correctly to look appropriately dressed.
So, where do we start?
- God is not presented as a Father in only one gender-specific way.
We miss the power of God’s character as a Father if we limit it to an innate understanding of gender.
We see that God created man in His image from the very beginning – Gen 1:26-28. If you read the text, you will see this statement:
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” From this verse, I see that both males and females are an expression of His image.
The essence is that it takes both a male and a female to express God’s Father’s heart. Therefore, we have to see and think past gender. Each gender is a different expression of His being. Women represent the tenderness and grace of God, while male represents the protection and ability to provide for the family of God.
I must stress the fact that God is not gender-confused. Genders were assigned to men and women with a specific purpose and expression in mind. Therefore, any gender confusion man has is self-manufactured and a perversion of God’s original intent.
So how then shall we think about the Father’s heart of God? Think character. God created a man because there are certain things only a man can model as part of the Father’s heart of God. So, likewise, God made a woman because only a female can model stuff about the Father’s heart of God; no man can model.
One of the names of GOD, EL SHADDAI, means the many-breasted one – Gen 17:1. It speaks of God’s nurturing ability, something only mothers were created to do. Although that does not mean men can not be nurturing, they do it differently than a mother.
Over the next few weeks, I would like to look at the Fatherheart of God that expresses His character. I will share a few each week and would love it if you could take the time to meditate on it and allow Holy Spirit to speak to you through it.
What is His heart for you?
He wants what is good and perfect for you.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Matt. 7:9-11 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Selah!
