Who is this Father?

How we live our lives ultimately reveals the image of the father we are believing reigns in our life. I am not saying that this father is the true Heavenly Father, but it does reveal the image of God that we are worshipping. In Romans 1:23 says "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." Everyone of us have a functional image of God that we worship, in other words, where we get our needs met. It maybe a god that is absent, distant, and therefore has left us to fill our own needs. It maybe that this god looks a lot like corruptible man, specifically he may look like our fathers. Earthly fathers are a type of image to point us to the Father but if they were not yielded to God but to the Lie in the garden of being self-sufficient, in control, and god-like in their own eyes they can be very scary, unforgiving, and not very understanding. In my case my father's suicide early in my childhood (6 years old) gave me an image of an absent, uncaring, unloving, and unavailable god. While my earthly father is gone, he seemed to live on in my dark imaginings of who Father God is, even though I know the Bible well enough intellectually to argue with you that God is love, good, and kind Father. It is very frustrating to know intellectually all these amazing things about the character and nature of God, yet at the same time to not experience life transformation. James 2:20 says, "...faith without works is useless...", this often leads us to believe we need to go out and perform more self-motivated/fleshly works to prove we have faith. This is not looking at the context of scripture, Jesus tells us apart from Him (vital connection/abiding) we can do nothing (John 15). There also is a shift in the works from Old Covenant to New Covenant, the works in the New Covenant are done through the power and authority of the Holy Spirit (healings, deliverance, miracles, signs, and wonders). All of this to say that if we look at the works of God in our life and we see only a small amount of fruit, maybe the god we believe in is not the extravagant Father of glory. I know my life is a mix of both, at times the Father of glory is displayed through prayers I pray and works through me and then other times this image of god that is in the image of corruptible man seems to rule. The flesh has a god but it is not the Heavenly Father. As I was reflecting on one of my favorite scriptures I was amazed again to see the picture of the Father that Jesus paints in the story of the prodigal son (or two knucklehead boys and one amazing Father). Here is a son who wished his father dead by asking for his inheritance (a totally unthinkable thing to do) and according to Deuteronomy 21 (under the Old Covenant) punishable by taking him to the outer gates and turning him over to the elders to be stoned. By this time the people hearing the story Jesus was telling would be incensed that this Father would tolerate such rebellion and stubbornness in the prodigal son. Yet Jesus (who clearly knows the Father) continues with his story to describe even more carousing and loose living by the son before he falls into lack because of a famine (Luke 15). I amazed how we have elevated the prodigal son as noble, this guy is not acting in anyway noble even when he "comes to his senses" because he really plans a manipulative speech to try to get back in the Father's good graces. Reading the story in context you see this son hasn't totally had a heart change but has simply come to a place of lack and hunger, then he begins to head back towards the Father because he remembers the goodness of the Father. Too many quote these verse as though the prodigal came to full repentance (this is not the Greek word used), I challenge you to read the Word and study these Scriptures. It simply is not there. Remember God is the one who is incorruptible, man is very corruptible in his character. The prodigal son is simply saying that he could be one of his Father's hired servants and at least have three square meals a day instead of going hungry in his current circumstances. Many religious people are so focused on coming to God the right way, praying the right way, and reading enough Scripture when I clearly see a good Father inviting people to come in their desperation, hurt, and lack. The most amazing part of this picture of the Father is in Luke 15:20 which says, "So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." Remember this son's heart is not pure, he really is coming to his father out of his own selfish need, not because he has totally come clean and is honest with himself and his father. I had a client who confessed that they had become a Christian (as a child) and even went to church but really spent their whole life not pursuing God. The Father began to give me a sense of His delight as this man had any desire to know God, this man is just beginning his journey back into the Father's arms yet God is pleased. Our standards of what God expects really are not His. I like this man continue to journey out of my darkness into the reality that this Father of light is as good as Jesus describes Him as being. I am also amazed that coming back into the Father's house means immediate blessing, identity, value, and provision for the prodigal. The prodigal son does not have to earn his way back into the Father's good graces, like we would make most of our children do if they pulled a stunt even remotely close to this scandal lived out by the prodigal. I am so grateful that through the Word of God the Holy Spirit is beginning to change my distorted, twisted, and dark view of the Father into the real picture of who He is. I know that I have a ways to go but I am so thankful that God is only going to get better in my heart and mind, rather than worse (picture religion paints of Him). I am committed to knowing the Father as He is, not according to any preacher, other person who claims to know God, or my circumstances. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit being my guide into all truth (John 16:13), rather than being guided by my own darkened intellect or by my own willpower. Also too often the image of god that I have leads me to be self-conscious, afraid, and lost in darkness. No where in the New Covenant is it said He leaves me in darkness but it does say if the eyes of my heart see darkness that is what I will experience (Matthew 6:22 & 23). I pray for myself and you that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened (Ephesians 1:18). I am so thankful that the Father's nature and character are not going to change even if I have a distorted and twisted view of Him. I desire to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

In my Father's Arms,
Bret