Fathers

 

Happy Father’s Day. How’s your relationship with your father? Some of us have father’s that really care and love us. Others have a strained relationship with their father. Others don’t have any type of meaningful relationship with their fathers at all. So, how does that affect our relationship with God our Father? For some it’s not a problem at all. For others with a strained relationship or those don’t don’t have any relationship, or maybe don’t even have a father, it can really affect the person spiritually.

Let’s look at a paraphrased version of Luke 11:10-13 and see what it tells us about God the Father.

"What do you think? You can bargain with your Father? Just ask your Father for what you need. This is not some game we’re playing to get what we want.

Think about it. If your son asks for fish, do you give him a live snake ? If you daughter asks for an egg, do you give her a creepy, crawly, insect or spider? Do you deliberately try to scare and torment your children?

As bad as we can be, we would never think of doing such a thing to our children. So, don’t you think that your Father in Heaven, who loves you more than anything on this earth, will give you all things your spirit needs through His Holy Spirit. Just ask Him!”

In real life how do you treat your children and how were you treated as you were growing up? As the passage says would you give your child something that would hurt them? A child may ask a parent for something but in most cases a parent does not give a child something that would harm them. They may not get exactly what they asked for or they may not get anything. It would be a rare case in which a parent deliberately hurt their child.

We live in a world however that is full of evil and brokenness. Because of this bad things can happen to any of us, adults or children. There is a way however to overcome the evil of this world and to find peace with ourselves and those around us. The way is through a relationship with the Living God, our true Father, the creator of all that exists.

In the Bible, in the Book of John, we see so much as to how we enter into a relationship with God and how God will help us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he sent His only Son (Jesus), that whosoever believes in Him (puts their faith and trust in Him), shall not perish (pass away, be destroyed) but have everlasting (eternal, today, tomorrow and for ever) life.”

That’s the promise. All we must do is to believe that God gave us His Son, Jesus, to overcome this world, all the evil of this world, and lead us into a life of freedom. In John 14:6 we read:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus tells us here that He is the way, the truth and the life. He can show us the way to live a life of freedom. No longer as a slave to this world, but a free man who can experience life as it was meant to be lived. He can also show us the truth. He can guide us through life showing us the good things of life, and He can shows us the bad, the things we should stay away from. He also promises us life. Life today, tomorrow and for all eternity.

The second thing that Jesus tells us is that the only way to enter into a relationship with God is through Jesus Himself. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. When we place our trust in Jesus, when we put our faith in Jesus, we enter into a relationship with God and Jesus.

Once we enter into that relationship we receive the help that was mentioned in Luke 11:10-13. The spiritual help through God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit. In John 14 Jesus tells us of the Spirit.

¹⁵ “If you love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things

Jesus tells us in verses 15 through 17 that if we love Him and do as He says we will receive another helper, the Spirit of Truth. What does it mean to love Jesus and keep His commandments? It means to put our trust and faith in Him and have a living relationship with Him. Then the Spirit of Truth will dwell within us. The world does see the Spirit or know the Spirit but we do when we accept Jesus as our friend and God as our Father. The Spirit will dwell with us and in us.

We are also told in verse 26 that this helper is the Holy Spirit and the Father will send Him to us in Jesus name. The Holy Spirit will teach us all things. The Holy Spirit will teach us the way, and the truth. He will help us to experience the life that Jesus has promised us.

A relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean we won’t have our problems but problems are much easier to endure when we know that the Three of Them are on our side.

On this Father’s Day think about the relationship you have with your earthly father and our Heavenly Father. Realize that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will be by your side no matter what. Then if you don’t have a good relationship with your earthly father ask God for His help. God loves mending relationships, ours with Him and ours with others.