For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
Ephesians 3: 14-15
The apostle Paul wrote to a local community who were suffering as we are today. They, like us, had encountered riots and economic change (Acts 19:23–40).
I can still vividly remember the riots here in Birmingham and today I am hearing a forecast of 35% drop in our economy. What the people in Ephesus went through so do we – sickness, conflict, loneliness, insecurity, fear, riots, and economic change.
Daily routines and pressures can create doubts about our significance and future. Because we are bound in a world of time, it’s easy to assume that difficulties such as sickness, conflict, loneliness, insecurity, or fear can destabilise us.
God the Father wants to assure us that HE not only lives outside of time but has created a family on earth which He is interested in, not only one on earth but also one in Heaven.
It is God the Fathers desire that every human being should know His love, and that they might be strengthened. As crisis hits us like never before God is interested in our community. In the book of Jeremiah God asks us to pray for our community so He might bless it. He reminds us that if our city in which we live is blessed so are we. God then reminds us He knows the plans He has for us. Plans for good, yes for good. It is the Father’s desire we should be blessed. The blessing starts when we make a decision to be part of His family.
James reminds us Every good action and every perfect gift is from God the Father. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting shadows. God decided to give us life through the word of truth so we might be the most important of all the things he made.
You and I are important to God the Father. He is my Father on earth and one day in Heaven, I hope He is yours too.
Can I encourage you today to thank God that He is your Father?
Can I ask if you have never thought about God as a Father you might do so?
We live in a world where sometimes love and acceptance is based on how well we perform, but God the Father loves us unconditionally, a love that is inclusive, inexhaustible, and self-sacrificing.
How do I know that? There is a famous quote in the Bible which sums up the Father’s love for His family on earth, it is this……
“God the Father loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in Jesus Christ may not be lost, but have eternal life. God the Father did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.
He is willing to be your Father today and in the future too. All I can say is HOW GREAT IS MY God.