So often, people stand in a place of not knowing who their father is. Father’s Day can be a difficult time for someone who didn’t know their father or had a bad relationship. This tends to leave them feeling incomplete, cheated, or at times rejected. The ideal identity creator is a child to their father. That relationship is the foundation that establishes the character makeup of an individual. If that foundation is lost or nonexistent, it leaves the individual handicapped. Malachi 2:15 states; “But did He not make them one, (husbands and wives) Having a remnant of the Spirit? and why did He make them one (husbands and wives) He seeks godly offspring.” This scripture states the vital importance that God placed on fathers in their homes. What is so comforting is that God is able to not only heal the brokenhearted (Luke 4:18), but He is also more than enough to make up the loss of the relationship, as well as move us back to a place of more than enough in Him.
In this blog, we want to look at the relationship of God as a Father and us as His children. We want to look at God’s redemptive work to bring us back into the relationship we lost in the garden and how He restores us to our full position as sons to Himself.
Psalm 68:5 states that God is “A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows”. Throughout scripture, we see again and again how God is presented not only as a father but the perfect and complete father. In Genesis 1:26, God sets the standard for all of us. God said, “And let Us create man in our image and our likeness”. We find that God as the trinity (Father, Son, And Holy Spirit) designed us to have an intimate relationship with Him from the beginning. Deut. 32:10 states, “He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” In Psalm 17:8, David states, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye”. Zechariah 2:8 speaks about how God defends you; “For he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.”
It’s wonderful to know that God has our back in difficult times and is our defense when Hell comes after us. He sees us as the personal desire of His heart. In your salvation, your position in God is changed. Romans 8:17 calls us children, and if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
In Christ, you are restored to the first calling in God, which makes us inheritors of all He has. Though Adam lost his position in the fall in Genesis chapter 3, we see God coming into the garden, walking in the cool of the day to look for him. Though we lost the relationship, God came forth to begin the restoration back to Himself. You are not called to be abandoned, you are not called to be an orphan, and you are not called to be forsaken. God through the scriptures, consistently declares His divine intention to restore our relationship to Him, and that relationship as a Father to His children. Ephesians 1:5 states, “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself”. God accomplished this through his son, Jesus Christ.
In Exodus 4:22-23, God instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh that Israel is my firstborn. This scripture changes the entire status of their identity. Having been slaves for 4oo years, God confirms His original intentions. His calling for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was to reestablish His Genesis with Mankind. His covenant with them was to bless the nations of the world. And what better way to bless them than to reestablish a Father to His sons?
In that chapter of Exodus, God also calls them His firstborn. This gives them preeminence in the relationship. They become the double portion inheritors of all that God has. From this place, He moves to change them from a nation of slaves to a nation that is a royal priesthood. His own special people. 1 Peter 2:9 states, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people”.
No matter where you are during this time, God has sent His son to be a sacrifice to restore you to Himself. He has come to be a father to you and show you what it’s like to be loved. He has come to restore you to the status of firstborn sons to Himself and release on you all that He has. Through Christ, you become royalty, you become a chosen person, and you become special to Him.
Many hurts can overwhelm us because of the loss of the father relationship. But I want you to be reminded today that through Jesus Christ, you are found, and not only found but found by Him who has loved you since the foundations of the word. He sent His Son to pay the way to make you His own special treasure. In Mathew 6, the disciples had asked Jesus how to pray. Jesus says to start with “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” This is a term of great endearment. It shouts a personal relationship. It declared the intention of God all the way back to the Garden, to be a father to you. What are all the names of our father in heaven? He is the God that is your healer, your provision, your Shepherd, your shield and defense, your righteousness, your great and mighty reward, your peace, the God who is ever-present, and so much more. You have been adopted back to God. He is the perfect Father.
In John 14:23, Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make our home with him.” In verse 18, Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says, ”And know, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
This Father’s Day, recognize that God has a perfect plan for you. Your circumstances do not dictate your calling or your future. God is the perfect Father that is greater than them all. He will never leave you or forsake you. You are the apple of His eye, the desire of His heart. You have been declared His firstborn. He gave His only Son to redeem you back to Himself, and with all of heaven on your side, there is nothing that can take you out of His love. Stay strong knowing you are secure and with the new identity as a son, you can move forward knowing who you are in Him.
Blessings,
Pastor Richard Giovannetti
