Faulty Concepts of What Father is Really Like

1. God is like a divine employer

Many only focus on the His Lordship, but He is more than that. We don't have any life apart from Jesus. He doesn't want to be Lord of your life - He IS your life.

John 15:15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Too many of us, after the first blush of Joy after salvation, get robbed of that Joy by religion. We believe that there MUST be something He wants us to do! After all, we have to TRY to pay back what He has done for us.

He doesn't want us to DO, He wants us to BE.

John 6:28 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

He only wants us to believe - everything else comes out of that. Our animation comes out of the overflow of the indwelling Christ.

2. God is a harsh judge

Some of us believe Father is always looking down on us with a frown on His face, just waiting for us to make a mistake. He's always in a bad mood. We see Him as an impatient parent who's ready to spank the child who gets on His nerves. He's punitive, harsh, judgmental, critical.

Maybe like many people, you believe that God doesn't really like you. We know He LOVES you - he HAS to, but you feel He doesn't really LIKE you.

If you believe this lie, you will find it hard to understand the intimacy and the joy you could have in relationship to Him because you have a false understanding of His attitude toward you.

But not only does He LOVE you, He also LIKES you! He is ALWAYS loving, accepting, and best of all, He is never angry with you!

Read the parable of the Prodigal Son - it is a picture of the "outrageous love" of the Father. Notice that the Father runs to the son BEFORE the son "repents". Do you read any anger that the Father had toward the son? Did the Father ever UNaccept the son? NO, NO, NO!

3. God is a distant deity

We see God as big and sovereign, and He is those things. But we also see Him as removed and distant - He's "out there". We imagine a majestic God who doesn't have time for or interest in our petty circumstances.

This kind of view of Him resembles deism. It suggests that God created us, wound us up, and now has stepped back and is letting us run our course.

Ephesians 2:13 tells us: But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

God is close up and personal in our lives. We aren't just close to God, we are ONE with Him through Jesus!

Some have said that they don't bother God with small stuff, but remember, to Him it's ALL small stuff.

He wants to be intimately involved in our lives.

Where is God Today - Revisited

We both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an hour, which keeps believing nimble - Emily Dickinson

Current and Recent Reading List

• Grace Walk: What You've Always Wanted in the Christian Life by Steve McVey
• The Shack by William P. Young
• So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman
• Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey
• The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee
• What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey
• The Grace Awakening: Believing in Grace Is One Thing. Living it Is Another. by Charles R. Swindoll
• Grace Rules: Living in the Kingdom of God Where by Steve McVey
• A Divine Invitation (Experiencing the Romance of God's Amazing Love) by Steve McVey

Upcoming

• When the Church Leaves the Building by David Fredrickson
• The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Ian Major Thomas
• He Loves Me! Learning to Live In the Father's Affection by Wayne Jacobsen
• Authentic Relationships: Discover the Lost Art of "One Anothering" by Wayne Jacobsen and Clay Jacobsen

Various Struggles

Things I am pondering/struggling (in a good way) with these days:

1. If Christ IS MY LIFE and we are IN CHRIST and HE IN ME, how much effort is required on my part?

Right now I am giving myself the freedom not to DO anything because of compulsion. That is, I have no self-imposed Law that I MUST read my Bible, or have a devotion every day or that I MUST go to church every time the doors are open. I don’t believe that the words “ought to”, “should”, or “need to” belong in a Christian’s vocabulary.

2. He says that we are to take His yoke upon us – doesn’t that imply some effort on our part – doesn’t it also imply the old adage, “God helps those who help themselves” which some believe is un-Biblical?

See also the word sunantilambanetai found only in Luke 10:40 as the word Martha uses when she believes that Mary ought to “help” her and Romans 8:26 that the Spirit “helpeth” us in our infirmities (i.e. in our trials and troubles) This wonderful word means “to lay hold along with, to strive to obtain with others, help in obtaining” or “to take hold with another”.

The word picture I was given for the verse in Romans was it is like I’m carrying a log with the Holy Spirit on the other end WITH (sun) me and FACING (anti) me! Again, isn’t there some effort required on my part? Martha didn’t want Mary to do everything, just for Jesus to tell her to do her part?

3. He says that we are to abide in Him – I ask, how is that accomplished? Maybe that relates to the 1st item.

4. He says to rest in Him – again, I ask how? How does one rest? I guess that again goes back to #1.

Old (misguided) goal – to be more like Christ. We are like Christ the moment we believe, and cannot be MORE like Him.

We also cannot be closer to Him since we are IN Him and He in us.

New goal – for God to REVEAL the FACTS that I am IN HIM and HE IN ME and to UNDERSTAND how to abide and rest and take His yoke upon me – however those are accomplished. (Nee would also add, for Him to reveal to me that I DIED and am DEAD, which I also don’t understand at this time)

Why is it that we think we must DO something?

Freedom in Father

Anything we do to try to guarantee stability on our own terms will actually rob us of the freedom to simply follow him today. We'll resort to our own wisdom instead of following Him. The greatest freedom God can give us is to trust His ability to take care of us each day.

What IS Body Life?

One definition I read is: people learning to live in relationship to Father in freedom from shame and guilt, and then learning how to share that life together.

Honest Question of Every Believer

How can we, as believers, have a "personal relationship" with a God who is invisible and we're never quite sure He's there?