Daily Archives: June 8, 2019

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God’s fatherhood

How do you see God as Father?

“To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

 

God’s fatherhood

Most people in the world would agree with the statement that “we are all God’s children.” It’s a nice sentiment. It just isn’t what the Bible teaches. According to God’s Word, unrepentant sinners are actually God’s enemies (see Romans 5:10 and Colossians 1:21)! It’s only when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to God and experience forgiveness and adoption into God’s forever family (Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5).

For a Christian going through hard times, this “adoption” truth is the best of all possible news. God is not just the powerful Creator or a righteous Lord, he is a loving Father. He sees your trials. He listens to your pleas. He cares and protects and supports. He is never harsh or impatient with you. He is never “too busy” for you.

Take all the best qualities of all the best earthly dads you’ve ever seen, add them together, and multiply by infinity. That’s the kind of heavenly Father God is to Christians who hurt.

Lord Jesus, I do believe in you. I have accepted you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for revealing yourself to me. Thank you for saving me! Because of your grace and my faith, I am a child of the living God. I praise you. What a privilege! What joy to know that in every situation I have a loving, wise, and good heavenly Father to counsel and help me.

Adapted from Praying God’s Promises in Tough Times by Len Woods, Tyndale House Publishers (2002), pp 68-9

As a substitute father for hundreds of youth over the past thirteen years, I’ve yet to encounter a young person in trouble whose difficulty could be traced to the lack of a strong father image in the home.
PAUL ANDERSONA child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father.
AUSTIN L. SORENSEN

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

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Lead On

What hope do I have to face evil?

Christ is Commander and Chief

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was seated on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings.…In a great chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

Isaiah 6:1-4

Lead on, O King eternal,
Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
And holiness shall whisper
The sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords’ loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums,
With deeds of love and mercy
The heavenly kingdom comes.

Ernest Warburton Shurtleff

The day of march has come

In 1887, Ernest Shurtleff was about to graduate from Andover Seminary. Ernest wrote a hymn for the entire graduating class to sing. He told his fellow seminarians, “We’ve been spending days of preparation here at seminary. Now the day of march has come, and we must go out to follow the leadership of the King of kings, to conquer the world under His banner.”

Thus, “Lead On, O King Eternal” was written for a seminary graduating class. Our commencements are not always so dramatic, but there is no reason our eternal King cannot open a new door for us today. We can step out and march under His banner, “not with fears, for gladness breaks like morning where’er face appears.”

From The One Year Book of Hymns (Tyndale House) entry for January 15

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House