“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” – 2 Cor. 6: 16-18
It is never just a compliment when God is called FATHER. One special feature of God is Him being a Father. We all understand who a father is in our own individual ideologies. The dictionary meaning of a father is “a male parent”, I will simply go with that short but loaded definition of a father. A father is a male parent; to dig further into the context of who a father really is, we can say being a father is a call for responsibility and care. Parents are known for their roles in making their children balanced and presentable members of the society through their continuous nurturing and systematic guidance of the children from infancy to adulthood. No parents wish to see the downfall of their children. They continue to persistently train, nurture, care, guide, teach and instruct their children until they see the clear picture of the children of their dreams coming to life in their children.
All these qualities of parents here on earth are just prototypes and cannot be compared to how much God is equipped to take care of us as our Father. Remember, God is our creator. It was out of His abundant qualities of parenting and care that we got the qualities we can lay hold on as earthly parents. The hearty cry of the fatherhood of this greatest father is what we want to examine in this piece. It is my desire that by the end of this series, you are going to clearly see the ageless cry of God for a relationship with man and humbly heed to the call out by accepting His golden offer for a lifetime experience. It is more than being a believer, this is being a child of God!
Ever since the creation of man, man has always needed the existence of the Supreme being (God-head) for successful and fulfilled living in this world. After the creation of man in the beginning, the bible says “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” [Gen.3:8]. This signifies the active participation of God in their daily activities. The scenario was actually after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit which God forbade them from eating. The sin of disobedience therefore led man out of the intimate communion and presence of the Almighty God. God in His own wisdom and compassion immediately instituted a means to get man back into that awesome and precious relationship with HIM – “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” [Gen. 3:15].
Although, God instituted the Gospel immediately, it did not take effect on earth immediately. This led to the saddened situation of man not being able to fellowship with God in the direct proportion that God so much desired which is the Father to Child relationship; but rather there existed an intermediary between God and man. God limited His connection to man to just three offices of authority which are the Kings, Priests and Prophets. The Holy Spirit which is the Spirit of God used to come upon humans operating in these three offices occasionally to enable them perform their roles effectively. Other people were expected to depend on the Prophets and the Priests to sacrifice unto God and also receive direction from God. This is the kind of operation that continued to manifest in the Old Testament, whereby God the Father was the God-head in operation. During those long years, prophecies came through the Prophets concerning the coming consolation, the Messiah which is Jesus Christ. After many years of waiting for the coming Messiah, born of the virgin Mary, He finally arrived. Jesus Christ was the Coming Restoration that God promised, who was to redeem man from the slavery of sin by paying the price with His own precious and sinless blood on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave on the third day to signify His victory over death and the newness of Life which He has now made available to all men which granted man free access to God once again. – […then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory. 1 Cor. 15: 54b-55].
During the 33 and half years of Jesus on earth, He lived as the God-head for that period of time. He also announced to His disciples the importance of Him leaving, which is to allow the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to come. Now, after His ascension to heaven to take His position at the right side of God the Father, the Holy Spirit came down to the world in a mighty and striking dimension which was experienced on the day of Pentecost by the 120 believers awaiting the coming of the Power which Jesus Christ promised. [-And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting…Acts 2:2]. The experience at the upper room on the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the reign of God the Holy Spirt on earth. Owing to the Grace acquired by man at Christ’s expense, every man that accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have unlimited access to God just like he was at the beginning. It is now the responsibility or choice of each believer (saved man) to access that precious intimacy and relationship with God. This is the reason for the heart cry of the Father unto all men to come to the waters, His bosom for relationship which is the only way we can get the best out of Him in our pilgrimage journey to the eternal Kingdom of heaven.
Now that the need for a relationship with God has being identified and explained, we need to see what God the proposer of the relationship has to say concerning this pressing cry from His heart. Let’s see the heart cry of the Father for a relationship with man, the king of all His numerous but awesome creations. The bible says in Isaiah 55;1 “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price”. This is one of the many places in the bible where God made His intention about relating with man known. Examining the verse above, the language used there signifies a heart cry. God is the speaker in that context, voicing out His interest in relating with any one that is ready for Him without paying any fees. The heart of the father is longing for man.
Unless man comes into the knowledge and activation of relationship with God, man cannot enjoy the fullness of God’s offer to man. God is the creator of man, He understands the composition and embodiment of every human on earth, there is nothing going on in any man’s life without the knowledge of God. He is not only the creator but also an Omnipresent God; this is His special ability to be everywhere at the same time so as to know what is happening to His creations at the same time. God never sleeps; He has not stopped taking care of His loved ones. Though His love for all men is unconditional, the fullness of this God-kind of love can only be enjoyed when the call out for relationship has being accepted by man. Therefore, if you have not really considered accepting the call of God to fellowship with Him, the time to do that is now. It is simple. You need to tell God in a simple prayer that you acknowledge Him as your father and you want Him to take His place in your life to start the journey of Father to Son relationship. Once you have successfully said this sincerely in prayer, I happily welcome you into the family of God’s children; sit, explore and enjoy!
Great,as always
More Power
Well done!