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Everlasting Father

“ . . . And He will be called . . . Everlasting Father . . .” Isaiah 9:6

We have spent the last couple of weeks peeling away the outer wrappings of some of the gifts God gave us in Jesus. I pray that as you discover the value of the contents, your heart will be drawn to dig even deeper! We are barely scratching the surface, but as you pursue an intimate relationship with the Son of God, His gift of the Wonderful Counselor “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I [Jesus] have said to you” (John 14:26).

One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs as our Counselor is to teach and reveal the deep things of God to each of us. Remember,

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” 1 Corinthians 2:12

He desires you to KNOW, dear one. Our ignorance only keeps us from receiving His blessing.

Today we peer at the third name of God associated with Jesus’ birth in Isaiah 9:6. Christ opened the way for us to know and experience God as Everlasting Father. Recall the familiar words of John 14:6:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus is our only way to know God as Father. To belong to the Father, we must know and belong to the Son. John 14:7 adds these words, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.”

God desires for you to know Him intimately as Father. Perhaps that thought doesn’t offer you much comfort. The stamp of sin on this broken world leaves many painful relationships in its wake. But regardless of the images the word father may bring to mind, allow yourself to contemplate the ideal dad.

Strong . . . Protector . . . Compassionate . . . Loving . . . Merciful . . .

Beloved, God is the Father you’ve always longed for.

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Scripture paints a picture of God as the Father who will never leave, no matter how bad things get. And unlike our earthly fathers, Mighty God is always strong enough to save us from the messes we’ve made. Nothing, however, thrills my heart like the words of that last sentence, “He will take great delight in you.” Don’t we all, if we’re going to be honest, long to be the object of someone’s delight? To know that we, above all else, are their source of pleasure and joy? Dear one, Scripture teaches that God takes great delight in you.

Whether or not we can draw the image from our own childhood experience, we can all conjure up a picture of a devoted parent cradling a beloved child, quieting restless cries with loving murmurs and whispered songs. Images of a mother seem to flow more freely, yet the sight of a father assuming that role brings a special tenderness to the heart. We are moved as strength chooses to display itself through gentleness. Dear one, that’s exactly how your heavenly Father embraces you.

Has it ever occurred to you that as God holds you in His capable hands, He rejoices over YOU with singing? Longing to quiet you with His love, He has gently lifted you into His lap to still your restless heart and sing songs of joy over your life. Yet many of us squirm and pull away from Him like a rebellious toddler, refusing to allow Him the joy of simply being with us. We have stuff to do, after all. Who has time to merely sit and be held?

Yet the result of yielding to His gentle embrace is the imparting of His strength in our need. Many of us miss the blessing of God’s commandment to us in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” We get so busy trying to make things happen in our own lives, we forget that He often asks for us to be still, believe, and let Him work on our behalf. Our willful rebellion keeps us from becoming recipients of His blessing.

God’s intention when He sent us Jesus was that He would be the “firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). If you have put your faith in Jesus, committing your life to follow Him, you also are a child of God. As one of His children, an inheritance awaits you.

“. . . we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” Galatians 4:3-7

In Christ, you are an heir to the kingdom of heaven. Take up your inheritance, dear one.

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