We have an extraordinary faith. We have an All Mighty God, Designer and Creator of everything, of mind blowing things, of both cosmic and nano size. He is Powerful, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and yet I can say “This is my Heavenly Father, my Good, Good Father, and I am His beloved child”. These thoughts are so staggering, that we do indeed need the Holy Spirit to help us to grasp them in our minds, hearts and spirits. It is all so far beyond belief. Ephesians 1:17-19 and 3:16-19.
In many ways, we in the church have been like sleeping beauty, asleep to the immensity of our salvation, and the truth that it brings us into this incomparable relationship with the most wonderful being we could ever, ever, ever imagine. We have been asleep to these wonderful realities for a very long time, awaiting our Prince – the Holy Spirit – to come and wake us up. I wonder if that is why previous revivals have been called ‘Awakenings’, because that is what revival is. It is when these incredible truths become so real to us that we just can’t keep our mouths shut, and those outside the church become hungry for what we have.
So how can we possibly know and grasp the reality of who our loving heavenly Father really is, or understand what He is like when our minds are so finite and small. Well, when Philip said to Jesus “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father……..I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” John 14:8,9. As we look at Jesus, and how He was with people, we see the Father too, for ‘He is the image of the invisible God’, ‘For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.’ Colossians 1:15, 19. We also read that ‘the Son is the radiance of God’s Glory and the exact representation of His being….’ Hebrews 1:3.
As I read the gospels, the accounts of how Jesus was with people, how He dealt with people from all different walks of life, and the things He taught them – which cut across many of the traditions and practices of the time – I have a lens through which I can see how He would speak to me and how He would show me His love. There is such a variety of people and situations in the gospels which the Holy Spirit can use to speak into our hearts, highlighting whatever aspect of the Fathers heart, that we need to hear in the now.
Today let us thank our Heavenly Father that He gave us not just a Saviour in Jesus, but a template of who He is Himself. He gave us a visual aid in Jesus, that we could understand with our earthbound minds and hearts. Let us thank Him that those stories of Jesus were written down for us, and let us value them again as a window into the heart of the Almighty One.
Then let us thank the Father for sending the precious Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth, John 14:26, and show us those aspects of the Father in the life of Jesus that we need to know in our lives today. Let us thank the Father that He is sending the Holy Spirit to ‘wake us up’ to some fresh and wonderful truths, as we look again and again at the things recorded.
I believe that as we approach all these things again with hearts filled with gratitude we will see wonderful things about our God and about our place in His heart. We will see things, that till now we have not yet grasped, becoming ever more real to us, and our hearts will be filled with joy as we ‘draw more water from the wells of salvation’. Isaiah 12:3.
