Understanding God as Father

Let’s face it. You’ve got an issue with the heavenly father. But you keep passing it off as an issue with someone who hates you, or who you think hates you. Yes, this is exactly what is happening. And you are living in fear, judgment, bitterness, and anger, because of it.

Let me explain it to you this way. Everything seems to be going well one day, and the next day, you walk into a grocery store. Or maybe it’s a museum. Or maybe it’s a church building. Or maybe it’s just anywhere at all, like a subway, or a bus. All of a sudden, you see someone, and that person reminds you of someone who hates you (or who you think hates you). All of a sudden, your day is ruined, because of the memory of this person.

Or maybe, worse still, that person is in your mind day in, and day out.

But why is your day even ruined because of the bad memory of this person? Why are you now “on edge”? Why are anxious thoughts starting to creep into your heart? What on earth is going on, anyway?

It’s all because you feel hated. And deep inside, you believe it. That’s a lie, but why — O why — are you believing it?

Let’s dig down deep to find out what your real problem is!

Your Real Problem

There’s about a 100% chance that your real problem is actually with the heavenly father. You don’t know it. You don’t believe it. No one has ever explained it to you. But this does not mean it’s not true!

Deep, deep, inside of you, you think God hates you. You think he holds something against you. You think he’s unforgiving. You’ve painted a picture of him, in your own image. He’s just a hating God, with no love at all.

Wrong!

You see? I told you your problem is with the heavenly father! He’s not like that at all. But you’ve painted that picture of him, because it’s so easy to do. It’s so easy to say he’s unkind, unloving, hateful, and unforgiving.

Maybe that’s who you are. And maybe that’s how you have unfortunately become. But it doesn’t mean that God is like that.

Imagine, if you will, the fruit of the Holy Spirit (the Holy Spirit is God). The Bible says the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). That’s nine incredible characteristics that, if we all had those, and we all practiced those, the world would be a completely transformed place. Can you imagine love all the time? How about joy all the time? What about peace all of the time? And that’s just three of these nine incredible characteristics!

I think you get the picture! The fruit of the Holy Spirit is a good thing. It’s a right thing. It’s a very beneficial thing. And, let’s face it, it’s a “God” thing!

Why is it a “God” thing? It’s a “God” thing, because it’s the fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God!

Having said that, when you think of God, do you think of him as being loving? Let me test this with you for a second. We can actually find out what you really think of God, deep down in your “heart of hearts.” How can we find out? We can find out by doing a little “self-examination.” You can “self-examine” yourself by testing yourself. And I will show you exactly how.

The Test

I want you to take some time alone. Get away from the presence of everyone else. Just be by yourself. Make sure you have some free time, and you are not under pressure when you do this. Otherwise, it will fail, and you will never know the truth.

Ready?

Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to say the following words to God (even if you think he does not exist, you can still say these words and see what happens). I want you to say, “God, I know that you are very loving. You are intimate. You are kind. You are very merciful. You are full of grace. You are gentle. And you are full of compassion.”

Stop and examine your heart.

What are you feeling?

Are you serious about this exercise, or are you just joking? If you are just joking, or fooling around, it won’t work. But if you are serious, you will most certainly see results. Your heart is going to respond to those words you have spoken. Your heart is going to “speak” even as you are speaking!

What you are doing when you are saying these words is that you are testing the condition of your heart. If your heart is in agreement, you will know it. But if your heart is in disagreement, you will know that, too.

What did your heart say, when you said those words?

Going a Little Deeper

Maybe we had better go a little deeper. Maybe you don’t quite get it. Who is God? Do you know him, and have you heard about him? Is your picture of God even correct? Is God Satan, or is God your uncle? No! You’ve got that wrong!

Let’s go over this carefully, so that we don’t make a mistake. Shall we? If no one has ever told you who the real God is, then there’s really no chance you will ever get this right. So we need to go back to basics. These basics will help you. Or, they will help someone else. Let’s go over them carefully. Shall we?

The Basics

A long time ago, God created all that there is. He had no evil thought in his mind, even as he does not have any evil thought in his mind today. I would like you to imagine a Creator who has absolutely no evil thought in his mind. That’s the true Creator. He is God. In the Bible, he is also known as Yahweh.

Yahweh has always existed. But time? Time has not always existed. Yahweh created that. Somewhere around the beginning of time, he created the angels. He did not create demons, or fallen angels, or anything evil at all. It was all created good.

But then, something terrible happened. One of those angels, a very senior one named Lucifer (who had been given a lot of responsibility), rebelled. He did this out of his own volition. He did not do it because God told him to rebel, or because God wanted him to rebel, or because God pre-programmed him to rebel! No, none of that!

Lucifer rebelled purely because he thought he could do better than God. This is called “pride” when we do that, and this is what Lucifer did. He fell into great temptation, and along with him, he persuaded about one third of all of the angels to follow him in this very evil rebellion.

All of a sudden, you have millions of created angels, that have now become evil, and we call those “demons.” They are full of mischief, and you may have even come into contact with one without knowing it.

God never created these “demons” — he only created good angels, but these good angels rebelled and became demons. That was their fault, and not God’s. And this first one, called Lucifer, he became Satan, which means “accuser” — he’s got a pointy finger, and he is always saying, “You are bad! You are evil! You are hated! So, you see, it’s not God who is evil, but Satan and his demons. We need to get that straight.

And, by the way, you say you have never come into contact with any of these demons, right? But you have voices in your head that you can’t control, that say, “I am evil! I am hated! I am unloved!” Or your heart is constantly condemning you, and you feel like you will never amount to anything. Or you are depressed all the time. Or, you are full of anxiety.

Well, that’s almost 100% guaranteed to be Satan or one of his demons speaking to you! For that is what they do! They put evil thoughts into your head! And that is why the Bible says the following:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Whether you fully understand the above passage or not, it is about the fact that there is a “spiritual war” going on in this world. Satan and his demons can have direct access to our minds, in order to put powerful, ungodly, and evil suggestions into them.

What is the first thing we must do? First, we must repent of our own sin (things we have done wrong) and trust in Christ, in order to save us from our sins. Jesus Christ died for sinners, and we are all sinners!

“for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Trusting in Christ is our “gateway” to receiving eternal life. It is a completely free gift from God that cannot be earned, or worked for, but it can be received by grace, as a wonderful free gift.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Once having trusted in Christ by faith, and not by works (see Ephesians 2:8-9), we are then in a position to start to deal with these troubling thoughts that may come to us. And they may come at various times in our Christian walk, too — not just at the beginning of it. Therefore, we need to always be ready, and always be very mindful, that we need to be “on our guard.” We do not posture ourselves in a worried or anxious way. Instead, we must simply be aware that we are living in a spiritual world, where spiritual conflict may and will happen, whether we like it or not. There is a war — and that war is all around us.

Casting Down Evil Imaginations

We cast down evil imaginations by making sure that all of these thoughts line up with God’s character, and not Satan’s! The better you are at understanding God’s true, loving, gracious, and kind, character, the better you will be at easily “casting down” these thoughts, which will attempt to rise “again and again” — and from time to time. How often? It could be daily. Or it could be “sometimes” or “once in a while.” As you learn to abide in the truth, and understand who you really are as a follower of Christ (the most high God), then you will be able to obtain the victory that is yours, by virtue of your identity in Christ. It is your birthright, as a child of God! Your true identity gives you the right, and the power, to live a life of peace, tranquility, and hope. You do not need to live under the lie that you are hated by God, because you are not! You are free, because of your faith in the most high God!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)

Now if, because of your own involvement in the world, and because of some of the crazy things that you have gotten involved with, you have gotten “mixed up” with the things of Satan (let’s say you decide to hold a grudge, which God never does), then because of this, your mind had gotten “messed up” and your thinking is just not right — because you have now exposed yourself to “other things”. And you would be surprised the extent to which these “other things” involve demons, or fallen angels, even if you do not acknowledge their existence.

How can you know? Examine your thoughts to see whose side they are on! It’s so simple! Do that test, to see how your heart responds, and you will see whose side you are really on!

Two Sides

The world is full of good, and the world is full of evil, but which side have you chosen? If you have chosen the evil side, then you have aligned yourself with Satan, just like all of those other rebellious angels did, who fell along with him. Is any of this making sense? When you did that, you became God’s enemy. Did God then become hateful, or unloving? No!

Get it straight! The character of God did not change!

“For I, Yahweh, do not change” (See Malachi 3:6)

What changed is you, but not him. For Jesus Christ never changes, and Jesus Christ is the Yahweh of the Bible. Has he not always existed?

Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM” (see John 8:58).

And again, we read,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

I leave you with this to think about, and to meditate on, in your own privacy. Please, take the time to do this now. Think about how much God loves you. Think about his purposes and plans for you. Refuse to believe the lie that you are hated (that is a lie). Refuse to believe the lie that you have gone too far, and that God cannot forgive you (that is a lie, too). Make a few declarations, and speak what is true about his character. He is loving, and gracious, and wants to show his incredible compassion to you, if you will allow him to — and if you will take him at his word.

Will you?

“Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more. But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children; to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.” (Psalm 103:8-18)