The Father Heart of God
by Margaret Silvester
Before Moses resumed his journey to the Promised Land, he was yearning for a special revelation of God – a spiritual perception of who God was and what He would do for His people. He was told to hide in the cleft of a rock and his prayer would be answered.
The Lord came down in a cloud and passed before Moses, revealing His name and character to him – The Lord, the Compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). This is how God is. It’s how He has revealed Himself to be. This description of His character is given several times throughout the Old Testament, sometime in full and sometimes in part. He’s not just ‘loving’ – He’s ‘abounding in love’. The way God’s love is most often described in the Bible is ‘Unfailing.’ It’s covenant love, which will endure for ever. God can never break His covenant.
What we think of God is the most important thing of all. It will affect every aspect of life – how we think and behave, how we relate to God and other people, and how we love. Many Christians know and believe what the Bible says, but their heart cry is for their head knowledge of God to become heart experience. Their view of what God’s really like has been distorted. For many the truth of Scripture doesn’t seem to be in keeping with their own experiences of life. Their image of God is, in many respects, the opposite of what He’s really like.
Like Moses, we all need a revelation of God. But it’s in Jesus that we can see the full revelation of God’s heart. Jesus is ‘one with the Father’. Jesus came to show us the Father, and to reveal the depth of His love. ‘This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him’ (1 John 4:9).
The difference between Christianity and other world religions is that in Christianity God can be known personally. A Christian is a person who knows God as ‘Father’. In the Old Testament the word ‘Father’ is used about God very few times. But in the New Testament it’s used well over a hundred times. ‘Father’ is the name by which Jesus addressed God and it’s the name He taught us to use.
Many people have an image of ‘Father God’ which is rooted in their experience, or lack of experience, of their earthly father. They have dressed God in another person’s clothes. Whatever our experience of an earthly father – good or angry, protecting or absent, affirming or distant, caring or abusive, accepting or rejecting, the One who Jesus came to reveal is the perfect Father.
Question : Do you know God’s Father love deep in your heart, or do you find it difficult to see Him as the Bible describes Him?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that Your word is true. Please reveal to me Your Father heart, because I desire to come closer to You. Amen.
Margaret Silvester had a career as a teacher prior to being called into full time Christian Ministry with her husband, David, in 1986. They were involved in establishing a Healing Ministry in the local church and Margaret has a passion to see lost and wounded people found and restored. She and her husband joined the Ellel Ministries teaching and ministry team in 2000 after a clear call from God. Margaret`s book "Stepping Stones to the Father Heart of God" has recently been published.
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