Our Father (and other devotionals)

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I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. (Ephesians 3:14,15)

God is acting in this dispensation to get a family, and God’s present dispensational activity is not going to be defeated by death, and He is not going to be cheated of it by death. He will get a Family, and will cheat death of that Family. It is not God, Infinite and Mighty, as such, it is the Father; and it is a deathless Family that He is after. This Family is never divided by death, this Family is never broken into by death, this Family knows no such thing as bereavement by death, this Family will never lose a child by death. Of course, as the Family, when we enter into the appreciation of that, that is our comfort: that in this Family we do not lose anyone. Death may touch things here, but the spiritual Family is no more separated in the spiritual reality and in the eternal oneness of the Father’s house, than they would be if they were still here. It is the natural, human side of us that suffers the loss and knows all that pain. But what is the comfort of the believer? We sorrow not as those who have no hope. What is our hope? Because we have a Father who has got a Family that can never be broken up by death and never lose a member by death. Our hope is that the whole Family will be together with not one missing. The hope is that we have not lost any. Ours it is to be together forever. “The whole family in heaven and on earth....” That is a part of the meaning of Fatherhood, and that is what the Father is doing in this dispensation; getting that kind of Family.

The mentality of “God” is sometimes severe. We can never have a severe mentality in the right atmosphere of “the Father.” All these things have to be brought into that realm; the Lord’s dealings with us now are the dealings of the Father and are along the family line. That is what is happening in this dispensation.... The revelation above all revelations of God in the history of the world is the revelation in which we are now living; the revelation of the Father, brought to us by the Son, Jesus Christ. In future when we say “Our Father” may it have a fuller meaning for us.

~T. Austin-Sparks~
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Does He Even Care? 

When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 
Luke 7:13 

Recommended Reading Luke 7:11-17

Her tears blurred her vision. While we do not know if she saw Jesus, she did not reach out to Him: her son was dead and needed life. She knew Jesus was a healer but what could He do for her? In the midst of her grief, Jesus saw her and He had compassion. Instead of skipping to the happy end of this story, let’s stop here: Jesus had compassion. 

This simple phrase is found throughout each of the Gospels. An integral part of Jesus’ character is His compassion. Sometimes we find it easier to pray for others than for ourselves. We subconsciously wonder, why would God help me? We forget Jesus’ compassion when we get stuck in this mindset. The life-changing truth is that Jesus is good and He encourages us to ask Him for help. He never ran from disease, death, or wretchedness. While we may not understand why certain prayers are answered quickly while others hang painfully in the air, we can be assured that He sees us and cares. 

There was no identity crisis in the life of Jesus Christ. He knew who He was. He knew where He had come from, and why He was here. And He knew where He was going. And when you are that liberated, then you can serve. 
Howard Hendricks
~David Jeremiah~
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Downward Steps of Sin
by Chuck Swindoll

2 Samuel 13:1-30; 18:24-33

Tracing the downward steps in David's eroding family relationships, we now have Absalom murdering Amnon, a brother murdering a brother. "The sword will never depart out of your household, David." Here he is groaning under the ache of that prediction.

Now if that's not bad enough, after Absalom kills David's son, he then flees: rebellion. When Absalom fled, he went to Geshur. That's where his grandfather lived—his mother's father, who was a king in Geshur. He can't live at home, so he'll go stay with granddad while he licks his wounds and sets up his plan later on to lead a revolt against his daddy. And that's precisely what he does. Absalom leads a conspiracy against his father.

Later, Joab murders Absalom. The sword has still not departed from David's house.

David dearly regrets the day he ever even looked at Bathsheba and carried on a year of deception. And finally, in the backwash of rape, conspiracy, rebellion, hatred, and murder, he's sitting alone in the palace, no doubt perspiring to the point of exhaustion, and in comes a runner bearing bad news. Absalom has been killed.

David is a beaten man. He's strung out, sobbing as if he's lost his mind. Every crutch is removed. He's at the bitter end, broken and bruised, twisted and confused. The harvesting of his sins is almost more than he can bear.

If you have taken lightly the grace of God, if you have tiptoed through the corridors of the kingdom, picking and choosing sin or righteousness at will, thinking grace covers it all, you've missed it, my friend. You've missed it by a mile. As a matter of fact, it's quite likely that you are harvesting the bitter fruit of the seeds of sin planted in the past. Perhaps right now you are living in a compromising situation, or right on the edge of one. You are skimming along the surface, hoping it'll never catch up. But God is not mocked. It will. Trust me on this one . . . it will.

Turn to Him right now. Turn your life over to Him. Broken and bruised, twisted and confused, just lay it all out before Him. Ask Him to give you the grace and strength to face the consequences realistically and straight on.

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God's love is revealed and made known by these six deeds of indescribable love!

(Don Fortner)

"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" 1 John 3:1 

We rejoice to know that "God is love!" Love is an attribute of His holy Being, without which He would not be God. We know that God is love, because His love is revealed and made known by His deeds. Love is active. It is never dormant. Like fire, it must break out. It cannot be contained. It is known only when it is experienced--not by words, but by deeds. We know the love of God is that love that "surpasses knowledge." Yet, God's love is revealed and made known by these six deeds of indescribable love! 

The first act of God's love was our ELECTION in Christ (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). Election is not a hard doctrine. It is a delightful doctrine. Were it not for God's electing love toward sinners, there would be no salvation (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). We would never have come to know and love Christ--had He not first loved us (John 15:16; 1 John 4:19).

The second act of God's love was our REDEMPTION by Christ (Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10). Because He loved us, the Son of God assumed our nature, assumed our sin, assumed our guilt and died under the wrath of God as our Substitute, to put away our sins. "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me!" 

The third act by which God reveals His love to sinners is is EFFECTUAL SAVING GRACE (Jeremiah 31:3).
Those whom the triune God loved--the Father chose to save. 
Those whom the Father chose to save--the Son redeemed. 
And those whom the Son redeemed--the Holy Spirit will effectually call by His irresistible grace to life and faith in Christ.

The love of God is revealed fourthly in the absolute PRESERVATION of His elect in a state of grace (John 10:28; Romans 8:39). Can you imagine one who is loved of God falling from a state of grace, perishing and suffering the wrath of God forever in Hell? Such a notion is worse than nonsense--it is utter blasphemy! The love of God is . . .
  without cause,
  without beginning,
  without condition,
  without change,
  and without end! 
It is free. 
It is sovereign. 
It is indestructible. 
It is everlasting. 

Fifthly, God's love for His elect is seen in our Savior's TENDER, PROVIDENTIAL CARE for us (John 11:35-36). Our Savior really is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We really are the apple of His eye. 

But there is one act of love that goes beyond election, redemption, effectual calling, preservation, and providential care. As great and marvelous as those things are--there is one act of God that goes beyond them all. If the climax of God's love is our redemption by Christ--then the apex of God's love is our ADOPTION into the family of God! (1 John 3:1-3) 

By birth, we are all fallen, depraved and spiritually dead (Romans 5:12). 
By our deeds, we show ourselves to be children of the devil, sinful, deceitful, and wicked (John 8:44). 
By nature, we are all children of wrath (Ephesians 1:3), a people deserving the wrath of God.
But by grace, we who believe are the sons of God!

Election is the great fountain of grace. 
Redemption is the greatest mystery of grace. 
And adoption is the greatest privilege of grace. 

"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!"

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