Classroom: Father Heart THREE 02-22-07
Claude 02-22-07
The Father Heart of God
I’ve known my Father in my head for so long… but now I finally know Him in my heart.
So many people are carrying these wrong images of God in their hearts. Movies are carrying the wrong images of a father. Music, actors, stories, are talking about broken families. Some people say that the Western World is a fatherless world; that so many people are growing up without a father in their home. I believe that churches also are full of people who do not know who their Father is.
Why is it so easy to hold a wrong image of God in our hearts, despite the teachings from the word of God? Because the teachings we receive when we’re young, they are so strong that they remain with us when we become adults. When we become Christians, God does not come down and drill a hole in our heads, remove all the garbage and stuff a Bible inside so we’re all better.
John 1:12-13
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 5:18
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The Dynamic Cycle of the life of Jesus
1. Acceptance
¨ Jesus has always known who his Father is.
2. Sustenance
¨ Jesus relied on the Father for every need.
3. Significance
¨ Jesus has always had meaning and purpose
4. Achievements
¨ Jesus did many great works
Most of us go through this cycle backwards. We do things so that we have significance, and we seek satisfaction from that and through that people will accept us. This is the wrong image of God. God accepts us for who we are – no conditions. He gives us what we need and sustains us. We are significant in God’s eyes just because He chooses to love us. And through all of this, we are able to achieve many things.
In most of our families we do not trust one another. We do not feel for one another, and we do not talk openly with one another; so of course when we enter into a relationship with God –we do the same thing.
A child’s heart may become a bruised heart. It may become an inflated heart. What is that heart looking for? Happiness – power – admiration – possessions… and the gospel says to this heart, “it’s okay that your heart is not perfect because God sees your heart as perfect in Jesus Christ.” A child’s heart may become a hard heart; a heart that is closed off to the things from God. A child’s heart may become an addicted heart – addicted to pleasure and happiness.
Our heart has become like a fragile plant. A plant needs 5 ingredients to grow. Water, Sun, Soil, Oxygen, and a secure place. So, let’s say I’m deciding to go buy a plant. I’m making a schedule for this plant. Monday in the bedroom, Tuesday in the lounge, Wednesday in the kitchen, Thursday in the bathroom, Friday on the roof, Saturday in the garage, and Sunday in the hallway. This plant has everything else it needs; do you know what will happen to this plant? It will die. It is not in a secure place.
God loves us and accepts us unconditionally.
Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son. And we all know this story. The son finds himself in this pit, and he says, “what am I doing here? My father’s servants are treated better than me!” So he prepares his speech, and he will say, “Father I will be your servant if you just accept me back.” And the father is waiting at home, waiting and hoping and praying for his son to come home – until he sees his son one day, coming up the road; and the father says, “welcome back” and they go and sit on the couch and watch the game. Is that how it happens? No! So what happens? Well, the son comes back and the father says, “pew! You SMELL! Go wash yourself! I told you this would happen! I told you so! Go get yourself clean.”
Is that what happens? Does the father want the son to clean himself up before coming back? No! The son comes back, and the father is so happy! The father welcomes him back as a son!
God says to us, “you are my son and with you I am well pleased.”
In some parts of the world, two guys can hold hands and put their arms around each other. It’s an expression of love, appropriate love. Unfortunately in the western world, we think, “eewwww! They’re gay!” But I believe our skin wants to be touched appropriately. Men and women need at least 10 affectionate touches per day. God wants to touch you! I don’t know how it works for you.
This guy in Jordan wanted to talk to me. So he came to my room with the school leader, and we started to talk. He shared his life. He said, “my mother was a very weak and simple woman. She slept with many men, and she had a lot of children – to the point where she could not look after us. So one by one we were put into an orphanage; when I came to this orphanage, I was abused sexually by some of the older boys. When I became an older boy I would do that to the younger boys. When I was 18, I was a leader in the orphanage, I had a lot of relationships. It wasn’t always for sex, I just wanted to feel the arms of a woman around me. I was desperate for love. I was in need of love, crying out!” So I said, seek God for this love. Reach out to Him, tell Him your needs! And this man was crying! He was weeping, deeply – because he wanted to feel the arms of the Father around him.
Melissa asks a question: How can I feel the arms of God? With my mother, my brothers, my sister, my dad, I can feel their arms. I can feel their love and hugs. But how can I feel God’s love?
Claude’s answer: A lot of the time it can be through other people; through the Body of Christ – loving one another and hugging one another and comforting one another.
I know that all of us long to be secure. We long to be part of the group, and we try to do all sorts of things to be accepted by the group. God, our Father, gives us security and comfort
Deuteronomy 33:12
Of Benjamin he said, "The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders."
When I’m secure in God, I can ask God anything. I don’t need to be afraid! Think about Abraham and Moses and Peter… they were people like you and me! Look at the questions they asked God! And God used them!!!
---Coffee Break---
Our Father wants to come to us through
¨ Comfort
¨ Spoken messages and expressing value
¨ Picturing a special future and being 100% committed to seeing it happen
Proverbs 15:4
A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
What is hindering us from a relationship with the Father? Why can’t we enter into this relationship? What is the wall? Maybe it’s our wounds or traumatic experiences, abuse (physical/verbal/sexual)… how can you trust a God who loves you have a dad who has abused you in some way? Some of us are still hearing those false prophets, and we hear those tapes going in our mind, “I’m no good.” Parents who have unstable emotions are hindering us; so we don’t know how to behave with our parents. Unfaithfulness or favoritism is hindering us. Like the story of Joseph and Jacob – how Jacob loved Joseph more than the other brothers. Perfectionism is hindering us – critical spirits; everything has to be a certain way because what ever you do is not good enough. So you strive and strive to correct, and you fail, and then you become a failure. All the things we lack, our deficiencies hinder us. Our inability to show love hinders us. We think that God will provide, but not enough – and that hinders us. We are so weak, and that hinders us. It’s so easy for dad to hide behind the TV or the newspaper. “Get out of here! I’m watching the game!” And what about indulgence? Fathers that are like Santa Clause? They just give and give and give. Or absent parents, who just aren’t there for you.
Distorted images we have of Father, God
The God of impossible expectations. God expects so much of us that we simply cannot meet them! I fail! I can try, but no matter what I do it’s not good enough.
The emotionally distant God – the belief that He has no emotions and is removed from us. So we have an image that God is so distant.
What do we do?
¨ Choose to forgive your father/mother for each hurt received.
¨ Ask God to show you a specific memory that still influences your life, attitudes or actions. Why are you behaving like this? God will show you.
¨ Lay your father/mother at the foot of the cross. Do not blame your father/mother. That is not the purpose of this week. The purpose of this week is to know in our hearts that God loves us and accepts us.
¨ Begin to pray or have someone pray over you
Prayer
O Father, yes – I need you. I need your love, need you to come for the child within. Wherever he is hiding, whatever holds him down, come for him, Father. I give you my permission. I renounce the way I, too, have rejected him, pushed him away. I want to see him restored. Come and embrace him. Let me know that I am your Beloved Son/Daughter. Amen.
Now go spend time with the your Father.
If God gave you loving parents, I believe that is Him watching over you and looking out for you; that is how He has shown His love ot you. And not everyone gets married, but you are getting married very young. That could be another way God is blessing you with His love. A spouse is a gift from God – maybe it’s a problem of you not giving God the glory for the love He shows you through your fiancé and parents.
The Father Heart of God
I’ve known my Father in my head for so long… but now I finally know Him in my heart.
So many people are carrying these wrong images of God in their hearts. Movies are carrying the wrong images of a father. Music, actors, stories, are talking about broken families. Some people say that the Western World is a fatherless world; that so many people are growing up without a father in their home. I believe that churches also are full of people who do not know who their Father is.
Why is it so easy to hold a wrong image of God in our hearts, despite the teachings from the word of God? Because the teachings we receive when we’re young, they are so strong that they remain with us when we become adults. When we become Christians, God does not come down and drill a hole in our heads, remove all the garbage and stuff a Bible inside so we’re all better.
John 1:12-13
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 5:18
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The Dynamic Cycle of the life of Jesus
1. Acceptance
¨ Jesus has always known who his Father is.
2. Sustenance
¨ Jesus relied on the Father for every need.
3. Significance
¨ Jesus has always had meaning and purpose
4. Achievements
¨ Jesus did many great works
Most of us go through this cycle backwards. We do things so that we have significance, and we seek satisfaction from that and through that people will accept us. This is the wrong image of God. God accepts us for who we are – no conditions. He gives us what we need and sustains us. We are significant in God’s eyes just because He chooses to love us. And through all of this, we are able to achieve many things.
In most of our families we do not trust one another. We do not feel for one another, and we do not talk openly with one another; so of course when we enter into a relationship with God –we do the same thing.
A child’s heart may become a bruised heart. It may become an inflated heart. What is that heart looking for? Happiness – power – admiration – possessions… and the gospel says to this heart, “it’s okay that your heart is not perfect because God sees your heart as perfect in Jesus Christ.” A child’s heart may become a hard heart; a heart that is closed off to the things from God. A child’s heart may become an addicted heart – addicted to pleasure and happiness.
Our heart has become like a fragile plant. A plant needs 5 ingredients to grow. Water, Sun, Soil, Oxygen, and a secure place. So, let’s say I’m deciding to go buy a plant. I’m making a schedule for this plant. Monday in the bedroom, Tuesday in the lounge, Wednesday in the kitchen, Thursday in the bathroom, Friday on the roof, Saturday in the garage, and Sunday in the hallway. This plant has everything else it needs; do you know what will happen to this plant? It will die. It is not in a secure place.
God loves us and accepts us unconditionally.
Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son. And we all know this story. The son finds himself in this pit, and he says, “what am I doing here? My father’s servants are treated better than me!” So he prepares his speech, and he will say, “Father I will be your servant if you just accept me back.” And the father is waiting at home, waiting and hoping and praying for his son to come home – until he sees his son one day, coming up the road; and the father says, “welcome back” and they go and sit on the couch and watch the game. Is that how it happens? No! So what happens? Well, the son comes back and the father says, “pew! You SMELL! Go wash yourself! I told you this would happen! I told you so! Go get yourself clean.”
Is that what happens? Does the father want the son to clean himself up before coming back? No! The son comes back, and the father is so happy! The father welcomes him back as a son!
God says to us, “you are my son and with you I am well pleased.”
In some parts of the world, two guys can hold hands and put their arms around each other. It’s an expression of love, appropriate love. Unfortunately in the western world, we think, “eewwww! They’re gay!” But I believe our skin wants to be touched appropriately. Men and women need at least 10 affectionate touches per day. God wants to touch you! I don’t know how it works for you.
This guy in Jordan wanted to talk to me. So he came to my room with the school leader, and we started to talk. He shared his life. He said, “my mother was a very weak and simple woman. She slept with many men, and she had a lot of children – to the point where she could not look after us. So one by one we were put into an orphanage; when I came to this orphanage, I was abused sexually by some of the older boys. When I became an older boy I would do that to the younger boys. When I was 18, I was a leader in the orphanage, I had a lot of relationships. It wasn’t always for sex, I just wanted to feel the arms of a woman around me. I was desperate for love. I was in need of love, crying out!” So I said, seek God for this love. Reach out to Him, tell Him your needs! And this man was crying! He was weeping, deeply – because he wanted to feel the arms of the Father around him.
Melissa asks a question: How can I feel the arms of God? With my mother, my brothers, my sister, my dad, I can feel their arms. I can feel their love and hugs. But how can I feel God’s love?
Claude’s answer: A lot of the time it can be through other people; through the Body of Christ – loving one another and hugging one another and comforting one another.
I know that all of us long to be secure. We long to be part of the group, and we try to do all sorts of things to be accepted by the group. God, our Father, gives us security and comfort
Deuteronomy 33:12
Of Benjamin he said, "The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders."
When I’m secure in God, I can ask God anything. I don’t need to be afraid! Think about Abraham and Moses and Peter… they were people like you and me! Look at the questions they asked God! And God used them!!!
---Coffee Break---
Our Father wants to come to us through
¨ Comfort
¨ Spoken messages and expressing value
¨ Picturing a special future and being 100% committed to seeing it happen
Proverbs 15:4
A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
What is hindering us from a relationship with the Father? Why can’t we enter into this relationship? What is the wall? Maybe it’s our wounds or traumatic experiences, abuse (physical/verbal/sexual)… how can you trust a God who loves you have a dad who has abused you in some way? Some of us are still hearing those false prophets, and we hear those tapes going in our mind, “I’m no good.” Parents who have unstable emotions are hindering us; so we don’t know how to behave with our parents. Unfaithfulness or favoritism is hindering us. Like the story of Joseph and Jacob – how Jacob loved Joseph more than the other brothers. Perfectionism is hindering us – critical spirits; everything has to be a certain way because what ever you do is not good enough. So you strive and strive to correct, and you fail, and then you become a failure. All the things we lack, our deficiencies hinder us. Our inability to show love hinders us. We think that God will provide, but not enough – and that hinders us. We are so weak, and that hinders us. It’s so easy for dad to hide behind the TV or the newspaper. “Get out of here! I’m watching the game!” And what about indulgence? Fathers that are like Santa Clause? They just give and give and give. Or absent parents, who just aren’t there for you.
Distorted images we have of Father, God
The God of impossible expectations. God expects so much of us that we simply cannot meet them! I fail! I can try, but no matter what I do it’s not good enough.
The emotionally distant God – the belief that He has no emotions and is removed from us. So we have an image that God is so distant.
What do we do?
¨ Choose to forgive your father/mother for each hurt received.
¨ Ask God to show you a specific memory that still influences your life, attitudes or actions. Why are you behaving like this? God will show you.
¨ Lay your father/mother at the foot of the cross. Do not blame your father/mother. That is not the purpose of this week. The purpose of this week is to know in our hearts that God loves us and accepts us.
¨ Begin to pray or have someone pray over you
Prayer
O Father, yes – I need you. I need your love, need you to come for the child within. Wherever he is hiding, whatever holds him down, come for him, Father. I give you my permission. I renounce the way I, too, have rejected him, pushed him away. I want to see him restored. Come and embrace him. Let me know that I am your Beloved Son/Daughter. Amen.
Now go spend time with the your Father.
If God gave you loving parents, I believe that is Him watching over you and looking out for you; that is how He has shown His love ot you. And not everyone gets married, but you are getting married very young. That could be another way God is blessing you with His love. A spouse is a gift from God – maybe it’s a problem of you not giving God the glory for the love He shows you through your fiancé and parents.
posted by CarbonChris at 10:16 AM
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