No, sis, you have not confused me. <g> and as awesome and infinite as
our great god is, I have no doubt his fatherhood and the extent of
his love is really incomprehensible to any human mind this side of
eternity. I'm lookig forward to being able to ask him all the
cuestions I want when I see him face to face but then maybe when I
do, those won't matter anymore. <g>
hugs and squeezes!
Doris
At 07:39 AM 6/8/2007 +0100, you wrote:
>Doris,
>
>I agree that we are to pray "to the Father". In the Scriptures
>Jesus is referred to as "our elder brother". (Sorry I don't have a
>reference to hand right now.) . . .. Nevertheless, the fact that
>He is "one with the Father" is far beyond what we might understand
>as being "one" with someone! Wonderful, isn't it!
>
>It is also a wonderful thing that we are told that we can ask the
>Father anything in (through) the Name of Jesus!
>
>I like to keep it this simple and pray I don't confuse you at all.
>
>I know it can be difficult for those who had problems or do not know
>their earthly father; but equally, those of us who had fathers who
>cared for us and were our heros throughout childhood have to
>discover the real fatherhood of God, which is so far beyond anything
>we knew of our earthly fathers who, we have to admit, were not
>without their failings.
>
>My love to you in Him who made us to be sisters!
>
>
>--
>Carol
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Chipmunks" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 8:37 PM
>Subject: Re: Everlasting Father - Daddy Jesus
>
>
>>Hi,Phil,
>>
>>your story touched me and i am glad that God assured you of his fathership.
>>
>>While I am familiar with the passage in isaiah you quote, I do not
>>take that as a teaching to see Jesus as the Father beyond Jesus's
>>proclammation that he and the Father are one. I do not remember
>>Jesus or anyone else in the New Testament referrng to Jesus as the
>>Father. My understanding of the Triune God Is God the Father as the
>>Father of Jesus who has adopted us into the family of God thru the
>>sacrifice, death and resurrection of Jesus and has given us the
>>Holy Spirit. My favorite Bible translation talks of a spirit of
>>adoption and i have always taken that to refer to an adoption by
>>God the father who treats us adopted children equal to his only
>>begotten Son as Jesus's sacrifice and our acceptance thereof and
>>commitment to Christ have made us acceptable in God's eyes.
>>
>>I can see why seeing Jesus as the Father figure might be easier as
>>Jesus was fully Man as he walked the Earth but then his oneness
>>with the Father was has God share in this and then Man is created
>>in the Image of God.
>>
>>Due to some of my personal history, i have struggled and still
>>struggle with the father image of God and I have sometimes been
>>advised to pray to Jesus rather than the Father but I prefer
>>following Jesus's teaching who taught not to pray to him but to the
>>father directly.
>>
>>Using the one Old Testament reference to the coming Messiah as the
>>Eternal Father reminds me of the one Old Testament reference to God
>>having the Love of a mother or something to that nature. While I do
>>acknowledge the Almighty infinite God being anything way beyond any
>>human gender references, I do think that god is "male" in a very
>>encompassing way as Jesus taught him as such and the he seems to
>>always be referred to as male throughout the Bible. Thus I cannot
>>bring myself to think of and relate to to a "mother God" as has
>>been suggested to me on occasion.
>>
>>The fathership of God is a central focus of my walk with God, both
>>a praise and a struggle sometimes - praise as I learn more about
>>God and receive teaching and understanding and a struggle
>>sometimes still when I find myself scared of the God of Love or
>>thinking he would want to just ignore me as finite earthly fathers
>>sometimes do. Relating to the much more graspable figure of Jesus
>>for a father has a certain appeal to me but i am not sure that that
>>is what God has been teaching me. I do see the character of Jesus
>>aas a more graspable expression of the character of God, his care
>>for people, his life of service and a reminder that God does know
>>all our human existence but I see Jesus more of an ideal of how
>>our lives as sons and daughters of God should be like than I see
>>him as a daddy picture. Mr. God has provided me a number of human
>>daddy pictures as my own that I had was kind of lacking but those
>>are pictures of human daddies just as Jesus likened his
>>explanations of the character of God to human dads and not to himself.
>>
>>I'm not sure I'm making sense to myself. <g> It's time to have a
>>talk with Mr. God for me, i reckon. <g>
>>
>>I'm curious to see others' thoughts and understanding on this topic.
>>
>>Thanks much.
>>
>>Doris
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>At 10:18 AM 6/7/2007 -0600, you wrote:
>>
>>>I was in a prayer session about five years ago. We prayed
>>>through many situations relating to my relationship with my
>>>father. Of course, most of you know he died when I was only 11
>>>years old. How could I be so well connected, so bonded, with my
>>>father at such a young age? My father was my hero. More than
>>>that, he was, sort of speak, my Biblical hero. I often would
>>>awaken at 5 to 5 in the morning and stumble downstairs to get in
>>>bed with my folks. At that hour of the morning, although dad left
>>>for work around 6 o'clock, he was already up. The bright kitchen
>>>lights would be on, and I would blink from their harshness as I
>>>passed through the kitchen on my way to the bedroom of my parents.
>>>I never failed to see what dad was doing, however, at that early
>>>hour. He always got up a couple of hours before work in order to
>>>study the Scriptures and to pray. I would see his Bible, an
>>>opened notebook for his notes, various colored pens and pencils,
>>>and sometime other books he would be using to look up other
>>>Biblical information all laying opened and scattered across the
>>>surface of the kitchen table. I knew, without ever being told,
>>>that God, and the Bible, were the most important things in my
>>>father's life.
>>>
>>> During this prayer session several years ago, to which I
>>>began to make reference, the prayer session became very painful.
>>>I hadn't been allowed to see my father during the last three weeks
>>>of his life. Children, in those days, weren't allowed to go to
>>>the hospital rooms of adults and not even if it were their
>>>parents. So my father died without me ever once being allowed to
>>>see him. "It's just the way it was back then and I would have to
>>>live with it. Well, over the years, the pain remained. I felt
>>>cheated, misunderstood, and broken for some reason. "Why did you
>>>allow this to happen, Lord?" was in my thoughts but I never knew
>>>it, nor spoke of it to anyone, because I didn't know it was there.
>>>These old feelings, locked into old forty year old memories from
>>>wounded and bruised emotions had never gone away. They were
>>>coming out now, rushing out, and the little boy inside was still
>>>hurting and fearful and crying.
>>>
>>> As we prayed, I felt as if I were in that hospital room I had
>>>been denied forty years earlier. I felt my mom in the room, my
>>>dad laying in the hospital bed, and Jesus standing near. The Lord
>>>said your dad had things he wanted you to know before he died but
>>>he couldn't speak due to the coma. I was allowed to hear and feel
>>>the love and concern my father had for me. He made it clear the
>>>Lord would take care of me. "He is your Father now," was clearly
>>>spoken into my thoughts. This was totally amazing to me as a
>>>child and a grown man at the same time. I heard the Lord say,
>>>"I'm your Father now." Isaiah 9:6 suddenly jumped into my
>>>thoughts and made perfect spiritual sense to me for the first time
>>>in my life.
>>>
>>>For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
>>>government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
>>>called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
>>>Father, The Prince of Peace.
>>>
>>> I have no problem now, since I experienced the reality of
>>>Scripture, calling Jesus my Father because He now is.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>6/5/2007 2:38 PM
>>
>>
>>
>>"Pray, pray, pray!" - Pray without ceasing. (1 Th 5:17)
>>
>>--
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>
>
>
>--
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"Pray, pray, pray!" - Pray without ceasing. (1 Th 5:17)
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Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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