ABBA, OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN - Part 1 (ATTRIBUTES OF AN EARTHLY FATHER)

To the majority of people out there, ABBA is the Swedish pop group from the 1970’s. To the believer, ABBA is so much more than that.  Abba is the Aramaic term of endearment for Father God, the Father of Everything and the Father of Lights in Whim there is no variation nor shfting shadow.

God is the Ultimate Father. He is Lord over all, the Great God of Heaven and our Father Who really art in Heaven, hallowed be His Name.  While the term “Father” used more in the New Testament for obvious reasons – the Son came to Earth to be born, minister and die on a Cross to save all mankind), the Father was present in Scripture almost a thousand years before.  The prophet Isaiah was taken up (raptured) into heaven in Chapter 6 and saw the LORD Face to face. Isaiah not only saw the Holiness and the Power Worship in Heaven, but he got to hear the dialogue between all three individual Members of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Isaiah heard Jesus say “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?”

Hundreds of years before, the LORD Himself revealed through Scripture in Proverbs 30:4 when the Word says “Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His Fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His Garments? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name or His Son’s Name? Surely you know!”

Well, we, who are saved by His Son Jesus Christ/Adonai/The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, know exactly what His Name is – Abba! How do we know this? Well,  the Holy Scriptures gives us this tremendous revelation of truth here "For you have not received a spirit leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out “ABBA, FATHER” (Romans 8:15)

That’s it right there! God –our Father, Abba – did NOT give us a spirit of fear but one of power, love and a sound mind. It is a mind full of self-control; self-discipline. Think about the attributes of an earthly father and I am sure you can add to this list from "FAMILY SHARE", which has a brief list of such wonderful qualities:

Provider

He is a steady provider and works to see that his family has the necessities of life.

Protector

He does everything in his power to keep the family safe from that which would injure or harm the family members physically, emotionally or spiritually.

Teacher

He shares his knowledge and principles to help family members grow and develop.

Friend

He shows kindness, compassion and interest in the family members.

Exemplar

He shows by the way he lives an example of what the family stands for.

Patriarch

He is honored because of his moral character and actions.

Disciplinarian

He helps the children learn proper boundaries and consequences.

Spiritual leader

He does his part to help establish faith in God and belief in principles of accountability to him.

Treats his wife like a queen (faithful husband)

He shows love and respect and lives totally faithful to his wife. He shares the workload as a partner with his wife. (Source: Gary and Joy Lundberg, Family Share)

Now, take this an multiply it to the Nth degree.....and here we have the Attributes of Our Father, Who art in Heaven!

Part 2: The Attributes of Abba, Heavenly Father

THE WILL OF THE FATHER

(Credit: East Balsam Baptist Church, Wisconsin)

As earthly fathers, I know that nothing pleases us more than when our children do what we ask them to do. In all cases I know of, we always ask them to do something that will be beneficial to their health, safety and future.  I know of no father in my circles of influence, who does not wish the best for his son or daughter - none. Jesus Himself confirmed that truth when He said which of you fathers, if your son asks you for bread, you will give him a stone? (Matthew 7:9)

Well, the answer is not one of us would do such a thing.  We sacrifice (well most of us do) and live way within our means so our kids can have the best of clothes, food and education. We have no control over what corrupt politicians do to destroy their futures with crushing long term debt (now over $100,000 for each of our unborn grand-children), but in our own way, we can teach and set them on the same course the ant took.

Proverbs 6:6-8 (NLT) says Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. This is a philosophy we can pass on to our children that, unless they're the small minority of honor students with large scholarships to fine university, they should break into life gradually. The ant is an industrious little creature who goes about his work like nobody's business. He is not proud nor does he make waves. He just does what he does and builds, provides and stores up.

Our Heavenly Father created that ant.
Father God also created us to work like that ant, but with His Law written in our hearts, so that even the pagan in remotest Papua, New Guinea, will know right from wrong. 
Father God created us and the creation around us. ALL Creation testifies to His Majesty, Power and great attention to detail. God is in the details - not the devil.
Father God also created us with a conscience to know when we violate that law which He has written on our hearts. This conscience testifies to the existence of the power of sin to move us away from Father God, even while we perform the great work of earthly fathers and industrious ants.

Yielding to the Power of Sin is NOT the Will of Father God, our Heavenly Father and Daddy - Abba! Yielding is not - but OBEYING is! There is no more perfect example than the Lord Jesus "Who offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of his reverence.  Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him!" (Hebrews 5:7-9)

There it is! This is Father's Son - God Who became man, OBEYING GOD the Father...how much more is it demanded of us that WE obey seeing that there is a coming Day when all will stand in the Judgment. Even pagan leaders are good providers and fathers to their daughters and sons, but that does not mean they are in the Will of the Father. If a man, no matter how high up or low down he is, claims he is doing what God put him on this earth to do - he is both a liar and in the end, he is not a good example of God's representative to his family.

What every man who calls himself a christian is not just supposed to, but commanded to do (by Scripture) is to teach his family to listen to, love and trust and obey God. To bring it down to the nitty gritty, the destination in our internal GPS should always be Heaven. This is what real men of God do - prepare to lead everyone in their household to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is the only purpose in life - to know God and enjoy Him forever.

The true success we have in life, is to see ALL of our children TRULY saved, TRULY KNOW WHO the Savior is and that they TRULY have a REAL relationship with Christ. We can know this for sure, on this side of eternity if we ourselves walk in righteousness all the days of our lives.

My wife once told me that we have to be 150% more righteous so that our kids can be 75%. There is some truth in that because they will have to find their own level of living in Christ once we lead them there and show them the road map. This is important for them and their children to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. We do NOT want to be part of the majority who did not heed this warning from Jesus for either our children or us, on that Day -  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven...Matthew 7:21

There will be no excuse then, but there is still time now. We have the Scriptures NOW to instruct us. If we really want to have a truly great Father's Day which will last beyond this one day every year, we will both do the "Will of the Father" as Jesus said in this verse and then ensure our kids live by it!

So what is "The Will of the Father" you ask? Scripture has the full answer - "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40).

The words "looks on" as in "who looks on the Son (Jesus)" literally means everyone who "partakes of, experiences, gazes on, beholds, walks, talks, lives and has a relationship with (theoron in the Greek)....will live forever in Heaven! This is should be our standard as earthly Fathers. Is it yours?

All Scriptures except where noted are from English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.