Many years ago Derek Prince came to our church in Virginia, and spoke at our morning service. We had known Derek for years through an annual conference in Georgia, and respected him as a great teacher and as a great influence within the Christian community.  That Sunday morning, he said something that was revelatory for me, and gave me new insight into the Fatherhood of God.  In essence, he stated that the New Covenant reveals Father God as a loving Father who desires intimate relationship with those who are His, with those who desire to know Him and fellowship with him as sons and daughters.

 

 

God is holy, sovereign, creator of all that's ever been created, yet has this unabashed love for me and a deep desire for my heart and soul.  He has given me a platform to relate to Him beyond my wildest dreams.  What a contrast to the picture most of us have of Father God; One who is austere, demanding, watching carefully over our ability to sin---thus we perform.  While my reverence for my heavenly Father never diminishes, I can now easily call Him, "Papa!"

 

 

This is the Father Jesus revealed while He walked the earth.  This is the Father who rushes out to the son in the distance, a son who thought he had a better plan for his life, yet failed miserably.  This is the Father whom Jesus prayed and said, "I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

 

 

It is worthy of us to honor the Old Covenant and the Law for what it was, while realizing Jesus' death and resurrection brought us into an all together new life and position with the One who made it possible.  We are no longer slaves, but friends, sons and daughters who relate not out of fear or performance but out of passion for a God we want to know and please more than life itself.

 

 

It grieves me how we have portrayed God to the world around us.  No wonder they get such mixed messages about the Good News.  How about we do our best to model the founder and head of the Church, living His life and doing the things He did?  Jesus responded to Phillip's question, "Show us the Father, that will be enough," by saying, "Don't you know Me, Phillip, even after I have been among you for such a long time?  Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father."

 

 

To know Jesus was to know the Father because He fully represented the Father on earth.  If we are confused about God's love for us; if we constantly keep one foot firmly planted in the Old Covenant and one firmly planted in the New, we will not only miss out on the abundant life Jesus promised for us, we will be unable to communicate properly the heart of God to those within and outside the Church.

 

 

Bob Mumford said years ago that, "Religion will kill you!"  Here at WellSpring, we know it's not performance, it's relationship, relationship, relationship!  Let's press on the the reality of what is truly Good News for ourselves, while striving to do our best to let those within our sphere of influence come to know what we know.