Tuesday, March 9, 2021

TO KNOW THE FATHER

 

TO KNOW THE FATHER - AUDIO




To be still with the Lord not only in heart, but in mind is producing a trust that is not based on something palpable or concrete.  Rather this trust is from an inner knowing.  That I know that I know, that I know.  Learning to wait in silence of mind.  It is actually one of the things I thought quite profound, the fact that He says we are to take ALL our thoughts captive and that we have conveniently only thought to take the thoughts the enemy sends our way captive.  The reality is that even our own thoughts cannot be trusted, as it comes from our wicked hearts.  Hence the reason why we are not to lean on our own understanding.  This trust is not about your ability to control self.  Although this is a fruit of the Spirit, self can and has and will learn how to do exactly that.  We see it out in the world.  There are unsaved people that have more self-control than Christians have.  It really is a matter of motivation and determination.  So the sad reality is that within all our nice fruit we see, this self still plays a role.  Just when we thought we got a hold on issues.  But such is God’s wisdom to bring us to utter dependence on Him, which includes to not trust our spirituality as well.

Trust is not just a choice we have to make, but in essence it is a disposition.  A state of mind born from out of a relationship. “I trust you”, does not come easily.  I will confess that it took me over 30 years to authentically say that to Father.  Oh how we can lie to ourselves.  It truly is amazing.  In Psalm 78 we read this telling verse.

Psalm 78: 22

22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

This 78th chapter is about how Father led them out of Egypt and did so many miracles for them.  And even so, they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation.  Isn’t that so much like us?  He takes us out of Egypt and we can testify of so many miracles, and yet at times we find ourselves exactly where they were at…they did not trust.  He slew them after that and they started calling out to Him again. But it says that they only flattered Him with their tongue.  See how deceitful our hearts are?

37 For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

Strange how we look down on those Israelites forgetting the type and shadow that they are of us?

It further goes on to say how He had compassion on them, remembering that they were only flesh.  Then it says something in verse 52 that touched my heart.

52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

This theme of shepherd made me go to the familiar scripture of John 10 where Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd.  He mentions something I thought strange in verse 15.

15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

He was talking about how the sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice and will not follow another, but then He says, "as the Father knows me, even so I know the Father".  That is like saying as a shepherd knows the sheep, so the sheep knows the Shepherd.  I’ll give you a moment.  Think about it…do you know how dumb sheep are?  I mean, like really stupid.  They truly do follow one that goes astray.  They are so scared of the slightest noise and they huddle together in little groups, almost void of individual identity.  And yet, they know the shepherd?  They may know the shepherd’s voice, but the shepherd himself?  The reality is that this knowing, is actually the basis of trust.  What He is saying is, My Father trusts me, because He knows me.  And I trust Him, because I know Him.  For that reason I will lay My life down, because even though it will cost me everything, I trust Him.  I know He sent Me to die on a cross and He has given me the power to take up My life, but also to lay it down.  But I choose to lay it down, because I know how He loves the sheep, and I trust Him and know that He will raise Me up. Nothing is hidden about Me or about Him between us.  Of course, Jesus as we know, saw this through by actually doing it, and not just paying lip service to it. 

Meditating on these words, I just started thinking about how the Father knows the Son and I could of course only relate on a human level with regard to how an earthly parent knows their child.  Well, being a parent, I can truly say I know my daughter.  Even more so because of her disorders and having to be on the ball, so to speak.  I mean that I really know her.  I know why she thinks a certain way and reacts a certain way.  I know what puts her off, what scares her, what motivates her, what breaks her down.  And I of course know that most parents will say, “we do too”.  But I can tell you for a fact, that the same is not true about her.  Although we have gone over some very troubled waters, she still does not know me to the degree that I know her.  Which is obviously logical, but I think you see my point.  It is all about transparency and therefore the love and trust.  So Jesus is telling us, the relationship of trust I have with the Father is based on My knowing the Father.  Not just about Him knowing Me, but an actual relationship of transparency.

This brings me to the theme of the fast I am in, which is to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.  It is not just for the sake of being still, but being still is for the purpose of knowing.  Knowing who?  The Father.  Here we have the prerequisite of truly knowing the Father.  Going from knowing about Him, to knowing Him from that place of trust that is birthed out of stillness.  Can we say that we know as we ought and are we willing to do whatsoever it takes?  The outcome will be obedience of another kind, where you will be willing to lay your life down, due to absolute trust.  Do we trust Him 10%? 50/50 or 80%?  What constitute 100% trust and just how are we to get to that point?  As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father and lay My life down for the sheep.  The laying down His life was solely based on knowing the Father.  And God does not call us to an obedience that we can perform in our own strength, but brings us to the end of ourselves so that in our weakness, He can be strong.  So Jesus was willing in His humanity to be brought unto complete weakness.  He laid His life down as one weak, not strong.  Because should there have been any self-confidence that He as the Son of Man relied on, the Father would not have received the glory, even if they are one.  The issue was Jesus being sent as a man, so that He could be the forerunner and Patterned Son for us to emulate.  So there could have been no confidence in the flesh.  He was brought to nothing and He did it willingly.  His obedience was one that He could not perform out of His own strength.  Father reminded me of something He said to me last year.

“Just like I saved you without your help, so I will raise you without your help.”

Absolute trust.

Father is calling us to such a relationship with Him.  What then is the requirement for us to enter into this fully?  To know on an intimate level His likes and dislikes, joys and sadness, to know His heart.  And why should He extend this to us with our adulterous hearts?  Why should He want to share His pure and perfect heart with us?  And yet, this is His desire – BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. 

He could have been called by other impersonal names, but He desired us to know Him as Father.   And to know Him as Father, is to trust Him.  And to trust Him is to obey Him.  We who have given our lives to the Father are all children of God.  Therefore, He knows us by name and also calls us by name.  Each and every one of us.  But He wants to bring us from children to sons, because sons speak of maturity that has been wrought through obediences and experiences in the wilderness.  Therefore He sent the Son of God to show us the Father, not the child of God, even though He came in the form of a child at first.  It is the Son we are to emulate and not the child.  Yes, childlike faith, but in the form of the Son.   This is also why He said to Phillip, “When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”.  One can only represent the Father to the degree that you have come into sonship.  This has nothing to do with your physical age or even how long you have been born again.  Rather, sonship is a state of maturity where you have come to know that He is God, directly proportional to the degree that you have become still in all your categories.  He came to show us the Father by His knowing the Father.  And if it is required of us to be still to know Him, then as the Son of Man it was required of Him too to know Him as Father and be still.  Let that sink in. 

And so our concept of God as Father is not just disfigured by our past and various abuse that the enemy used, but also it is distorted by our own internal dialogue, perception and traditions, or as I like to call it “filters”.  The writer of Hebrews states the following:

Hebrews 5: 13 - 14

13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

There is a requirement of us not to stagnate, not to think that we are doing dandy, to think that we pass the exam or no real need for more.  Jesus said in John 17 that to KNOW the Father and the Son whom He sent is eternal life, which is resurrection life.  Eternal life is not just about longevity, but quality of life.  God desires many sons and daughters and even so does creation groan for their manifestation.  Not just for that which constitute resurrection of the body, but resurrection life in us now!  Even the manifestation of the sons and daughters now on earth.  This is so that many more would come into sonship, as they see the Father in those who have matured.  And as Jesus said to Phillip, they can authentically say, when you see me, you see Jesus, which is the true express image of the Father!

Many people cannot relate to God as Father.  They speak through Jesus to the Father, which is what we are to do.  But His intention was never that we are to not speak to Him at all.  I know many people like that and I do have compassion on that disposition, because as I said, there is a reason for that.  Many also can call Him Father, but calling Him Father and relating to Him as Father, is two different things.  And as I said, trust is the issue.  He is calling us as children of God to come into sonship that we may know Him.  There are those in the Body that need to address this issue.  Some may have to allow Him to heal past hurts and stop sweeping it under the rug.  Because even that which transpired in you about how a father is, evidently has you still not calling Him “Father” from an authentic place.  Calling Him Father is a good beginning, but His desire is that we will truly know Him as Father.  What a privilege!

Everything suffers loss because we do not know Him as we ought.  Not truly recognizing Him as Father, in adversely cause us not to truly recognize ourselves as His sons and daughters.  We may pay homage to the idea, but saying something and being something is not the same.  And so this is why Paul said to the Corinthians, “Why do you walk as mere men?”  What a strange thing to say. As if to say that we are actually more than just mere men?  Our own deficiency with regard to this truth, shows in the degree that we trust Him.  And this is exactly His provision for us to know Him, which is stillness.  This is why great faith is liken to childlike faith, because children trust their Father, at least in a perfect world.  But how can we when the enemy has made sure that we would be disjointed and broken arrows in His quiver? 

He is desiring to set us straight, even if it means that He has to break the legs of the sheep and carry it on His shoulder.  The issue is never just correction, the issue is ultimately trust.  And just because some of us may have not had derelict fathers, does not constitute that we truly know Him as Father, at least the way He intends.  It does not exclude us from pressing into this, because though you may love Him, the issue still remains trust.  Therefore, He invites circumstances to prove you and correct you that you may know Him.  And though many of us can say “I know the Father”, it is somehow so easy to generalize.  If you are still living from out of the life in you, which is self, you have yet to enter into the resurrection life He intended for you.  We have to ask ourselves the questions we think somehow is not applicable to us, which is, “Do I know the Father as He knows me?”  And, “Am I willing to lay my life down?”  At the heart of it all will always be the cross.  For the cross is where the Father showed the extent of His wrath, the extent of our sin, but also the extent of His mercy and love.  It is only at the cross where we meet God, because without the blood, we cannot stand before Him.  Even so, Jesus did not say He knew the Father as the Father knew Him, based from their pre-incarnate relationship.  He emptied Himself it says in Phillipians 2. But He said this as a declaration of the relationship He has with the Father, as a man.  The message is, as man you can have a relationship with the Father to know Him as He knows you, even though He is very God!

It takes a tremendous paradigm shift in us to come to the full revelation of this.  Because subconsciously we do not believe that we can have this type of relationship with the Father.  But this is exactly why He came.  To show us as man that we can.  And once the penny drops, everything changes.  Because knowing the Father is to be like the Son.

If we miss the Father, how can we truly see ourselves as sons?  It is not just a title, He is a person, although God is Spirit.  But a person that wants to be known.  Hence the invitation. 

Jeremiah 29:13

13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Once all of our heart is invested in this seeking, we find Him.  And only He can bring us to that place.  We can only go that far and fall short every time.  And yet, we are to seek.  And for that, He has to deal with our hearts.  This is not for what we can get out of it, although we will benefit immensely.  It is what the Father desires!  To have many sons and daughters!  To have communion with us of an intimate kind, transparency, to return to the garden.  Not only that we can trust Him, but that He has brought us to such a place that He can trust us.  We are to return with all our hearts.  The Father wants to love you.  He wants to love you.  This is His desire.  This is His heart’s cry and this desire He places in us so that with cords of love He may draw us to Him.  This is eternal life that we may know the Father and Jesus Christ His Son. 

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. – Psalm 46: 10. 

Enoch who walked with God, knew God.  God walks with us so that we may go from hearing to knowing.  And in between the hearing and the knowing, is stillness.  

At the heart of the Gospel is, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…”

The motivation has never just been salvation, but relationship.

 I will end this post with some of the last words of Jesus' High Priestly prayer in John 17.

John 17: 23; 25 - 26

I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.

Oh righteous Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known Thee, and these have known that thou has sent Me.

And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will delcare it: that the love wherewith thou has loved Me may be in them, and I in them.


 

 

 

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