Ecclesia Global Missions

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God is a triune God, often referred to as the Godhead or the Trinity. 

Revelation 7:10
Amplified Bible
and in a loud voice they cried out, saying, “Salvation [belongs] to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb [our salvation is the Trinity’s to give, and to God the Trinity we owe our deliverance].”
Colossians 2:10
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].

Trinity is a group of three. As the Colossians AMPC verse states, the Godhead is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
These are the 3 parts of who God is as a whole. 
This week we want to talk about the Father; about His heart for you. 
As we begin this topic, I would like you to pray and ask Him to open your heart to receive and to see Him as your heavenly Father. 
Our relationships with our earthly fathers can play a major role in our relationship with God. 
It plays a part in how we view Him, understand Him, understand who we are as His, and understand His expectations for us. 
There are times when we know with our minds how we are to feel, but we are unable to feel it within our hearts. 
God the Father, is not only a Father to Jesus. 

2 Corinthians 1:3
English Standard Version
God of All Comfort
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
He is also our Father
2 Corinthians 6:18
Amplified Bible
18 And I will be a Father to you,
And you will be My sons and daughters,”
Says the Lord Almighty.
We have access to Him as our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ. 
When we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that He is the Messiah, that He came from God, was on earth, was crucified for our sins, rose again on the third day, and is now seated at the right hand with the Father, we gain a way to God the Father!
It is a heart matter and you must have accepted Him into your heart,
Romans 10:9-10
Amplified Bible
9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.

If you are listening to or reading this and you are not sure if you have confessed and acknowledged, or accepted Jesus as your Savior, you can do so now! It is easy!
Tell Him, speak out the words that you want to accept Him, that you want to receive Him, that you acknowledge Who He is. That you have sinned and He is your redeemer!
Jesus was the first to say that we have access to the Father through Him, though His disciples, really were not yet sure what He was talking about 

Matthew 23:9
Amplified Bible
9 Do not call anyone on earth [who guides you spiritually] your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
John 1:12
Amplified Bible
12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—
John 14:6
Amplified Bible
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

When you think of Father, what comes to mind? When you think of God as Father, what comes to mind?
Just like fathers on earth have many aspects and many things they do for their children, God our Heavenly Father does the same. 
First He loves you. He loves you so much more than you could ever begin to imagine. 
I am not sure that the human brain can comprehend and accept how much God loves you.
I mean, for starters, He sent His only Son to earth, not just His only Son, but a special, unique Son, One who willingly went to the cross for us. 

John 3:16-17
Amplified Bible
16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

Wow, think about that for a minute. Do you have children? Do you have people whom you love? People, who you are close to?
Is there someone in your life, whom you feel an incredible love for, one who you find it really hard to see suffer? Would you be able to sit back and watch them go through hard things, be ridiculed, accused, and judged falsely, to be a target for people’s anger and jealousy? To hear them cry out to you for help, knowing that you could help them, but would lose others in the process? To watch this child, or person you love so much weep blood because of the distress that they are in, knowing that you could take that away for them?  What about watching them be harmed physically? Be flogged, or beaten up?
To be crucified on a cross?
God the Father, watched all of that happen, He allowed all of that to happen so that Jesus would be the propitiation for our sins. Meaning, He was the Lamb that would be crucified, so that our sins would be forgiven, and we would have eternal life with Him!
That shows some kind of love that He has for us, that He truly wants us to have a relationship with Him, to get to know Him intimately!

Romans 5:8
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
8 But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.
Romans 8:35-39
Amplified Bible
35 Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 Just as it is written and forever remains written,
“For Your sake we are put to death all day long;
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]. 38 For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Galatians 3:26-29
Amplified Bible
26 For you [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and] are all children of God [set apart for His purpose with full rights and privileges] through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ [into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed] have clothed yourselves with Christ [that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values]. 28 There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. 29 And if you belong to Christ [if you are in Him], then you are Abraham’s descendants, and [spiritual] heirs according to [God’s] promise.

So, yes, God the Father has an incredible, all-encompassing, unconditional love for you!
I say unconditional because did you catch what Romans 8:38-39 said?

Romans 8:38-39
Amplified Bible
38 For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, not death, principalities, not height, not depth, nothing can separate you from His unlimited love!
This means His love is limitless, there is no limit, it does not come to end, just like it states in 1 Corinthians 13, it is endless. Can you imagine a love like that?
A love that is still there even after all the hurt you caused, through hurting His children, through hurting yourself, walking in sin, negative and cursed thoughts, and giving into temptation from the enemy. None of that can stop Him from loving you!
Your sins are forgiven as far as the East is from the West!

Psalm 103:10, 12
Amplified Bible
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins [as we deserve],
Nor rewarded us [with punishment] according to our wickedness.
12 As far as the east is from the west,...
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

You are loved by God, He cares deeply about you. 
Jesus shared a parable about the prodigal son in Luke 15. If you are struggling to see God as Father God, I encourage you to study and meditate on this parable. 
The son seemed pretty self-centered in the beginning of the story, he wanted his inheritance and yearned to do what he wanted, not what was expected of him. He lived an immoral life the scripture tells us.
That is how we are sometimes. We get it in our heads or our hearts that we want something to go a certain way, we lack empathy and care about others around us, we want to do this or do that, even if the Holy Spirit is giving us a check about it. We may say oh, it’ll be alright. We can get stuck on that, and that can become kind of our focus at some point. 
Sometimes like that son, we walk away from God for a time, we want our independence, we want to figure things out on our own, or we don’t want to be told what to do. 
We are that son at times! Whatever actions we did or didn’t do, no matter how big or how small that rebellion was, that sin was. 
Then that son realized that he misused his money and it was gone. He had nothing left. As he was feeding the pigs, feeling so hungry, he realized what he had done wrong, that even his father’s servants had food, while he had none. 
So he went back ready to repent, to say he was sorry, and stated that he was not worthy to be called his son. 
Well, isn’t that what God desires from us? To realize that He is there for us? To repent for our actions, for our sins. Repent for what we did to Him and even to others?

1 John 1:9
Amplified Bible
9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].

What did the father do in that story? He saw his son from a distance and ran to him! 
That is what our heavenly Father does when He sees us turning to Him. He is right there for us, He is happy and glad and rejoicing that we are coming back. Our eyes are open and we realize what we did. 

Luke 15:10
Amplified Bible
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents [that is, changes his inner self—his old way of thinking, regrets past sins, lives his life in a way that proves repentance; and seeks God’s purpose for his life].”

When we come back to God, we are coming back with humility, we are feeling and knowing that we are not worthy, we are not worthy of His love, His forgiveness, or worthy of anything that He does for us. 
But because He loves us so much, He takes us back no questions asked!
He blesses us, just as the father in that story blessed his son, he gave him a robe, he slaughtered a fattened calf for him. He was celebrating having his son back. 
If God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us, how could He not be celebrating when we turn back to Him?!?!
So remember, you can not do anything so bad that God would turn from you. That He would not let you back into His fold, His place of refuge and safety!
In that same chapter, Jesus also mentioned the parable of the lost sheep. 
There was so much celebration for the 1 sheep that was missing but found. 
Or the parable of the missing coins that were found? We are much more to God than that. 
Do not allow condemnation to come in. Condemnation is from Satan, as the Holy Spirit convicts us.
 
Romans 8:1
Amplified Bible
Escape from Bondage
Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior].

What happened when the prodigal son realized what he was doing or what he did wrong, is like being convicted of by the Holy Spirit.
 
John 16:8
Amplified Bible
8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness, and about judgment:

The Holy Spirit convicts us to bring us back to God, to help us to turn from sin, to die to our flesh as we learn what sin is. 
This and some things God does allow to happen because just as an earthly father disciplines his child, God disciplines those whom He loves

Hebrews 12:6
Amplified Bible
6 For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves,
And He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes [to His heart].”
Revelation 3:19
Amplified Bible
19 Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will].

Discipline is used to train a child up in the way they should go, for instruction. 
Remember Psalm 103, He doesn’t punish us for our wickedness, He disciplines us. So that we may learn from our actions. That is the goal anyway. So that we can walk in righteousness.
 
1 Corinthians 11:32
Amplified Bible
32 But when we [fall short and] are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [by undergoing His correction] so that we will not be condemned [to eternal punishment] along with the world.
Hebrews 12:11
Amplified Bible
11 For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].

Even though discipline is hard to receive sometimes, it is good for us. We need it. Just like a child needs discipline from their father, and it shows how much that father cares about that son, we need discipline from our Father.
 
Proverbs 12:1
Amplified Bible
Contrast the Upright and the Wicked
12 Whoever loves instruction and discipline loves knowledge,
But he who hates reproof and correction is stupid.

God does not expect us to be perfect, He does expect our hearts to be with Him, to be seeking His will and His ways. 

Psalm 103:11 & 13
Amplified Bible
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence]...
13 Just as a father loves his children,
So the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].
John 14:21
Amplified Bible
21 The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him].”
Romans 8:32
Amplified Bible
32 He who did not spare [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

This last scripture is an excellent reminder for us at times. 
He gave up His only Son for us, He didn’t spare His life, even though He prayed and asked Him to if it was His will. 
If He did that for us, for you and me, how much more gracious will He be with us?!
Jesus tells us that our Father will give good gifts:

Matthew 7:9-11
Amplified Bible
9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will [instead] give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will [instead] give him a snake? 11 If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.
Matthew 6:25-33
Amplified Bible
25 “Therefore I tell you, stop being worried or anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted) about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by worrying can add one [l]hour to [the length of] his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothes? See how the lilies and wildflowers of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin [wool to make clothing], 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive and green today and tomorrow is [cut and] thrown [as fuel] into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Therefore do not worry or be anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted), saying, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ 32 For the [pagan] Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; [but do not worry,] for your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also.

God cares about you, more than the grass or even the birds in the sky. You are important to Him.
 
Matthew 10:29-31
Amplified Bible
29 Are not two little sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered [for the Father is sovereign and has complete knowledge]. 31 So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

If you are struggling with feeling that you are worthy of His love, that your sins are indeed forgiven, that you are wanted by God, please reach out and ask for prayer.
Soul healing may be needed and or your spirit could have been wounded or crushed. Ask the Lord to reveal to you what may be blocking you from feeling worthy, from feeling His love. Cry out to Abba Father as Jesus did, as you Honor Him as your Heavenly Father. You are His child and He wants a relationship with you. 
He is not a dictator, He is not a punisher, He is a loving disciplinarian who desires His children to be with Him. Remember when we went through the 10 commandments, He is a jealous God if His children, His people are worshiping and idolizing things or people. He is to be our 1 true God, the only God we worship and idolize. The only One we keep our eyes on. 
God loves you and no matter how things might seem to you right now, He does hear you:
 
Psalm 34:17-18
Amplified Bible
17 When the righteous cry [for help], the Lord hears
And rescues them from all their distress and troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the heartbroken
And He saves those who are crushed in spirit (contrite in heart, truly sorry for their sin).

He sees you

Psalm 34:15
Amplified Bible
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous [those with moral courage and spiritual integrity]
And His ears are open to their cry.
Psalm 33:13
Amplified Bible
13 The Lord looks [down] from heaven;
He sees all the sons of man;

He knows you

Jeremiah 1:5
Amplified Bible
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument],
And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own];...

I would like to leave you with Psalm 139, I know it is a little on the longer side, but it really does speak to us about God knowing us, not just knowing who we are but having an intimate knowledge of us. We in turn want to have an intimate knowledge of Him. 

Psalm 139:1-18
Amplified Bible
God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do];
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken],
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before,
And [You have] placed Your hand upon me.
6 Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,
And the night will be the only light around me,”
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,
But the night shines as bright as the day;
Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

There are so many great examples and verses in God’s Word to meditate on about His love. His love for you. 
Due to past trauma, it may be hard to accept love, to know that you can be loved. That it is ok to be loved, better than ok, amazing to be loved. To allow that love to come into our hearts. Please pray and ask the Lord to work on your heart so that you can see Him as Father and accept and know about His love for you. 

Isaiah 64:8
Amplified Bible
8 Yet, O Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our Potter,
And we all are the work of Your hand.

Allow Him to be the Potter and allow yourself to be molded by His hands!

Many Blessings, 
Bridget