RESTORED Week 13 - Relating with God as Dad

Watch the Video for Week 13: “Relating with God as a dad.”

Scriptures Mentioned Today

• Psalm 16:11
• Romans 8:15

Your Notes from the Teaching

In Your presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11)

As we saw this week, if you grew up religious, you probably did not have “joyful” on your top ten list of God’s qualities. We normally have cast God as a stern, cosmic killjoy who is more concerned about holiness than about laughter and joy. And yet, everything that we enjoy about life in this world He created was His idea!

What are your favorite ways of finding happiness? What makes you laugh? Shout for joy? What activities make you spring out of bed in the morning? Take some time to count them, and then thank God for them. They all came from His heart — because He is a God of JOY!

Consider then, what would it be like to invite God into these activities? No, we don’t mean just a simple prayer at the start of something enjoyable (though there is nothing wrong with that). We are talking about keeping an awareness of God through out the activity. An intentional connection with the Creator of all things joyful, even talking with Him as you laugh and enjoy. To go a step further, perhaps you’ve found ways of finding joy, or pleasure, that you know have crossed over into sin. Have you considered inviting Jesus into those times? Not to join you in sinning, but to lovingly guide you out of the addictive stronghold and into a better way of satisfying the need — A richer, deeper way that has no side effects. Does this sound strange? It’s not as if He is not always with you already: I will never leave you or forsake you is His promise, after all. He is not ashamed of you. He is eager to help!

As you invite His presence, think of it like cleaning out a dirty bucket by pouring in a deluge of water that just keeps overflowing — spilling the dirt over the sides until the bucket is clean. That is what His exceeding abundant grace will do!

Either way, how will you engage with the God of all joy today?

If you are like most of us, you have a mixed set of memories about your father. You may have had a wonderful father, but you inevitably saw his failures and flaws. Maybe you had an angry or even abusive father, and struggle to find redeeming qualities about him. Perhaps yours was somewhere in between?

How we remember our fathers (mothers, too, but especially our fathers) will play a big part in how we receive God as a father. Our culture has trained us to cast aspersions on, and blame our fathers for whatever is wrong with us; rare is the family where this is not the case. Too often, we are hard on our fathers because of our high expectations, and fail to thank God for the love they endeavored to share.

We have already looked into the importance of forgiveness and honor, so today let’s spend some time asking God to show all the ways He was revealed through our fathers — even the really flawed ones. Ask the Spirit of God for help, if needed, in searching out the following questions: (NOTE: — if you don’t know your father, perhaps someone who was a father figure may be able to stand in? Or, perhaps it was your mother who filled in?)

What fun memories of laughter and joy do you have with your father?

What ways did you see your father sacrificing his own well-being, or personal needs, to tend to yours?

What memories of your father’s protection can you recall?

Were there times your father comforted you, provided his shoulders to cry on, or was a dependable rock for you when your life got out of hand?

What good character qualities have you gleaned from your father’s example?

What were some of the best pieces of advice your father gave to you?

What good do you hope to carry on from your father’s legacy?

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!(Philippians 4:4)

When going through a rough patch of life, hopefully we have friends who will be there to encourage us — to help us see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and offer us words of hope. It is not uncommon for us to become annoyed a the hope and even be offended at the efforts to restore our joy when all we asked for was a pity party in our honor. “That’s easy for you to say,” we bark at a friend who is only trying, as we say, to cheer us up.

When we do not feel joyful, it can seem counterintuitive — even fake — to press on toward joy and rejoicing when our heart is downcast and broken over issues of life. But what if I told you that the words in the verse above were written by a man on death row? Not death row in a clean prison )with 3 squares a day and a bed with a mattress), but an old fashioned dungeon with chains and rats and stale bread for supper. Sleeping on a cold, damp floor or up against dripping, mildewed walls, every sound of approaching footsteps could be the executioner. I’d wager the last thing on the mind of most would be rejoicing in anything!

But Paul, like many others who went before him, had learned that while joy is a feeling, it is one that follows faith and engagement with the living Presence of the One in whose presence is fullness of joy. That means, beloved, that there is opportunity to experience the feeling of joy anytime, anywhere. A joy unspeakable and full of Glory (1 Peter 1:8)

Paul learned in all His years of suffering for the sake of spreading Good News how to worship his way through the circumstances, so that now he could say with sincerity: I rejoice in my sufferings… (Colossians 1:24)

After the 12 apostles had been flogged for preaching Christ: they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5:41)

When Jesus was hanging on the cross: who, for the joy set before Him endured the cross. (Heb

12:2)

How will you allow the Lord’s joy in, when your heart feels anything but joyful?