01/15/2009

Psalm 68:4-6 New King James Version


4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds,[a] By His name YAH, And rejoice before Him. 5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. 6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

I'd like to still talk about the heart to heart connection with our Father. Pastor Mike preached last Sunday about a deep intimate relationship - a deep commitment with God. He said the word connect means to unite, to fasten together, join. When we have a heart to heart connection with the Father, we are to be united individually as well as united as the Body of Christ. We must have an intimate relationship with our Father. In Romans 8:15 it says: For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Sprit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." That is so awesome! Our Father in heaven has given us the Spirit of adoption. We are adopted as sons and daughters of the living God!

We are commanded to love one another but sometimes in the Body of Christ, we can be real gossips. We aren't concerned with developing a relationship with the Body of Christ, let alone a relationship with our Holy Father. We are too busy being in everyone else's business. We don't want to be rebellious do we?As a Father (the head of the body), God is saying to stop it, knock off the nonsense, come to Him, talk to Him as our Father. Sometimes fathers have to discipline their children. It's not a bad thing. It is to make them aware that they are doing something wrong and that there are consequences for their actions; then you can learn from it. There are many children today who are growing up without father figures. As a church, we need to show them that the Father cares - that they are not fatherless but that they have a "true" Father in heaven who loves them and cares for them. He is the Father of the fatherless. Let's show them the love of the Father.