NEW EYES TO SEE THE FATHER
INTRODUCTION:
There is a longing in the heart of every human being to know the love and affirmation of their father. Something basic stirs deep inside our souls, releasing a compelling drive to do whatever may be required to gain approval and recognition from the one who represents God to the child in the most significant way.
It is my conviction that a deep healing needs to happen in the heart of every person in order that we might see the Father as He really is, and come to the place of rest in our striving for His acknowledgment and acceptance. We need to have new eyes(Eph 1:18) to see the Father that Jesus knew, and the good news of the Gospel is that the Son of God has come to reveal the Father to us.
In this first post, we will deal with some fundamental breakdowns in our ability to see the Father in His true identity, and set some basic principles of healing in place so that we might receive His love for us.
I. THE FUNDAMENTAL LONGING TO KNOW THE FATHER
A. Human identity locked in the Father’s heart
1. Psalms 139:13-18 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. (14) I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. (15) My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. (16) Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. (17) How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (18) If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
a. You formed me
b. You skillfully formed me
c. Your eyes saw my unformed being
d. My days were written in Your book before they happened
e. Your thoughts concerning me are numberless and precious
2. Isaiah 43:1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
a. You created and formed me
b. You redeemed me
c. You called me by name
d. I am Yours by right of creation and purchase
3. Isaiah 45:4-6 For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. (5) I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, (6) That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
a. You called me by the name You gave me, though I did not know You
b. You clothed me with Your support that the nations may honor You
4. Isaiah 49:1 “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
a. You called me from the womb
b. You spoke of my name from the womb
B. Innate awareness that the Father holds the key to identity and destiny
C. Authority to impart identity and destiny given to human fathers
Genesis 27:33-34 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him–and indeed he shall be blessed.” (34) When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me–me also, O my father!”
1. The power of the blessing resides in the father – v.33
2. Absence of the blessing creates massive anguish – v.34
II. THE PROBLEM OF DISTORTION
A. Root of the problem of sin – the lie that we cannot trust the Father
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; (3) but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” (4) Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
B. Distorted perspective of the Father destroys ability to impart wholeness
C. Distortion cripples subsequent interactions
1. The earthly father speaks a distorted word
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
2. The distortion is multiplied through the child’s wounded heart
Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that you be not judged. (2) For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Matthew 13:3,8 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow (8) But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
3. Illustration: the wristwatch and the hammer (more to come)
III. THE PROCESS OF RESTORATION
Three basic laws of restoration that apply to our topic:
A. Honoring father and mother – Exodus 20:12 (first commandment with promise – Ephesians 6:2-3)
Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Ephesians 6:2-3 “HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,” which is the first commandment with promise: (3) “THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.”
B. This is done by learning to see with the Father’s eyes
2 Corinthians 5:15-17 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. (16)
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
1. We ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the true identity of our parents
2. We set our hearts to think of them and relate to them according to their true identity that exists in the Father’s heart
C. Forgiving and blessing those who curse you
1. Bless those who curse you, thus demonstrating your sonship
Matthew 5:44-45 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, (45) that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
2. The freedom to do this is rooted in the confidence of receiving the Father’s blessing
Deuteronomy 23:5 Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.
3. Forgiving releases ongoing experience of forgiveness
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
D. Repenting from false perceptions
1. We learn to see false messages as strongholds of the enemy; systems of thought that have controlled our self-perception and behavior
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
2. Repentance – “sweeping the house clean” – tearing down thought structures (strongholds); turning away from false beliefs
Luke 11:24-25 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ (25) And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.
3. Healing and spiritual growth – rebuilding new thought structures in accordance with the Word of God.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
a. We must establish a pattern of hearing and perceiving who the Father really is, and what He says about you in His Word to you.
b. Through meditation and contemplative prayer we learn to see what He is really like, and what He thinks and feels about us. This practice is essential if we are to come to a stable place in our emotions, learning to live and respond out of our true identity in the Father’s heart.
CONCLUSION:
Philip said to Jesus one day, “Show us the Father, and that will be enough for us,” (John 14:8). That is truly the cry of the human soul – we want to know the Father as He is, for in that knowledge is eternal life (John 17:3). My prayer is that through making these verses and concepts a part of your prayer life, you will indeed come to know the Father that Jesus knew, and rest in the confidence of His loving affection for you.
The Key of David 