Jesus constantly talked about God the Father. He was sent by the Father to redeem man, but although He chose for a time to be confined to earth, He was never separated from the Father except for one time. His greatest suffering came from being alone on the cross, feeling forsaken by the Father.
Throughout His life, Jesus was about His Father’s business. He reminded His mother of that when He stayed behind in the temple at twelve years old. His mission and work was to do the will of His Father.
My Father, Your Father, Our Father
Jesus used personal possessive pronouns when referring to God, the Father. In every way, God is His Father. Jesus, as part of the Godhead, has a more intimate relationship with the Father than any other human being could have. He has always had an intimate relationship with “My Father.”
He and the Father are One. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (Genesis 1:26, John 1:1-2). His declaration of His relationship to His Father was what led to His death on the cross.
We have access to God the Father through God the Son. When addressing those who believe in Him, He refers to God as your Father. A Christian’s relationship to God the Father is intimate because of his adoption into God’s family. Jesus came to add to HIs family. When someone comes to Him in faith, He acknowledged that God is now your Father.
In conversation with His disciples, He talked about our Father. Jesus gave His life in order to share His Father with us. God the Father is our Father.
To Jesus, God the Father is My Father. He refers to your Father when talking to His disciples. Together with Jesus, as His brothers and sisters, God the Father is our Father. God our Father loves the Son, and loves those who love Him.
“if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23)
Reflection and Discussion
How does each verse below address your relationship to God as your Father?
- “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
- “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
- “But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (Matthew 6:3-4).
- “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).
- “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven. . .” (Matthew 6:9).
- “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14).
- “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:17-18).
- “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or “What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32).
- “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).
- “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).
- “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7).
- “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).
- “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1).
- “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:8-10).
- “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what a master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:15-16).
- “He who hates Me hates My Father also” (John 15:23).
- “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father” (John 16:28).
- “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. . . But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. . . I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be One in Us, that the world may believe that You sent me” (John 17:11, 13, 20-21).
What does it mean for you to have God as your Father?
© Stephanie B. Blake
Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version
One Focus Ministries 