Podcast-Feed31st January 2010 - Dave Harper - The Father's Heart
The audio starts with a prophetic word from Julia about God’s desire to pour out his Spirit on us all for the benefit of the church as a whole and its works.
Dave continues our study of Ephesians looking at chapter 4:31-5:2, with the focus being was the father heart of God, in response to the prophetic picture of Julia’s in which we sought to cap God’s fountain with our own hands! This spoke of a fear of things getting out of control and indicated we do not fully know the Father heart of God.
Jesus reveals the Father. All that Jesus did was a revelation of the father’s heart since he only did what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). Healing is an outpouring of his love and compassion. It is not to display his power but his love. God is love and when he acts in power it reveals his love,. And when we see his love it inspires faith. Jesus could say if you have seen me you have seen the Father.
The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 graphically illustrates how we can be children of the Father but still not really know him. The younger son spent his inheritance looking for love and acceptance in the wrong places and as soon as he repented, God was moved by compassion and love and received him back. He seems to have a capacity to receive grace and love from the Father and joined in the celebrations. The older brother is almost more worrying because he was always with his father and was dutifully obedient but did not know Him. He was a classic religious man with outward conformity but lacked power inwardly. To know the Father’s love is by revelation not familiarity and he seems to have been ruled by fear not faith, never asking God the Father for anything and not enjoying His love and grace. I looked at how rejection breeds fear and that can be expressed in a very controlled way as in the older brother or an excessive life style that crosses boundaries in the pursuit of gratification and acceptance. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) and fear has to do with punishment. To be receivers of the Father’s love requires repentance from these positions and beliefs and we can ask for a fresh revelation of the Father’s love – he only gives good gifts to those who ask. Pursue the Father’s love
Questions
What revelation do you think the younger son had of the Father in the story of the prodigal son? (Luke 15).
And what was the older brother’s revelation of the Father?
What did they have to repent of to come into a fuller revelation of the Father’s love?
Where would you place yourself in the story?
Listen now! (0:45min / 12MB)