Abba, Our Personal God

Sometimes, I think we have a wrong idea about God. Perhaps we think He is far away, too busy to care about our "little concerns." Or maybe we believe that He cares about only our eternal destiny. But that is not the God that the Bible portrays. The Bible shows us that God cares about our feelings, our concerns, and about our lives and our happiness.

Psalm 62:8 Trust in Him at all times O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.

"Pour out your hearts..." God wants to hear what is on our hearts. He really does care about what is going on in our lives.

If you have someone in your life that you love a lot, think of how much you hurt when that person hurts. Then multiply that infinitely, for God's love for us is even stronger than the strongest love we have ever felt or received from a human. His love is part of His nature, and His nature is infinite!

Jesus used the term Father for God in many ways and circumstances – He hardly ever used other terms, in fact, showing us a new way of being a child of God. Father is used to express closeness, as a symbol of God's personal presence in Jesus’ life. His usage of Father for God goes far beyond that of his Jewish contemporaries. As much as it reflects Jesus' special relationship with God, it also shows a simple and direct approach. His will for us, is a close father-child relationship. And even much more:

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Jesus is using the Aramaic word "Abba" to address God -- a term that a Jew of his day would probably never use in that way. It is a casual family term, similar to papa or daddy. Its usage denotes a childlike intimacy and an unquestioning trust, a closeness that would be found only within the very best relationship, and was probably very surprising to Jews of his time!

Our Lord is Someone who loves us so much that He wants to have that kind of special intimate relationship with us. He wants us to trust Him completely, with our hopes, our hurts, our worries, our everything.

If you are hurting, remember that you are never alone. God is always there, and He truly cares. Take Him up on it. Pour your hearts out to Him. You might be surprised at the results! There is no prayer too small to be heard, and don’t worry, nothing is "trivial" to our loving Father.

Let us pray, together -

Dear Lord,

Thank You so very much for taking a personal interest in each of us. Help us to trust in that love of Yours, and to live lives of grateful service to You, Abba, our Father, our papa, and our daddy, because of that special, wonderful, extravagant love You have given us.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

© 1998

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