The Intimate Love of the Father

The Intimate Love of the Father “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18 Not too long ago, Lydia, a sister from South Africa, wrote to me. I believe that many of you would be able to identify with what she shared about her struggles in relating to God as her Father: Dear Pastor Prince, I grew up with very low self-esteem, having been labeled the difficult child in my family. I was an unplanned baby, and my parents already had one child—a girl, so they really wanted a boy. They were disappointed when I turned out to be a girl and even considered giving me to a paternal family member who did not have children. My dad comes from a very cold, strict family, and he has a very bad temper, so I grew up naturally fearful of him and always felt like I was walking on eggshells around him. My mom also grew up in a household where she had not received love. Both my parents are extreme perfectionists, very organized, and raised us with military discipline and no compassion. Thus, I could never relate to God as a Father. God was unapproachable and sitting with a lightning bolt ready to strike me whenever I wasn’t good enough, didn’t pray enough, or wasn’t obedient enough. I was under the impression that God was only pleased with me when I obeyed the law, that I never met His expectations, and I was always under condemnation. Since encountering your teaching resources, the veil in my life has been torn. For the first time, I am free. I no longer walk under the heavy burden of condemnation. I learned that God loved us first, and I can now have a love relationship with my heavenly Father and Jesus. I have experienced victory over fear and sin that kept me captive for years—not by trying to be obedient, but by just learning that my sins have already been forgiven on the cross. And no, I am not sinning more now. I am actually overcoming more and sinning less, and I have a grateful heart for what Christ has done on the cross. Do you feel as though you are never good enough, can never do enough, and be obedient enough for God to love and accept you? Do you feel you are always living under perpetual condemnation? Perhaps you can’t relate to God as a loving Father because you’ve never experienced the love of your earthly father or because your own father has hurt you terribly. My friend, I pray that as you begin to meditate on today's verse, you will supernaturally experience the intimate love of your heavenly Father in a deep and personal way as never before. I pray that this experience will heal, renew, restore, and transform you in a spectacular way because His love for you is nothing less than spectacular.