How Can I Call God Father?

It's very difficult, because of early traumatic experiences, for many Christians to embrace calling God Father. My heart goes out to all, especially men, who are struggling with being repelled by God's title as Our Father. 

I recently shared with someone, who is struggling with this, that it has helped me to realize that My God in Heaven is not like the father that I had here on earth. He is the Father that I wish I had always had, the Father that I should have had.  

Thinking like this helps because it takes the focus off of the earthly father, who was never able to be the example of a perfect father. God in Heaven, the Father of Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father, has come to me to fulfill all that I did not receive through my earthly father.

I am not with my Heavenly Father physically but that is coming at the end of time. I can't yet touch him and hug him, but one day soon I will be with him in my new, physical, glorified body. 

For now, as I grow close to him spiritually, he fulfills all that I need in a father. Why call God father? He restores and repairs what was done, not done and what I did not receive from earthly parents. 

My growing spiritual relationship with God The Father supersedes the physical needs of touch as I learn to crucify my flesh and bring my body under. 

God is the key, the most important connection for us. Jesus says throughout the Word that he has come to restore us to The Father. He is the link to The Father. The only way that we can reach The Father is through him. He and The Father are also One. 

Knowing Christ and growing in Christ must include coming to accept and know The Father as The Father, even if we call Him something else because we haven't yet accepted the word father.

He is fully aware of the shortcomings of our parents, guardians, keepers and those adults who had such a huge impact on our formative years. 

He has come in the form of his Holy Spirit to comfort us and guide us into a new experience of love, fatherly love. Embrace him as Father. Call him Father, and be healed.

How To Deal With Problems

See Any Problem As Something Good.

This goes for all challenges, setbacks, difficulties, trials, tragedies and tribulations. Even if nothing good seems to be coming from a problem, why go through the additional trauma of seeing it as something bad from which you will never recover?  Seeing it as something bad is the only other alternative to seeing it as something good. It's one or the other and we have the power to choose.

 

I realize that in some disastrous situations, some tragedies, some heartbreaking occurrences, it is next to impossible to stop and think that good will come from it. It would be difficult to do this but not impossible. If we are not able to do it in the midst of trial, we can take control and do it later. Do you realize how powerful the human brain is? Do you know that anything that exists began in the mind, then it was believed, then spoken or written, then it came into being?

At SuccessConsciousness, these important facts about the power of our God-given brains are shared:

 

Mind power is one of the strongest and most useful powers you possess.
This power, together with your imagination, can create success or failure, happiness or unhappiness, opportunities or obstacles. This depends on your mindset.

Your thoughts are the main ingredient of this power, and when you add to them focus and emotions, thoughts become powerful and can affect your reality.
The thoughts that pass through your mind are responsible for almost everything that happens in your life.

 

Not all thoughts are equal. Stray ones that you think once or twice cannot do much, but your predominant thoughts, the ones you repeat often, influence your behavior and attitude, affect your actions and reactions, and shape your reality.

Christians know that God has the upper-hand in all that happens in our lives. It is, however, a fact that God works with us. He does not control us. He helps us with our infirmities but he does not control us. That means that we have authority in our lives and also power through our brains. We can decide how to think. With determination and the divine help of The God of All Hope, we can learn to see problems as something good. Problems are not good but they can be used by a loving Father to generate good in our lives.

 

Those who know God always have hope. Our Heavenly Father promised to turn everything for our good, one way or another. We have to choose to believe. If we don't yet feel it, see it, taste it, hear it or touch this conversion of bad to good, we can insist that God has or will convert it to bless us. We can persist in professing this everyday, throughout the day. Why should we confess such a statement when it is so hard to believe in our circumstance? Because he said it. It's as simple as that.

We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, with those whom he has called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 GNT

Look up, even though your heart is broken.

Look up even though you are oh so discouraged.

Look up, even though it seems impossible.

Look up, even though you can't take it anymore.

Look up, even though nothing has ever worked out for you.

Look up, even though you don't think that God loves you.

Look up, because you are God's by your own choice.

Look up, believe and confess that this issue will work out for your good because your loving Heavenly Father said it would. 

You struggling with a challenge and just don't see how you are going to make it?

See It As Something Good. Start there and the answers and help will come.

 

Scripture Image Credit: Biblia

 

Evaluating Our Relationships

It is critical to our growth in the Lord that we associate ourselves with people who uplift us. At the end of a conversation with someone, if we exit feeling down, disturbed and not quite right, we should be wary and watch closely. If this happens consistently, something is wrong.

It doesn't matter if we are praying for that person, always lifting them up and trying to be a Godly example and inspiration to him or her. If we don't feel elevated and at peace at the end of any encounter with them, our growth in God will be hindered. We hear the following statement often and we should take it more to heart. Some people we will need to love and pray for from afar.

How often do we ignore this truth in the name of being good Christians? We are good Christians when we attend to our own advancement in the Lord first, at all costs. We are good Christians when we guard our hearts with all diligence. Our Father does want us to come to him with broken spirits and broken and contrite hearts but not through being ignorant about our detrimental relationships with others.

There is no doubt about it; we need to discuss with God if we should be closely associated with these types of persons. The ones whom we need to love and pray for from afar are the very persons who drain our spirits, depress us and prey upon us, whether purposely or unintentionally. It is difficult to deny these people access to our lives when they continually burden us with the same conversations, the same complaints and the same attitudes.

When we realize, however, that they never take our Godly advice and that they never do what we suggest to resolve their own issues, it becomes clear that our relationships with God are being eroded through our relationships with them. They are toxic relationships, a form of being unequally yoked. If we persist in the belief that we are slowly influencing them and that we are long-suffering for good, then we need to think long and hard and often about the wisdom of that train of thought. 

Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits. (I Corinthians 15:33)

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. (Proverbs 13:20)

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (I Corinthians 5:6)

We have to also be sure that WE are uplifting to others. If we are critical of them, unfairly judgemental, always oppressive, non-receptive to learning from them, bearers of bad reports, complainers, holier-than-thou, etc., then maybe we should be removed from their lives through their own recognition of the truth. It works both ways. 

If we ask, God will give us seeing eyes and hearing ears to honestly evaluate our relationships so that we can walk in the light. The purity of our close associations is paramount to maintaining and strengthening our connection to God. Healthy relationships inspire and motivate us to higher heights in Christ Jesus.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Freedom From Bad Memories

We've become adept at suppressing distressing and painful chips and chunks of memories. At the time when bad things happened to us or when we did something bad to others, we were not able to process it, so we buried it and hid from it. This is often the source of an unhealthy mental state.

 

Hurtful memories cannot be laid to rest as long as they are suppressed. Offending persons cannot be forgiven as long as the thoughts of them are suppressed. We can't forgive ourselves until we face our offenses. The results of trauma cannot be converted through healing and deliverance as long as they are suppressed.

God shows us how to get free of the debilitating effects of these hidden facts. When the Holy Spirit allows a memory to surface, it's usually at the most unexpected time. It's often something that you think would be long forgotten and in which you are surprised that it has come back to memory. It was always there and we are adept at fooling ourselves that anything that we are not conscious of doesn't matter.

Don't ignore the pop-up memories that God allows to plague you. Face the feelings that they unearth. God often asks us to relive painful memories so that we can endure them in a new state of mind that can go through and overcome them. No, it's not fun and it doesn't feel good but if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. (11 Corinthians 5:17) Painful memories can only be crucified by facing the origin of them.

 

I am on that journey of deliverance. Bad memories, the ones that we were able to bury deep inside, are like gray shadows behind a thick, gauzy, misty curtain. Something is there but consciously we don't know what it is. Despite that, it effects our personality and our daily life.

 

We would never open the curtains to see the trauma that doesn't exist but God is able. Our Father, in his loving kindness and mercy, would never force us to face something that would cripple or destroy us any more than it already has. We usually don't know but God knows when we are strong enough. 

You might say, Well, it sounds like I would have to relive the bad experience in my mind and emotions. Yes, you would to a certain extent. Experiencing some parts of traumas with a strengthened, spirit-filled heart again lays them to rest. God decides what we are to revisit in our emotions and to what extent. We feel these old but potent, living emotions with a reborn mind and heart, abilities we did not have back then.

 

As we grow in Christ we become more able to handle difficult circumstances. We were not able to handle what was happening before, especially in childhood. Because of that, the secret memories keep hurting us today.  The whole point is that we can't go back and change things but Our Loving Father will help us come to terms with the bad memories from traumatic experiences.

Allow God to take you through the healing process and purge you of bad memories because of past offenses. You don't have to keep hurting and suffering through things that you did or didn't do, or things that someone did to you or didn't do for you. Even though you are lost about it all, you are not alone.

 

Stand firm on your daily prayer life and determine to have faith in your daily Bible reading, because you know that the Word of God converts. It's the Living Word and no word goes out of the mouth of God without effect. All of God's words accomplish what he intends for them to. His words in you are life, healing and health. 

When he begins to lift that curtain on your memory, go with God. Our Heavenly Father himself will hold you with the right hand of his righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10) He does care. He will guide you on how to be delivered. Whether it is in private between you and God, whether he leads you to a good Christian counselor, whether he prompts you to join a support group or whether it is a combination of these and other things, he will lead and guide you into all truth. (John 16:13)

 

You might say, Well, I could never talk about my bad memories with anyone. Well, God knows that and he understands. You may not have to. Don't be afraid. He's ready and willing to help you on your own level, from where you're at in this challenge. He won't force you to do anything. He never does. He's kind and considerate and will always work with you. He wants you to be free.

 

Knowing God is supposed to make a difference in our lives. If we allow him to, he will deliver us from the evil of past traumatic memories, no matter what they are or how they came about. God does not want you to keep carrying that burden or burdens. Don't turn away anymore when he shows you a past memory. Trust him, draw nigh to him, obey him and get freed.

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Stop bad memories from popping up, Stop bad memories, Eliminate bad memories