“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6)

I pondered over the title of this post for some time and almost didn’t go with it because this term, “Who’s your Daddy?” has taken on a life of its own with varying meanings. But, as a Christian, it’s a very important question to ask yourself, especially during any kind of crisis or emergency. This is because you have been adopted into God’s wonderful family! God is now your Heavenly Father (this is how Jesus taught you to approach Him when praying). You are His beloved child with all the rights that come with that privilege, and you can now approach Him boldly as you do your earthly father. Three times in the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostle Paul used the word “abba” when speaking to God. The word “abba” in modern Hebrew means “Daddy.”

Therefore

Throughout the day, when you remember how much God loves you deeply especially if any kind of situation happens where you need your Heavenly Father’s help and guidance, don’t despair, just remember, “Who’s your daddy?” and approach Him that way, boldly; He will respond to you in a wonderful and perfect way!

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:15)

“He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”  (Eph. 1:5) 

Adoption is irrevocable!

Twice, Susan and I were blessed to be present when our son, John, and his wife, Ingrid, adopted children. John and Ingrid are foster care parents and have children coming and going from their home for many reasons. These two children had become a regular part of their family because they had been with them a long time; they had become dearly loved, and it seemed like they were already permanent. Finally, they officially adopted them and it was a beautiful moment each time. John, Ingrid, and the new family member stood before the judge, and he proclaimed it legal; the child received a brand-new birth certificate, too, with John and Ingrid listed as the parents. By the way, if you have witnessed an adoption in a court of law, you will hear the following question posed to the new parents, “Do you understand that adoption is an irrevocable act, and you cannot take it back?” That’s correct; even though it’s legally possible to disown a natural-born child, it’s absolutely impossible to disown an adopted one. They are forever permanent!

It is exactly the same way with God

Once God has adopted you into His family as his child, it is forever. He adopted you with all your shortcomings, quirks, and flaws even though He knew all about them before He adopted you. And He will continue to love you and help you mature and grow all the days of your life.

Therefore

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” (Gal. 3:26)

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (John 1:12)

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15)

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13-14)

Justice was served!

I heard a story about two children who were best friends growing up. They happily played together all day long and loved each other like brothers. Then, one of the boys moved away to a distant city when his father received employment there. The boys lost contact with each other, and as they grew up, they developed very different lives. One of them pursued an education in law and proceeded up the ranks to become a respected judge. Unfortunately, the other took a very different path, filled with poor decisions that led to crime. One day, he was arrested for theft and found himself in front of a judge. That judge was his old childhood friend. The judge recognized him at once, but that didn’t change the fact that his old friend had broken the law, and he could not let him off the hook; the law is the law, and all crimes must be dealt with and atoned for legally without exception. Therefore, the judge followed the rule of law perfectly, pronounced his friend guilty, and imposed the standard fine appropriate to the crime committed, $1,000, which was to be settled immediately, or jail time would be imposed. Then, after the gavel had gone down, the judge did something very unusual and remarkable. He stood up, took off his robe, stepped down, and wrote a personal check to cover the entire amount. The legal debt was now completely paid in full, and his friend was free to go!

In a similar way, this is what God did for us

The Bible says we are all born into a fallen world, we have a fallen sinful nature and sin, and God is holy and righteous and requires payment for sin. No matter what we do in our own strength, it’s not good enough; we will always fall short of God’s standard of righteousness (Rom. 3:23). If we have to pay our own penalty for sin and rebellion against God, we will truly perish. But the good news is that God has redeemed us by sending His free gift of eternal life: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

Therefore

Jesus took our place on the cross and paid the penalty for our sin, and we received the righteousness and clean record of Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1)

“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.” (Isa. 54:10)

God’s love shall not depart from you, ever!

This wonderful promise, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful truths in the Bible! Just think about it! Because God has made this an absolutely unchanging, ironclad promise, and He does not lie or change His mind (Num. 23:19), you can completely rest in it! And of course, the enemy, that “liar, thief, and robber” (John 8:44), who is the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10), will constantly harass you! He will tell you that God’s love is conditional in order to keep you worried, doubtful, afraid, and weak. But according to the Bible, absolutely nothing can separate you from God’s love—not even you! Just consider the following statement God’s Word made about this fact:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38-39 ESV)

Because

There are at least two reasons why the above promise about God's love for you is so permanent. First, because God said so Himself, which He proclaimed emphatically in the world's most quoted Bible verse, John 3:16. And secondly, His love for you is permanent based on the unbelievable price He paid for it—the blood of His only Son, Jesus. That price was so overpaid that nothing anywhere could ever snatch you out of His hand!

Therefore

“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15)

“Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:36)

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Matt. 11:28-30)

Everybody needs rest for their soul!

The world in which we live is relentlessly busy, noisy, and stressful, leading millions to suffer from what doctor's call “stress-related exhaustion disorder,” or simply ED. This condition is quickly becoming epidemic. And why is this happening? The answer is simple: it’s from a lack of mental rest!

People have forgotten how to rest!

No one can hear their own thoughts anymore! Even when they are sitting still and alone, they are plugged into unrelenting noise and emotional stimulation without a moment’s break from it; they cannot hear their own thoughts, let alone hear God’s still voice! (1 Kings 9:11-13) 

The answer

Unplug from it! That’s right, separate yourself from all electronic screens for a time each day for personal mental rest, reflection and meditation on the Word of God! Look at the promise passage at the top of the page and reflect on its individual parts. The first part says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” So, start this time with prayer and ask Jesus to give you rest for your soul! The next part says, “And take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” Give Jesus your burden (1 Peter 5:7). A yoke is what farmers put over their oxen's heads to help them share heavy loads side-by-side, with a double yoke. The idea in Jesus’ statement saying, “take my yoke” is that He will share your heavy load, so you don’t have to bear it alone. And the last part of the above passage is yet another beautiful promise: “And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” You will receive the much-needed rest for your soul! 

Therefore

“And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.)” (Mark 6:31)

“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Heb. 4:11)

“Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” (Psalm. 116:7)

“I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 34:15)

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isa. 40:31)

When you are weak and weary

Sometimes things happen that cause you to feel weak. Sometimes it’s a sickness, or maybe it’s something else, such as the loss of a job, a relationship, or some kind of crisis that saps your strength, leaving you feeling weak and vulnerable. The Apostle Paul described an attack he received from persecutors who constantly followed him around and harassed him (2 Cor. 11:32), as well as being attacked by what he described as “a messenger of Satan,” he called “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). Five times in the chapter, he described the attacks as “weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:5–10). And he said, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to remove it. But God didn’t. Instead, He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This reminded Paul of something very important, and he concluded with, “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:8–10).

Understand this

God’s people, especially when they are about to stand up for Christ, will get attacked by the forces of evil. But know that God has already supplied sufficient grace to deal with any attack or weakness that will come your way (you don’t have to ask Him again for what He’s already supplied!) And the more the enemy attacks you, the stronger the Lord will make you!

And God has given you many wonderful promises to equip you, such as the passage at the top that promises He will renew your strength when you put your hope in Him.

Therefore

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (Isa. 20:49 ESV)

“On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.” (Psalm 138:3)

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24-25 NIV)

We’re all born with a propensity to sin 

Many years ago, when I was young and new in ministry, and as I still do today, I always stated boldly in my talks that everyone is born with a sin nature (Rom. 3:23) and must be redeemed by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in order to be saved from hell and be transformed into a brand new creation (John 3:1-22). One day, after delivering my message, I was approached by a very angry pastor who took great exception to my message. He said, “You will never convince me that a brand-new little baby is born sinful!” My first thought when I heard him say that was, “Have you ever brought a new baby to your home? We have snd let me tell you, from the very moment they entered our home, they took over! And they cried every time they didn’t get what they wanted. They were totally self-centered and demanded their own way!” But I didn’t argue with him because he was completely convinced that he was right, no matter what the Bible said from cover to cover. By the way, I heard a story about a preacher who tried a little experiment to prove the sin nature in children. His wife ran a daycare, and she had a large backyard set up for about 15 children. One day, while the children were out in the backyard, he opened the back door and got all their attention. He said, “Children, don’t any of you spit on this yellow flower!” He pointed at a daffodil in a flowerpot next to the back door. Then he went back into the house, shut the door, and secretly watched them from an upper window. The children came over as a group and looked at the flower, which they hadn’t even noticed before, then went back to play. But over the next few minutes, one by one, they went over and spit on the flower. That’s because they had been told not to. It only made them want to do it! And that’s how sin works! Remember the story of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden? It’s exactly the same with all humans, today!

Everybody deals with temptation and sin!

• Jesus was tempted three times in the desert, yet He did not sin! (Heb. 4:15-16)

• Peter sinned three times even though he boldly swore to Jesus he would not. (John 18:25-27) 

• The Apostle Paul struggled with sin, and he wrote about its powerful pull on human beings and what to do about it (see below).

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:14-24 ESV)

Yes, the Apostle Paul struggled with sin, but in the next verse, right after all he said above, he gives the answer:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24-25 NIV)

Therefore

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Rom. 8:1)

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor. 10:13)

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14) 

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Cor. 12:12 ESV)

At the moment, I’m sitting in my usual spot in a coffee shop near where I live. It’s where I enjoy a cup of coffee and work on my daily Bible promises. A lot of others are constantly coming and going. I often see small groups of people, Bibles in hand, who are starting their mornings off with Bible study, prayer, and some fellowship. Many of these folks probably don’t know the other people. They probably belong to different churches in our community; we have lots of them. But God, of course, is definitely aware of them all. And I’m sure all of them give and receive a lot of encouragement from each other; there is strength, help, encouragement, and joy in fellowship with other believers. As I ponder all of this, I think of how discouraging, even dangerous, it is for believers to be alone without connection with other believers; they are sitting ducks; and vulnerable to attacks from the enemy! We do need each other!

Elijah fell into the “I am alone” trap!

In the Old Testament, in 1 Kings, chapters 18 and 19, we read an amazing story about the mighty prophet of God, Elijah. He called fire down from heaven and destroyed the false prophets of Baal. It was a mighty victory and demonstrated God’s mighty power. But after Queen Jezebel heard about what he had done, she became angry and threatened to kill him. He became frightened and ran away and hid himself in a cave. God then said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah complained to God and said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” In short, Elijah was having a pity party! His big complaint to God was that he had been zealous for God and was the only one left and completely alone! But God had some wonderful news for Elijah. He said, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” Elijah was not the only one left! There were 7,000 others he could fellowship with! Think of what a wonderful and and encouraging support group that could be, and what it could bring to all of them if they got together, especially to Elijah. Wouldn’t you love to be present at that meeting?

Therefore

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matt. 18:20 ESV)

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11ESV)

“not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25)

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts. 2:42 (ESV)

“The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:3).

A few years ago, I was visiting a friend of mine, and he told me he often experienced deep depression and gloom. He described it as a kind of heaviness that often comes upon him without warning. As he was speaking to me, I remembered a Bible passage that said, “The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). And I told him the verse and said it sounded to me like God’s remedy for the spirit of heaviness, and I suggested he start praising God the moment heaviness comes upon him the next time, and he said he’d try it. I saw him again a few days later, and he greeted me with a big smile and said, “I did it, and it worked!” He was very happy that praise for God was so powerful and freeing. I told him I was happy too, but not surprised. There is an example of this happening in the Old Testiment, in 1 Samuel 16:23, when David played his lyre to console King Saul during his times of depression, and it drove the evil spirit away: “David took the lyre and strummed a tune. Saul got relief from his terror and felt better, and the evil spirit left him.”

One of David’s songs of praise, which he may have performed for Saul

“A Song of Praise. Of David. I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.] The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.  (Psalms 125:1-21 ESV)

Therefore

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” (Psalms 150:1-6)