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Abba


I haven’t really delved into my personal experience and relationships with the men in my life who had impact. The reasons don’t matter except for the beauty that God brought from ashes in these relationships. I am blessed with men in my life who love and support me. 

My favorite one, of course, is my husband. Lyndon truly loves being a dad and takes delight in children. This is such a common thread in our marriage that it’s no wonder he is a magnet for young men who need a guy like him. He’s honest to a fault, unconditionally loving, and simply has a heart for people. We often have joked that we have so many more than our two boys because their friends are around often and feel at home here. Lyndon created that atmosphere. 

That’s not unlike our Heavenly Father who longs for more than the surface deep formality of relationship. 

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Abba is the most personal form of the word father in Aramaic and Greek. Paul was a Jew familiar with the tradition and holiness of the God of Heaven and Earth. A God whose name is so holy that it cannot be uttered in everyday language. Yet, Paul teaches us that because if the sacrifice of Jesus, we are children of God. We get to call him Abba, Daddy, Papa.

It took a long time for me to understand the significance of this. I thought that I knew God as my father, but it was the formal, obedient because I needed to earn His love kind of relationship. Honestly, I was more afraid of God than understanding the depth of his love for me. 

Becoming a parent helped me begin to process the depth of God’s love. But watching my husband, and other Godly men, raise up families in love really showed me how unconditional love works and how this relates to Abba God. 

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

So many people are still in a relationship of obedience out of fear when all God wants is us-faults and all. We don’t have to check off a list of proper behavior to have a good relationship with our Abba. Once we recognize the unconditional love of the Daddy who just wants to be in relationship with us, we will stop self-condemning before we come to Him with our struggles and triumphs. No longer are we bound to a set of rules that can so easily keep our mind fixed on behavior instead if relationship. 

If you, like me, have struggled to fully grasp the depth of the Father, I pray today that the void in your heart is filled with the grace and of our Abba. Let Him hold you today and every day.

© Jill Cook and Unbroken & Undone Ministries.  All rights reserved

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