Just a couple of days ago I was asked a challenging and touching question by some unkown person. "How will I ever trust God as my father if I have lived through an abusive father?" Yes, it's very hard! How will you answer it?

There are some people who have enjoyed wonderful relationships with their earthly father, but there are many more who've experienced less than wonderful relationships with their father – and many who've had no relationship at all. Is this right? No, but it's a fact of life in the world today. There are the good fathers out there - and praise God for that. But typically, fathers just aren't as mothers. Many are absent and some are just plain bad!

In this world, people will let you down. Just because they are your friends doesn't mean they are always going to do right by you. Just because they are family doesn't mean they're always going to show you the most love or even try to do right when it comes to the relationship.
Your family may treat you worse than a dog. They may cut you down and spit you out, and call you good for nothing. But God is not that way. Your Heavenly Father is different than people. He's not a man that He should lie. He is not a bad father or an absent father - he's not even merely a "good" father. He's God and He's the perfect Father.
There is no father like our Father. His love for you and me can not be measured. He's there for us - anytime, anywhere - and He only thinks good things about us and only has good plans for our life! "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of eace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11)."

To your Father, your purpose is settled. Your future need not be questioned or even debated. In other words, He never wonders whether your future should be good or bad. He never wonders if you deserve "a future and a hope." God loves you - period. It's an unconditional love that is sometimes hard to grasp, especially if you've haven't had much regular love!
Unconditional love from your Father means that it doesn't matter how flawed you are, He still loves you. Unconditional love is not based on performance. It's a pure love that remains regardless of what we do, say or think. It's God's "agape" love - and it's not the kind of love that people usually show towards one another! The closest we get to it is usually between parents and children. It's that kind of love that says, "You are my kid and no matter what you do, I'm always going to love you."
God thinks good things - only good things -about you. Don't pass this up as simple. Dwell on it and get a revelation of His love for you.

His will for your life is proved when you start reading His Word and letting it sink in so that you think His way. The world tells you that you have to do something in order to be loved - maybe look a certain way or act a certain way. God loves you no matter what. "...He bath chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself (; according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved (Eph. 1:4-6)."

It's one thing to nod and agree that God loves you; it's another thing to really accept it. When you accept the Father's love, it changes how you live. It opens the door for faith to really flow. With a revelation of God's love, suddenly you can believe God for healing or finances with ease. It's just easier to believe that a loving Father wants the best for you - spiritually, physically and financially.

Today, if you don't know your Heavenly Father, I want to introduce you to Him. John 3:16 says that the Father sent His only Son to this earth to die for you. Why did He do that? His Son was a sacrifice for your sins. Jesus died on the cross to wash away all your sin and make your heart clean so that you could reach out to the Father without anything hindering you. The Lord wants to come into your heart and reside there. He wants to show you His love and to be a part of your life everyday - not just on Sundays.

This isn't a religious thing; it's about the relationship you can have with your Father God. The Bible says in Romans 9:10 that you must confess Jesus with your mouth and believe it in your heart in order to be "saved." Saved from what? Saved from a life without real, true love - from an unfulfilling life of spiritual longing. All you have to do is pray from your heart and invite God in. He will hear you. Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Whosoever means you! It meant me. It means that the Father is open and willing for any. one, no matter how bad or good, to come and experience His great love. Invite Him into your life today! Thank Him today. Amen.

Be encouraged.