Latest / The Father's Business Podcast / Summer Series: Safe in the Father's Heart-Everything Changes when You Discover the Father's Love

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Summer Series: Safe in the Father's Heart-Everything Changes when You Discover the Father's Love · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: And I am Kimberly Roddy.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: We are so glad that you've joined us.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Well, welcome back to our summer series.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Throughout this series we've talked about forgiveness, trust, identity and we've talked about healing.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: In this particular episode, which is episode seven, this is where we really see all the threads kind of start coming together.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Sylvia, elizabeth's mom, is going to share how each of these pieces came alive in her own life when she stopped relating to God through performance or duty.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: In this episode, we're going to take a deeper look at Sylvia's story.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: We'll see the incredible transformation that took place when she actually encountered the Father heart of God for herself and began receiving His love as a daughter.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: One of the things Mom says that has stuck with me is she says with this statement I am beloved daughter of my loving father, everything in my heart settled, my identity crisis was over, and that line has echoed in my heart so many times.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And because when we finally believe that we are fully loved, not for what we do but for who we are, everything settles on the inside and everything changes.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: And that's exactly true.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: In this episode, you'll hear Sylvia talk honestly about the wounds that she carried from her earthly father's absence, and how that shaped her view of herself and her view of God.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: As she began, though, to encounter her heavenly father, layer by layer, those lies began to fall away.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: And she also talks about what it means to belong, and not just to a group or a role, but to a family, a forever family, where your worth isn't up for debate, where you are known and seen and delighted.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: And what I love so much about this chapter particular in the book is it wasn't that she got it and she never struggled with this idea again.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: It is this need to keep, as Kimberly said, going layer after layer and going deeper into the Father heart of God to understand more and more of her identity.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: And we see that, elizabeth, in a story that your mom shares.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: What happened when she got the opportunity to reconnect with the father who had left her?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: It didn't go the way she had hoped and it didn't have a fairytale ending, but what did happen was maybe even more powerful, because she walked out the truth of forgiveness, grace and secure identity.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: She wasn't waiting for her father to change to prove her worth.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: She already knew who she was, because her heavenly father had spoken that over her, and that's a powerful story in this episode.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean I remember all this so vividly.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I was in high school when they first tried to reconnect and there was hope that this was the story of the prodigal son coming home, the prodigal father coming back to the prodigal father, coming back to the family and then watching as he disappeared again was really, really hard, and so one of the things that's so tender for me in this episode is watching how God used even the pain and disappointment to deepen her dependence on him.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: As she says, even when I don't understand what he's doing, I can still trust the heart of God.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And if that's where you are today, in a place of not understanding, not seeing, not feeling, you're not alone.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Your father is still good, he is still kind and he's still holding you.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: If the story doesn't end the way that you want it to or you had hoped it would, and we explore in this conversation how the enemy targets our understanding of fatherhood, because he knows that our sense of identity flows from it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: When the relationship with a father and a child is damaged or distorted, we carry those broken expectations into our relationship with God, because God is ultimately the greatest father, but in Christ the beauty is that all of that can be redeemed.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: And we also include one of my favorite stories that we add in this book, from a Muslim woman whose life was changed the moment she read Romans 9 and saw the phrase children of the living God.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: That one line took her breath away and opened the door to a whole new life in the Father's love, as she understood for the first time that God wasn't just this big universal power, but he was a Father that wanted to be a Father to her and for her to be His loving child.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: And that's our prayer for you too, whether you've walked with God for decades or you're just starting to explore who he is.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: We pray that this episode is an invitation, an invitation to be still to listen.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: We want it to be more than just teaching.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: We want it to be an opportunity to let your father speak over you, hear him say you are my child, you belong to me, you are fully loved and nothing can snatch you out of my hand.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: So let's listen to episode seven of Safe in the Father's Heart, living in the Love of the Father.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Today, as we begin our podcast, we want to hear more from Sylvia about her story, so listen in.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: As we embrace and truly live in our Father's love for us, we will see a transformation, as deep calls to deep, about who we are in Him and who he is in us.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: I noticed several important changes in my life as my relationship with my Father, God, blossomed.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: The first change was deep down in my inmost core being.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: I learned that I had an unmistakable identity.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Knowing God as Father answers the question who am I?
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I'm a beloved daughter of my loving Father.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: My heart had felt as if it had been a snow globe that was constantly shaking.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: With the statement I am a beloved daughter of my loving Father, everything in my heart settled and there was peace for the first time.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: My identity crisis was over.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: I had a new center.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I know who I am.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: I am not what I have or who I know.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: I am not what I do in my family or in the church.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: I am a much loved child of my father who will never leave me, and nothing can change that.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: The next thing I noticed was a change in my self-worth.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: My adult mind can now understand all the dynamics of why my earthly father left, but his leaving communicated a message to me that I internalize as I am not worth staying and fighting for.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Every child longs for parents who value them supremely.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: As I began to know God as Father, I realized that I have immeasurable worth.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: My Heavenly Father gave the ultimate sacrifice for me.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: The price that Jesus paid to introduce me to His Father sets the measure of my worth.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Now I can see myself as a privileged child with a priceless inheritance laid up for me from a loving Heavenly Father.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: I also noticed a new and deeper sense of belonging.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Belonging is a primary motivation and necessity of life.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: We are wired to want to be accepted, to belong, be part of a family or group that shares a common identity.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: People seek out all sorts of groups for belonging outside their family.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Belonging to a particular group gives us a sense of identity and shapes how we will see the world.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Think about social clubs, sororities, fraternities, sports teams and even gangs.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Each of these is a mere shadow of the fullness of belonging that comes from truly knowing I belong to Abba.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: I know who I am and whose I am.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: I belong to a forever family that will never fade away.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: All of this led me to a place of total security.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Behind all of life is the Father heart of God.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: He is unconditionally loving and welcoming, regardless of what is occurring in my life.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: There may be confusion all around, but he is total confidence and he holds me in his loving arms.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: No person or event can snatch me out of his hand.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: My Father is committed to me.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: The love of people can be conditional, based on my performance, but not so with my heavenly father.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Even when I don't understand what he's doing, I can trust his heart.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: In dear, difficult and painful times in my life I have cried out to God that life seemed unfair.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Even in those times I have been able to say this does not feel good or kind, but I am choosing to rest in you, my Father.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: You are good and kind and you do not change.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: I am secure in your love.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: All of these truths changed my motivation for obedience.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: My heart's attitude changed from being a duty-bound rule follower who did things to earn points or avoid punishment.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Now I am motivated by a grace-based desire to please my Father as His beloved child.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: I belong to Him and am safe in His love.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Because of that, I act out of love instead of fear, Jesus said.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: I always do those things that please my father.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I ask myself is this pleasing to my loving father Is loving.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Well done is the highest reward.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: How would your life be different if you lived your life centered in your father's love?
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: You know, kimberly, I think that's a great question.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: She asked at the end how would your life be different if you lived your life centered in your father's love?
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: You know, kimberly, I think that's a great question.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: She asked at the end how would your life be different if you lived your life centered in your father's love?
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: And I had the privilege and honor that mom was already figuring all this out by the time I came along, and especially by the time I was old enough to understand it, and so she really did model for us what it meant to know God as father, much like my mom's story.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: She said that her father leaving her could have either caused her to run away from God or more lean into God as father, and that's what she did.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: As I was growing up, my dad was working a lot and was not as emotionally available as I would have wanted him to be, simply because by the time he got home he was exhausted and there wasn't a whole lot of him left.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And so I marvel sometimes at the way, as a teenager, as an adult and throughout my life, that I've been very it's been very easy for me to connect to God as father and kind of leaned into that as well, and I really do think watching my mom model that for me helped me understand God as father, for which I'm very grateful, and it really does color everything about our walk with God.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Do we see God as a loving father who is there for us, or do we see God as someone who is a father that's distant or are not wanting to be a part of our lives?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: And so the second half of that chapter is a story of a family friend of ours, and as we were writing this book he had emailed my mom to talk about his favorite part of his day was when they lived close enough to her elementary school that he could walk her to school every day.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: He mentioned that in that morning ritual that they would just walk hand in hand to school every day.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: He mentioned that in that morning ritual that they would just walk hand in hand to school and he would just ask her to talk about whatever it is she wanted to talk about, and it really is a sweet picture of him being completely enamored with her and enjoying that time with her and just letting her talk about whatever it is a five or six year old heart wants to talk about on the way to school.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: We've continued to be friends with them.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: She's now going into high school and I'm sure that if you ask her she would say, yes, she loves her dad.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: But there's also things that are annoying because, as we said, no one has a perfect father.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: But I just, I love that imagery of a dad who makes a priority in his day to start every morning with I just want to hear from you, and I think a lot of times we don't understand that as much as Michael loves his daughter and wanted to hear whatever was on her mind, god so much more wants to hear what's on our minds.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: And he is that doting father who is just looking for us to wake up in the morning and he's just sitting right there, going I'll talk about whatever you want to talk about.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: And so I think sometimes we make prayer a little too formal, a little too ritualistic, and I'm no way trying to take away from the holiness the otherness of God, but God is also Abba.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: He's also that daddy that is waiting for us in the morning to give us the floor honestly and say whatever's on your mind, let's talk about it.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: And so often I think I jump up.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: You know, look at my phone, see the six, seven, eight emails and four text messages of things that happened overnight that I've got to address now, and I miss that moment just to be that little girl spending time with my dad and saying this is what's on my mind today.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I think that's a good reminder too, because it's about the relationship, right, it's about connection.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: We all were made for connection and we need to connect first and foremost to our father, our heavenly father.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: And so it is.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: It's asking what is the father, what is your father, what does our father want to say to us, what does he want to say?
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: To Just kind of being aware of those two thoughts, of what's he want to say to you and what do you want to say to him, and reminding us that it's a relationship and that's a really good, really great reminder about the father, heart of God.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: And I think of that verse in James 4, 8, that says if you draw near to God, he'll draw near to you.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: So even for those of us that are walking around with the mistaken belief that God is not interested in me or what's on my mind is too trivial for him, I think God wants to know.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, he already knows our hearts and thoughts, right.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: So why not get ourselves in that discipline of waking up every morning and just enjoying him and reminding ourselves that we are beloved daughters and sons of a living God who wants to be involved and who loves us with a love that we can't comprehend?
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: As we grow in this understanding, as we begin to experience the Father heart of God more, we also will be reminded pretty quickly that we're still in a battle, and in chapter nine we talk a little bit more about that battle and your mom shares a little bit more of her story.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I vividly remember all of this and this is a pretty tough season and was able just to kind of watch her live through this struggle through this and grow through this.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: So let's hear more of her story from her.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: I have been growing and understanding the heart of Father God and enjoying my relationship with him for a few years.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Then came the greatest challenge to my new way of living.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: In the heart of my Abba, my uncle found my father.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: He called me and gave me my father's current phone number.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: He asked if he could give my number to him and he added by the way, I told him you would call, he's expecting to hear from you.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: It had been over 26 years since my father walked out the door without even saying goodbye.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: It was one thing to say I forgave him.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: It was another to live it out.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: As I anticipated making that phone call, the fear I felt was almost more than I could bear.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: The only way I could do it was by clinging to the promise that my Heavenly Father is a covenant-keeping God who does not change, and he would be with me.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I remember lying on my face on my bedroom floor, singing a song based on 1 Kings 8.23, lord, god of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven, above or on earth below you, who keep your covenant of love with your servants, who continue wholeheartedly in your way.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: I cried out to my promise-keeping father for 20 minutes.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Then I went to my desk and tried three times to enter the number, but each time I hung up quickly before I completed the call.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: I thought I just can't do this.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Again and again I went back to my promise about the character of God, my Father.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: He gave me strength and courage.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Finally, I completed the call and my father answered on the first ring.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: It was an awkward conversation.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Both he and I tried to make the best of it.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: I was able to say to him what I wrote in that letter years earlier, the one that had been returned to me with no forwarding address.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: I forgave him for leaving and asked him to forgive me for withdrawing my heart from him with all the walls of self-protection I built.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: There were more awkward phone calls and eventually we saw each other in person.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: I had grown and changed a lot since my last time I had seen him.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately, it became apparent that he had not the same character.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Issues and familiar toxic patterns were still there.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: In some ways, it was very healing for me that I had said to him the words I had written so many years before.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: In other ways, I felt like old places in my heart were being ripped open every time I interacted with him.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: The man I didn't trust in my childhood was still untrustworthy.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: This wasn't the happy ending I dreamed of.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: It was a battle to be sure.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: I determined I would not stay shackled to old pain or live in less than who God says I am in him.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: It was hard, but God probably my favorite phrase in the Bible God used that time to shine a light into my own heart, to show me what comes out of me when life doesn't go the way I want.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: My Abba also used that season to begin to teach me to draw from the deep wells of who he is for me and how he delights to be there for me.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, when this book was written, several family members were still alive, so we didn't even go into all the detail that we could have.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: But I have a I feel a little more freedom as the daughter in this situation to give a little commentary on on things.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: And first of all, I thought it was a very uncool I'll use that word uncool thing for my uncle to say here is your father's number and he's expecting a call from you.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: There was no freedom in that for my mom to be able to say I don't want to talk to him and you should not have told him that I would be calling him.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And so my grandfather has died, my great uncle has died.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: A lot of the family members involved in the story have now passed on, but I really didn't appreciate that at the time because, as we've talked before, we're each on our own journey.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: But I really didn't appreciate that at the time Because, as we've talked before, we're each on our own journey and I felt like it was much more mom's decision as to when to decide to do this.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: But, as she said in her story, it was hard and she prayed and cried and dialed the phone three times and hung up before she actually talked to him on the phone.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: And then he did come to our house and we all met him and it was awkward and weird and at first there was great hope that God's going to restore all this.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And now I've got.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I had a wonderful step grandfather in the meantime because my grandmother had remarried and he loved us as if we were his own, and so my mom's natural father showing up was a nice bonus, but I already had a connection to a granddad on my mom's side of the family.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: But there was great hope that things were going to be different and pretty quickly it became apparent that it was not, and there was a lot of manipulation.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: There was some money that was stolen.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, there was just a lot of manipulation.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: There was some money that was stolen.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I mean there was just a lot of hurt there.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And so once again it felt like he didn't show up for her, he didn't show up for us, he showed up for what he could get out of the relationship, and so it was hard and I mean, as mom said, you know she wanted this storybook ending where she's grown and healed and you know, god's done a great work and in my grandfather's life and that's just not what happened.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: And so there was a lot of wrestling that went on of God, why did you allow him to come back into my life if this is how it was going to end, kind of thing.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: And they kind of knew where each other were.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: But kind of you know, she distanced herself again from him once she realized it was a pretty toxic situation.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: But I will say this is not in the book.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: At the end of his life, you know, he ends up in a nursing home and my mom is the only one there to take care of him.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And that was really impactful for me to watch how she was able to say, yes, he's hurt me, I have forgiven him, he's never going to be the dad I want him to be.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: And yet she really felt like it was her place to be there to check in on him and be there for him in the final days and months of his life.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: And I just really she would never share that.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: But again, I'm a daughter, so I get to say I'm just really proud of mom and God working through mom to allow her to be at that point of grace, because that had to have been extremely difficult to serve and love and care for someone who had never really been there for her.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: We talked recently about.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: What do you do when you don't have a father that does a good job of modeling who our heavenly father is?
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot of disappointment that comes with that, there's a lot of hurt, there's a lot of anger, lots of different emotions that come with that and I think sometimes like a yo-yo, like hoping and being disappointed and hoping and being disappointed right, and you're kind of alluding to that.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: And in all of this we can look at creation and we can look at the beginning of everything and we see that the father, heart of God, the fatherness of God, is at the core of everything.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: It's where things started, in the garden, with God's original intent.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: The father walked in the cool of the day, talked with his son and his daughter.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: He had relationship with them, he was intimate with them, and the battle began pretty early on when the deceiver came and just lied to the core of our identities to tell us, to make us question what God said and who he is and who we are.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: And in all of that we see that fatherness of God.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: It's central to our theology.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: So in Matthew 16, 13 through 16, jesus asked who do people say the Son of man is.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: And the disciples answered that people said he was John the Baptist, elijah, jeremiah or one of the prophets.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Then Jesus asked them who do you say I am?
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: And what does Peter say to him?
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: He says you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and I think that's so strategic that he didn't just say you are the Christ and God.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: He said you are the Son of the living God.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: And I think that's so strategic that he didn't just say you are the Christ and God.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: He said you are the son of the living God.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: And so there is the relationship there between father and son.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: But also living God is also very important as it separates us from a lot of other religions around the world, and I love that.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus' response when Peter said that was my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: And so so much of what Jesus was doing was not just coming here to die on a cross and save us from our sins, which is sometimes what our Protestant beliefs can focus on.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: That and that is key and important and that's how we get to.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: But the ultimate goal was not just death on a cross and resurrection, but it was to reconnect us with the father and have that relationship again, as you, as you referenced that we had in genesis, where he walked with us in the cool of day, and to restore all that had been lost.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Um, when?
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: When?
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: We chose our own way versus doing it god's way.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: So since the fatherness of God is so foundational to our faith, no wonder you know our enemy.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Satan tries to do whatever he can do to shatter that image.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I mean you think, even kind of going back to the first clip that mom shared, she talked about how, once she understood God was father, so much of her identity and peace came over her as she rested in.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Her true identity is I am a beloved child of God and he is my loving father.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: And so of course the family has been attacked, of course our own relationships with our earthly fathers.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: There is an enemy that is trying to twist and deceive and not allow us to have a good model on earth, so that it makes it even harder for us to understand who God is as father.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the power of knowing God as a loving father it's life changing.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: And being able to live as his covenant child it's life changing.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: There's tremendous power in that.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: You also share a story in this book about a prominent member of a Muslim family, so why don't you share that story with us?
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: So this is an amazing book.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: If you haven't read it it's called I Dared to Call Him Father.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: In our book we have permission to share just one of the stories.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: This lady, who was from a very noble Muslim family in Pakistan, grew up Muslim, reading the Quran.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: But she realized in the Quran it referenced several writings of Jews and Christians and so she became curious about that.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: So she got a copy of the Bible to see where these writings came from.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: And the very first verse that she read was Romans 9, 25 and 26, which says I will call them my people who are not my people, and I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: In the very place where it said to them you are not my people here, they will be called children of the living God.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: And she said she was so struck by that phrase, children of the living God, that it took her breath away.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: And so she kept reading the Quran and the Bible, trying to figure out what is true and what's not true and who God really is.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: And she was getting really frustrated and she said she cried out to God one day and she said I got to get this straight.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Which one of these books is true.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: She says then, a remarkable thing happened to her.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: And she says nothing like this has ever occurred in my life in quite this way.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I heard a voice inside my being, a voice that spoke to me as clearly as if I were repeating the words in my inner mind, and I just know that's that still small voice that God talks about.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: And she says they were fresh, full of kindness, yet at the same time full of authority.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: And I heard these words in which book do you meet me as father?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And I found myself answering the Bible, and that's all it took.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: And that's how she came into a true relationship with Father, son and Holy Spirit.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: And so I remember reading that book and being so struck by the power of understanding the true identity of who God is and who we are in him.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: You know, understanding that God is father, understanding that Jesus is the son of God and understanding the Holy Spirit, and then, because of that, we get to live in relationship with God as our father.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: And that is what separates Christianity from many other religions.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Is this personal relationship with Father, son and Holy Spirit.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: In John 17, jesus was praying for his disciples and future believers, and in verse 26, he says I have made you known to them.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: So he's talking about God right and Father Right.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: So in that Jesus was praying that we may experience the father's love for us, that we would truly know the father, that Jesus came to represent the father be the father in flesh, father, that Jesus came to represent the Father, be the Father in flesh.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: And Jesus is showing us our Father's, the Father's love, and that he loves you, he loves me, with the same quality of love with which he loves Jesus, his own son.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: And Jesus lives so that we can love him right.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I mean exactly, exactly, so we can love him back and enjoy that relationship.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: And you know, I think it's a good challenge that I'd like to give to myself, but to others as well is what if we spent some time reading back through the Bible looking for the father?
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: He shows up a whole lot more than you think he does, even in probably the most famous verse from the Bible Right you can see it at sporting events Someone holds up a poster that says John 3, 16.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: It says for God so loved the world that he gave his son.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: It doesn't say that he gave Jesus, that he gave his son.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: So again, it's a father sacrificing his own child, which is much an image of what we see when Abraham takes Isaac and thinks he's going to have to sacrifice him.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: A father gave up his son so that we can have eternal life.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: There is this father theme running through all of scripture and I am in no way trying to diminish Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but I truly do believe, as mom said, once you get the peace about understanding God as father, it settles who you are and I can handle anything good, bad, whatever's going to come against me, as long as I'm settled in my true identity of this is who I am because of who God is.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: But when I'm not focused on that or I'm seeking other people, other things, other experiences to be that source of my identity, that's when my world gets turned upside down, and so it's such a significant and core part of our being and so much healing Like I can't even imagine.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Like I know that there probably aren't movies in heaven, but I would love to watch when I get there.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: I'd love to watch a video of.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Look at the ways your heart changed, the way you interact with other people changed, the way you showed love to other people changed just everything about your words, deeds and actions changed as you got deeper and deeper into understanding me as father and allowed me to heal some of your own father wounds that I had been carrying around so and so it led me to a place where, you know, as an adult, my dad and I I kind of felt like finally had a relationship where I wasn't looking for dad to to be my identity more.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: His approval didn't mean I was a good person.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: It was nice to get his approval, but I didn't have to have it, and there's that difference in that hunger and longing for the respect, the honor, the attention of someone versus.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: It's nice to be with them, and as an adult we were able to have a friendship with one another that I thoroughly enjoyed.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: And then, you know, sadly his Alzheimer's started to kick in and I slowly watched that fade away to the point where I was much like my mom in the end, which is where my dad can do nothing for me, but I can be fully present for him, and so it's just.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: It's been an incredible journey and continues to be an incredible journey.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Of now, my journey continues.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Much Kimberly is one that I've walked with you on for years, which is okay.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I no longer have an earthly father, and there's times I really miss my earthly father, but where does God show up in those moments for me as Heavenly Father and help heal those places?
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I continue to think about the Lord's Prayer throughout the last few minutes of our conversation.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Jesus says in the Gospels you know, here's a model prayer pray this way, and it starts with our Father, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all the names that Jesus could tell us to call him when and when he's saying this is how you pray.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: He starts it with our father.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Right, you know, sometimes, growing up in church, it was this, the holy, reverent respect for God, which must be there too, don't discount that.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: But sometimes it was just.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: There were times where it felt distant, right, like holy God, you know, the God who is other than the God?
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Who's the creator God, the God who fashion takes form, things takes care of us, takes care of wars and famines and global things.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: But in that very prayer that so many people all over the world say our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: So we're still owing respect.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: First and foremost, hallowed be your name, you know.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: But we are saying our father, and that's what Jesus said.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Jesus said pray like this, our father.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: It gets right at that, right at the essence of the relationship.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so with all that we've talked about today, we pray that you will respond with a simple prayer.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: That's Father, I want to love you as Jesus your son loves you.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: I will let Jesus in me love you.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: I want to feel your love as Jesus, your son living in me feels your love.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: I will let you love me through Jesus.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Come, father, for me, your precious child, and overwhelm me with your lavish love.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: It's a powerful relationship between son and daughter and their father.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: So, as we close today, our friend and board member Richard is going to pray a blessing over us.
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: Blessing of your Father's love.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: Be blessed to receive love from your Abba today and every day, so that you will know that you have worth, you are valued and you are cherished.
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: Be blessed to know that you are a treasure to him.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: Be blessed to know that he never stops being your dear, tender Abba.
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: He affirms, welcomes, loves, comforts, coaches, guides, delivers and corrects you for your good and his glory.
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: He never loses his pleasure in you as the child he uniquely designed.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: Settle down in your Abba's love in full acceptance, security and blessing.
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: He is always there for you.
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: He invites you to connect deeply and intimately with Him.
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: Be blessed with new freedom of spirit from Him, unhindered and holy Awake to life as the joyful child of the King that he created you to be.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: To donate, go to wwwTheFathersBusinesscom.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Be sure to follow us at the Fathers Biz on Instagram and Facebook.