Abba’s Child

February 26, 2016

Abba’s Child

You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:15b

I have been using the words of adoration for God, Abba Father, quite often as of late, and I want to take this day to expound my love for this endearment. While the 23^rd Psalm is quite helpful in grounding the children of God in the intimacy our Heavenly Father’s love and care for us, the most compelling depiction of our intimacy with the Father is the Apostle Paul’s assertion: “You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15b). Let’s put this assertion into its basic context.

The average child begins to formulate words at about eighteen months of age. Imagine such a child sitting in his father’s lap and saying, “Da, da, dad, daddy.” If the child were Jewish his words would be, “Ab, Ab, Abba, Abba.” The Apostle Paul is telling us that we can express intimate love to the Creator of the universe by calling Him, Abba, Father. This assertion helps us grasp Jesus’ meaning when he said, “For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children” (Matthew 19:14b. See also Matthew 18:3).

Throughout the Bible, as men and women encountered the presence of God, or even one of His angels, they responded with fear and foreboding. That is certainly understandable considering that man’s ability to split the atom and unleash nuclear bombs pales in comparison to the power of God who looked at a world that did not exist and spoke it into being by the power of His Word. Humanity’s loftiest achievements in the arts are incomparable to the beauty of God’s holiness. Even the splendor of nature, the majestic mountains and natural wonders are mere shadows of the beauty and splendor that is our God. We get to know this awesome God as our Abba, our Daddy!

With all my heart and soul, I believe God desires for His people to know and relate to Him as our Abba Father. Are you there yet?  If not, I invite you to pray:

“Heavenly Father, may your Spirit join with my spirit to affirm that I am your child. By your grace, empower me to know you as my Abba Father. Amen.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.