I'm on a journey. I've been on it for quite a while now. I often don’t feel like I've gotten very far, but I know I’m making progress. It's a journey that I believe every person needs to go on, though very few do. It's the journey of an orphan back his Father’s house.
A few years back I read the book “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. It was then I learned about the father wound - the areas in our lives where our dads didn't give us the blessings we needed, at the critical times that we needed them. Fathers have an incredible responsibility to pass on identity to their kids, to show them they are loved unconditionally, to bestow a sense of destiny and assure them that there are unlimited resources at their disposal(in a heavenly sense)(credit to Bill Johnson for that one). When this blessing is there it is a beautiful thing. Children grow up secure and strong, able to handle anything life throws at them. When it is not it is tragic.
I recently sat with a group of young teens and talked with them about their experiences of “Dad”. Two fathers had tragically passed away. At least one had walked out on the family. One daughter had run away from home cause she couldn't deal with her parents. These stories really broke my heart and I realised again what a deeply fatherless generation is emerging. It sure makes me want to be a good father one day, so that my kids have a head start on their journeys.
Sometimes, on a very personal level, I have to wonder at the sheer magnitude of the father wound. How much of life it affects. Insecurity, fear, poor self-image, anxiety, relational problems, failure, bad decisions - these are all some of the symptoms of the father wound, and many of them have plagued me for most of my life. Basically it causes us to feel like an orphan - all alone in a harsh world left to fend for ourselves. Sound familiar?
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*Picture by taylormichaelburk ift.tt/1Opgegw
But there is good news for us orphans. God is our strong, loving and engaged Father (Eldredge) and He's a perfect one at that. He's out to father our orphaned hearts, he's able to fill all the parts that are incomplete, make us into the true versions of ourselves.
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But it's a journey. When an orphan gets adopted there is a lot of orphan-like thinking that needs to be broken before he starts thinking, and then living like a son.
We need to hear the Father say the things we need to hear. "You're awesome, you're amazing, son, you're so beautiful my daughter. You're enough, you're worth it."
We need to hear the Father say the things we need to hear. "You're awesome, you're amazing, son, you're so beautiful my daughter. You're enough, you're worth it."
A lot of this stuff is in the bible and when we meditate on it, we start thinking the Father's thoughts about ourselves instead of our own. We start living like sons. That's what it means to renew your mind.
I've been meditating on this pearl recently:
"Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders" Deuteronomy 33:12 Amazing!
The Father has a secret place for each person where we can meet him.
Someone I know recently described his like this:
"Imagine you're up on a mountain in a snowstorm, you're freezing cold and hungry. You arrive at a log cabin and hurry inside. There is a large, cozy living room with a warm fireplace and a big leather couch in front of it. The Father has brewed some fresh coffee and cooked up some of your favourite food. You sit there with Him on that big leather couch in front of the fireplace, drinking coffee and eating to your heart’s content. Here you can talk to Him about anything"
"Imagine you're up on a mountain in a snowstorm, you're freezing cold and hungry. You arrive at a log cabin and hurry inside. There is a large, cozy living room with a warm fireplace and a big leather couch in front of it. The Father has brewed some fresh coffee and cooked up some of your favourite food. You sit there with Him on that big leather couch in front of the fireplace, drinking coffee and eating to your heart’s content. Here you can talk to Him about anything"
That's pretty similar to what my secret place with God looks like, other times I'm nestling in at His arm while He's on His throne.
This is the place I can hear the Father tell me who I am, and learn about all He has for me. I don't go there often enough, I actually should be living there. That’s the journey, learning to live there. It's just the orphan thinking that holds us back.
This is the place I can hear the Father tell me who I am, and learn about all He has for me. I don't go there often enough, I actually should be living there. That’s the journey, learning to live there. It's just the orphan thinking that holds us back.
Thank goodness the Father is more committed to our journey than we are!
“I myself said, “How gladly I would treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call me “Father” and not turn away from following me” Jeremiah 3.19
“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" Romans 8:15
“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" Romans 8:15
Written by Ryan, Berlin, Germany
*Used in accordance with the creative commons licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/legalcode
This is so good, Ryan. Thanks for sharing. I loved being reminded of this.
ReplyDeleteThe way you relate to the Father is so lovely. Loved hearing you describe this. Thanks for sharing!
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