Chapter 2

Relationship with the Father

            How is (or was) your relationship with your earthly father? Some people say that our relationship with our earthly father can give us an indication of how we feel towards our Heavenly Father. If we had a warm, trusting relationship with our earthly father, we will have the same with our Heavenly one. If we had a hard, unloving earthly father, that is how we look at our Heavenly Father. No matter how bad a relationship we had with our earthly father, we can have a good one with our Heavenly one. We should of course try to make amends with our earthly one if the relationship wasn’t the way it should have been. That can be hard or even impossible in some cases without a miracle from God.

How we come to the Father:

            Gives us understanding that we might know Him:

1 John 5:20

20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Hebrews 8:10-12

10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

After those days, says the Lord:

I will put My laws into their minds,

And I will write them on their hearts.

And I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.

11 “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,

And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

For all will know Me,

From the least to the greatest of them.

12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities,

And I will remember their sins no more.”

            Many Christians talk about “finding” God. In actuality, He leads us into finding Him. He wants to be found by us, but it is not our own doing but His. When we are unbelievers, we have no understanding of what it is to be a Christian or how to come to God. He Himself gives us that understanding when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then we “know that we know, that we know” we are in the Father and in His Son. This is truly what eternal life is all about … knowing Him. In Hebrews it says He writes His laws into our minds and hearts. We “know” when something is pleasing or not to Him. We may still do the wrong thing in spite of knowing, but we can know whether or not it’s wrong. Now this does not come about automatically. We have to train our senses to discern between right and wrong. We grew up with our senses trained to do whatever we were taught by our earthly guardians said was right (at least most of us did what we were taught). Sometimes they were right and sometimes they were wrong. We need to retrain our senses through His Law embedded in our hearts and minds.

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You are not ignorant, My children. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If you know Me, then you know the Truth. If you follow Me, that Truth will set you free; but only if you follow Me. Truth that is not applied will do no one any good. If you apply that Truth, you will be set free to help others become free. You gain understanding of Me and My Kingdom when you are willing to walk in the Truth of that Kingdom. You cannot know Me apart from that Truth. You cannot experience My Life apart from walking in that Truth. It is in walking in that Truth that you shall be a success and not turn aside to the things of this world. There are things even harder to resist that are coming into the world. But you must resist them and teach your children how to resist them. These are things that the untaught will not be able to resist; so arm yourselves in order to resist and train others to do so also.”

            9. I have been given understanding by the Father of who I am and what I am in Him and in His Son, Jesus. It has been written in my heart and in my mind all that I am in Him and all that I have through Him.

Through tribulations enter the Kingdom:

Acts 14:22

22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

            There are many tribulations in the world for the believer. Some of these are physical and some are spiritual. We sometimes succumb too quickly to those of the physical type. When someone, especially our boss, gets upset with us over our stand as a Christian, it is very easy to yield to the temptation to go along with whatever our boss requests. We cannot go against what the Bible says for us to do or to not do. Some believers, though, seem to be looking for a confrontation that in reality isn’t there. They want to be “martyred” for their beliefs when there really isn’t a conflict of beliefs to begin with. There are enough real ones in the world. We don’t need to conjure up any. Don’t go looking for trouble; but if it smacks you in the mouth, don’t give in to the pressure to be like the people of the world.

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You have not come to a mountain of fear. You have come to the Mountain of the Kingdom of God. You shall enter in with confidence, not fear. There are many battles to be fought before My Kingdom can be the way I want to be on earth. However, it will be great among the nations. You shall not fear to enter it. No matter what comes against you, do not fear; but go forth in victory knowing that I am with you to the end. Nothing that comes against you shall harm you; for I will put My hedge of protection around you.”

            8. Though there were many tribulations around me, I have entered and shall remain in the Kingdom of God.

            These were just a few of the things of destiny concerning our salvation. God didn’t save us and then leave us to fend for ourselves. It is an abundant salvation. There are several aspects to that salvation. It was not only once and forever, it is also continuously becoming throughout our lives.

Enter the Kingdom:

            Entrance into the Kingdom:

2 Peter 1:10-11

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

            The gate may be small and the way narrow to the Kingdom, but the entrance into the Kingdom will be abundantly supplied to us. God doesn’t want to make it difficult for us to enter. He wants to make it easy. However, He doesn’t make it as easy to find as many people today try to make it sound. They say there are many ways to God, and it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe. God says differently. It’s easy, but not greasy. Not everyone is just going to slide right into the Heaven. It’s reserved for those who have been chosen. Remember, we’re not going to argue about things like predestination. What matters is that we are chosen and we choose. It takes both. How or why it happens doesn’t matter. It only matters that it does happen.      

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You have been invited to enter into the Kingdom of God. It is a special privilege to come into My Kingdom. Not everyone can enter, but only those for whom it has been prepared. You are My people and My friends if you follow in My footsteps. You will walk in glory if you follow the path that I took. Do not turn away from following Me for I will guide you into all the truth. I will show you the way to walk in My righteousness if you will only listen and obey My Spirit. Listen to Me and you will always succeed.”

            7. I have entered the Kingdom of Heaven. Since God chose me, He abundantly provided the way.

Never die:

John 11:25-26

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?

           

            Too many people today have a fear of death. The Bible talks about those who were subject to the devil because of a fear of death. The Christian should have no fear of death. That is because we truly are going to a better place. There will only be peace and joy where we’re going. Even if we die before Jesus returns, we shall yet live again. The real “us” never dies. The physical body that everyone sees may die, but the real person, our spirit person, never dies. The question to you is the same one that Jesus put to Martha … do you believe this? The body we live in is a temporary tabernacle of God. The one we shall receive is a permanent temple of Him. Since God is tabenacling in us, we should treat our bodies with respect. Also we can do more for His Kingdom if we are in good shape and not weighed down by things not good for our bodies.

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            "Do you believe My Word, My children? I have told you that I will come again. I have told you that you will live forever. Do you doubt My Word? I will do what I said I will do. I will come again to receive you to Myself. Do no despair thinking that all is lost. I have chosen you for a special purpose, and I will come again to take you to be will Me forever.”

            6. Even if my physical body dies, I shall live again. The real “me” will never die.