1 John 3:1 ESV

SEE WHAT KIND OF LOVE THE FATHER HAS GIVEN TO US, THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD; AND SO WE ARE.

Ephesians 1:2-14 NLT

May GOD OUR FATHER and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. EVEN BEFORE HE MADE THE WORLD, GOD LOVED US AND CHOSE US IN CHRIST TO BE HOLY AND WITHOUT FAULT IN HIS EYES. God decided in advance to ADOPT US INTO HIS OWN FAMILY by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us His mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill His own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are UNITED WITH CHRIST, we have received an inheritance from God, for HE CHOSE US IN ADVANCE, and He makes everything work out according to His plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, HE IDENTIFIED YOU AS HIS OWN BY GIVING YOU THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHOM HE PROMISED LONG AGO. THE SPIRIT IS GOD’S GUARANTEE THAT HE WILL GIVE US THE INHERITANCE HE PROMISED AND THAT HE HAS PURCHASED US TO BE HIS OWN PEOPLE. HE DID THIS SO WE WOULD PRAISE AND GLORIFY HIM.

John 3:16 ESV

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Psalm 103:13 ESV

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.

Psalm 68:5 ESV

FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS AND PROTECTOR OF WIDOWS IS GOD IN HIS HOLY HABITATION.

Psalm 103:1-5 NKJV

Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL, AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Exhortation: Seeking the Father’s Heart — Finding Rest in His Presence

God’s heart is one of love because the Bible says, “God is love.” At the core of our spiritual journey lies the invitation to know our Father’s heart. Today, focus on discovering who God is as Father—not just in theological terms, but in relationship. Consider how your understanding of fatherhood might color your perception of God, whether positively or negatively. THE FATHER’S HEART IS FILLED WITH PERFECT LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, AND DELIGHT IN YOU AS HIS CHILD. His presence offers a place of safety where masks can be removed and true identity discovered. In our hurried, achievement-oriented culture, we often miss the simple joy of being with the Father. We can become so focused on doing things for God that we neglect being with Him. Today, prioritize His presence over productivity and listen for His affirmation over your striving. THE FATHER’S HEART IS YOUR TRUE HOME, THE PLACE WHERE YOU FIND BOTH PURPOSE AND REST.

Ask God to reveal His father’s heart to you in fresh ways. Pray for healing of any distorted views of God that may have developed through difficult earthly relationships. Thank Him for specific ways He has shown His fatherly care for you. Ask for grace to rest in His love rather than trying to earn it through performance. Pray for courage to approach Him honestly with your questions, doubts, and desires; ask trusting in His perfect love for you.

The Father’s Heart is a Heart of Love

God continually refers to Himself as Father in the Bible because His passion is for sons and daughters. It is humanly impossible to fully understand the wonders of the universe and measure its magnitude. So how is it possible for us to understand the father heart of God and grasp the greatness of His love for us? Yet, He so loves us with all of His heart that He gave us His only begotten Son as a living sacrifice to make us His own. Eternity is not sufficient time for us to discover the extent of His loving-kindness and goodness towards us.

Satan attacked Adam’s trust in God’s love; after which Adam succumbed and rebelled against God. Since the fall of Adam, humanity has been born into a broken world with a fallen nature that is incapable of knowing God apart from the Holy Spirit’s revelation. The devil continues to seek to steal, kill, and destroy every living soul from conception and to separate them from God’s love. Before we were saved, we were still able to love others to some degree because we were created in the image of God, who is love. It is just not the perfect and unconditional love that comes only from God. Our brokenness from the wounds of life is a strong barrier to understanding God’s love. Many are saved but carry an orphan spirit because of the wounds of fatherlessness. Every person has biological parents, but not everyone has been brought up with a father’s love. This fatherlessness is a wound that must be healed. Christians can be saved but still be held captive to wounds of fatherlessness, causing fear, unbelief, rejection, and an orphan spirit.

Sons and Daughters, Accepted in the Beloved Before the Foundation of the World

Throughout the Scriptures, the love of God is revealed. As we are saved, it is a journey of faith and a relationship with Jesus Christ that brings us inner healing. As He heals us, we are more able to understand and trust that God loves us with an everlasting love. SIN HAS MADE US SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL ORPHANS, BUT THE LOVE OF GOD HAS ADOPTED US AS HIS CHILDREN THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. Ephesians 1:2-14 NLT says,

May GOD OUR FATHER and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before He made the world, GOD LOVED US AND CHOSE US IN CHRIST to be holy and without fault in His eyes. GOD DECIDED IN ADVANCE TO ADOPT US INTO HIS OWN FAMILY BY BRINGING US TO HIMSELF THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us His mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill His own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are UNITED WITH CHRIST, we have received an inheritance from God, for HE CHOSE US IN ADVANCE, and He makes everything work out according to His plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. THE SPIRIT IS GOD’S GUARANTEE THAT HE WILL GIVE US THE INHERITANCE HE PROMISED AND THAT HE HAS PURCHASED US TO BE HIS OWN PEOPLE. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.

What good news, great joy, and indescribable blessing that once we were alienated from God, but now are adopted as children of God. Now we are no longer lost, but found, and no longer fatherless but belonging to God. His Spirit of Adoption is the Spirit of God that now resides in us. His Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of Adoption, but He also will never leave us. Through the Holy Spirit, we are not orphans because Jesus will come to us. John 14:15-18 NLT says,

If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you. NO, I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU AS ORPHANS—I WILL COME TO YOU.

We cannot truly know the Father’s Heart without understanding our ADOPTION in Christ Jesus! Each one of us has this great privilege of calling God our Heavenly Father. When we accepted Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, we were adopted into God’s family. In the Bible, to be adopted means to give to the adoptee the name, place, and privileges of a son or daughter who is not originally one by birth. So when you became part of God’s family through salvation, you automatically received the privileges of a son or daughter of God. When God adopts you, your new identity and position as a child in His family set you free from the claims that the enemy used to have over you. It also sets you free from your old nature, because you become a new creation in Christ Jesus. All the rights and responsibilities over you have been given entirely to God. You take on His name, His nature, and His covering. YOU ARE COMPLETELY HIS! Just as 1 John 3:1 NIV says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

What a privilege we have to be called children of God. We are no longer defined by our past mistakes, our family upbringing, or the wrong choices we have made. We have taken on God’s name and are identified in Him—that is who we are! As we embrace God as our Heavenly Father, we can now come into a right relationship with Him. It is from that “Spirit of Adoption” that we become not only His children, but His heirs. We can now receive all that He wants us to receive through that father-child relationship. CHILDREN OF GOD HAVE THE RIGHT TO THE INHERITANCE!

As God’s children, we have a father, family, and a home. God the Father is our home as we dwell and rest in His presence, and we have love, security, and fellowship with Him. We are being healed from the pain of fatherlessness and the spirit of rejection. When God adopted us, He restored our voices to praise, worship, preach, and pray. We are no longer silenced or canceled by the adversary through pain, shame, and fear. We are free through the blood of the Son of God. Psalm 23 testifies that we have a rightful place at our Father’s table where He spreads a feast for us. He anoints our heads with oil before our enemy. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil because our Father’s presence is with us. Assuredly, His goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. Whom shall we fear? Who can separate us from the love of God? None in heaven or earth! Our Father is for us.

There is no one so broken that God cannot heal. There is no spirit so crushed that God cannot make whole. There is no one so lost that God cannot save. There is no captive so bound that God cannot set free. There is no mind so tormented that God cannot make whole. This is the heart of God, which is manifested throughout the Bible, reaching, saving, healing, and making many whole. The Bible reveals that countless people have experienced God’s unconditional love and loving-kindness.

• God’s redemptive love: Adam and Eve, Manasseh, and Peter failed God, and yet the heavenly Father reached out to redeem them.
• God’s patient love: God was gracious and patient with Abraham, although he made mistakes.
• God’s faithful love: He was faithful to David even when David sinned grievously. He did not give up on David when he sinned in adultery, lies, and murder. God sent Nathan to confront him, so that in his repentance God would restore him.
• God’s forgiving and accepting love: The woman, who was caught in adultery, was brought to Jesus’ feet to be stoned, but He forgave, saved her, and restored her dignity.
• God’s loving kindness and gentle love: Jesus gave dignity and hope to the woman weeping at His feet at Simon’s house.

The Spirit of Adoption Versus the Orphan Spirit

The orphan spirit is a spiritual condition of feeling abandoned, isolated, and unworthy, which leads a person to feel separated from God despite professing belief in Him. The orphan spirit is an evil and vicious spirit that will keep you from knowing the Father’s Heart. It will continue to be a barrier to your being able to receive the AGAPE LOVE OF THE FATHER. Without that agape love of God in operation in our lives, we will not be able to be who He created us to be. In the parable of the lost son in Luke 15, the older son, although he never left his father’s house, did not know his father’s love for him. Proximity does not guarantee intimacy with the father. When the younger brother repented and returned to their father’s house, the father rejoiced over the son who was lost but now was found. He arranged for a party and called all the neighbors to come and celebrate. The older son, on returning from the field and finding out what had happened, felt hurt, rejected, and slighted by their father. He would not go in to celebrate the brother’s return. The father went out to entreat him to come in and celebrate. With much indignation, pain, and anger, he told his father in Luke 15:28-32 NLT,

“All these years I’VE SLAVED FOR YOU and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!” His father said to him, “Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, AND EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!”

The older son had an orphan spirit when he told his father that, for all the years he had been slaving for his father, he had never received anything from him to celebrate with his friends. It was not that the father did not love him, but because he did not believe he was loved as a son and saw himself more as a slave. The father loved him as a beloved son and all that the father had was his inheritance as his son. His orphan spirit caused him to operate from a slave mindset. As long as you have an orphan spirit, you can never truly embrace the LOVE OF THE FATHER. The orphan spirit robs you of your rights and privileges as a child of God. It will steal your joy, torment you with insecurity, and constantly drive you to strive to earn the father’s approval, and yet never obtain it. The orphan spirit is a performance-driven spirit that can never feel satisfied, no matter what one does, even to the point of giving up one’s life in service. It will still not be enough to earn love or approval. If we do not allow God to heal us from our past and deliver us from this spirit, we will never be able to find rest in His love. When you have that orphan spirit, you are disconnected from the Father’s heart; in fact, you will be emotionally distant from the Father. Just because you are in the Father’s house does not mean you know the Father’s heart. The only way to learn the Father’s heart is to earnestly pursue Him.

The Perpetual Fatherhood Of God—He Never Fails

• The Father Who Sacrificed His Only Son to Save and Make Us His Children

John 3:16-17 NLT
For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.

• The Father Who Will Never Leave Nor Forsake Us; Never Walk Away

Psalm 27:10 NLT
Even if my father and mother abandon me, THE LORD WILL HOLD ME CLOSE.

When those closest to us abandon us, God will stay and hold us close to Himself.

• The Father Who Will Never Deny Us—He is the Everlasting Father

Isaiah 63:16 NLT
SURELY YOU ARE STILL OUR FATHER! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, LORD, YOU WOULD STILL BE OUR FATHER. You are our Redeemer from ages past.

Even if the whole world were to reject and abandon us, God, our Eternal Father, will never deny us, His children. His fatherhood is unceasing, and His love is undying. Others may deny us and treat us mindlessly as castoffs, but not God our Father. He will still be our Father and hold us close to Himself in our weakest moments. He will still delight and sing over us and treat us as the apple of His eye. He still crowns us with His loving kindness and remains the lifter and glory of our heads.

• The Father Who Understands Our Frailties with Tenderness and Compassion

Psalm 103:8-18 NLT
The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. FOR HIS UNFAILING LOVE TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM IS AS GREAT AS THE HEIGHT OF THE HEAVENS ABOVE THE EARTH. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. THE LORD IS LIKE A FATHER TO HIS CHILDREN, TENDER AND COMPASSIONATE TO THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. FOR HE KNOWS HOW WEAK WE ARE; HE REMEMBERS WE ARE ONLY DUST. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone— as though we had never been here. BUT THE LOVE OF THE LORD REMAINS FOREVER WITH THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. His salvation extends to the children’s children, of those who are faithful to His covenant, of those who obey His commandments!

God loves us with unfailing tenderness and compassion because He knows our frailty. He remembers that He formed us out of dust and that we are weak. He understands and holds us in His hands with tender, loving kindness, to uplift, restore, and give hope.

• The Father Who is our Shield, Glory, and Lifter of our Heads

Psalm 3:1-4 NKJV
LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah BUT YOU, O LORD, ARE A SHIELD FOR ME, MY GLORY AND THE ONE WHO LIFTS UP MY HEAD. I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

Troubles may increase, and adversaries may arise to surround us; we will not fear, because God is the shield, glory, and lifter of our heads. Matthew 12:20 NKJV says, “A bruised reed He will not break and smoking flax He will not quench,” and those whose lives have been crushed by pain like bruised reeds, the Father will not discard or destroy but will embrace and make whole. Others whose faith has been subjected to the harshness of trials and warfare, causing their once-burning faith to be reduced to smoking flax, God will not snuff out but bring to Himself to heal and nurture until the smoking embers become fiery flames of faith again.

• The Father Who Forgives and Casts Our Sins into the Sea of Forgetfulness

Micah 7:18-20 NLT
Where is another God like You, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of His special people? YOU WILL NOT STAY ANGRY WITH YOUR PEOPLE FOREVER, BECAUSE YOU DELIGHT IN SHOWING UNFAILING LOVE. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under Your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as You promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.

Jeremiah 31:34 BSB
I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

Isaiah 43:25 NKJV
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Psalm 103:12 ESV
As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.

• The Father’s Steadfast Protection and Covering Over Us

Psalm 91:4–6 NIV
He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

• The Father’s Discipline of Love for All Sons and Daughters

Hebrews 12:5-13 NLT
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as His children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when He corrects you. FOR THE LORD DISCIPLINES THOSE HE LOVES, AND HE PUNISHES EACH ONE HE ACCEPTS AS HIS CHILD.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as He does all of His children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really His children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in His holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Nothing Can Separate Us from the Father’s Love

Romans 8:35-39 NLT
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If anyone had a reason to believe he was not worthy of God’s love because of his past sins, it would be Paul, the Apostle. In 1 Corinthians 15:9 NLT, he confessed, “For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’M NOT EVEN WORTHY TO BE CALLED AN APOSTLE AFTER THE WAY I PERSECUTED GOD’S CHURCH.” Yet in 1 Timothy 1:12-17 NLT, he testified of God’s love,

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do His work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve Him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted His people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. OH, HOW GENEROUS AND GRACIOUS OUR LORD WAS! HE FILLED ME WITH THE FAITH AND LOVE THAT COME FROM CHRIST JESUS. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I AM THE WORST OF THEM ALL. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in Him and receive eternal life. All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; He alone is God. Amen.

Paul shook off the orphan spirit and all that came with it: the religiosity, legalism, striving to perform to please God, and an angry, hardened, judgmental spirit. There was no love in Paul until Jesus Christ confronted and saved him, and delivered him from all that bound him. He, being adopted by God, took on the Spirit of adoption and sonship. He was set free and totally transformed. As a son, he understood God’s agape love for him; therefore, he could testify to the greatness of God’s love, which nothing could separate him from. We, too, can be healed and live with a proper understanding of the Father’s heart. As He loves us, we are to go and love others with His love. We are to go bring all spiritual orphans into God’s kingdom as His sons and daughters.