Tag Archive for: Tim Spykstra

The Character of Abba Father’s Heart – Loving

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Understanding our Father’s heart means we are not afraid to be totally dependent upon our Abba, we trust him as a child trusts his daddy. Perhaps as a child you learned this timeless song at church. It goes like this: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so; little ones to Him belong, they are week but He is strong….”

I’d like to take the liberty to change a few words of this great song to: “The Father loves me this I know, for the Lord Jesus tells me so…yes the Father love me, yes the Father loves me, yes the Father loves me, for Jesus tells me so.”

In the beginning man was created in a perfect relationship with God the Father, however, that was distorted in the Garden of Eden when man chose life apart from God. This caused things to go in a different direction and left a huge vacuum in human hearts. And that vacuum is waiting to be filled by the Father’s love, a love that is true and complete.

The Father’s plan was to reintroduce Himself and His great love for his children through His only Son Jesus. Jesus said again and again that He came to reveal the Father, “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” John 14:9. Truly the words of the “new song” are one of the greatest theological truths of the Bible. Jesus came into this world to reveal the love of his Father (John 3:16).

I would be so bold to say every major man-made crisis in our world (Isis, terrorism, corruption in governments, addictions, prisoners, the breakdown of families, etc.) can be linked to the lack of comprehension of God’s great love. When we try to live apart from His love we are driven by fear and insecurity, which leads to internal and external chaos.

The Character of Abba Father’s heart flows from His eternal heart of love for His children. As John says “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we can be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Jesus came to show us the “lavish” love of a Good Father God.

I want to challenge you to join me this week in reading John 14-17 each day and underline the word Father each time it is used by Jesus. I also want to challenge you to join me in singing the words to the familiar song! “Yes, the Father loves me; Yes, the Father loves me, for Jesus tells me so…. May you know God’s great love for you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Character of Abba Father’s Heart – Becoming a Child Again

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“Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 18:3.

Sea World has always been one of my favorite amusement parks to visit. Yet, the time we ventured to this well known tourist spot in San Diego with extended family and 18 month old TJ is definitely the most memorable. Upon arrival my wife Patty and I loaded up the stroller with the diaper bag, snacks, sunscreen, blankets and all the other stuff needed for a fun filled day! We quickly asked, well probably more accurately told the family to go ahead and push TJ in the stroller to Shamu Stadium and we would meet them there.With passes in hand Patty and I darted through the gate and parted ways. We were hopeful we could get my nephew to be a volunteer for one of the shows, he was in remission for leukemia so we were sure we could make it happen! As the rest of the family walked up to Shamu Stadium immediately I knew something was terribly wrong. There was no stroller and no TJ! In a panic I asked where TJ was, the blank looks on their faces stated the obvious. Somehow in the excitement of getting into the park TJ had been left in the stroller in the parking lot!

I took off sprinting, running the fastest mile of my life. I plowed through the crowds and jumped over benches, filled with adrenaline I leaped the turn stall at the entrance and just outside I saw a police officer with my son. I cannot tell you the relief, joy, and pain I felt as I pulled TJ out of the stroller and held him as tightly. Yes, I had a lot of explaining to do, but thankfully the officer believed me. That day at Sea World was tainted as I thought about what it must have been like for TJ left all alone. Was he crying, was he scared, did he think we had abandoned him?

That day is imprinted in my mind as just writing about it brings up some of the same emotions that I experienced 18 years ago. And it also helps me understand just a little about the heart of Abba Father for His children. We are spiritually helpless 18 month old toddlers, lost in the midst of a scary world. And we are not capable of saving ourselves. When Jesus says “whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the Kingdom,” he means that we come to see ourselves as helpless children totally dependent on a loving Father to come to our rescue and bring us back to our true family.

As I ran passionately to find my lost son, how much more does our Abba Father run for His lost children who He created out of a heart of absolute love. In the next several weeks we will look at what this running Abba Father’s heart looks like. It is a loving, holy, forgiving, intimate, empowering, supportive, generous, concerned, faithful, & joyful heart.  

The greatest way to prepare our hearts to encounter our Abba Father is to become totally dependent children again. Yes, this is counter culture for us but unless we understand our absolute neediness we will miss the full embrace of the Father’s arms of love rescuing us out of our lost, lonely existence.  You and I were created to know Abba Father’s heart and to do so is to become a child again.

Pray this prayer with me: Abba Father help me know how lost I am without you. Let me see myself as a needy, dependent child, who needs his Father to rescue him from sin, fear, isolation, loneliness, and the lies of the world. Daddy God, I cry out to you today please come find me! I need you more than anyone or anything in this world. Your child, Amen!

The Character of Abba Father’s Heart

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“He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven…” Mathew 18:2-3

A good friend of mine was sharing about his 3 year old, Andrew. He said one of the greatest things about coming home from work is the greeting he receives from his son at the door. When Andrew sees his dad at the end of day he is full of hugs, his face lights up with joy, and he talks non-stop as he runs to the arms of his daddy. Andrew wants to go wherever his daddy goes and do whatever daddy does. For Andrew daddy is everything, his world is complete when daddy comes home.

It with great excitement that I begin this new blog series, The Character of Abba Father’s Heart. This subject is the passion and vision of Oceans Ministries. I also believe it to be the #1 passion on the heart of Jesus, he desires to demonstrate to a spiritually-orphaned world what His Abba (Daddy) Father is like. That is why Jesus makes that outlandish declaration in the verse above, to get into the Father’s Kingdom you need to “become like little children.” Little children who, like Andrew, totally trust and find absolute delight in being with their daddy. Jesus during his life on earth continually revealed what this child and Abba Father relationship is to look like, and his greatest desire is that we experience that same relationship with the Father for eternity. Read Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

My heartfelt prayer for this series is that you will become like little Andrew, whose world is complete when Daddy comes home. I earnestly hope that the heart of Abba Father will be revealed to you and you will be able to trust Him completely as a 3 year old fully trusts in the love of his daddy. For many, because of a poor father image or the outright lies of Satan about the character of Father God, this subject can be painful. Our first view of God is seen through our earthly father and if that relationship was strained or nonexistent the tendency is to run away from any concept of God being Father, or to be terrified of having a relationship with Him.

Yet, as said earlier, the goal and mission of Jesus was to reveal to you exactly who God the Father is. Ultimately, this is the most important relationship you will ever have and will fill you with joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Peter 1:8). So I challenge you to join in and discover the “Daddy” that your soul has been created to know.

My prayer this week comes in the form of a song sent to me by my daughter it is called “Good, Good Father” by The Housefires. What a great theme song as this blog series begins!

Good, Good Father

Shouting Shoes – Journey Deeper

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“I’m going to shout about that…!” Received this quote from an email yesterday. This person is facing some spiritual Jericho’s and decided to put on their “shouting shoes” and praise God for His past faithfulness as well as the victories to come. Yes!!! This is where the journey of faith should lead us. Put on your “shouting shoes” and declare the praises of our Father God and all the victories that belong to us in His Jesus.

What is the Jericho you are facing today? Family problems, a difficult person at work, uncertainty about the future, health issues, an addiction, intense spiritual warfare, etc?

Try this, shout out the name of Jesus as loud as you can. Now, this works fine when you are home alone or driving by yourself, but if the shouting could cause someone to have a heart attack you may need to shout in your soul. It really doesn’t matter where or how you shout, but do take a moment to declare Jesus as the crucified, risen, reigning King of kings who has defeated the grave, sin, and our enemy Satan.

When you shout His praise or sing it around your Jericho, you put on the Gospel shoes and cause the gates of hell to crumble and your enemy to flee in fear of the great name of Jesus. Read Matthew 16: 16-18. His Kingdom grows in you and around you as you continuously shout out His praise in faith. Psalm 22:3 says, “God is enthroned (or inhabits) the praises (shouts) of His people.” God the Father will move in your heart and mind to break through strongholds as you shout His praise.

So on the count of 3 shout the name of Jesus, declaring His victory over your situation  1,2, 3 ………………! Remember how importance it is to share God’s victories in your life with others, just like the email encouraged me in my faith!

New Blog Series:

Next week Tuesday a new blogs series The Character of Abba Father’s HEART will begin. I am excited to share this with you as this is at the heart of vision of Oceans Ministries. So appreciate your prayers for Oceans Ministries as God continues to open doors to make His Great Name known around the world.

 

A Journey of Faith – Shouting Shoes

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Back in December my daughter Anna needed new basketball shoes and we ended up purchasing Nike Kobe, named after the well known Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant. What a great marketing technique to get people to buy the same footwear as Kobe, inspiring players to think and hope that maybe, just maybe, wearing his shoes will help them play like him! Unfortunately Anna still can’t slam dunk a basketball, but the cost was worth it since her Achilles tendon is healing and she has been able to return to the court.

In our faith journey, we are given the Father’s shoes and our goal is to imitate His son Jesus. Jesus removed his sandals for us and gave up his life by dying on the cross so that we can stand in victory. He conquered our strongholds and gives us spiritual strength to go on. Last week we read that Joshua was commanded to take off His shoes in submission to the Commander of the Lord’s army (Jesus) and die to himself, so that he could ultimately follow the Father’s plan.

The Father’s shoes certainly don’t match those of our culture in style, color or in our idea of what we consider footwear necessary to win. Notice God’s plan for victory:

“I have delivered Jericho into your hands…. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priest blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout, then the wall of the city will collapse…” (Joshua 6:2-5)

These marching orders are the same for us today. The Father has already “delivered” your Jericho into your hands. Your Commander of the Lord’s Army secured your victory at the Cross. Put on His shoes and follow in His steps around the spiritual strongholds in your life. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the True Priest, and know the Holy Spirit dwells not just with you like the Ark of the Covenant, but in you.

Can you hear the greatest victory shout trumpeted out for the entire world to hear, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Satan and the strong holds of our sin have been overcome by the Cross forever. There is just one more thing you are commanded to do, shout praise to your God in faith for your victory and watch the walls of your Jericho come tumbling down!