The Father’s Heart

I. Purpose for the Teaching

A. Build a Foundation

To help you get a foundation for a relationship with your Father God.

B. Love and Trust

To encourage you to think of Him as someone to love and trust.

C. Address Hindrances

To help you deal with areas in your life which can hinder your relationship with Him.

D. Reflect on Past Hurts

To consider how past hurts have distorted your concept of God and how your earthly fathers and “father figures” may have unknowingly influenced your view of your heavenly Father.

II. Relationships at the Core

Genesis 1:26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

A. Created to Image God

Man was created to be a God-imager.

B. Fallen Humanity

As fallen humans, we have imaged other fallen humans instead.

C. Hindrances

Selfishness, wounds, and hurts hinder us.

III. A World of Pain

Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

A. Broken Hearts

Man’s heart is broken. Emotional wounds are hindrances to understanding the Father heart of God.

IV. God’s Heart Revealed Through Jesus

John 1:18: No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

John 14:9: Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father?

A. God’s Children

We are God’s children.

Matthew 19:13-14: Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

B. Always Available

Jesus revealed to us that the Father always has time for His children. He is never too busy that He won’t make time for us when we take time to come to Him.

V. Designed for Dependence

God designed us to begin our lives as babies, totally dependent and vulnerable.

A. Family as a Model

He intended the family to be the setting in which His love was modeled.

B. Nurtured and Loved

He desired that children grow up feeling nurtured, understood, loved, and accepted.

VI. Imperfect Families

Because we grew up in imperfect families, many Christians have some areas of misconception about God that frequently come from childhood experiences with their earthly father.

A. Assumptions About God

We automatically, without realizing it, assume that God will be like our father or other authority figures in our lives.

Ephesians 6:4: And, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

• But, He is not.

B. Broken Families

Perhaps we were orphaned by death, or our parents divorced—or perhaps our parents’ careers demanded too much of their lives.

1. Maybe they worked all the time—had no time for you. Or were abusive or condemning. No love.

2. Many Christians don’t trust God as their heavenly Father, because they felt they couldn’t trust their earthly fathers or caregivers.

3. You can’t erase the childhood memories of broken promises or neglect.

4. A good home and family was God’s intent to prepare you for His love.

5. But, if your family failed, God wants us to acknowledge that fact and forgive them so that you can move on into a relationship with Him.

6. He knows that bitterness will hinder you from receiving the fullness of His love that He wants you to receive.

VII. God’s Values

God’s values significantly differ from ours.

C. Generosity Beyond Material Goods

Our concept of God’s generosity may have been crippled by our childhood experiences.

• He shows generosity through more than material goods: He gives forgiveness, mercy, and love.

VIII. Loved Despite Sin

We have sinned and broken God’s heart, but we are still in the center of His affections.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 17:22-23: And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.

A. Loved Like Jesus

God loves you with the same love that He loves His Son Jesus Christ with.

1. Stop and think about that for a moment.

2. God loves every one of His children the same. We are all His favorites.

3. It is worth saying it again. The Father loves each one of us with the same love that He loves His Son Jesus with. You are loved by God! You are important to Him. He loves you with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength.

B. Pursued with Love

He pursues us with forgiveness and love. We cannot be separated from His love by outside forces. This must be our lifestyle.

C. Present in Pain

God was with us through the painful moments of our lives.

Hosea 11:4: I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

IX. God’s Constant Presence

One attribute of God that not even the best parent can hope to imitate—His presence.

Hebrews 13:5: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

A. Never Absent

He will never leave us. He is ever aware of our needs and circumstances. God cares about you.

1 Peter 5:7: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.

B. Always Mindful

When it says that He cares for you, the Greek word means He is distracted for you. He can never forget you. You are always on His mind. He is not careless in His relationship with you. He is careful or full of care for you.

C. Unlike Earthly Parents

Your parents were often preoccupied with their lives. God is not that way.

D. Our True Father

God is our real Father! Try not to resent the failings of your human parents. Rather, rejoice in the wonderful love of your Father God.

Romans 8:37-39: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

X. Accepted by God

Ephesians 1:6: To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved:

A. Unconditional Acceptance

God accepts us, but we live in a performance-oriented society.

B. Unconditional Love

God’s love is unconditional love—we don’t need to do anything to convince Him to love us.

C. Honest Response

All He asks is that we come to Him honestly and sincerely and love Him back.

D. Struggling to Accept

Some people have difficulty accepting God’s love and approval.

Zephaniah 3:17: The LORD your God in the midst of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing.

E. Delighting in Uniqueness

GOD DELIGHTS IN YOUR UNIQUENESS—you don’t need to perform for Him.

Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

F. Created with Purpose

Everything about you God created for a purpose. He didn’t just have this life in mind when He formed you, but more than that, He had eternity in mind when He made you the way He did.

Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations.

Psalm 139:13-18: For you have possessed my reins: you have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are your thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with you.

G. David’s Satisfaction

David was satisfied with how God made his body. He understood that God knew what He was doing and that God had eternity in mind when He formed David in his mother’s womb.

1. A lot of people don’t like the way their body looks. We can come into agreement with God concerning how He formed us in our mother’s womb. We need to see the beauty of God’s work in how He formed and made us.

2. God wants you to accept yourself and see yourself as beautiful, like He sees you. We should not accuse God of making a mistake.

XI. God Wants to Communicate

John 14:6: Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.

Likewise, we cannot go to the sheep except through Him. John 10:1

A. Access Through Jesus

God provided a way into a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. That’s why He sent Him into the world.

B. The Holy Spirit

Romans 8:15-16: For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

God gave you His Holy Spirit so that you could have an intimate relationship with Him as your heavenly Father.

C. Overcoming Barriers

Open, loving communication is difficult for many parents, especially for fathers.

1. If you believe that you have been hindered in your relationship to God because of a lack in some area of fatherly love, then tell the Lord how you feel and ask for His help.

2. You must choose to forgive anyone who has hurt you.

D. Misunderstandings

Hurts we have suffered often cause our understanding of God to be quite different from reality.

E. The Perfect Parent

God is the Perfect Parent—He longs to spend time with you—He wants you to receive His love.

Ephesians 3:16-19: That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

XII. Healing Emotional Wounds

Emotional wounds often keep us from fully enjoying our relationship with our heavenly Father.

A. God’s Desire to Heal

Father desires to heal these hurts in order to ensure sweet and genuine fellowship.

1. God desires you and wants you to desire Him. God wants to heal us both physically and emotionally.

Isaiah 53:3-6: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 61:1-3: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Psalm 34:18: The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.

Psalm 147:3: He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

2. Jesus knows our emotions can be injured.

Hebrews 4:15-16: For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

B. Bridging Separation

God sent Jesus Christ into the world to bridge our separation from Him.

1. That separation was a result of our selfishness—the core of our emotional wounds.

2. Emotional wounds left untreated develop into alienation from God and others. Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. Luke 22:44. This is what the creation suffers on separation, and this agony will be forever, and it will remain fresh every moment. This is what Jesus came to save us from.

XIII. No Excuse for Disobedience

Feelings of inferiority are never an excuse for disobedience. They are not evidence of godly humility. (Ps Joseph)

A. False Humility

False humility is often a symptom of hurt and unresolved feelings of rejection.

1. It is still selfish and wrong and must be dealt with ruthlessly.

2. It is solved through real humility and godly brokenness in our lives.

Psalm 51:17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

B. Humility and Submission

James 4:6-7: But He gives more grace. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1. Rebellion is a result of failing to submit to those that God has set in authority over us.

2. We must repent of our rebellion so we can become free from our ungodly defense mechanisms. We must take off our angry masks and let down our walls of separation so we can be free to receive His love for us.

3. We must become willing to be known for who we really are and take God’s side against our own sin.

XIV. Overcoming the Fear of Man

Another common issue that hinders us from loving God—We will never be free to love our Father God as long as we are dominated by the fear of man. We must learn to fear the Lord instead of man.

A. The Fear of God

The only real remedy for the fear of man is “the fear of God.”

B. Aligning with God

The fear of God causes us to feel the same way about things that He does.

1. It causes us to agree with Him about sin.

Proverbs 8:13: The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

2. It brings friendship and intimacy with God.

Psalm 97:10: You that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserves the souls of his saints; he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 25:14: The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.

3. The fear of the Lord causes us to have an awe of God.

Psalm 33:8: Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

4. It is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

C. Hating What God Hates

Having the fear of the Lord means to love God so much that you hate all that He hates.

D. Choosing the Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord does not come into our lives by accident. You have to choose it.

1. Proverbs 1:28-29: Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

Proverbs 2:1-5: My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you; So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

2. The fear of the Lord comes in because we pursue it, get desperate for it.

3. We must get tired of being manipulated and controlled by the fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25: The fear of man brings a snare: but whoso puts his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

E. Humility and Closeness to God

Humility and the fear of the Lord bring us close to the Father heart of God.

1. We don’t have to carry all our wounds with us all our life.

John 8:31-32: Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

2. We must be willing to pay the price and abide in His word:

   
   

   a. Recognize our sin.

   
   

   b. Responsibility—accept responsibility for it.

   
   

   c. Repent—confess and have a change of heart.

   
   

   d. Renounce—learn to hate our sin.

   
   

   e. Resist—begin to exercise ourselves unto godliness.

XV. Following Adam’s Sin

Adam denied God’s right to rule over his life and chose his own way.

A. Acknowledging Sin

We all followed in Adam’s sin—We must acknowledge pride and selfishness and ask forgiveness.

• We are not only sinners, but we have been sinned against. However, that does not excuse wrong responses on our part.

B. The Road to Healing

The steps to healing are the road of repentance.

• The first step is to acknowledge your need of healing—honesty releases God’s grace.

1 Peter 5:5: …and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.

   a. Building a heart-to-heart relationship with God is only possible through humility.   b. God holds us responsible for our responses.   c. Until you accept responsibility for your actions and attitudes, healing is hindered.

2. Confess your negative emotions.

   a. Many of us have never been taught how to identify or communicate our feelings—so we have stored anger, disappointment, bitterness, guilt, etc., since childhood.b. This produces tragic consequences, ranging from ulcers to suicide.c. Communicating our feelings clears mental channels so root causes can be dealt with.d. If we do not live by God’s laws, we tend to twist God’s intentions for emotions.e. David’s example:

Psalm 130:1-3: Out of the depths have I cried unto you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

Psalm 142:1-2: I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I showed before him my trouble.

Psalm 88:1-4: O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you: Let my prayer come before you: incline your ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draws near unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that has no strength:

Psalm 77:1-4: I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. You hold my eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

1 Peter 5:6-7: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.

1. David faithfully opened up His heart to God. He did not hold back His emotions, because He understood that God really cared for Him and also that only God had the power to change things.

2. You must forgive those who have hurt you.

Matthew 6:9-12: After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (also Matthew 18:21-35)

• Forgiveness is the antiseptic for our emotional wounds.

Colossians 3:12-13: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

3. We must receive forgiveness from God.

   a. If you have been hurt by others and have sinned in your reactions to them, it is also important to ask God for forgiveness for your own wrong actions.b. As you do this, you may also discover a need to forgive yourself.c. Pour out your sense of failure to the Lord, confess your sin.

4. The next step is to open up your heart to receive the Father’s love—There is a void in our lives that can only be filled by God.

   a. If we struggle with insecurity/inferiority, perhaps that void has not been filled.b. We must take a stand against self-centeredness by keeping our focus on Him.

5. In order to learn to rest in our relationship with God, we must train ourself to think God’s thoughts.

Philippians 4:8: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 a. In response to the wrongs we suffer, especially as children, we build destructive habits of thinking about ourselves.  

b. Matthew 22:37-39: Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   c. My focus is on the second commandment. We can’t love others well if we don’t love ourselves in a godly way. God wants us to love ourselves with His love. If you want to love your wife and others, love your God.   d. He wants us to think His thoughts about ourselves.

Romans 12:2: And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

XVI. God Wants to Bring Healing

If we are wounded, we must be careful not to focus on people as our source for healing. This usually results in self-pity, more anxiety, and deeper feelings of rejection.

1. Get your attention on God; He alone is capable of totally healing you.

2. Emotional healing is almost always a process. It takes time.

   a. Without growth of character, we will get wounded again.b. We must strive to build Christian character in our lives.c. I encourage you to study the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and the steps of growing in the divine nature found in 2 Peter 1:1-11.

3. Because God loves us, He waits for us to want this kind of character growth.

XVII. Unrealistic Expectations

Often our disappointments stem from our unrealistic expectations of each other.

A. Pride

This stems from pride.

1 Peter 5:5: Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.

B. Scriptural Expectations

We must ensure that our expectations of others are based on scriptural grounds and not our own fleshly agendas.

XVIII. Learning from Disappointment

Disappointment produces tremendous growth and heightened spiritual awareness for those who learn to ask God why things happen and what He wants to teach them.

A. Recognizing Pride

Our urgent need is to recognize our pride.

XIX. Symptoms of Pride

A. Blind to Own Faults

Pride sees the wrongs of others but never identifies with their own weaknesses.

B. Refusal to Admit Wrong

Pride does not usually admit wrong or personal responsibility.

C. Blaming Others

Pride blames others and breeds a demanding attitude.

D. Seeking Human Approval

Pride is more interested in being accepted in the eyes of other people than in being right according to God’s standards.

E. Avoiding Apology

Pride never says the words, “I am wrong, it is my fault. Will you forgive me?”

F. Blaming God

Pride blames God and others when things go wrong.

G. Excusing Bitterness

Pride excuses bitterness and resentment and leads to self-pity.

H. False Humility

Pride says that a person can reach a level of spirituality in which we are finally free of pride.

XX. David’s Humility

Psalm 51:6: Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom.

Psalm 51:17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

1. To David, brokenness did not mean despair or being hurt, but rather humility, the opposite of pride.

XXI. Questions for Disappointment

Some simple questions are helpful in dealing with disappointment.

1. Lord, what do you want to teach me in this situation?

2. Has there been any disobedience on my part?

3. Do I need to forgive anyone?

4. Am I over-spiritualizing this situation and missing some practical lessons I should learn?

5. Who should I now be serving, instead of worrying about myself?

XXII. Overcoming Self-Centeredness

Most of us suffer to some extent from “low self-image” or emotional wounds. Thus, there is a great temptation to become self-centered.

A. God-Centered Life

We must honestly face this and choose to put God at the center of our lives.

2 Corinthians 3:18: But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Hebrews 12:1-3: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

B. God’s Pain

We must choose to be more concerned about the pain that God feels in His heart over man’s selfishness than about the hurts we feel.

C. No Excuse for Sin

Many times we sin because we are hurt, but that does not excuse us.

D. Accepting Responsibility

To better receive the Father’s love, we need to accept responsibility for what we have done, said, or thought and ask God for forgiveness.

E. Shifting Focus

We cannot heal ourselves, but we can acknowledge our wrong in a situation so that our focus is shifted away from blaming others or justifying or pitying ourselves.

XXIII. The Forgiving Father

Luke 15:11-24: And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, And am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Three aspects of the Father heart of God are revealed:

A. Freedom to Choose

He gives FREEDOM TO CHOOSE: The father loved his son enough to let him leave home.

1. He chose to give man free will, and took the risk of being rejected.

2. There is always a risk in giving people freedom of choice, but without that risk, there can be no genuine love.

3. For us to try to force conformity, belief, or obedience through pressure, threats, or rules is to destroy the very heart of Christianity.

B. Patient Waiting

He PATIENTLY WAITS—He is the waiting Father.

1. The father loved his son so deeply that he watched every day for him to return.

2. The father longed for his son to reach this attitude of sorrow for his sins, but he knew it must be the young man’s decision.

3. Our Father longs for us to return home—Isaiah 30:18, Romans 2:4.

C. Unconditional Acceptance

He gives UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

1. The father’s joy revealed his complete forgiveness and acceptance of those who turn back to Him.

2. The father loved his son so much that he did not condemn his son for his wrong actions, but God does not condone our rebellion or selfishness.

   a. He constantly waits for us to respond to His love and receive His forgiveness.

XXIV. Knowing the Heart of God

A. Not a Pushover

We must be careful not to think that His loving, forgiving attitude makes Him a pushover.

1. His compassion is endless toward those who see their need of Him.

B. Knows Our Hearts

He sees our hearts and knows our thoughts.

C. Offers Security

He offers great security to all those who sincerely want to be in His family.

D. Deeper Relationship

When we look beyond our ideas about God, beyond our desire to argue and discuss, and ask Him to reveal to us how He sees our selfishness, only then we can begin to experience a deeper relationship with God.

1. God is a waiting, loving Father and so much more.