Can a child fully understand the love of God if he has not felt the love of an earthly father? In my experience, it is very difficult. I had four fathers. My birth father divorced my mother when she was pregnant with me. I felt his rejection deeply. My mother’s second husband was an alcoholic and very abusive—he even attempted to kill her. My next stepfather was kind but greedy. He, along with two friends, robbed three banks. He ended up in prison, and my mother divorced him.
My childhood years were anything but glamorous. I was insecure, had low self-esteem, and felt very unloved. It was difficult for me to make friends in school. As a teenager, I longed for acceptance from my peers, but my search for love only left me feeling empty and alone. I didn’t know that my Father in heaven was working behind the scenes to fill that void. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. . . . I have called you by your name; you are Mine” (Jer. 1:5; Isa. 43:1). “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:18). “When my father . . . forsake[s] me, then the Lord will take care of me” (Ps. 27:10).
When I was 19, a friend invited me to attend a Christian concert at her local church. One of the music group leaders gave this invitation: “If your life is empty and you feel alone, won’t you give Jesus a chance?” His words and the music touched my heart, and I responded to the call to come forward and receive Jesus.
I was reading the Gospel of John when I came across this phrase: “the Father Himself loves you” (John 16:27, first part). It struck me! I had heard that Jesus loved me, but the Father? Could I really believe that? All I knew of God the Father was that He seemed far away from me—somewhere in heaven—and that He could see everything I was doing. I was afraid of Him. As I read the Scriptures, I fell in love with Jesus. Jesus came, however, to show us the love of His Father. When Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father,” Jesus answered, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father ” (John 14: 8, 9).
I had to accept that God the Father truly loved me through His Son, Jesus Christ. “The very first step in approaching God is to know and believe the love He has to us; for it is through the drawing of His love that we are led to come to Him” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 104, 105). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Also, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them . . .” (2 Cor. 5:19).
Once I understood that God loved me unconditionally, I found strength to forgive my earthly fathers for rejecting me. God gave me grace to move on. I know now that I have a heavenly Father and that I am a daughter of the Most-High God, the King of kings. Our heavenly Father understands the human need for love and acceptance. He didn’t forget about me.
So what about my fourth father? I was 11 when my mother remarried. Because all the other men left us, I wondered if he would stay. He did. I adopted him as my dad and love him as if he were my biological father. He has provided the security and love that any father should. My mother is gone now, but my dad remains a vital part of my life. A father is more than blood.
How about you? Have you been abandoned by a parent or family member? Do you long to be accepted and secure? Do you ache to be loved unconditionally? “Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go. Know and believe the love that God has to us, and you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable to all the delusions and assaults of Satan” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 119). “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10).
- Father, we praise You for loving us first.
- We praise You that You draw us with Your love (Jer. 31:3).
- We praise You for Your unfailing care.
- Lord, we praise You for Your healing power.
- Lord, please forgive us for any sins that keep us from having a deeper experience with You. [Spend a few moments in personal, silent prayer, allowing the Holy Spirit to search your hearts and show you any sins you may need to confess privately to God, not publicly.]
-
Lord, we pray, as Paul did in Eph. 3:17-19:We ask that You fill us with Your love and make us passionate about loving others to Jesus.
- That You will find a permanent home in our hearts as we learn to trust You.
- That our roots will go down deeply into the soil of Your love.
- That we will understand the width and length and depth and height of Your love.
- That we will be filled with all the fullness of God.
- We pray for families whose world is filled with chaos, sorrow, and confusion.
- Please bless the hundreds of thousands of outreach activities around the world during 2019. We pray especially for Total Member Involvement evangelism efforts in India, June 2019, and Papua New Guinea, May 2020.
- We pray for Adventist members who face persecution or imprisonment because of their beliefs.
- We pray for a spiritual revival among Seventh-day Adventist young people who attend public colleges and universities worldwide. May they become vibrant ambassadors for Christ.
- We pray for the 69 percent of earth’s population who have not received an unclouded presentation of Jesus.
- Lord, we pray for the seven (or more) people on our individual prayer lists. May they let the Holy Spirit work in their lives. We also pray for the personal needs of those gathered here and for our local prayer requests.
- Father, we thank You for those [name specific people] who have loved and nurtured us.
- Thank You that You had Your hand over us before we were born (Ps. 139:13).
- Lord, thank You that even if I had been the only one, You would have died for me (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 187).
- Thank You for answering our prayers even before we ask.
“The Wonder of It All” (SDA Hymnal #75); “And Can It Be?” (SDA Hymnal #198); “I Will Sing of Jesus’ Love” (SDA Hymnal #183)
- “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (John 16:27).
- “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” (Jer. 31:3).
- “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1).
DAY 1—TO KNOW AND BELIEVE
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isa. 49:15).
Can a child fully understand the love of God if he has not felt the love of an earthly father? In my experience, it is very difficult. I had four fathers. My birth father divorced my mother when she was pregnant with me. I felt his rejection deeply. My mother’s second husband was an alcoholic and very abusive—he even attempted to kill her. My next stepfather was kind but greedy. He, along with two friends, robbed three banks. He ended up in prison, and my mother divorced him. My childhood years were anything but glamorous. I was insecure, had low self-esteem, and felt very unloved. It was difficult for me to make friends in school. As a teenager, I longed for acceptance from my peers, but my search for love only left me feeling empty and alone. I didn’t know that my Father in heaven was working behind the scenes to fill that void. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. . . . I have called you by your name; you are Mine” (Jer. 1:5; Isa. 43:1). “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:18). “When my father . . . forsake[s] me, then the Lord will take care of me” (Ps. 27:10). When I was 19, a friend invited me to attend a Christian concert at her local church. One of the music group leaders gave this invitation: “If your life is empty and you feel alone, won’t you give Jesus a chance?” His words and the music touched my heart, and I responded to the call to come forward and receive Jesus. I was reading the Gospel of John when I came across this phrase: “the Father Himself loves you” (John 16:27, first part). It struck me! I had heard that Jesus loved me, but the Father? Could I really believe that? All I knew of God the Father was that He seemed far away from me—somewhere in heaven—and that He could see everything I was doing. I was afraid of Him. As I read the Scriptures, I fell in love with Jesus. Jesus came, however, to show us the love of His Father. When Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father,” Jesus answered, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father ” (John 14: 8, 9). I had to accept that God the Father truly loved me through His Son, Jesus Christ. “The very first step in approaching God is to know and believe the love He has to us; for it is through the drawing of His love that we are led to come to Him” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pp. 104, 105). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Also, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them . . .” (2 Cor. 5:19). Once I understood that God loved me unconditionally, I found strength to forgive my earthly fathers for rejecting me. God gave me grace to move on. I know now that I have a heavenly Father and that I am a daughter of the Most-High God, the King of kings. Our heavenly Father understands the human need for love and acceptance. He didn’t forget about me. So what about my fourth father? I was 11 when my mother remarried. Because all the other men left us, I wondered if he would stay. He did. I adopted him as my dad and love him as if he were my biological father. He has provided the security and love that any father should. My mother is gone now, but my dad remains a vital part of my life. A father is more than blood. How about you? Have you been abandoned by a parent or family member? Do you long to be accepted and secure? Do you ache to be loved unconditionally? “Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go. Know and believe the love that God has to us, and you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable to all the delusions and assaults of Satan” (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 119). “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10).
SUGGESTED FORMAT FOR THE PRAYER TIME
Praise
• Father, we praise You for loving us first.
• We praise You that You draw us with Your love (Jer. 31:3).
• We praise You for Your unfailing care.
• Lord, we praise You for Your healing power.
Confession:
• Lord, please forgive us for any sins that keep us from having a deeper experience with You. [Spend a few moments in personal, silent prayer, allowing the Holy Spirit to search your hearts and show you any sins you may need to confess privately to God, not publicly.]
Supplication and Intercession:
• Lord, we pray, as Paul did in Eph. 3:17-19: o That You will find a permanent home in our hearts as we learn to trust You. o That our roots will go down deeply into the soil of Your love. o That we will understand the width and length and depth and height of Your love. o That we will be filled with all the fullness of God.
• We ask that You fill us with Your love and make us passionate about loving others to Jesus.
• We pray for families whose world is filled with chaos, sorrow, and confusion.
• Please bless the hundreds of thousands of outreach activities around the world during 2019. We pray especially for Total Member Involvement evangelism efforts in India, June 2019, and Papua New Guinea, May 2020.
• We pray for Adventist members who face persecution or imprisonment because of their beliefs.
• We pray for a spiritual revival among Seventh-day Adventist young people who attend public colleges and universities worldwide. May they become vibrant ambassadors for Christ.
• We pray for the 69 percent of earth’s population who have not received an unclouded presentation of Jesus.
• Lord, we pray for the seven (or more) people on our individual prayer lists. May they let the Holy Spirit work in their lives. We also pray for the personal needs of those gathered here and for our local prayer requests.
Thanksgiving
• Father, we thank You for those [name specific people] who have loved and nurtured us.
• Thank You that You had Your hand over us before we were born (Ps. 139:13).
• Lord, thank You that even if I had been the only one, You would have died for me (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 187).
• Thank You for answering our prayers even before we ask.
SUGGESTED SONGS TO SING “The Wonder of It All” (SDA Hymnal #75); “And Can It Be?” (SDA Hymnal #198); “I Will Sing of Jesus’ Love” (SDA Hymnal #183)
PROMISES TO CLAIM AS YOU PRAY
• “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (John 16:27).
• “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” (Jer. 31:3).
• “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1).
A Deeper Experience
DAY 2—FROM THE INSIDE OUT
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). I was a pretty good child growing up. I wasn’t rebellious toward my mother; I was attentive in school and respectful to my teachers. I didn’t participate in wild parties, drink alcohol, or experiment with drugs like other youth in my high school.
After I became a Christian, I prided myself that I was a good person. I ate the right foods, replaced my rock music with Christian music, dressed modestly, taught the Sabbath School lesson, organized evangelistic events and outreach, and even shared my personal testimony. I had given my heart to Jesus, was baptized, truly believed in His Word, and looked forward to living eternally in His kingdom. My whole world revolved around the church and its activities and doing good things. By outward appearances, I was living a righteous life. I soon learned, however, how shallow my Christian experience really was—and how much I needed Jesus. One evening I attended a seminar at my church on Christian living. The speaker said that unless a person is born again, he is not in a saving relationship with Christ. She quoted this statement from Ellen G. White: “The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether” (The Desire of Ages, p. 172). The stark reality hit me: there is more to the Christian life than I thought! It was true, my life was different than before I received Christ, but it was improved, modified. I was a Christian, but self was still alive. I still had a temper and was easily wounded. I was proud and demanded that things be done my way. I had not yielded myself to Christ. I thought my salvation was secure through all the things I was doing, but I was missing the joy of my salvation! I had made a profession of Christ but did not have the love of Christ; I had not surrendered to Him. I needed Jesus to be formed within.
How does a person surrender to Christ? First, it is imperative to recognize the need for a Savior—to choose Him.
“Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. . . . unless he shall receive a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life, ‘he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (Steps to Christ, p. 18). I could not change my heart, but I could choose to give Him my will. I responded to the gift of repentance and confessed my sin of self-righteousness, self-importance, self-indulgence, and self-pity, and then placed my will on the side of Christ, for Him to control.
Second, spend quality time getting to know Him who is Life Eternal. “And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). As I spent time in Scripture and prayer, becoming intimately acquainted with my Savior, my life began to take on new meaning. Jesus began the process of making something beautiful out of my life. My mind was being renewed—new attitudes and new affections were being developed. My desire to serve God deepened.
You may say, “I was born into this church. I’ve been a Christian all my life!” “I’ve never been out in the world!” “I’ve worked for the Master for as long as I can remember.” These things might be true, and praise the Lord for that! However, you can have all this and still not have the Son.
Perhaps you, too, have been impressed by the Holy Spirit that your Christian experience is shallow. What can you do? You can pray this prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23, 24). Surrender your heart and life to Him and, one by one, He will reveal areas of your life that need to be changed. As you cooperate with Him, your life will never be the same!
SUGGESTED FORMAT FOR THE PRAYER TIME
Praise:
Father, we praise You that You have cleansed us from all sin and unrighteousness.
Lord, we praise You that You are able to keep us from falling and that You present us to the Father with great joy (Jude 24).
We praise You for convicting us of sin and extending mercy.
Confession:
- Lord, please show us areas in our lives where self is still alive.
- Please forgive us when we have been self-righteous and self-indulgent, practicing self-pity.
- Please reveal areas in our lives that need to be transformed [take few moments of silence].
Supplication and Intercession:
- Lord, please fill us with the knowledge of Your will, and may we walk worthy of You.
- We pray for those in spiritual and mental prisons to be set free from their guilt.
- We ask You to fill us with the fruit of righteousness.
- Lord, we pray for a mighty surge of Adventists who will serve God by loving others and by sharing with people from other cultures and religions.
- Please raise up modern-day Waldensian students who are willing to serve you in difficult places.
- We pray for the 62 million people in the 28 least-reached cities of the former Soviet Union (Euro-Asia Division).
- We pray for God to raise up brave missionaries willing to work among the 746 people groups in the 20 countries of the Middle East.
- We pray for the 1,000 Missionary Movement in Northern Asia-Pacific Division and Southern Asia-Pacific Division. As these young people serve in countries such as Taiwan, China, Russia, and Burma, may they be baptized with the Holy Spirit and empowered to do God’s work.
- We also pray for our list of seven or more people [name the names if appropriate].
Thanksgiving:
- Lord, thank You for individuals who have guided us to make a decision for You.
- Thank You for not abandoning us to our past failures and mistakes.
- Thank You for the gift of repentance and for revealing our need of You.
- Thank You for knowing the end from the beginning and for answering our prayers in Your time and way.
SUGGESTED SONGS TO SING: “Lord, I Want to be a Christian” (SDA Hymnal #319); “Be Thou My Vision” (SDA Hymnal #547); “Give Me Jesus” (SDA Hymnal #305); “I Would Be Like Jesus” (SDA Hymnal #311); “Nearer, Still Nearer” (SDA Hymnal #301)
PROMISES TO CLAIM AS YOU PRAY:
- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
- “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22, 23).
- “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:4-6).
- “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26).
- “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
