According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word father means any of the following:
1
a : a man who has begotten a child; also sire
b : capitalized (1) God (2) the first person of the Trinity
2
: forefather
3
a : one related to another in a way suggesting that of father to child
b : an old man —used as a respectful form of address
4
: often capitalized : a pre-Scholastic Christian writer accepted by the church as an authoritative witness to its teaching and practice —called also Church Father
5
a : one that originates or institutes
6
: a priest of the regular clergy; broadly : priest —used especially as a title
7
: one of the leading men (as of a city) —usually used in plural
In the Bible, God is called the Father of Lights because He is the creator of the stars and luminaries, upholder and ruler, as in James 1;17.
God is our Heavenly Father because He is our creator, preserver, guardian and protector.
Isaiah 46:8-11 says, “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”
Psalm 68:5 refers to God as a Father of the fatherless.
II Samuel 7:14 refers to God as a Father of David forever; and Scripture infers that David will return with Christ to rule the New Earth from Jerusalem for a thousand years of peace.
Deuteronomy 32:6 refers to God as the Father of the Nation of Israel. This is why Israel is surviving all the attacks against her today, and will never be defeated by Gentile powers. Scripture shows God intervening at the Battle of Gog and Magog to deliver her from Russia and her allies. Jesus Christ restores her to her fullness at the Battle of Armageddon.
Jesus calls God His Father some 165 times in the Gospels. The Greek word is pater. The Aramaic word is Abba. There is no pre-Christian literature that uses the word Abba in referring to God. Abba was a term that little children, older children and adults used to address their fathers. It implies an intimacy between a father and his child. It shows the closeness of Jesus with Jehovah God. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. A spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones as you see I have. If you have seen me then you have seen the Father. The Father and I are one.
Paul refers to the Fatherhood of God over forty times in his letters to the churches. For Paul, this fatherhood is based not so much on God’s role in creation, but rather on the redemption and reconciliation he has made available in Jesus Christ. This is why Paul refers to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. It is through the work of Christ, that God invites us to call him “Abba, Father.” It is through Christ, that grace and peace have resulted and we have become God’s children.
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, saying, “Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy Name.”, we are addressing the Creator of all things. We are acknowledging with our lips, and words, and hopefully, with our attitude, that He created us and brought us into existence, and sustains us each day with His Spirit. We are speaking into His ears, before His throne, and in the presence of a “Great Cloud of Witnesses”, as mentioned in Hebrews 12:1, that Jehovah God is my Father, my Daddy, and I am His child.
When Jesus was wrestling with demonic spirits and his flesh, concerning dying on the cross, He addressed His Father as Abba, or Daddy. “Abba, (Daddy) everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36.
Jesus was in relationship with His Father, because He obeyed the teachings of His Father. He did those things that were pleasing to His Father. His Father was always with Him, because He kept His Father’s Words.
Jesus taught us that He will abide in us as we abide in Him. We are His disciples ‘if’ we do what He teaches us to do.
The purpose of keeping the teachings of the Father is to enable all of us to live in the same household with the same authority over us. There are no self-ruling angels in Heaven. There are many self-ruling people on earth. As long as we rule our self, we shut all that God is out of our lives. Christ came to reconcile us to His Father by the price of His Blood, so that we all may be one. One in attitude, one in character, one in desires, one in motive, one in purity, one in un-defilement, one in a kingdom of kings and priests who will rule and reign with Him in the New Earth and in the New Heavens.
Love for the Father is respecting the Father. We respect Him by doing those things that please Him. Just like Jesus taught us. When we respectfully love Jesus Christ, we respectfully love our Heavenly Daddy, for Christ and His Father are One.
This is the opposite of our worldview today. Broken relationships abound throughout society, caused by self-willed fathers and self-willed children. Everyone is busy pleasing their own selfish desires, instead of seeking to please the good of the family unit. This brokenness serves the purposes of the devil and his kingdom, which will result in the Great Tribulation and the final judgment of eternal separation from God. The world is broken because of the broken devil who rules the kingdoms of this world. The devil steals, kills and destroys all that he touches.
Jesus’ Blood makes peace with everything in heaven and on earth. (Colossians 1:20) The Father wants the whole earth to be filled with His knowledge, peace and harmony, as one big family of 7+ billion people interacting with the angels of heaven; just as Adam and Eve were able to interact with heavenly beings and their Heavenly Father in the Garden of Eden. (Habakkuk 2:14, Isaiah 11:9)
So the next time you pray, think about what you are saying, be aware of the attitude of your heart, examine the motive of your words, and ask your Heavenly Daddy to grant answers to your requests according to His will and purpose for your life, instead of trying to bring to pass your own selfish agenda.