Abba, Father, he
said, everything is possible for you.
Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.
Mark 14:36
Through the years of my spiritual
journey, I have bumped into Scriptures that have both stunned and amazed me.
The first was in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus prayed to God as, Abba or Daddy in English (Mark 14:36). It became clear to me that I can
call God Daddy when I read in Romans
8:14–17, 23; Galatians 3:26; 4:6; and Ephesians 1:4–5. Jesus invites me to
settle in and cuddle up to the God who invites me to call Him Daddy.
Although Daddy is the best English translation of Abba, so many people have told me that this word is foreign to them
even in their human family relationships. It is so far from what Jesus is
trying to teach us that really knowing God is more than knowing Him as Father;
it is actually knowing Him as Daddy
(or Dad, Papa, Pop). Every culture is invited to insert the name for father
that signifies the closest intimacy you can imagine from a paternal figure.
God is worthy of honor and glory. Abba examines only one facet of
the infinite nature of God. God is the Creator. He is holy. He is omnipotent.
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is all that and more, and still He
invites you to cry out Abba when you
address Him. Understanding the mystery of what it means to call God Daddy is a beginning to examining His
full nature. It is the perfect place to
start if you really desire to know God.
When I first read the Scriptures that told me to call God Daddy, I couldn’t even come close to
comprehending what they meant. What began as abstract knowledge slowly took
form and created an intimate connection to God. It happened in much the same
way erosion shapes stone. Like water dripping slowly and consistently, a calm
and transforming presence broke through the hard places in my soul that had
never imagined God could love me like a daddy. I have a strong feeling that
many other Christians have never fully comprehended that praying is actually
talking to our Dad.
The most remarkable result of coming to know God as Abba-Daddy in my life is that I have
begun to grasp who I really am. Knowing God as Dad has given me the strength I
need to face my problems, even when God doesn’t solve them for me or take them
away. When you learn to pray to God as Father, you will see yourself as God’s
child too. He will stand you before the mirror of your soul and reveal your
true identity. Something will radically change in the deepest recesses of your
spiritual self when you learn to call Him Daddy.
Henri Nouwen describes it this way:
Calling
God Abba is entering into the same
intimate, fearless, trusting, and empowering relationship with God that Jesus
had. That relationship is called Spirit, and that Spirit is given to us by
Jesus and enables us to cry out with him, Abba, Father. . . It has nothing to do with naming God but
everything to do with claiming God as the source of who we are.
Calling God “Daddy” can be
the most empowering experience of your spiritual life.
Copyright © 2017. Deborah R. Newman. teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights Reserved.
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