PAPA...GOD?by Robert Rubinow
The ancient middle-eastern word for "Daddy" or "Papa" was the word Abba. This was a term little children used when calling out for comfort, guidance, rescue, or simply a father's reassuring presence and unconditional love. The name Abba indicated the kind of trust, familiarity, playfulness, and intimacy that very young children experienced in their relationship with dad. It was a relationship of privilege, promise, and power, naturally bestowed at birth.
Rabbi Paul writes in Romans 8:15, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
Unfortunately, few people ever experience the reality of this passage, or the joy and peace that comes from intimacy with God the Father. Because so many of our childhoods lacked the kind of father we longed for, it is often difficult to understand or imagine this kind of relationship between a father and child. Whether dad was harsh, critical, angry, violent, abusive, addicted, passive, or absent altogether, our view of God is often viewed through the lens of our own experience with our fathers growing up.
Thankfully, Jesus came into the world and lived among us so that we could behold the true image of the Father-- not a distorted image based on faulty perceptions and bad life experiences. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) Whatever we see in Jesus, we see the One who sent him. Jesus' compassion, forgiveness, kindness, encouragement and strength are all traits of his Father. He is the spitting image of his Dad! My personal mission is to help hurting people experience the awesome, redemptive, and tender heart of Abba Father as they heal from painful inner wounds.
My desire is to come alongside orphaned hearts and connect them with a Father who gave everything just so He could be with us!The 5-A's of the Father's Heart stands squarely at the center of all we have ever needed: His absolute, wild, lavish, reckless, and unconditional...Affirmation, Acceptance, Affection, Attention & Approval...
