Divine Father

Flesh gives birth to flesh; but the Spirit gives birth to spirit

For so long…so many, many, years…I had sinned against God. I had sinned against Him so often, so very often and so deeply, so very deeply. Up to that point, for the 13 years of my adult life I had tried everything to fill the felt sense of emptiness…a void, a relentless aching…in the depths of my soul for something, I knew not what, that was missing. Nothing satisfied that emptiness; nothing filled that void. Having been raised Catholic, I came to the conclusion that it must be God that I was missing. But how do I find God was the pressing question of my heart. Who am I that God would care about me, or have any concern for me? I wasn’t somebody who was important or significant that God should have any thoughts about me. That was my mindset in those years.

Even so, I set out on an intense, consuming search to find God…a relentless search that would continue over the next six years. I didn’t really know what “finding God” actually meant; I just knew that whatever it meant, I needed to find Him. I went to different priests and asked them, “How do I find God?” They were not able to help; actually, they didn’t know the answer. Sometimes they would point me to a book to read, written by a priest. I would read the book, and a number of times I made an appointment to meet with the author of the book…traveling even out of State. Still… they had no answer. I diligently tried practicing different methods I had read about…“Centering on God” and other types of meditations and concepts…all to no avail. I became involved with pursuing several different philosophies concerning God…such as “The Power of Positive Thinking,” and even had sessions with Albert Ellis, a prominent psychologist who had written numerous books on a new theory he had developed called “Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy.” All of my desperate searching came up empty.

Meanwhile, my life was spiraling downward at warp speed. By October 1981, in absolute desperation, I reluctantly accepted a suggestion to meet with a local Baptist minister. For a Catholic, this was absolute rock bottom; a Catholic would not be caught dead talking to a Baptist minister, let alone meeting with one! On Saturday morning, October 17, 1981, I poured out my heart in Lester’s office concerning my desperate, yet fruitless, search to find God. He patiently listened, and when I had finished, presented so simply a child could understand what I had spent six long, intense years searching for. He asked if I would like to follow him in a prayer to accept Jesus as Lord of my life and Savior of my soul, and enter into a personal relationship with Him. As we prayed, there were no flashing lights…no sound of bells and whistles…just a deep satisfying sense in the depths of my soul that now, at last, I had found God…or rather, more accurately, that God had found me. On that day the Scripture verse became true for me: You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. [Jer 29:13]

My life was never again the same…a wonderful journey into the depths of God ever since. The Scripture, “Therefore, beloved, since you are joined together in a living union of oneness with My Divine Son Jesus, you are a new creation. You are no longer the same person you formerly were…your previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, a fresh, new life has begun” [2 Cor 5:17] became a literal reality! Since that momentous day when I first began experiencing that I had indeed been raised up together with Christ Jesus into newness of life, I continually set my heart upon the rich eternal treasures that are above, in the Heavenly realms, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. I Continually set my mind and my thoughts on the things of Heaven and the spiritual realm, not on the things of Earth and the physical realm. For I have indeed died in union with Jesus the Christ, and have indeed been raised up together with Him into newness of life! My new life is hidden now with Christ in God. When the Divine Son of God, Who is my life, appears once again upon this Earth, then I also shall appear with Him in glory! [Col 3:1-4]

Blessed Jesus…for all those years leading up to that momentous day October 17, 1981, lying in the gutter of sin, wallowing in its muck and mire, utterly destitute, hopeless and helpless, without hope and without God…on that day You reached out Your nail-pierced hand to me, and with eyes of compassion, invited me, saying, “My child…come with Me.” I have prepared a place for You in My Father’s house.” The moment I reached up and took hold of Your hand, You drew me to Your Bosom and embraced me. You removed the filthy rags of sin that clothed me, and immersed my body and my soul in Your precious and priceless blood…to soak there in Your Blood. You soaked away all the filth that was caked up on my soul…all the sin, all the wretchedness, all the degradation. You bathed my body and my soul in Your Own Blood…washed me, cleansed me, and made me clean. Then You dressed me in the white robes of Your Own Righteousness, and presented me before the Father. As I stood there before the Father…washed in the Blood of the Lamb, dressed in the white robes of Your Own Righteousness, pure and holy now in His sight, without spot or wrinkle or blemish, accepted now in the Beloved [Eph 1:3-14]…I heard, with ecstatic wonder, the Father say, “My child…this day I have adopted you into My Family. You are now and forevermore My child, and I am your Father and your God.”

Abba Father…I owe my body and my soul to You. If it were not for You, my body would be in the grave, and my soul would be in Hell…15 times over that I am fully aware of and can testify to, and surely many more times that I am not aware of. Though I had sinned against You for so many years, and so very often, and so very deeply…even so, You Personally intervened in my life to stay the hand of death. If it were not for You, Father, I would be in Hell right now…and I full well deserved to be there; but You would not have it. You were not willing that I should perish. How many times Satan had come for me to claim my life and to claim my soul, but You would not permit it. No…You were my Shield and my Protector; You protected my soul, and You kept me safe… even from the very pit of Hell.

And now…I am Yours and You are mine. I could never thank You enough…not even throughout all eternity. I am eternally grateful for Your boundless mercy, Your infinite grace, Your fathomless Love. In Your boundless mercy, You did not pour out Your judgment upon me as I deserved. Instead… in Your infinite grace You granted me Your rich eternal blessings that I did not deserve. In Your fathomless Love, You have initiated Your Love toward me because of Who You are, and not as a response to who I am. Your Love for me is totally outside of my sphere of influence; I could not get You to love me more, because Your love for me is already infinite. I could not cause You to love me less as a result of my sins and failures, my mistakes and imperfections… because You already knew in eternity past every thought I would ever think, heard every word I would ever speak, saw everything I would ever do…and with full knowledge of everything I would ever think or say or do, You consciously and deliberately chose to love me. Your Love for me is unconditional, unfailing, unchanging, unending…eternal and everlasting throughout the endless ages yet to unfold! Hallelujah!

My eternal purpose for your existence is for you to be joined together with Me in a Sacred Covenant relationship…a deep and intimate personal relationship. This is the deepest desire of My heart. Your highest privilege as a soul created in My image and likeness is to enter into this relationship and become a child of the Most High God. [Triune God…Rom 8:14-16; John 17:20-24; Day 63 on website]

You enter into My eternal purpose for you through being born into the spiritual realm by supernatural means…that is, by being born anew of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit comes upon you, and the Power of the Most High overshadows you. You are thereby born again of the Spirit, and become a child of the Most High God; I Myself am your Father. [Father God…John 1:12-13; Day 66 on website]

Your spiritual life begins at that moment in time when you are born again of the Spirit… just as your physical life began at that moment in time when you were born as a baby into this world by natural means…that is, by being born as a child of a human father through your mother. [John 3:3-5; Day 67 on website]

No one can enter the Kingdom of God without having been born both of water washing away your sins through the cleansing bath of the new birth, and the regeneration wrought by the Holy Spirit infusing within you a new and divine principle of life. A person is born physically of human parents, but you are born spiritually of the Spirit. [Titus 3:4-7; Day 68 on website]

On that momentous day when you earnestly made a solemn vow before God in giving yourself to be the bride of Christ My Son, receiving Jesus the Christ into your life in divine marriage, promising to honor and obey Him as both Lord over your life and Savior of your soul…you were granted the right to become born spiritually as a child of God. [John 1:12-13; Day 69 on website]

At that moment, you are joined inseparably together with My Divine Son Jesus in a living union of oneness…flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones…through the regeneration wrought in you by the Holy Spirit. It is Finished! The Eternal Power of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured your eternal union with Him as an accomplished and finished fact. [John 17:21-23; Day 70 on website]

Blood of Christ
[Day 71 on website]

• It is Finished…The Eternal Power of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured your eternal union with Him, joined inseparably together with Him in a living union of oneness as the bride of Christ in a divine marriage… flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones.
• It is Finished…The Eternal Power of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured that the eternal purpose for which God created you…to be joined together with the Triune God in a Sacred Covenant relationship…stands eternally fulfilled.
• It is Finished…The Eternal Power of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured your status of eternal righteousness before God as an accomplished and finished fact.
• It is Finished…The Eternal Power of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured your eternal access into the Holiest of All and My unclouded Presence as your birth-right.
• It is Finished…The Eternal Holy Spirit was given as God’s Eternal Gift to dwell in you, to be the Power in you Who continually guarantees and secures your capability to live your everyday life faithful to your solemn marriage vows as the bride of Christ in our Sacred Covenant relationship.
• It is Finished…The Eternal Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is made available to you, Whose Power in you continually guarantees and secures your capability to live your everyday life faithfully within the Holiest of All in our Sacred Covenant relationship.

I don’t know whether in the depths of your heart you really believe there is a God in Heaven or not, but this I do know…for six years I desperately searched for God and did not find Him, and then one day He found me! [Read John 9:1-39] I proclaim to you Christ Jesus…the One Who existed from the beginning, from Eternity Past, Whom I have heard with the ears of my own inner being, and have seen with my own spiritual eyes.  I have gazed upon Him and have spiritually touched Him with my own hands.  He is the Word of Life.  His Life is continually being revealed to me; I have seen it and testify to it, and I proclaim to you that He is the One Who is Eternal Life.  He always existed with the Father, and is now continually being manifested afresh and anew to me.  I proclaim to you what I have personally seen and heard in the depths of my soul, so that you also may enjoy this same fellowship together with us.  The fellowship I continually enjoy is with the Father and with His Son, Christ Jesus.  I am writing these things so that you also may fully share together with me in this fullness of joy. [1 John 1:1-4].  It is our birth-right as a child of the Most High God!