Honoring Abba on Father's Day

During worship at church Friday night there was a deep sense of reverence and awe, but also a sense of peace; that the Father was pleased with our worship.  During this time the first part of the Lord’s Prayer started running through my mind as if it was being whispered to me. Then He drew me to other Scriptures, ones that broke my heart.  I could sense that the Father was grieved because the people that He calls His are forgetting to honor Him and give Him the reverence and respect that He is due.  He is our Father in heaven but so much more. Here are the Scriptures that I was given:

Malachi 1:6 (NASB): “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’

Malachi 2:10 (NASB): “Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us?

Matthew 6:9-10 (NASB): “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

Romans 8:14-17 (NASB): For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

As you can see in the Scripture there is a progression. It starts with the Father asking why we aren’t giving Him the honor and reverence that He deserves. He reminds us that HE is the Father and Creator of us all. Then Jesus instructs us to pray in a manner that brings honor and reverence to The Father’s Name, to hold Him as the most holy and honored. Hallowed means: regarded as holy; venerated; sacred.

The last Scripture is a reminder that we have been adopted as His children; we are fully accepted as His heir. He has made it possible for our relationship with Him to go beyond the unreachable Father in heaven, to being our Abba, our DADDY, our PAPA; the One who loved us with abandon, without restraint or moderation, so much so that He gave His own Son to be a sacrifice so that we may become His sons and daughters, so that we could be His.

I think that for many of us that have had a poor example of what a Daddy is, we have a hard time accepting God as our Father. We are good with Jesus and some are ok with the Holy Spirit, but God the Father is sometimes a hard concept, especially as Someone that loves us deeply and wants to have a close intimate relationship with us.  That is who He is though. We still need to give Him honor and reverence, but we need to accept Him as our Heavenly Father that loves us.

As we go through Father’s Day today, we should take some time to honor Him as our ultimate Father and Abba.