For those of us that have accepted Jesus as our personal Savior, we have the blessed assurance of knowing our eternity will be spent with God … In the place Jesus has prepared for us. (John 14:2)
But hopefully we don’t just stop there. Hopefully we don’t miss out on another opportunity made available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The chance to have an intimate relationship with God. One in which he waits for us to sit down and talk with him. One in which he wants to show us his amazing mercies if we pay attention. One in which we see him as our father, our dad, our “perfect papa”. To know that he is there to listen to us and to give us advice … To rejoice with us and to comfort us … To laugh with us and to cry with us … To give us gifts and to accept our gifts to him …
Fortunately for me, I can understand the intimacy of this relationship because I have an earthly father who has always done the best he can to be all those things. And to experience all that and more with my Heavenly Father is amazing!
So often when I draw near to God, I can almost hear him saying, “It will be all right. I am here.”
Sometimes I can almost visualize his smile or hear a chuckle when I experience joy.
And when I am hurting, if I close my eyes and cry out to him, I can almost feel him embrace me and hold me close.
No matter what your relationship with your earthly father may be or have been … I encourage you to reach out to God as your perfect Heavenly Father. He doesn’t want you to wait until you get to heaven to get to know him personally. He wants to be an intimate part of your life now! And I promise, it will be the most fulfilling relationship you’ve ever had!
Because of Jesus … We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. (Romans 5:2 MSG)
But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13 NLT)
Come close to God, and God will come close to you. (James 4:8 NLT)
And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6 NLT)
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. (Romans 8:15-17 MSG)