How Are We Representing Our God . . .

The other day, I was contemplating how as Christians, we represent God our Father to others. I wondered, is God pleased with our representation of Him? I wondered,does He recognise Himself in us, or does He wonder who we are representing? Have you had this happen, where you meet a youngster and their looks and mannerism are so similar to someone you know that you go and ask if they know the person. Then you find out its their parent! What an incredibly accurate representation!

Sometimes, I reckon it's easy for us to forget the love and grace that drew us into Christ's bosom in the first place, and the depth of passion that we got caught up in. It was this love that brought about complete heart engagement and caused us to surrender all, accepting Jesus as Our Lord and Saviour. I wonder if this is the God we describe and reveal to others or do we tell of a judgemental, fire and brimstone god who only wants people to come to him and obey the rules, with no heart connection or relationship? Jesus said "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it" (John 3v 17;12:47).This is not saying that  He is not the ultimate judge, just that He is not overbearing or a judgemental God. He cares primarily about reconciling us, sons (and  daughters) to God the Father and giving us eternal life.



Jesus said that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father, so He came to reveal the Father to us (John 14:9). So we have to ask ourselves, what did people see Jesus doing when He walked the earth representing His Father? The bible writes about Jesus filled with compassion and spending so much time loving people, restoring broken hearts, healing the sick, teaching, prophesying, arguing with the religious leaders, raising the dead, and so on. It's easy to see Father God's nature, as we see Jesus portraying  Him as the Father who loves His children unconditionally, a Provider, Healer, Protector and so on. Are we not supposed to be modelling the same God so shouldn't we be doing the same things?

Paul, tells us in his letter to Corinth to copy him as he copies Jesus's model (1 Corinthians 11:1). Sometimes I wonder if our representation of God puts people off. When you read about the parable of the Prodigal son in Luke 15, one can not imagine not wanting such an amazing Father who loved his children extravagantly and unconditionally in spite of their behaviour. He did not judge either of his sons but was more interested in restoring them to their sonship. What aspects of God have we exaggerated such that our loving Father does not shine through, but a faceless, heartless, powerless and judgemental god is who we offer to the world. Do we forget that Father God loves this world so much, and thus sent His Son, Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One to die for us (John 3:16) so whosoever believes, would be saved.

Is it possible that the picture of God that we have is more a representation of the earthly Father we had, some of whom failed us?

Do we tell about how wonderful and forgiving a heavenly Father we have, or that His grace flows like a river? Do we talk about the fact that Jesus calls us His Bride and has gone to prepare a place for us? Do we allow the Holy Spirit empower us so we bring Gods Kingdom near to them, transforming their reality.



Jesus rose from the grave and Mary Magdalene, a woman who previously had a terrible reputation was the first person He met. The message he gave her was "I am going to My Father and Your Father."
In that brief statement He was drawing her, the disciples, and now you and I, into an embrace like none before. He was not judging us. He was reconciling us to His loving gracious Father, without us having to do anything except accept the sacrifice, confess our sin, repent and believe in Him. We have been invited to take a new name, a new heart, (that gives the ability to obey, as we walk out our salvation), Jesus' righteousness, new status and so on. We did nothing on our part to deserve this. Jesus forgave us, and paid the prize with His blood.

This is the good news about Jesus that the world is waiting to hear about. The world desires to see Christians of all denominations, united in His love and power. They also want to see you and I empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need to help others understand that God is drawing us back into a loving relationship whereby we call Him Father and hear His voice (John 10:3). As we teach people to relate to Him, they get to receive and respond to His lavish love for them, and they surrender their hearts to Him and He transforms it. 
Thus when people who don't know our God, see His goodness they are driven to repentance. This results in the Kingdom of God coming near to people and producing fruit.



When we, like Jesus, model God's goodness to this world, we represent our Heavenly Father well, bringing Glory to His Name.

 

God bless you,

 

Mina.

Bethel Sozo

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Personal Bethel Sozo sessions are taking place at the office (3rd Floor Maku House, 109 Awolowo Road, South West Ikoyi, Lagos). Please book on the website or send an email to [email protected] if you would like to have a personal sozo. If you will like to be trained up to minister in sozo, please get in touch with us.


Books for Sale:

We have some of Dr Randy Clark's books available for sale in the our office.

May the Lord continue to uphold and preserve you all.

God's blessings,

Femi and Mina Bajomo