I Love You Son!

How revealing the Father’s love changes everything

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G’day Holy Goers!

Ever since God transformed my life I have been sharing the gospel in a hope that others would know and experience God like I did. The experiential revelation that God loves us and considers us His kids has the power to completely transform our lives.

Over the past two weeks we have been looking at how LOVE should be our Motivation for evangelism and disciple making. This week we move on to the message, namely how LOVE is the message.

Quick trigger warning for the story below, while not going into details it does mention sexual abuse. However, it does so in a way that demonstrates Gods healing love.

Equip

It’s a miracle!

I was ministering at a small country Church. We had just had a great morning of evangelism training, and encountering God together.

As I was packing up and about to head off, a man pulled me to the side and asked if I knew anything about demons.

Immediately I thought that was a packed question, and was immediately intrigued! I asked him what was going on and he told me.

He was now roughly 70 years old. Ever since he was a boy he had a problem with lust, undressing women in his imagination wherever he went. He said that he had confessed this before, and had tried everything to break free… But nothing was working.

I used a prayer process that I still use today. We began by praying, then I asked him to ask God, “What is the lie I am believing?”

Very quickly he said, “I am a pervert.” I continued and asked, “Ask God when the first time was that you believed that lie.”

This mans demeanour quickly changed. He was now fighting back tears. He told me that he had been sexually abused by his uncle when he was a boy. When he went to tell his father, his father dismissed him and called him a pervert.

I then had him ask Holy Spirit, “What is the truth?”

Immediately this man began to cry. I was expecting the Holy Spirit to say something like, “You are forgiven.” But when the man told me what he heard it was actually quite profound;

“I love you son.”

We continued praying and moved on to forgiving his father and his abuser. We rejected the lie he believed, and accepted the truth that he was loved by His Heavenly Father.

Later that night we had another meeting. I was overjoyed when this man approached me with a massive smile on his face and proclaimed something along these lines,

“James! It worked! For the first time in my life I walked down the road and didn’t lust after any woman! It’s a miracle!”

The message the Father had for him was simple yet powerful… so powerful it healed his heart, broke a decades long habit, and transformed his life!

The Message of Jesus

I love the story of “The Father who had two Sons” commonly known as the prodigal son. The story represents a large part of Jesus message that “God is our Heavenly Father who loves us.”

In the story both sons mess up. Yet the Father loves them both. The Fathers love is unconditional regardless of their behaviour. The love can’t be bought or earned. Even when the sons reject relationship with the Father he continues to love them.

This revelation was controversial. The religious leaders of the day struggled with this concept of unconditional love. They were used to a relationship with God that was based on things like obedience, works, and sacrifices. They rejected people based on their actions. The way Jesus interacted with the “rejected people” angered the religious leaders. They simply did not understand that God was The Father who loved unconditionally.

In fact, the concept of God being “The Father” is mentioned only 19 times in The Old Testament. Compare this to The New Testament where this number jumps to around 250! Jesus revealed and highlighted who God was, and that was a loving Father whose love could not be earned or lost.

Jesus shared this message in word and deed to those the religious leaders had rejected. When Jesus engaged with,

the prostitutes and those steeped in sexual sin,
the tax collectors who were profiting off their fellow Jews,
the lepers, blind and deaf who were all outcast,

He always revealed a Father who loved them. This message of the love of The Father towards them was not simply a concept to believe, but something to experience. So Jesus, who only said what The Father said, and only did what The Father did,¹ made sure each person experienced love in their interaction with Him.

He healed, forgave, restored, accepted, and embraced them. This message of “I love you son/daughter” is powerful. May we never take it for granted how those simple words, backed by action can transform a persons life.

Activate

This weeks challenge is to meditate on The Story of “The Father who had Two Sons” found in Luke 15:11-31. Ask Holy Spirit the following questions about how you share the gospel message,

“How has my message represented this love well?”
“How has my message mis-represented this love?”
“How can adapt my message to represent this love better?”

Just as our motivation must be compelled by love, so too must our message! In fact, if it doesn’t sound like the love Jesus reveals, it probably isn’t the gospel!

Let’s Go!

1. John 5:19, 8:28, 8:38, 12:49-50, 14:10