Dear Ones in Yeshua,
Abba, Father
One of the things that I love most about God is His amazing way of making connections, especially evident during this Hebrew year of 5786 which is considered a “connecting year” or hook (VAV) between heaven and earth. Divine connections. Repetition leading to transformation. Moving from barrenness to fruitfulness. (Be on the lookout in your life!).
So as I began to research and pray about the June newsletter, I sensed that the Lord wanted me to revisit the original emphasis of Jewish Jewels (then known as Love Song to the Messiah): The Father’s Love. Only then did I realize that last month He had me focus on “Mothers.” Now, “Fathers”. A nice connection.
The Hebrew word for father is av (אב). The ancient Hebrew word picture for av tells us that a father is the leader (א alef) or the strength of the family (ב bet: house or household). The letter alef is not only the first letter of the word “father.” It is also the first letter in two other very important and related words: God and Love. The word for God is el (אל). The word picture for el tells us that God is the first or the strong authority. The Hebrew word for love is ahav (אהב). The word picture ahav tells us that love is the father’s heart revealed since ahav is made up of the word for father with the letter hey in the middle (ה). Hey is the Hebrew letter of divinity and revelation with the underlying idea of “behold”.
God. Love. Father. All related words.
Neil always said that he believed that the strength of a congregation came from the men and the spirituality from the women. Interesting thought. Another was: Men were created to work. Women were created to relate. (Primary but not sole purposes). Could that be why women statistically use many more words than men? (They want relationship).
Perhaps you have heard: “Anyone can be a father. It takes someone special to be a Daddy.” That’s where “Abba” comes into the picture. Man was indeed given work to do in the Garden of Eden, but, from the time of Abraham, we also see an intimacy of relationship between a father and his children. Why did God choose Abraham? Because God knew him, that he would teach his children after him to keep the way of the Lord. We see that in his relationship with Isaac. There was deep relationship. There was love. That’s why the word “love” is mentioned in the Bible for the very first time in Genesis 22, referring to the son that Abraham loved.
Isaac had an “Abba” relationship with Abraham. “Abba” is an Aramaic word which signifies a deeply intimate, trusting, and familial relationship. If “Av” is father, “Abba” is Dad, or as I like to say: “Daddy.” When I pray to God, I pray to “Abba” in the name of Yeshua. This comes naturally to me since I experienced great love from my father during my childhood years. As a result, years ago I wrote a paper which I titled “Resting in the Father’s Love.” The Lord wants us to reconnect with it this month. Consider it a love letter to you from your Heavenly Father—Abba.
Resting in the Father’s Love
Think about your childhood for a moment. What do you remember about your father? Perhaps you have some of the same memories as many of those for whom we have prayed:
“My father never told me that he loved me.”
“My father was never around much.”
“My father always found fault with me.”
“I could never please him.”
“He never spent any quality time with me.”
GOD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, IS NOT LIKE THAT. (Num 23:19)
GOD IS A GOD OF LOVE AND A FATHER OF LIGHTS. (I John 4:8; James 1:17)
One of the salient memories of the early dialogues between my husband Neil and me was his comment about growing up. Neil told me that he had discovered what he considered to be the first rule of growing up. It was this: To picture yourself alone in a big white room which had nothing on the walls and to shout at the top of your lungs, “My mother and father never loved me the way I wanted to be loved. So what?” This seemed to have merit at the time although I sensed that something was missing. There was a release but no rest—a partial truth but no real peace.
Three years later, after we had both met the Messiah, the Lord showed us the spiritual fulfilment of Neil’s earlier discovery. It was this: To follow the “SO WHAT” with… “My parents loved me as best they could, BUT GOD loves me perfectly, unconditionally, just as I am, and just the way I’ve always wanted to be loved!” (Jer. 31:3; Matt. 7:11).
Now that’s a pillow to rest on. It’s worth laboring to enter into the rest spoken of in Hebrews 4:1-3. This is the true Sabbath rest which comes from receiving the love of God, our Heavenly Father. The two are intimately connected, in fact they are inseparable. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for daddy, “ABBA,” is found in the center of SHABBAT.
The Father’s love in all its fullness was manifested to mankind when God allowed His only Son to become the sacrifice for our sin. God gave willingly. He knew that Yeshua’s death was the only way to bridge the gap of sin, time, human frailty, and unbelief so that we might find God as our Father and have a warm, personal relationship with Him.
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!'” (Gal. 4:4-6).
If you are a child of God, you now have a “daddy”—perhaps for the first time in your life. I’ll never forget the first time I heard a young Israeli girl call her father ABBA. It was in our home in Fort Lauderdale, where we had the great privilege of providing a seven-week sukkah for an orthodox rabbi and his family. I remarked to this precious Israeli that his daughter addressed him in the same way that we addressed God. He marveled at that! God to him was “HaShem“, but never “Abba“. What a priceless privilege we have in the Messiah. May we ever embrace it.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS REALLY LIKE?
I’d like to share with you briefly from my own childhood since I am one of the very fortunate ones who grew up with a special, loving daddy who always called me his “princess.” As a child I was given lots of praise. My father always told me I was “terrific,” “one in a million,” and “special.” He had great confidence in my abilities which instilled confidence in me. He delighted in GIVING to me, in little ways and in big ways. The gift of himself and his time was the most precious to me. Bass fishing in the spring, the beach in the summer, long walks for milkweed pods and bittersweet in the fall, and ice fishing and skating in the winter are just a few of the priceless memories in the treasure chest of my childhood. The bargains that my mother and I shopped for were always modeled for “Daddy” and always received with wildly exaggerated praises which made us both feel as if we were dressed in a rainbow.
When I became a child of God on July 25, 1973, I automatically expected God, my Heavenly Father, to be like my earthly father—loving, giving, and very concerned about me. I found God to be all this and more. Have you? NO MATTER WHAT your earthly father was like, God, your Heavenly Father, wants to:
Love you …
Teach you …
Give to you …
Spend time with you …
And help you grow up.
He thinks you are wonderful, special, and unique, and He wants you to be happy in Him.
Your Heavenly Father has loved you with a love that reaches back to before you were born and reaches forward to a future plan that He has for your life. Rest in God’s love for you today. Let His special word for all His children go deep into YOUR spirit: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
The Nature of Abba’s Love
The love of God our Father is many-faceted. It is:
Universal: His love is for the entire world. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).
Unconditional: God loves us just the way we are but loves us too much to let us stay that way. He loves us in our sin because He sees our value and incomparable worth. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
Compassionate: His mercies are new every morning. (Lam. 3:22-23) “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him” (Ps. 103:13).
Ever-Present: His love for us was always there—before the foundation of the world and then in our mother’s womb. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…” (Eph. 1:3-4). “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb… My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…” (Psalm 139:13,15).
Initiates: God’s love is the first to reach out. It pursues us and doesn’t give up. “We love Him because He first loved us” (I Jn. 4:19).
Jealous: God wants us for Himself. His love is strong and passionate. (“for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”) (Ex. 34:14). The Hebrew word for jealous is kannah קנא) kah-NAH).
Forgiving: The Father’s love is not vindictive, punitive, or harsh. It is always ready to forgive. No sin is beyond the reach of His forgiving love. The father in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) is a picture of this type of love. God always stands ready to say, “for this my son [daughter] was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found…” (vs. 24).
Forgetting: He does not keep a record of wrongs. He chooses to forget them, and consigns them to the sea of His divine forgetfulness. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12).
Giving: Abba’s love gives. Continually, even extravagantly, in triumphs and trials. I love the chorus of the old hymn, “He Giveth More Grace,” written by Annie Johnson Flint who was twice orphaned and struggled with debilitating arthritis as a young woman. And yet, she knew the Love that gives: “His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth, and giveth and giveth again”.
Welcoming: No rejection with Abba. His love welcomes all—young, old, all tribes and tongues. His love says, “Come,” and is ready to receive and adopt all who come into His family. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father'” (Rom. 8:15). “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (I Jn. 3:1a).
Protective: Abba’s love always protects—like a mother hen covering her chicks with her feathers. He is El Shaddai, the Almighty, Nurturing Father. We are safe in His love. “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11).
Corrective: His love corrects us for our benefit, to teach us a better way. “For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3:12).
Blesses: God, our Heavenly Father, longs to bless His children—not just on Friday night (Shabbat) but every day. He has a heart to bless because His is GOOD. This is a foundational truth that many people, including Messianic Jews and Christians, have difficulty embracing. They mistakenly attribute to God qualities of their earthly father, if he was not all loving and good.
But God is Light and Life and Love and the source of every blessing. James 1:17 describes Him as this benevolent Source. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”. Yes, “…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5).
Father of the Bride
When I think of all the weddings that will take place in the month of June, my focus goes to a Special Father and a special bride. Avinu Shebashamayim אבינו שבשמים, Our Father in Heaven, has betrothed us to one Bridegroom (Yeshua). He is the One who will tell His Son when it is time to come for His bride (us, the believers). “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matt. 24:36). But Abba is not only the Father of the bride, He is the Father of the Bridegroom—the One who agreed to pay the mohar מהר) MOH-har), or bride price— His life—in the Garden of Gethsemane, Gat Shemen גת שמן) GAHT SHEH-mehn).
Yeshua prayed, “…’Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will'” (Mark 14:36). Yeshua, the Messiah, the Son of God, had a deep, close, personal relationship with His Father. Both intimacy and respect. His Abba is the One who had given Him His bride. Yeshua testified to this in John 17:9, “‘I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.'” The “those” He refers to are all who believe—destined to know Abba’s Love even as His Son does.
From Rejection to Acceptance
From “HaShem” to “Abba.” From distance to closeness. From fear to trust. If you are reading this, it is what God has for YOU—in spite of your childhood experience of a present, absent, or even abusive father. The God of all creation has chosen to adopt you into His forever family. Because He loves you! He longs to have a close, intimate relationship with you. Let’s seal that in prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that, as I receive Yeshua as my Atonement, Mashiach and Lord, I become a child of God with the privilege and joy of calling You “Abba.” I choose to forgive my earthly father for any and all ways that he was not the father that I wanted (needed). I put my trust in You—the Perfect Father— and receive Your unconditional love today in Yeshua’s Name.” AMEN.
Love in Yeshua,
P.S. Men, my brothers in Yeshua: Be present. Be a good son (of God) so that you can be a good father. Never stop giving. Love like Him.
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