GOD, A LOVING AND CARING FATHER

WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL

MAY 25,  2021

TOPIC: GOD, A LOVING AND CARING FATHER

BY T. O. BANSO 

“Tears of joy will stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They will walk beside quiet streams and not stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my oldest child” (Jeremiah 31:9  New Living Translation).

It is important to know the attributes of God so that His children would be able to emulate Him and reflect them in their lives. The Bible talks about the different attributes of God. Prominent among them is His loving and caring nature. God is loving and caring.

Our heavenly Father is love. “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (1 John 4:16 New Living Translation).

Because God is love, He is a loving Father. The dominant theme throughout the Bible is the love of God. In fact, the Bible has been described as a love letter written by God to humanity.

To run all the scriptures on the love of God to humanity will produce another volume as big as the Bible itself. If you remove the love of God from the Bible, little or nothing will remain. Certainly, the most popular is John 3:16: “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” (New King James Version).

Without the love of God, no person can be saved. It was the love of God that sent Jesus to the earth to die for sinners. Therefore, no one can become a child of God outside of the love of God. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6 New King James Version).

A child of God must keep himself in the love of God because the devil always wants people to either doubt the love of God or move outside of it to promote their own work above the love of God. You do not have to feel loved by God, just believe that He loves you and accept His love. It has nothing to do with your feeling.

The devil has cheated many people by this deceit. They are controlled by their feelings. In the morning, they feel that God loves them, and in the evening the feeling changes – they think God does not love them again. It has nothing to do with your feelings. God says He loves you and that settles it. Before you were born again, He loved you and now that you are born again He has not changed His mind.

You did not do anything before God decided to love you and you cannot do anything now that will make God stop loving you. What you need to do after your salvation is to keep yourself in the love of God. Your progress as a child of God in your Christian walk will be affected greatly by how strongly you are established in the love of God.

Do not let the devil talk you out of the love of God. It is not your circumstances that prove that God loves you; it is the Word of God. “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 21 New King James Version).

Note that Jude 24 says God is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy. But you must take heed to verse 21 that says you should “keep yourself in the love of God.”  That means you must do your part and God will do His part. It is possible to walk away from the love of God. But that doesn’t mean God has stopped loving one. Reciprocate the love of God for you. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Deuteronomy 6:5, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27 say a similar thing.

Do not forget what I said earlier that the attributes of God must reflect in your life as a child of God. If God is love and loving, you must manifest these attributes also. “‘He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.’… ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me’” (John 14:21-24 New King James Version).

Glory be to God!  Look at what Ephesians 1:4-8 says. “Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding” (New Living Translation).

Did you take note of the word “showered”? The New King James Version uses “made to abound.” God, in love, showered the riches of His grace on us in all wisdom and understanding. In other words, He made the riches of His grace to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. J. B Phillips and Knox translations use the word, “overflowed.” What a loving Father!

Also, God is a caring Father. You should know that He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 says you should cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Jeremiah 31:9 shows an example of the care of God. “Tears of joy will stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They will walk beside quiet streams and not stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my oldest child” (New Living Translation). Earlier in verse 2, the LORD said, “I will care for the survivors as they travel through the wilderness. I will again come to give rest to the people of Israel” (New Living Translation).

If you know that you have a caring Father in God, you will not be afraid. You know that He is concerned about you in any situation you find yourself in. You have faith in Him that whatever is happening He cares for you. But many people forget that they are children of God; they forget that they have a Father that cares. Therefore, they are anxious. Yet, the Bible says we should not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition and thanksgiving we should present our requests to God (Philippians 4:6).  

The Bible says that only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things as what to eat, drink, and wear; your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these (Matthew 6:32 Contemporary English Version). If you know that God is a caring Father and cares for you, you won’t be anxious. Rather, you will boldly go to Him with your requests.

He knows your needs. “And don’t worry about food — what to eat and drink. Don’t worry whether God will provide it for you. These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs. He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” (Luke 12:29-31 New Living Translation)

God is a caring Father. He took care of the children of Israel; He will take care of you. “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 29:5-6 New King James Version).

Did you see that? God was concerned about all the details of their lives. For forty years, He ensured that neither their clothes nor their shoes needed replacement – they were in good condition. Many people would like that kind of a miracle! Imagine driving your car for forty years without it having a single fault – there is no need to visit an automobile mechanic workshop!

Or imagine driving your car throughout the year without having to buy fuel even when the car is not an electric car or powered by solar! Your feeling would be inexpressible. For forty years the clothes of the Israelites and their sandals did not wear out. They had what to eat and drink. God took care of them.

God also took care of Jesus when He was here on earth. Why do you think He will forsake you? He told Jeremiah that He would be with him and take care of him (Jeremiah 1:8 New Living Translation).  In verse 19, God also said He would take care of him. As the New King James Version puts the two verses, God was with him and would deliver him.

Understand that you have a loving and caring Father no matter what your condition is now. God loves you and cares for you. Do not run your life on your own. Don’t live your life independent of Him.  If you’ve entrusted your life to Him, rest assured that He will take care of you.

TAKE ACTION!

If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.

Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.

I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.

PRAYER POINTS:  Father, thank You for being a loving and caring Father to me. Holy Spirit, help me to emulate God and represent Him well by being a loving and caring person. I shall keep myself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life in Jesus’ name.

(For over 600 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit: www.cedarministry.org).

T. O. Banso is the President, Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
WhatsApp No: +2349081295947
Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
Website: www.cedarministry.org