Love One Another

2 John 1:5, 6

The commandment which was from the beginning is that we love each other. Jesus called it a commandment on which all of the law and prophets depended (Matthew 22:40). John says that we have heard it from the beginning and that we ought to walk in it (verse 6).

The command to love one another is part of the law of Christ, and it springs from a divine love, placed in the heart of a believer by the Holy Spirit. Paul said, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). The New Covenant saint has God’s desires and laws written into their heart and in their mind (Hebrews 10:16). If God is love, then the believer will love also (1 John 4:7).

The law of Christ is what James called, “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12). This law is from the inside out, while Moses’ law was from the outside in. While Christ’s finished work brings goodness out of the believer, Moses’ law tried to force goodness onto the believer, but it offered no helping hand. In other words, you could know the law and that knowledge would give you no assistance in keeping the law.

As it regards love, the law demanded it. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). This was a straight-forward command. There was no room for wiggle or interpretation. You must love others with the same passion and fervor that you love yourself. Of course the law does not tell you how to do that, so the adherent is left frustrated and condemned.

Christ’s law of liberty and love fulfills all other law (Romans 13:10). When one does love their neighbor as themselves, they have taken all other law and wrapped them into one. While the Old Covenant of law and works simply told you to love, the New Covenant of grace and goodness loves you first, empowering you to love others.

There is no limit to the amount of love that will spring out of the heart of the believer who knows that God loves them. Jesus faced Satan in the wilderness with the knowledge that He was God’s “beloved” Son. The “beloved” know that they are loved and they rest assured in it. Out of this knowledge, they love naturally, not by obligation, for no obligation can make you love. The believer loves because they can’t help it!

Do you have someone in your life, be it at work or your neighbor, who is making it difficult to love them? We all have encountered someone like this in our lives. Instead of focusing on loving them every day, placing yourself under the work of love, simply feed yourself on the knowledge that you are loved. As you become convinced of how much He loves you, you will automatically, though often slowly, begin to have a love for that unlovable person.

What do you have to lose? Know how loved that you are, and watch that love spill over.

 

Put it on Jesus’ Account

Philemon 1:10-18

Paul wrote his shortest epistle near the end of his first imprisonment in Rome. He was probably about 63 years old when he wrote this letter to his friend Philemon, a fellow laborer for the Lord and the owner of a servant named Onesimus. Onesimus had robbed Philemon and then fled to Rome, where he met Paul and became a believer of Christ. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with this epistle, which contains Paul’s request to Philemon that he accept Onesimus, not only as a servant, but as a “brother beloved” (1:16).

Paul places Philemon’s love for him front and center, asking Philemon to receive Onesimus as if he were receiving Paul himself (verse 17). In this letter, Paul is giving us a practical example of the substitutionary work of Christ, as he does no better in any other writing.

First, he lists Onesimus as one time “unprofitable”, but now “profitable to thee and to me” (verse 11). Without Christ we are entirely unprofitable to anything or anybody as it regards the eternal things, but with Christ we are profitable to everything and everybody that we encounter.

Second, he prompts Philemon to receive Onesimus as “mine own bowels” (verse 12). This phrase was used often in the Word as an analogy of love. The world in that time considered the deepest part of someone’s love or affection to come from their “bowels of compassion” (1 John 3:17). By asking Philemon to receive Onesimus by Paul’s “own bowels”, he is asking him to receive him as he would receive Paul’s love. God has shed his love abroad to us through the price that Jesus paid at Calvary (Romans 5:5). Everything that we receive from God, we receive it because of this compassion.

Finally, Paul requests that any damages done by Onesimus should be placed on Paul’s own account. Any financial set-backs that have been caused through the theft of this servant will be paid in full by the Apostle as soon as he arrives. Imagine how Philemon felt as he read these words. Here is a man writing to him from prison, promising to pay him in full for taking this man back into his service. Philemon could not help but pay heed to the request, because the effort being taken to bring Onesimus back into good graces was enormous.

In light of how great the price was that Jesus paid, how can we refuse Him? He has taken all of our wrongs, our failures, our problems and our pains and He has placed them on His account. He laid down His own life, suffering the pain of separation from His Father so that all of our debts could be paid. It is the ultimate insult for any person to believe that their works are needed in order to pay God back for all of His goodness.

Heed the Apostles words regarding working for righteousness:

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:4, 5)

 

Not What You Do, But Who You Are

Romans 14:17-18

When the Bible refers to the Kingdom of God, it is rarely speaking of Heaven. Most often, it is talking about that composite whole that makes up the Christian experience, not to be attained down the road, but to be witnessed within the heart and life of each child of God.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, ‘Lo here!’ or, ‘Lo there!’ For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20, 21). The Greek word that Jesus uses for “within you” is ‘entos’ meaning, “in the midst”. The kingdom of God had already been promised to David and spoken of by the prophets, but Israel would reject it. Now, the kingdom of God lives in the hearts of men; someday it will come in the clouds (verse 24).

If the kingdom of God is within us, then what does Jesus mean when He says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33)? It the kingdom of God is within us, yet we are still seeking that kingdom first and foremost, how can these things be?

The answer is completed in Paul’s writing to the church at Rome, while speaking about what men can eat and drink now that they are saved. Some thought it was wrong to eat certain meats because they had been forbidden in Judaism, while others thought that it was fine. Paul doesn’t just come out and say “Eat this” or “Don’t eat this”; instead he offers that believers under grace live by a higher set of standards than this.

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). You have the Holy Ghost living inside of you as a believer, so your life is greater than arguments over “right and wrong”. Instead, you are to follow after that which identifies with the three characteristics that you have inside of you: righteousness, peace and joy.
If the decision that you are about to make brings no peace and joy, avoid it! You are the righteousness of God in Christ, so you live by that which speaks to the righteousness of God in you. When there is a feeling of death or disturbance about a situation, it is the Holy Ghost in you ministering to you so that you will move away from the issue. We do not need a list of “Do’s and Don’ts”; we have the Holy Ghost!

“For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men” (Romans 14:18). This next verse tell us that if we serve Christ by going after that which ministers to righteousness, peace and joy in our hearts then this is “acceptable to God” and we will be “approved of men”. This world cannot help but gravitate towards believers who go after peace and joy. These believers are not full of hate and condemnation and sinners move naturally toward that flow of love, for it is most like Jesus.

I have heard some preachers comment that if the world approves of you then you are doing something wrong. Don’t listen to such nonsense, especially in light of Paul’s statement that believers that follow after the kingdom of God in their hearts will have the approval of men. May we believers be known more for who we are than for what we do. Only then will we properly represent our Heavenly Father and have all things added to us.

 

Renew Your Mind

Romans 12:1, 2

It is perfectly reasonable for God to ask believers to give Him their whole body, soul, mind and spirit. In light of the price that Jesus paid for us at the cross, that is not too big a request. Paul calls it our “reasonable service”, for you and I are already holy by the blood of Jesus, thus when we give ourselves to Him, we are “acceptable”.

Now I am no different than any other pastor in that I want every person in my church to live a life of honor before the world. I want each Christian to show forth the characteristics of Christ and to let their fruit speak of His grace and favor. Part of this desire is so that the church will be strong but there is also a part that wants it because I want to see that the message of grace and favor works. By experience and by testimony I can tell you, it works!

While we pastors may come up with a long sermon series on how to live right, there is no greater verse in the New Testament for believers to read and know than Romans 12:2 when it comes to looking less like the world and more like Jesus. Paul starts by telling you what not to do and then explains how:

1. “Be not conformed to this world” – The Greek word for “conformed” here is ‘sunschematizo’ which means “to pattern after a certain thing”. Paul is telling believers not to pattern the way that they live after the way the world lives. This doesn’t have anything to do with our dress or our homes or jobs, but rather it involves structuring our lives around the same principles by which sinners govern themselves. It is not to “this world” that we are most loyal, but rather to the next one.

2. “But be ye transformed…” – There is a transformation that must take place within a believer that is much like the one that took place the moment that we were born again. At conversion, our old things passed away and everything became new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Now, we must have another transformation that is ‘metamorphaomai’ in Greek meaning “to reflect the inside”. Our outside needs to begin to reflect our inside.

3. “…by the renewing of your mind” – Here is the answer to how we cease to be conformed to the world and begin to reflect on the outside what is happening on the inside. We must renew the way that we think about who we are in Christ. This word appears only twice in the Greek New Testament, the other time being in Titus 3:5 where we have been renewed by the Holy Ghost. When we change what we think of us to line up with what He thinks of us, we start to reflect on the outside what the Holy Ghost has done on the inside.

4. “That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” – This portion of scripture is not telling us to go out and find the perfect will of God for our lives. In connection with the previous statements within the verse, and in light of the Greek meaning of “prove”, we find something completely different. “Prove” is “to recognize as genuine after examination”. When our mindset becomes as His we will prove to the world what it means to be truly good and acceptable and perfect inside of the will of god. When sinners examine us they will have to conclude that we are what we say that we are, and all because we think of ourselves the way that He thinks of us.

Need a bit of help with changing your mind? Just know what He thinks about you. He sees you as righteous and forgiven because of the blood of Jesus. Still not enough? Then take what Paul said to the church at Philippi:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:5, 6).

 

When God Gives a Gift

Romans 11:29

Have you ever heard anyone say, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away”? This quote is out of context from the book of Job, where Job says, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away” (Job 1:21). Since God gives the reader a front row seat into the heavenlies in the preceding verses of that chapter, you and I know that it was not the Lord that took away from Job at all; it was the devil (Job 1:12). However, man has tried to explain why things come and go so God gets the blame.

Believer, remember this, and don’t ever forget it: Whatever God gives, HE CAN NEVER take away! The reason that God’s gifts are eternal is that God gives gifts with no strings attached. In other words, He never changes His mind about what He has given. In this, as well as many other areas, He is completely unlike us.

We might give a gift to someone and then ask for it back for one reason or the other, or perhaps we give a gift and are then unsatisfied with how the recipient is using it. We may have too much integrity to ask for the gift back, but we will make sure that they know how unhappy that we are with what they are doing with the gift that we went to such great lengths to give them.

In my early days of ministry, I heard teachings on this passage from Romans regarding two things in Christianity: the call to ministry and the gifts of the Spirit. That teaching said that if God called you to preach there were two things that you should be sure of: you had to do it or you went to hell and that you were always going to be called, no matter what. I have since learned that the blood of Jesus is the pre-requisite for heaven, not obedience to the field of ministry and if you are called, you won’t have to worry about ever wanting out because God calls us according to our will and good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

The gifts of the Spirit are also a part of that verse’s interpretation, as they are given by God with no strings attached. Actually, Paul says in the next chapter that these gifts are given to us “according to the grace that is given to us” (Romans 12:6). Note the direct link between the gifts and the grace. That is awesome, but there is more!

When Paul says, “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance”, he is pointed in his use of “gifts” as a plural word and “calling” as a singular word. The gifts vary in that they include not only the gifts of the Spirit but any and all things that God gives us free of charge, such as grace. The calling deals with the call of the Spirit upon men’s hearts, inviting them to come to Jesus. “Repentance” speaks of changing one’s mind; thus when God gives you any gift or calls you to Him, He never changes His mind about selecting you.

What is the ultimate gift that God has given to every single person that believes? Paul answered this for us back in chapter 5: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). Notice that because of the death of Jesus, God’s righteousness is a gift to us through our faith. If God gives righteousness as a gift and then promises that He will never change His mind about giving us a gift, can God see you as anything less than righteous for eternity? You ponder the answer to that one and let the Holy Spirit glorify the beauty of Jesus today!

 

Faith by Hearing, Not By Sight

Romans 10:17

If someone were to tell you that they had seen a man jump into the air and fly away, it is doubtful that you would believe it. You know man cannot fly and you know it based upon the fact that you have never seen it happen nor have you known anyone else that has. Even if 10 or 20 people claimed that they had seen the man fly, you probably would not believe it until you could see it with your own eyes, for as they say, “Seeing is believing”.

While we may be convinced only by what we see, our faith in Christ and His finished work is built on an entirely different foundation. To doubting Thomas, Jesus said, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Jesus is pronouncing this blessing on all of us; those who believe that He has risen and we have never felt of His wounds. I accept that blessing!

In the world, our eyes are what we use to convince us of reality. This is why we believe that we are sick based upon our symptoms. We believe that we are under poverty based upon our lack and we believe that we are unrighteous based upon our latest failure. All of these things are seen with our eyes, but for the redeemed they are not necessarily true. Your sickness was placed into Jesus’ body at the cross, so you have His health (Isaiah 53:4). Jesus was made poor so that you would be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9) and you have been made righteous because Jesus was made to be sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). These things are facts, even if you do not see them yet.

As believers, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) because we know that the just live by faith (Romans 1:17). Since our faith is our strength, we want to be found strong in the faith and not weak (Romans 4:19, 20). We can’t build our faith by begging God for more or by going through life’s difficulties, but we are promised that we can build it by “hearing the word of God”.

Did you know that some of the earliest Greek manuscripts of this verse do not say “word of God” but rather “word of Christ”? The early church fathers believed that in order to have your faith increase under the New Covenant you needed to focus on the words of Christ. This does not necessarily mean the words written in red in your Bible, but it agrees with the statement that God made from heaven on the Mt. Transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son: hear Him” (Luke 9:35).

Hear what Paul says about Jesus in his writings on the New Covenant. Hear what John says of the love that Christ has for you. Hear what Peter writes about the manifold grace of God and hear what the prophets like Isaiah say about the one who will be called Wonderful. When you feast on Jesus and His loveliness, your faith shoots high like a rocket. It pulls your eyes off of you and your circumstance, and it puts your focus on Jesus where it belongs.

As you face the world today, be influenced by what Jesus says about you in His word rather than what your circumstances tell you. You have been given peace through Jesus and His health and wholeness is yours. Let your faith grow as you hear more of that!

 

Know Jesus? You’re Never Ashamed

Romans 9:33

Jesus was the Rock that was in the wilderness which provided Israel with water when they were thirsty (1 Corinthians 10:4). As a crucified Savior, Christ is called a “stumbling block” (1 Corinthians 1:23), a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offence” (1 Peter 2:8). However, to those who will believe, the preaching of His glorious good news is “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). When Paul realized the great power of that good news (gospel), he declared, “I am not ashamed…” (1:16).

As Paul goes deeper into this great epistle to the Romans, he returns to that theme of not being ashamed. Here, Paul declares that “whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed” and then in 10:11 he quotes from Isaiah:

“They shall not be ashamed that wait for me” (Isaiah 49:23).

Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, Paul is being led to address a topic that has caused unnecessary guilt and condemnation in many people. I am referring to a statement made by Jesus, which I heard preached and taught growing up as a motivator to get Christians to witness and evangelize:

“Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

I had heard that if you were too nervous to tell someone about Jesus or to take a stand against your friends cussing or lying, etc, then you were being ashamed of Jesus and when you stood before God, He would hang His head in shame at you and send you to hell. I spent so many prayers as a young person and even into adulthood, asking God to forgive me for not witnessing for fear that I had shown myself ashamed.

Pay attention to Jesus’ audience in that verse. He is addressing the “adulterous and sinful generation”. This cannot be you and I because we are married to Jesus alone and we are a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people…which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9, 10). The “ashamed” to which Jesus is referring is the refusal to accept Him as Savior. You have already said “Yes!” to Jesus, thus you are not viewed as “ashamed”.

Paul is stating emphatically that it is impossible to be considered ashamed of Him if you have accepted Him as Lord. The very act of acceptance is the denial of shame, and no one who is born again and knows the love of God could ever be ashamed neither of His salvation nor of His loving grace and favor.

I personally believe that Paul’s fanatical defense of the message of grace contained in the book of Romans is his response to a time period where he may have felt some shame and isolation in his preaching of grace. We know that he faced public opposition to the grace message by Alexander the coppersmith and that his first answer to him caused abandonment by all of his followers (2 Timothy 4:14,16). After having been strengthened by the Lord, Paul is never again ashamed, either in public or in private to “preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15).

 

No Separation

Romans 8:35-39

Romans chapter 8 opens with “no condemnation” and closes with “no separation”. In between is the working of the Holy Spirit within our lives. With only one mention of the Holy Spirit prior to the eighth chapter (Romans 5:5), the text now explodes with His activity, mentioning the Holy Spirit 19 times in this chapter alone! Only when the believer realizes that they are under no condemnation because of the finished work of Christ do they allow the Holy Spirit to do His perfect work in their life. The end-result of this work of the Spirit will be a complete knowledge of just how loved that you are.

So secure is the believer in the love that Christ has for them, that Paul uses as many different terrible circumstances as he can think of to show that there is nothing that trumps God’s love. No tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword can ever sever the tie that binds us with our loving, heavenly Father (Romans 8:35).

Paul points out some powerful truths about God’s love in these passages, beginning with our position in Christ as “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). The word ‘conquerors’ in Greek speaks of “gaining a surpassing victory”, meaning that in Christ, our victory over sin, the flesh and the devil is an overwhelming victory. We are so victorious because of what Jesus did for us, but until we grasp a singular point of verse 37, we do not know how victorious that we are. How are we more than conquerors? “Through Him that loved us”. Know how loved that you are, and you reap the benefits of Jesus’ victory at the cross!

Paul’s “persuasion” of verse 38 is “confident” in the Greek, denoting that he had become intimate enough with the Lord and His love that he could say unequivocally that there was nothing in the universe that could cause God to stop loving His creation. Even “things to come” (verse 38) were covered. There is no amount of technology or futuristic inventions yet thought of that can outdo or outlast the love of God. How sweet to know that no matter how sophisticated man becomes, or how many new ways that he invents to sin against God, there is no separating man from God’s abundant love and grace.

The word ‘separate’ is particularly interesting because it literally means “to divorce”. God views His relationship with His children as both Father to son/daughter and Husband to wife. There is nothing that can ever divorce the love of God from His bride. Jesus has married Himself to us through the blood covenant of the cross. He even gave His mother away at Calvary so that He could be free to cleave to His wife. What an awesome God!

Finally, the love of God is “in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Everything that God does for us is because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We are blessed, favored and loved because Jesus paved the way through His sacrificial death. See your sin in Jesus and know that you are no longer condemned. When you realize that He does not condemn you, you will comprehend His mighty love for you and you will be more than a conqueror. Let it begin today.

 

Our Helper

Romans 8:26, 27

When you have a big job to do, isn’t it nice if someone comes to help you complete it? With an extra set of hands, you have twice the labor being performed, cutting the work time in half and you have someone to fellowship with as you finish the project. In some respects, the Holy Spirit is in us as a helper; quick to pick up the areas in our life where we lack and are slacking and it is certainly nice to have some fellowship along the way.

In many other ways, the Holy Spirit is in us doing absolutely all of the work, because the task at hand is quite literally, out of our hands. Our sicknesses and our infirmities are possessions that we would rather not have, and sometimes they are things that we don’t even know that we possess until it is too late. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to deal with those infirmities as they arrive, making intercession for us “with groaning that cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

The groaning that are going on in us are on our part and not the Holy Spirit. He is perfectly capable of uttering whatever He needs to say, but we do not always know what it is that needs to be said. This is why we have the marvelous gift of praying in other tongues that we can use whenever we so desire. As we pray in tongues, we are praying the language of the Holy Spirit. Though unknown to us, it is His language and it ministers the things that only He knows.

We would all be quick to admit that the Holy Spirit knows everything that is going on in both our spirit man and in our physical bodies. There is not one blood cell that He does not have in His sights. Since He knows what we can’t, the Holy Spirit must intercede in areas that we do not have knowledge. When we pray in tongues, we are praying that area aloud, joining our faith with the intercession of the Holy Spirit. Jude called it “praying in the Holy Ghost”, which causes you to edify yourself “on your most holy faith” (Jude 20).

A second role of the Spirit in our hearts is to intercede for us according to God’s will for our lives. In this role, He is not only addressing the physical needs of our bodies, but He is positioning us for God’s best blessings in our lives. In other words, the Holy Spirit never goes to sleep on the job, but He is always looking out for our best interests.

It should be a blessed consolation to know that God has provided you with two wonderful gifts: the ability to pray in tongues over your situation and have the Holy Spirit working for you and the knowledge that at every moment of the day, the Holy Spirit is interceding on your behalf to His Father regarding every area of your life.

You should regard yourself as very special in light of all that God has done and is doing for you, even as you read this. You must be greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved for God to take such a keen interest in your very best. Hallelujah!

 

Abba, Father

Romans 8:14-16

Of all of the names of God that appear in the Bible, only one was revealed to us through the life of Jesus in the New Covenant. Jesus said, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world” (John 17:6). Jesus never revealed Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Shalom or any of the other Old Testament Hebrew names for God; but He did reveal “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). Jesus brought God from the distant mountain of Sinai to the close mountain of Zion. We now can see God as our Everlasting Father and as our Abba.

The Holy Spirit was so jealous of this word ‘Abba’ that He refused to allow the translators to change it. It appears three times in the New Testament, with the third coming in Galatians 4:6. It means “daddy”, and it remains the most intimate way to address our fathers unto this day. By giving the believer the right to call God, “Abba”, and the Holy Spirit is testifying of the fatherly love that our heavenly Father shows toward us.

“Abba, Father” removes the distance between God and man, bridging the divide that our law-keeping and our sinning have created. No longer do we view Him as angry and judgmental; but now He is our daddy that takes us in His arms and protects us from all harm.

Before we know God as Abba, we fear Him because of our failures and sins. This is why Paul tells us that we have not received the spirit of bondage “again to fear”. We feared God in an unholy way before we met Christ, and this fear was bondage. Now that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, we no longer are in bondage to fear.

When Paul tells the Galatian church that they can cry “Abba, Father”, he goes on explain to them that they should “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Only when you feel the distance between you and God has been taken out will you cry out to Him as your daddy. When you feel that comfort to call Him that, you will know that you have been made free from the Law of performance and works. To go back into that formalism, where God is not your daddy, is to go back to law, which brings back the yoke of bondage.

We have the Spirit of adoption working in us, identifying us as God’s prized possessions. Since we have been adopted into His family, we are joint-heirs with Christ, meaning that we receive everything that He has coming to Him. He has paid it all, and now due to the adoption process of God, we are the recipients!

Never feel condemned for getting on intimate terms with God. Some will tell you that God is holy and august and that if you call Him “Daddy” you are getting too familiar with Him. Don’t you dare say that to my daughter about how she should talk to me! She belongs to me and I belong to her and she has the right to call me “Daddy” anytime and every time that she desires. I never want her to feel so distanced from me that she feels it necessary to call me “Pastor Paul”; that would turn my stomach! If you are that close to your children, how much closer do you think our Daddy God wants to be to us?