Over the New Year I was asking Father what He was planning for the year 2021, and through this process I heard Him say in many different ways that 2021 was going to be a year of Extravagant Blessings, and the more that I have been thinking about this the more that my heart has been filled with love, gratefulness, and utter amazement at how much He loves us and wants to give us far more than we have thought of previously.
Let me start from where I, and I expect many of you as well, used to stand. My Father is a big God and He continually reaches into our situations and helps us in many different ways throughout our lives. He is a Father who cares about His children.
This is what I have been taught through many different flavours of church. And it sounds good and we accept this is the right interpretation if we don’t look very closely. It seems to tick all the boxes in the right ways. But I also felt that I had to work hard at the relationship and the situations which I found myself in each and every day. This is very normal for someone my age from Northern Ireland. It was a common saying that if you worked hard then God would bless you. I was told if I worked hard then maybe God would step into my situation occasionally. All the weight was on my shoulders and it only felt right if I pushed myself. This was a dry, hard faced relationship with my Creator.
In the past 10 or 15 years, my Father has been so good to me. He has started to open my heart to His most caring and wonderful love. A love which has been offered freely, and which was always there from the very beginning of time.
I’ll give you a few examples from different sources
Let’s start with the very beginning of time, right back to the Garden of Eden. Such a beautiful place that even God said it was very good. Each evening God would take time to walk in the Garden spending time with Adam and Eve to talk about the things that happened each day. This was the norm for them, spending time living life together. Father God wanted this relationship and valued it. Otherwise why would He have bothered after the first week or two. He actually valued this time and wanted to continue this growing relationship. We all know the result once the serpent enticed them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
They had now sinned and could no longer stay in the Garden of Eden. But one little note – Father still provided for them. He gave them protective clothing which would meet their needs. Even in the middle of sin, Father is providing for every single man and woman throughout the world, whether they acknowledge Him or not. He is providing water, sun, food, and there is more than enough for all if man would share freely and walk with each other. Without God this world would not survive one day, we would all return to the dust from which we were made.
To be continued…
