“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” - A.W. Tozer
“We tend by secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.” - A.W. Tozer
- If you have a flawed view of God, you will have a flawed life with God.
Matthew 3:16-17 // 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 17:5 // While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
- Identity
- Affection
- Affirmation
“Everyone has 3 fundamental needs, according to science: to feel safe, to feel like we belong, and to feel like we matter.” - Inc. Magazine
6 Types of Fathers:
- Absent
- Abusive
- Performance-based
- Passive
- Antagonist
- Empowering
Psalm 68:4-6 // Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
Matthew 7:7-11 // “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
How does God see us?
1. I am loved.
1 John 3:1 // See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.” - Mother Teresa
2. I am free
Romans 8:14-15 // For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
3. I am a child of God
Romans 8:16-17 // The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
