THINGS I KNOW FOR SURE! WHAT IS FATHER LIKE? When I feel ABANDONED, He is watching me: • He was watching at my birth.He is watching me for all time. • He didn’t neglect me. • He didn’t despise me • He didn’t abandon me. • The extent of His gaze is the extent of His involvement with me. When I feel ABANDONED, He cares for me: • Not all fathers are father like, but He is. • He is real to those whose sin is real. • His affection is overwhelming. • His compassion is powerful. • His emotion for me is like a Volcano. • His love for me is loyal and intense. • He is a spiritual Father who is warm, tender, and kind. • He is attentive to my needs. • He is diligent to care for me. • He wants me to respond to His Fathering. • He wants me to rely on His Son. When I feel ABANDONED, He is pursuing me: • His love is unique. • He created me unique. • I am uniquely loved. • He chases down the toughest cases (that’s me). • He pursues me through His Son. • He pursues me by the Holy Spirit. • He pursues me by setting up strategic conditions. • He sets me up for deliverance. • He seeks me through His comfort. When If feel ABANDONED, He parents me: • Father begets children. • He is involved in every detail. • He designs His children. • He wants a personal relationship with His children. • He wants an exclusive relationship with His children. • He wants a reciprocal relationship with His children. Father DELIGHTS in me, and LIKES me: • Love, the answer to abandonment comes from the Father. • He desires that I connect with His love. • His love as Father and Parent is needed for my growth. • His secure love matures me. He sees me DIFFERENTLY than I see myself: • He used Jesus and Paul to paint a new identity for me. • Father wants me to live out of who and whose I am. Who I am is more IMPORTANT to Him than what I do: • Father’s thinking is different to mine. • I am of worth as a son to Father. • Father values my worth more than the whole world. Father will CLEAR AWAY my clutter: • Father has a hierarchy of His heart. Father and Jesus want me to SHARE their love. Father wants me to LIVE in His unimaginable world of love. Father’s love is that of a TENDERHEARTED PARENT to me. On His fridge is MY PHOTO. Father wants me to NESTLE, not wrestle with His love Father is HEAD-OVER-HEELS in love with me. When Father thinks of me, I am His HAPPY THOUGHT. Father is NOT ASHAMED to be my Father. Father is NOT ASHAMED to be my friend. Father will NOT JUDGE me. Father will NEVER LEAVE me Father will NEVER FORSAKE me. Father will NEVER ABANDON me. HE IS THE FATHER I ALWAYS WANTED! Acknowledgement: Adapted from the contents page of the book authored by David Eckman, “Knowing the Heart of the Father.” Eugene: Harvest House Publishers. 2008. Diagram: Ibid. p. 164. (Redrawn) go to top of page