Letting Go of God for God’s Sake (or Abba is Love!)

“If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”  “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”  Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?    In that day you will know that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you.” (from John 14)

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

From the Hebrew for Christians glossary website: Abba – Aramaic. n. Abba means “Daddy,” “dear Father,” or “Papa”.  Abba is a term of endearment for one’s father (Mark 14:26; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).  Abba is a more intimate expression than the normal Hebrew word for “father.”

“Abba” is the Aramaic word Jesus used every time He spoke of His ‘Father.’

More and more every day I am realizing how much baggage I have put upon God and my relationship with God.  I understand that most days I have absolutely no Truthful concept of just Who this God is Who hungers and pines for me, Who chases after me wanting me to enter deeply into His unfathomable Love.  Whether it is from my childhood (no blaming mom or dad), my teenage years or pastors, priests or well-intentioned (and not so well intentioned) Christians, I understand that plain and simply put: most days, I have a screwed up understanding of God (both Father and Jesus).

So over the next few months, many of the blogs might sound like a broken record because I am bound and determined (for it is a matter of life and death) to let go of every image I have of God and let God replace those graven images with His infinite and indescribable Love – a Love that no created being could ever emulate or come close to.  So, I am going to challenge myself over and over again to “let go” of God in order for Abba to reveal Himself to me as He is, not as I have thought of Him; as He is in the Scriptures and not as some religious folk have told me what to think.

I pray you all will join me as well in this unknown adventure to intimately experience and share Abba’s true desire for us: that of a profoundly life-changing mutual relationship based on immutable love and a passionate desire for fellowship (which in Greek means “a shared intimate experience” or koinonia).

Below, I have taken the liberty of substituting ‘love’ with “Abba.”  Now read 1 Corinthians 13 with the above taken seriously, namely that God is our Heavenly Papa.  I have challenged myself to read this every day and to focus on Abba saying to me: “This is Who I truly AM.  This is Who Jesus was revealing to you, not what any pastor or priest or church is saying, but Me.”  And Abba is saying this to each and every one of you!  Now pray it with me!

“Abba is patient,
Abba is kind.
Abba does not envy,
Abba is not boastful,
Abba is not conceited,
Abba does not act improperly,
Abba is not selfish,
Abba is not provoked…
Abba does not keep a record of wrongs.
Abba finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
Abba bears all things,
Abba believes all things,
Abba hopes all things,
Abba endures all things.
Abba never ends.

Now these three remain: faith, hope, and Abba.
But the greatest of these is Abba. “