Abba

Mark 14:36” Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
             
Romans 8:15,16  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him, we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
             
Gal 4:6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His son into our hearts, the Spirit Who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
             
“Abba” is an Aramaic word that means the same as ‘daddy’. It is an expression of deep love and commitment to the father. It is an intimate form of addressing our father. It is an informal name that we call him.
             
When I was growing up, my Dad was always ‘Daddy’. I was occasionally teased about that by co-workers, but within my relationship with my father, he will always be ‘Daddy’. He was far from perfect. He had a bad temper. He was impatient and believed there were two ways to do things. ‘His way or no way’ was how we were taught to do things. He was precise in how he did things. He had a love of animals. As I grew older, I learned to look past the problems. I learned to love the man who gave me life. I did not love some of the things he did but I loved him.
             
All earthly fathers are fallible, have weaknesses and are not always there for us when we need them. Our heavenly Father is not like our earthly fathers. God cannot lie. Titus 1:2, Heb 6:18. He has a plan for us. Jer 29:11. He will allow us to make our own choices and will always be there for us when we need Him. We may not always feel His presence but He is there. He will always have His arms open wide so that when we turn from our foolishness and return to Him, we are assured of His acceptance of us. He calls us the apple of His eye. We are precious in His sight. He rejoices over us with singing. He is the ‘Daddy’ of the family of God.
             
As we become more familiar with our heavenly Father, we begin to be less formal with Him. He receives us joyfully and desires intimate communing with us. We begin to learn the ways of God, not just the acts of God. We begin to see Him as Abba or Daddy. We become more comfortable going to Him with our daily joys and needs, our complaints and successes. He laughs with us and cries with us. We relax our formal speech into a more honest communication and He listens. He doesn’t always immediately answer but He always is there. He loves hearing about our day and appreciates when we start our day with prayer of even just, “Good morning, Lord”. Let Abba into your life and watch your view of God grow and change.
                            

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