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The Father's Invitation
Oct 25, 2021
This Blog has been written by Heather, we are grateful for her contribution.
I was soundly asleep. And then I was sitting bolt upright in bed.
“Would you like to call Me Pops?”
I looked wide-eyed at the wardrobe in front of me. The air was full of Him.
Every nerve inside my body was quivering with excitement and anticipation. The Father. His voice…I had heard His voice ringing like a bell in my heart. His voice was commanding, yet tingling with excitement, love and invitation. Above all- it was a voice of love, warm and honey-sweet. Seven words- seven perfect words, inviting me into an adventure of relationship with Him.
“YES- yes, I’d like to call you Pops! YES!” I said, excitedly, into the air.
That air seemed to be dancing and alive and I didn’t want to move for several minutes. The Father has just spoken to me…He wants me to call Him Pops…my mind was trying to catch up with my tumbling heart. He wants a personal, living relationship with me!
This event occurred about eighteen months ago, and every day since, He has been expecting me. It’s as though His question has become the background theme to the desktop of my life. If I look for Him, He is there, waiting. Smiling- and loving. He is always loving.
At first, that week, I tried talking to Father directly. I explained that it did feel odd to call Him Pops- too chummy and irreverent. I thought about Jesus calling His Father, Abba. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: “Abba, my Father, all things are possible for you. Please—remove this cup of suffering![a] Yet what I want is not important, for I only desire to fulfil your plan for me.” Mark 14 v 36 (TPT)
Only obedient children can pray this prayer- expressing both intimacy as a son or daughter, and obedience to the Father’s authority.
It is perhaps impossible for us to think of God the Father without the experiences of our natural fathers colouring perspective, even if we fervently wish that were not the case. My natural father was a captain in the Merchant Navy and was therefore often away at sea. I grew up in a tiny island fishing town, and my dad had achieved notoriety as one of the town’s perennial drunks. I didn’t want that notoriety and I was deeply ashamed of him. Other potential father-figures crowded in on top of that shame to create layers of negative issues regarding fathers. I know I am not alone. No earthly father is perfect, so probably everyone reading this will have some father baggage in their closet.
I felt strange talking to Father, full stop. Addressing my prayers to Father has usually seemed artificial and impersonal- because my relationship with my earthly father was artificial and impersonal. God the Father had been more of an abstract concept to me, and I have not been aware of experiencing Him as a living, loving part of the Trinity.
23 You live fully in me and now I live fully in them
so that they will experience perfect unity,
and the world will be convinced that you have sent me,
for they will see that you love each one of them
with the same passionate love that you have for me.” (TPT)
I have experienced tremendous healing and restoration in my relationship with Jesus, which has powerfully accelerated during my time in Australia. However- despite hearing many Father Heart messages, the penny is only now starting to drop…If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father…
So- why Pops? Pops is a term of endearment that seems particularly prevalent in Australia. When I first arrived, I made friends with a family who had a devoted Granny and Pops. I spent many happy weekends with the family and Pops would do grandfatherly things, such as chasing us with the hosepipe and reading stories in silly voices. Therefore, when I think of the word Pops, I still think of Peter chasing his grandchildren and his obvious love and pride in their developing characters. He would give clear boundaries but was safe and warm as well. The Father is downloading a blueprint to my heart…
Just this week, I’ve had some heart-wrenching conversations about fathers. I teach a Year 8 boy we’ll call Simon. He’s a foster child, very small for his age and has that pinched, slightly malnourished look that many foster children sadly seem to have. Simon also has a deep love for Jesus. He told me that his foster parents are bullying him and asked me whether he should tell his respite carers. I told him that Jesus would show him; that the Bible says that God places the lonely in families, and that He will be a Father to the fatherless. He replied, ‘Miss- I know that God has a plan for my life. I keep seeing it written down, everywhere I go- God has a plan, God has a plan for you.’
He does indeed. Simon is battling something that we all face- our broken world with its broken experiences of fathers. But the Father, Jesus and the Spirit are waiting to give us new experiences of fathering and mothering, to show us that we are part of their Family and… ”that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. 39 There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” Romans 8 v 38-39 (TPT)
Heather McGavock
17 / 10 / 2021