I want to set the stage with nine quick thoughts about our walk with our Abba Father in our relationship with him. We expand all nine inside. It is a new way of experiencing the Scripture for many, but you should enjoy it.

Our Abba Father Loves Us

It is hard to imagine a reader who has not heard that our Abba Father loves us. Many believers do not feel any different because they do not feel our Abba Father’s love. I want to feel the love! We are told in conventional teaching how much our Abba Father’s forgiveness shows us that he loves us and is patient with us. Those words never gave me great comfort, and I do not see much comfort generated when I share them with others.

Scripture tells us our Abba Father loves us, but to me, that was like a spouse’s birthday card telling the other they love them. Why does a spouse have to say it in person? I want my living Abba Father to tell me in person that he loves me. The answer is our living, loving relationship! Gloriously, our Abba Father does both in the Scripture and personally in our relationship with him. The Scripture comes to life with the Holy Spirit, and we sense it talking to us. But there is a fly in our Abba father’s love ointment; it doesn’t mean what we think it means in English. Until we get our heads around what love means in the Scripture, ELB will win. Message S5M2 discusses love in full.

Redeemed or Saved?

I push very hard against saying “being saved.” Romans 10:9-10, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.“

My issue is that being “saved” is not the whole story. It connotes in ELB that we have done our job by receiving Christ. That view is all about us when it is a gift from our Abba Father to us and is only the starting point in our relationship with him. But it is much more. What I say instead of salvation and saved is redemption and redeemed.

Redeemed means to buy back. Redeemed focuses on what our Abba Father does for us; he buys us back. Saying I am redeemed covers everything our Abba Father did for us with the sacrifice Jesus made, all in one word. Redemption focuses on our Abba Father, bringing us back to him. Try it. I expand on this in message S5M1.

I hear a lot of prayers for redemption. But what follows redemption? What now? What happens when we are redeemed must be part of our early experience to grow our faith and relationship. I have the Holy Bible readings I use, but first, I explain what just happened and the responsibility of all children.

What happens is that the new believer is born again into the divine spirit world as a citizen of Heaven, justified by our Abba Father, and set apart by him from ELB. Justified means the person was made righteous and washed clean in our Abba Father’s eyes. When we wash our car, we can easily see it get dirty, but it is harder to see the dirty car get dirtier. A new believer should now clearly see their sins and ELB.

A child’s one duty from birth is learning about life. And when born again, we need to know about sanctification. Believers pay great attention to becoming “saved” but not sanctification.

Sanctification is the process that follows redemption. Hardly any attention is given to sanctification, and I believe it is because it has no apparent incentive compared to avoiding the fiery pit of hell that redemption promises. The fruit of failing to commit to sanctify or purify is weak faith driven by ELB. But a colossal incentive comes with our relationship with our Abba Father: peace, joy, and the full glory of our Abba Father in this life! Our Abba father calls us to become more purified continuously.

Our relationship with our Abba Father is the missing link for the sanctification process. Only in that relationship can the full peace, joy, and glory of our Abba Father be realized. That will lift us out of ELB and into our Abba Father’s spirit world, where our Abba Father wants us to be.

Set Apart

Psalm 4:3, “But know that Yahweh hath set apart for himself him that is godly: Yahweh will hear when I call unto him.” Deuteronomy 7:6. “For thou art a holy people unto Yahweh thy God: Yahweh thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.“

Believers are special in the eyes of our Abba Father. He created the world exactly as it is, and it is out to get us, which serves two purposes. We must let go of our ELB and dedicate our lives to our new creation and relationship with our Abba Father.

John 15:19, “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” 1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Note the reference to the Father, not God.

The following is the promise we must start with, our relationship with our Abba Father. 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, “And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore. Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you, And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

Being Holy

Have you ever been told you are a sinner? I have. No one ever told me Leviticus 11:44, “For I am Yahweh your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy . . .” Leviticus 20:26, “And ye shall be holy unto me: for I, Yahweh, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be mine.” Deuteronomy 7:6, “For thou art a holy people unto Yahweh thy God: Yahweh thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” Ephesians 4:24, “and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

I had to read about being holy, and I can say with great confidence being holy beats being a sinner! Yes, “for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), but there is a clear distinction in Scripture between doing sin as a believer and being a sinner as a non-believer. How can we be a new creation if we are still sinners? Raise your game and see yourself as holy. It will strengthen your faith and your relationship. And reduce your sin.

1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That is our call to order, 1 Peter 1:13-16, “Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.“

It is with great joy that I tell my flock that they are holy and should live with the joy of being holy, pouring out that joy to others. In the jail/prison system, this is an incredible uplift for people who were lost not long before. It is what everyone should feel.

Navigating our Relationship

It is easy to come away from the Old Testament with the sense that a God of fire and thunder, and we die if we see his face, might be a bit hard to relate to. In that context, carefully navigating into a relationship with him makes sense. When I was growing up, we had a boat, and I loved navigating our trips. We had maps, depth charts, buoys, lighthouses, and markers to find our way. For our relationship with our Abba Father, we navigate through this life with the Scripture as our markers, and if we follow them, we arrive in the promised land, eternal life on the new earth.

With our Abba Father, we have a co-pilot. We navigate our eternal relationship with our Abba Father as the Holy Spirit, and the Scripture leads us. To navigate, we need a compass and a map. The magnetic compass we use to go boating or hiking shows us the direction we are heading, but a compass is only helpful with a map to show us how to get where we want to go. Our Abba Father wants to be our compass; his map is the Holy Spirit with the Scripture that shows us how to get where we want to go. In ELB, we can say God is our compass, but the ELB map leads us nowhere good. Please pray on that.

Reading the Scripture

How we read Scripture is central to our relationship with our Abba Father. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV is a foundational verse about agape love, “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.“

My question is, do you think Paul wrote that passage for us to know what the word love means, or do you think he wrote it to tell us how to live in relationship with our Abba Father and others under Jesus’ one commandment, “love others as I have loved you?” (John 15:12)?

The more we think about “living in our relationship” (our relationship radar), the easier it is to see. But living in love, as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, is a commandment, and this book has much more to say about doing it rather than knowing it. Also, notice the love described is not cuddly. Our Abba Father commands us to apply 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to our human enemies.

As described by Paul, believers fail to obey Jesus’ command to love. That weighs heavy on me and is the fruit of ELB. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is well read, especially at weddings, but we ignore it in our ELB lives. Messages S5M2 and S7M5 dive into love in the Scripture. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 would transform Christianity today if presented in new member training, every church member had to pass a test on it, and the church committed to living it. But we do not need to wait. You can start right now; the change is amazing. Please pray on that.

Partnership with our Abba Father

Lost in ELB is the realization that our Abba Father is committed to using his human creation to complete his plan, and he is the “great delegator,” even if it takes thousands of years. We each have a job to do in our Abba Father’s “Family business,” and that needs to be front and center in our belief, faith, and relationship in our eternal lives with him.

The “working with our Abba Father” aspect of the relationship intellectually connects us with him in a way we can feel and understand. We should see ourselves as a cog in our Abba Father’s gears. So what is our job in our Abba Father’s plan?

That is usually an easy question for a pastor but not for many others. The Great Commission Bludgeon, as I call it, “go and make disciples of all nations,” is the usual ELB rally cry and not very effective because it is a distortion of Scripture, as discussed in message S2M5.

By the end of the book, we should have a relationship with our Abba Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, that will help us find our call to his plan for us. We should always get that answer from the Holy Spirit, not from a human quiz to reveal our gifts. The gift quizzes only show what we wish our calling is, which is not without value, but it keeps us separated from the Holy Spirit.

If you take a quiz about our gifts, try doing the opposite of the quiz result, it might change your life. My calling is the exact opposite of what every quiz said it should be, and that was a real eye/heart opener. It also brought a great sense of peace to my ministry.

Changing our Focus

I was in the high-tech business world for many years and learned there are two core strategies in business management. One is to find out what is wrong to fix it, and the other is to find out what is right to do more of it. We also express that for individuals as a “fear of failure” or an “overwhelming desire to succeed.” These are two core characteristics of how people generally approach life, and some end up in management. The most successful companies hire both types, but the first type (what is wrong) usually reports to the second type (what is right) because “what is right” managers are more successful.

The problem with the “what is wrong” or “fear of failure” type is that we never finish, and it is not much fun. I see the church and the temple before it mired in the first type with its primary focus on sin and the law. The lesser focus is on what is right, our relationship with our Abba Father.

I understand our Abba Father started from scratch with only the family model for group behavior and needed governance. Still, by the end of the Scripture, we ended up in the Family! Building our relationship with our Abba Father is what is right, and we need to do more of it in our preaching and teaching. That is not a binary choice. Both are essential to success, but more success comes from doing what is right, and more joy and peace come from our relationships.

Traditional Thinking

Mathew 11:28 is a foundational verse, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” What is interesting about the yoke analogy is that an experienced ox will not do all the pulling paired with a young ox. The young ox must pull its share. Our Abba Father’s plan is a partnership in a yoke, not “let go, let God,” I often hear. “Take my yoke upon you” is not “let go.” Please pray on that.

ELB influences traditional thinking by pointing us to our Abba Father’s promises as the solution to everything and trust in God! That is ELB using God as the compass but not his map. That may be the place to start, but too many believers leave it to the Holy Spirit to do all the work. He can, for sure, but that is not the plan. The promises are a two-party covenant. From the beginning of my walk with our Abba Father, teachers have told me about what Scripture says about him, which is great, of course, but I couldn’t stop seeing what it also showed me about his children and life on earth. Life is much better lived his way.