Sweet, Honoring Fellowship
Jesus had been with His Father since before the world began.
Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself,
with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
John 17:5
Jesus and His Father had worked together to create the universe.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by Him all things were created,
both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:15-17
I wonder how it felt for the Father in heaven while His Son was on earth and for the Son on earth with His Father in heaven. Jesus certainly spent time with His Abba.
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray,
and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
Luke 6:12
When Jesus desperately needed His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He died on the Cross, He called Him Abba. Abba means Daddy. Through His Spirit, God gives us the privilege to call Him Abba, too.
Because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:6
I know God would have given us a record of one of Jesus’ all night prayer sessions if we needed it. I would love to know what that was like, what Jesus said, how He felt. It must have been beautiful, sweet, sweet fellowship.
Jesus reached out to His Father in prayer. He also honored Him by living His life exactly the way God wanted Him to live and by doing everything His Father wanted Him to do. Jesus told the Jews:
. . . the things which I heard from Him,
these I speak to the world.
. . . I do nothing on My own initiative,
but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone,
for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.
John 8:26-29
Jesus told a crowd:
For I have come down from heaven,
not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
John 6:38
God verbally expressed His approval of His Son — out loud so everyone could hear it.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening,
and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;
and a voice came out of the heavens:
“You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
Mark 1:9-11
Years after Jesus returned to Heaven, the apostle Peter remembered hearing God’s voice of approval of His Son Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration.
For when He received honor and glory from God the Father,
such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory,
“This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—
and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven
when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
2 Peter 1:17-18
Approval. Honor. Fellowship. Children need it. Parents need it. The Father and the Son have always lived in an environment of sweet and honoring fellowship. That sweet, honoring fellowship is the perfect example of what we need with God and what we and our children and our parents and siblings need with one another.
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them,
that they may be one, just as We are one;
I in them and You in Me,
that they may be perfected in unity,
so that the world may know that You sent Me,
and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
John 17:22-23
♥ ♥ ♥ An Apology ♥ ♥ ♥
Oops! We are so sorry that you keep getting links to my video from last week. We meant to send out the corrected link just one time, but somehow we set it to go out every day! We thought we had it stopped yesterday, but to my chagrin I got another one yesterday. I’m sure you did, too! We are sorry and we are trying to fix it!