Imagine what your life would be like if you completely trusted God as your loving Father—these Bible verses on the Father’s love will help!
Jesus showed us that the Almighty God is our Abba Father! Our dear Papa! (Mark 14:36). The Holy Spirit lives in the heart of all of us who follow Jesus. The Spirit intercedes for us from deep within, crying out, “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 6:4).
Our image (concept) of God is the most important thing about us. It determines our relationship with God, others, and ourselves. Correcting a false or incomplete image of God is possible by renewing your mind in the truth of who God is.
This article explores….
- The impact of your image of God on your spiritual growth
- Scriptures about the Father’s love for you
- Practical ways you can use these Scriptures to experience the true nature of God
Your Image of God
Your upbringing and church tradition can have a big impact on your image of God. And you may not be aware of how much your image of God affects your experience of his love.
When God calls Adam and Eve in the Garden, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9), how do you hear his voice? Is it the voice of a loving father? Or is it a voice of anger and condemnation? Taking time to notice how you hear God’s voice in Scripture can give insight into your own image of who God is (which may or may not line up with the true nature of your loving Abba Father).
Many people we talk with need healing in their image of God. Do you? Your answer to this question will tell you: Can you look back over your whole life and say, “My Father God has always been good to me.”? If not, your heart is hurting and your image of God needs healing.
I published Your Best Life In Jesus’ Easy Yoke to help you find delight in Jesus Christ and the God he knows as Abba Father. This article gives you a taste of that content in that it has practical steps you can take to experience a healed and true image of your loving Father.
Bible Verses on the Father’s Love
There are many Bible verses on the Father’s love for us. Here are a few that have been especially helpful in my own growing intimacy with God as my Abba and in our ministry to pastors, leaders, caregivers, and other servants of the Lord.
As you read these words of life from Scripture, allow them to seep down into your heart. Consider how much your heavenly Father loves you!
You are the apple of Abba’s eye.
“[The Father] guarded him as the apple of his eye.” (Deuteronomy 32:10)
Abba desires you to be loved, cared for, and set free.
“A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing.” (Psalm 68:5-6)
Abba desires to lovingly mold you.
“O Lord you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are the work of your hands.” (Isaiah 64:8)
Abba will lavish you with his rewards.
“Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:4)
Abba sees you and knows your needs.
“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)
You are loved, valued, and provided for by your Abba.
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26)
Your Abba gives you good gifts.
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)
You are held secure by your Abba.
“Your Father in heaven is not willing that any one of these little ones should be lost.” (Matthew 18:14)
Abba stands ready to receive you with open arms and to celebrate your return.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him… But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:20b, 22-24)
The right path is never hidden from you. Jesus is the way to your Abba Father.
“Jesus answered, `I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:6,9)
Abba is always with you through the gift of the Comforter and Counselor.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [or Comforter] to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth.” (John 14:16)
Abba answers your prayers.
“The Father will give you whatever you ask in [Jesus’] name.” (John 15:16)
You are Abba’s child!
“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.’” (Romans 8:15)
Abba is truly your Father.
“I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:18 & 2 Samuel 7:14)
Your Abba adopted you and has given you every spiritual blessing.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us…. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his [children].” (Ephesians 1:3-5)
You always have access to your Abba because of Jesus.
“Through [Christ] we… have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:18)
Your Abba is the Father above all fathers.
“[God is] the Father from whom all fatherhood derives its name.” (Ephesians 3:15)
The power of Abba works in and through your life.
“Now to [the Father] who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Your Abba lavishes his love on you, making you his own dear child!
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)
Three Practical Steps to Renew Your Image of God
You can begin the journey of healing your image of God today.
Here are a few ways you can use the list of Scriptures above to renew your mind (Rom. 12:2) and heal your God image:
- Read this list regularly. Reading it every morning for a month will help these truths take root in your heart and mind.
2. Stay with a Scripture that stirs you. As you meditate on this list, you may notice one or more standing out to you from the rest. It can be a verse that stirs your heart with longing or even be one that you’d rather avoid. Ask Jesus to show you what he’d have you see in it.
3. Print them out for study or memorization. I have a practice of running while reading and memorizing Scripture passages. It can be dangerous when I bang into things! But the practice keeps my mind focused when the exercise is arduous. Keeping one or more verses in my pocket while I run or walk in nature helps me hide the truth of God’s love in my heart.
Discover the Abba of Jesus!
In Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke I help you to experience the love of God as your Abba Father. Through fresh insights from the Bible I guide you in bringing your stress and hurt into an apprenticeship to Jesus that helps you become more like him. I guide you in spiritual experiments that help you to grow in the grace of Christ.
May you experience the joy of fully receiving the love of your Abba Father as you meditate on these Bible verses about the Father’s love.
