Seeing God as He Really Is

Discovering the true heart of your Heavenly Father will transform your faith in ways you never imagined possible.

When we go through hard times, it’s sometimes tempting to get angry and bitter toward God. The enemy wants to use our difficult circumstances to cause us to blame the Lord and lose sight of His love for us. At such times, we need to hold on even more tightly to the promises of God’s Word. We also need to make sure we are seeing God correctly by not allowing our circumstances to warp our perspective of Him.

The Bible declares that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and He wants to meet our needs and shower us with blessings. Even though we may go through trials along the way, no situation in our health, finances, or relationships is too difficult for Him to remedy (Jeremiah 32:27).

The truth is that our view of God will have huge implications for whether or not we experience the fullness of His favor. This might seem like a fairly simple thing, but it isn’t. People often see God as a reflection of their flawed earthly fathers, and they consequently judge Him as cruel … perfectionistic … stingy … heartless … detached … traits that are completely foreign to our Father in Heaven.

Early in Jesus’ ministry, He took time to set the record straight on this. He realized that it was crucial for His disciples to see their Heavenly Father accurately:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. … Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7–11 NKJV).

If you see your Heavenly Father as He really is, your faith will grow by leaps and bounds! You’ll delight in coming to Him to share your needs: asking … seeking … knocking. You’ll understand His heart to “give good things to those who ask Him!”

Sadly, many people have earthly dads who aren’t so kind and approachable. Some dads even punish their children for asking, seeking, or knocking, and this often clouds people’s view of God.

We want you to take a few moments right now to stop and think about the amazing love and favor your Heavenly Father has for you. You may need to repent and ask His forgiveness if you’ve hung on to misconceptions about Him in the past. Ask the Lord to give you a new awareness of who He is, unimpeded by the devil’s twisted lies.

Our prayer is that you will gain a new appreciation of your Heavenly Father. May you come to know Him more intimately as the Father who loves you … the One who beckons you to draw near … the Provider who wants to hear and answer the requests of your heart. Let us encourage you today with the words of Jesus: Ask, Seek, and Knock!

Scriptures to meditate on this month:

Week One
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2

Week Two
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Revelation 22:4

Week Three
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.
John 14:7

Week Four
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
Job 42:5