To know God like this is to be baptised into his love, the love that the apostle John talks of in his epistle, in which there are seventeen direct references to God’s love and many more about that love working in and through us.

This entire epistle is written about how we may know the Father. John explains that by knowing and abiding in God’s love, it is possible to know him and be at one with him. He writes, “If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been made perfect in us”. (1 John 4:12). In this oneness, we know the perfect love of “God the Father” and are able to love one another. (1 John 2:13).

God has lavished his love upon us so that we may be his children. (1 John 3:1). God is love, not that he loves, but is love. (1 John 4:7-21, Romans 5:5, Ephesians 4:16-19, John 17:26). Someone who dwells in God’s love dwells in God and is at one with him.

His love is expressed through Jesus, for no one can come to the Father except through him. (John 14:6). Jesus was sent from the Father’s heart to seek the lost and bring them back to his heart. (John 1:18, Luke 15:20). To truly know God is to love God and to become one with him through Christ and be a carrier of his great “agape” love.

The Father’s Love in the Believer’s Life

Many people are saved, know the scriptures, and even do great deeds, yet do not really know the Father in this way. Our aim is to love like he loves. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Matthew 5:43-48). Love fulfils the whole law of God. (Galatians 5:14, James 1:25).

Some believers never seem to come to the place where they know the Father. In many churches, the emphasis is only upon Jesus and in other churches, it is on the Holy Spirit, but God wants us to know him as Father, Jesus is, of course, central and rightly so, but he wants us to know the Father. (John 20:17).

All his teachings were about the Father. He taught us how to pray to the Father, many of his parables are about the Father, and the Father is the centre of his life and message.

If we are to know God, then it is to know him as our Father. It is the Father who loved us so much that he sent his Son to find us and bring us to himself. The apostle Paul wrote about it in Romans 8:14-16. Our faith is to lead us to the Father.

Growing in Relationship with the Father

It is important to know God as our Father through Jesus, who is himself the express image of the Father. (John 14:8-11, 20-21, 23). As we grow in oneness with Jesus, we grow into an intimate, loving relationship with God our Father. We are sanctified and loved by the Father. (Jude 1:1, 1 Peter 1:14-17, 2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1).

We are adopted so that we can know him as Abba, our beloved Father. (Galatians 4:6). God trains, corrects, and disciplines every one of his children as a Father. (Hebrews 12:5-11, Proverbs 3:11-12, Revelation 3:19). He is our gardener who prunes us in order for us to grow and produce fruit. (John 15).

To know the Father is an incentive to a holy life. Read Matthew 6 and John 14 and count how many times Jesus talks about the Father. To know the Father and his love and to express it to others is to be our spiritual goal. (1 John 1:1-3).

This leads to the next principle.

Join me as we continue on our journey through “A Life of Faith.”

Blog series Five – Principles for Life in Christ:

Episode 6: Laying on of Hands

Episode 7: Resurrection of the Dead

Episode 8: Judgement, Eternal Judgement

Episode 9: Growing Up in Christ