My stepfather was legally my stepfather. I had a real father. I could have kept my stepfather at arm's length and let him love me. But from afar, I chose to get close to him. But it took time for our love relationship to grow. His love was there for me from day one.
But I had to respond and spend time and effort to know the experience of him being my father. Paul explains in Romans 8, 14, 15, for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. You have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, abba, Father, you are a son, a daughter of God, but you don't fully know Father God yet.
His love gave you a reason to escape Satan and come home. But there's more. So much more. You need to spend time with God and do things together. As you invest time and energy, you will experience God's love again and again. Then what you believe, your faith will soar.
We believe by experiencing God's love in two ways. First, experiences with God, and second, by hearing God. Romans 10:17 tells us that. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Word in this verse in the Greek, the original language
is rhema. Rhema means the spoken word. Faith comes from what God speaks to us. Sometimes I'm reading my Bible and it's like a verse jumps out at me. It gets my attention. Other times I read the Bible and just know a verse or a passage is from God. God speaks to us in an inner knowing, a still, small voice.
That's a rhema. God in his love gives us answers to our questions and problems. Rhema, words. Other times, God gives us experiences with Him. I've been supernaturally healed by God's love. He. He has provided for me in amazing ways. He has comforted me at times of loss and celebrated with me in times of joy.
I felt his presence at times so intense, I didn't care about anything else. It was like time stood still and my belief, my faith and confidence in him continued to grow. Believers believe because we experience God's love, whether it's through words or through experiences with him, we know his love.
When I was 20, I met the man who'd become my stepfather, Cr Miller. I felt his love immediately. For the next 40 some years, I knew he would be there for me. Anything he could do, he would do it. I believed that without reservation, because that was his identity.
He was a loving father to me. He had loved me so much and so often, I would not doubt him for the rest of his life. And he never failed. Such is the father love that God has for you and I. In 1st John 4:19 it says, we love because he first loved us.