I was blessed to have a stern daddy, sent from God to train me in the valuable fear of authority. And that prepared me perfectly to obey and fear God without question. I cherish with great love and eternal gratitude, my earthly father.

But I have longed to know God as my Real Father. To know Him as He is, and not by some human image planted in my soul. So it has been my prayer for a long time that Jesus would take me to His Father and reveal Him as He did for the disciples

He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 14:9
I have revealed You to those whom You gave me. John 17:6

It seemed to be His passionate mission: to show God, to demonstrate God as He IS, and not the God of our dark suspicions. And I deeply asked to be included as His disciple in the unveiling of my own Heavenly Father.

It has been said that first there was the Jesus movement of the '60s. Then there was the Holy Spirit renewal of the '70s and '80s and the next great revelation will be of God the Father. It seems the Lord is pleased to use me in this era of revealing afresh, the Good Father.

Recently I was stunned to see the thread of the Heavenly Father throughout my writings. My book "All and Only" is really about God the Father, His character and His great goodness. It appears to be about His sovereignty but the heart of it is the revelation of God the Father as infinitely good with

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
(Jer. 29:11)

Some years ago, I taught a series about the Prodigal from Luke 15 but again, as Light was shed on the passage, I began to see that it was about the Father, not only the Prodigal, and so I called it "The Real Father." I had never heard a teaching of that passage that put the emphasis on the Waiting Father as the Holy Spirit did for me.
 

As I progressed in the writing of Elijah and Jezebel, I began to see the emerging of God as Father. That was the hidden issue of the whole story and goal of Elijah's mission: to return the hearts of the children to their Heavenly Father as well as the human dad. In the unfolding of those scriptures in1 Kings19f to my heart, I began to understand that God's Fatherhood was tender and brooding over those caught in the Jezebel trap. And His heart was also amazingly ferocious against that evil.

Even in the current writings on authority, God is being unveiled as Father. Within the functioning of authority, He "fathers" us. He is a real and present Father, trustworthy and very much in charge.

When Mary Magdalene saw the resurrected Jesus and naturally reached for Him, this is what He said,

I am ascending to My Father and your Father,
and to My God and your God. John 20:17

I have seen that the Cross was not just to pay for our sins but to reconcile us to God in the role of Father.  Jesus, by His blood, made it possible for us to have an Intimate Father. His own Father - precious to Him - was made our Father as well.

So I realized in amazement that Jesus had so profoundly answered my prayer and taken me to the presence of the Father to reveal the true nature of His Heart. It is the delight of Jesus to do so.
And I can cry, "I have an Abba! I have an Abba!"

There are other things I have wanted to write but my heart is strangely filled with the secrets of Abba's identity and when I take up my pen to write by the Holy Spirit, it is all about our Dear Father.
So now I understand, Lord!
 

It is my joy to allow my Lord Jesus to present His Beloved Father to you through my life and pen.

With great zeal and exuberance, I pray you will see that
"YOU have an Abba! You have an Abba!"
and we can declare together from now through all eternity:

Hallowed be Thy Name!

Copyright © Martha Blaney Kilpatrick