We Cry, "Abba Father"

"And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced” (Zech 12:10). 

About 2500 years ago Zechariah gave us this wonderful prophecy of the coming of the Holy Spirit. It was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost 50 days after Jesus was crucified, and “the Spirit of grace and of supplication” was poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Peter, addressing the crowd said, “… let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). On that day the inhabitants of Jerusalem looked, with spiritual eyes, on the One whom they had pierced, and were cut to the heart.

This Holy Spirit who was poured out on the day of Pentecost is the Spirit of prayer. He is also the one who points us to Christ, and he is the one who produces in us the peace of God as we pray, which is what this meditation is all about. So let’s look to Jesus as our example, and consider his greatest prayer to the Father. Mark tells us that when Jesus and his disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified “…he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (Mark 14:35-36). When Jesus prayed “Abba Father” it was an expression of complete trust and surrender to the will of the Father he loved and who he knew loved him for all eternity. Because the Spirit of the Son now lives in us who know the Father’s love also, we can pray in the same intimate trusting way, “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’” (Rom 8:15).

Not only do we cry “Abba Father,” but the Spirit within us who is also the Spirit of the Son calls out “Abba Father.”  “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal 4:6). “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Roma 8:27). Just as Jesus always prayed according to the Father’s will, so also do we when, by faith we yield to the Spirit and allow Him to lead us. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Roma 8:28). This is how we can know the peace of God. It is the fruit of the Spirit that grows and ripens in us as we learn from Him to pray as Jesus did, according to the Father’s will. The resulting "...peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil.4:7).

He Will Do It

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it (1 The 5:23-24).

Sanctification is the process that started when the old version of self was crucified with Christ and a new spiritually alive self was raised up, united with His Spirit. This Holy Spirit who now indwells all God’s children is the God of peace who sanctifies us.

So why do I sometimes lose my peace when trials come upon me?  My soul resonates with Job when God allowed terrible calamity to come upon him. Job says, “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil" (Job 3:25-26).  And Job’s friends were cooperating with Satan the accuser by their suggestion that God must have brought these calamities upon Job because of some evil in him. But Job showed that he did have peace with God when he declared, “I know my Redeemer lives and in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25), as he prophetically looked forward to the coming of the Messiah who is the Prince of Peace. The apostle Paul tells of the fulfillment of that prophecy when he writes that God “…has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel” (Col. 1:22-23). We have forgiveness of sin and peace with God through faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, reconciling us with the Father. He has done it and will continue to sanctify us through and through. He will do it! Paul writes, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). Paul gave all the glory for his salvation and sanctification to the cross of his Lord Jesus Christ, and so do we. That is how we find peace with God.

But that is not the peace Job was speaking of when he said, “I have no peace,” and it is not the peace I spoke of when I asked why I sometimes lose my peace when trials come upon me.  No, the peace we sometimes lose when calamity strikes is the “peace that transcends all understanding,” which the apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7). This peace of God is a fruit of the Spirit, which results from the fervent prayer of faith offered up to God by His children who know him as their “Abba Father.” It is this peace that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and it will be the subject of my next meditation.