November 24, 2025 • 19 mins
Hi Friend, Does your relationship with your earthly father shape how you see God? For many of us, it does—and it can deeply affect how we pray, how we read Scripture, and how close we believe we can be to God.
In today’s episode of Getting Personal With God, I dive into why so many believers struggle to feel loved by God and how distorted father-images, childhood experiences, church culture, and unhealed identity wounds quietly shape our entire spiritual life.
Through personal stories, emotional honesty, and a powerful walk through Ephesians chapter 1, this episode reveals God’s true heart as a Father who chose you, wanted you, planned for you, and delights in you. He is not distant, harsh, or religious—He is full of joy, generosity, and overwhelming love.
You’ll explore:
- How your childhood experiences can distort your view of God
- Why we often feel guilty, unworthy, or afraid to pray
- How religious voices or past environments can twist how we “hear” Scripture
- What Ephesians 1 actually says about being chosen, adopted, valued, and empowered
- How God planned for you before the foundation of the world
- Why the Holy Spirit seals you as His beloved child
- How revelation—not pressure—creates intimacy with God
If you want deeper confidence in God’s love, healing from painful beliefs, clarity about your identity, and a fresh desire to pray again—this episode is for you.
Keywords: identity in Christ, God as Father, healing father wounds, understanding God’s love, Ephesians 1 explained, intimacy with God, spiritual healing, Christian women’s podcast, overcome shame before God, how to pray with confidence, religious trauma recovery, Christian spiritual growth, renewing your mind, hearing God’s voice, grace and adoption in Christ.
Mentioned in this episode:
✔ Ephesians 1 — your adoption, blessing, inheritance, and identity
✔ The Father’s love before the foundation of the world
✔ How false beliefs create insecurity and avoidance
✔ Prayer for revelation, wisdom, and intimacy with God
✔ 100 Prayers Releasing 100 Cares (book link in show notes)
If this episode encouraged you, please share it with a friend and leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts. It truly helps others discover the show and grow in their relationship with God.
Special offer!
Prayer changes everything — especially when you’re seeking God for answers to anxiety, depression, relationships, finances, health, or life decisions. 100 Prayers Releasing 100 Cares shares real stories of answered prayer, biblical wisdom for hearing God’s voice, and practical faith tools rooted in Scripture to help you walk in freedom and bold trust in God. "100 Prayers Releasing 100 Cares" Click to order your copy today and begin praying with confidence!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Do you think your image of a father impacts your
image of God?
I do.
Do you hear a weird religiousvoice when you read the Bible in
your head?
I did.
So let's talk about that.
Because I have found out, andyou may or may not know, God is
incredibly in love with you.
And he's not religious or boringat all.
(00:21):
So let's dive in and focus onthe book of Ephesians.
Do you love God but forget topray?
Or feel guilty instead ofenjoying his presence?
I understand.
I know how unsatisfying timewith God can feel if we believe
he's distant or busy.
I'm Lenora, mom, Jesus lover,and international trainer.
If you're looking to feel closerwith God without fear or
(00:44):
pressure, have a greater abilityto receive from him and desire
more confidence to make animpact with your own life.
Well, get some coffee and let'stalk.
If you're carrying stress andwant support with prayer, I
wrote a book to help you.
100 Prayers, Releasing 100Cares.
It's full of real stories,scripture, and 100 prayers for
(01:05):
every part of life.
A link to the book is in theshow notes.
Have you ever been watching amovie and you overreact?
Well, you don't overreact, youjust react differently than you
planned to or expected.
Yeah, certainly I've done that.
Sometimes a line in a movie hasreally impacted me.
Stories are powerful, but Iremember one about a boy who was
(01:27):
trying to find a way to pleasehis father.
The father was not good atcommunicating to his family, not
good at feeling good abouthimself, much less the
achievements or lack thereof ofa particular son of his.
Anyway, his son has this linethat says, I just want to know
(01:49):
the honest feelings about mefrom my father.
And I found myself with tearsjust coming down my cheeks.
And I'm I'm really fortunate tohave a good relationship with my
father.
But that wasn't always the case.
He wasn't raised in a generationwhere the majority of people
talked a lot in their familiesor expressed excitement about
(02:11):
their kids or had a lot of funwith them, those types of
things.
And so accidentally, if you grewup in something like that, it's
really easy to think that you'rethe reason your father won't
play with you, or your fatherdoesn't spend time talking with
you.
He doesn't communicate what hefeels about you or your value.
(02:32):
Maybe he was someone who justexpressed his frustration or
with the intention of making youstronger or doing his version.
Maybe the only version he knewof how to parent was to be super
strict.
Now we kids, when we're littleand don't know anything
different, it's like our parentsare God to us.
(02:55):
We honestly survive because ourparents take care of us.
So it makes sense that we ofteninterpret any problem.
It can't be the parent.
We can't afford that.
They have to be perfect or haveto be competent.
So it must be me.
That's a safer risk.
And because of those tendencies,we can easily decide my father
(03:17):
doesn't talk to me because I'mnot worth talking to, or my
father criticizes me all thetime because I'm always wrong.
Or you grow up afraid you'realways going to be in trouble,
or you are always a constantdisappointment.
I'm really, I guess, talking tosome of the things I've had to
wrestle through in the midst ofa pretty good family.
(03:37):
We had a lot of things we didright, but there was some
dysfunction in there.
I remember seeing a t-shirt onceabout dysfunctional families,
and there was a t-shirt, and itwas the like the Conference of
Functional Families.
And there was like two familiesin a room with a thousand
chairs.
So most of us grew up with amixed bag of who knows what in
(03:58):
our families.
But we all gain beliefs aboutourselves because of that.
And then by other people thatcontinue to influence us, and
then we gain beliefs aboutourselves.
And then often we spend the bulkof our lives trying to prove
something or fight against thesewhat I call painful lies, we
believe about ourselves, to tryto feel better, feel good, prove
(04:20):
something.
And if you mix that with growingup in church, who knows what you
got?
I got a mixed bag of God lovesme and God's angry.
So I don't know how you grow up.
I don't know all the impressionsyou got.
All of us learn by, in fact,scripture says this: precept
upon precept, line upon line,here a little, there a little.
(04:43):
And so we all grow up bylearning one little thing or a
bunch of little things, and webuild on that.
And I mean, you go from as aninfant learning how to roll over
to get your knees up underneathyou to eventually be able to
crawl, eventually be able towalk, and then eventually be
able to run.
All those things are a lot ofteeny steps that build on each
(05:05):
other to learn.
Well, that's necessary, butoften in our own assessment of
God or assessment of ourselves,we get all kinds of stuff mixed
in there, which makes us walkall kinds of weird ways
emotionally, weird ways inrelationships, etc.
So I thought for today'sepisode, what I was gonna do is
(05:27):
just talk a bit about Ephesianschapter one.
Ephesians happens to be, atleast for the last few years,
one of my favorite books in theBible.
It just says so much.
And you can read it in a lot ofdifferent translations.
I'm just gonna talk a little bitabout this first chapter because
it really helped open my eyes upto God's opinion of me that was
(05:48):
different from what I capturedor what I experienced based on
other adults' behavior when Iwas growing up, the various
churches we went to and all thedifferent styles and things they
did and didn't do to help me geta solid foundation of being
loved by God.
So anyway, here we go, Ephesianschapter one.
Now I'm gonna add my thoughtsjust as we go along the way.
(06:10):
So take it or leave it, okay?
But Paul, this man, was anapostle, and that just means a
sent person, a sent one byChrist Jesus, and it was the
will of God.
God wanted him to go, and inthis case, he was talking to the
saints who are in Ephesus.
Now we know religiously saintsare some, only a dozen people
(06:33):
are saints.
The rest of us are I don't knowwhat we are.
But the Bible called anyone whobelieved in Jesus a saint.
Okay, the saints who are inEphesus, the faithful in Christ
Jesus.
Grace to you and peace from God.
Now, grace is a whole study ofits own.
It's just it's God's absolutelyabundant, generous self giving
(06:56):
his life and empowerment to you,and peace from God.
Peace is more than uh like twocountries not being at war.
Peace in in a study is moreabout wholeness.
I mean being whole.
Your heart is whole, your mindis whole, you have peace inside,
you can sleep well, you havejoy, okay?
(07:17):
So grace and peace from God ourFather.
We just say that God our Father.
Maybe your church didn't say itthat way.
But personally, I listen toBible apps where they'll read
the scripture to me, but I don'talways love the voices or the
tones, because I just wantsomebody who sounds like a real
person talking to me with wordsI can relate to today, which
(07:40):
typically takes some word studyor the amplified version or the
passion version, etc.
But grace to you and peace fromGod our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Verse three blessed be the Godand Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Again, God and Father of ourLord Jesus Christ, who's blessed
(08:00):
us in Christ with everyspiritual blessing in the
heavenly places.
It's so easy to read Bibleverses and not at all pay
attention to what they'resaying.
See, so many of these words cansound religious.
Or I don't know how you hear thetone when you read the Bible.
Or maybe is that like invisiblevoice of whatever you grew up
(08:22):
with religiously?
Is that how the Bible's talkingto you?
What I want you to see is justseveral verses.
I'm just going to touch on acouple today.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3,blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who'sblessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in heavenlyplaces.
And if you don't know this,everything started in the
(08:42):
spiritual realm.
So he's given us blessings whereit counts, this at the source
level.
And then it says, even as hechose us in him before the
foundation of the world.
So I don't know about yourearthly parents, but your
heavenly father chose you in himbefore the foundation of the
world.
(09:03):
This place was made as your babyroom.
He chose you in him to be in hisfamily before he made the world.
He chose us in him before thefoundation of the world that we
should be holy and blamelessbefore him in love.
To be holy is to be a peoplethat are honest with each other,
a people who would never betrayeach other, people who put other
(09:26):
people before themselves.
Those are holy people, peoplethat do what they say and say
what they do and blamelessbefore him in love.
They don't feel ashamed, theydon't walk around feeling
guilty.
We weren't meant to walk aroundfeeling shamed, walk around
under guilt.
But in love, he predestined usfor adoption to himself as sons
(09:51):
through Jesus Christ, accordingto the purpose of his will.
So often people want to knowwhat's the will of God?
What's the will of God?
The will of God is for you to beadopted to himself, confirmed as
a child of his through JesusChrist, according to the purpose
of his will.
That's the purpose of what hewanted to do, okay, to the
(10:15):
praise of his glorious grace,back to verse six, with which
he's blessed us in the beloved.
You belong to him, you'recherished, okay.
In him, we have redemptionthrough his blood.
In Jesus Christ, we haveredemption.
We were bought back through theblood of Jesus for the
forgiveness of our trespasses,of where we've crossed lines we
(10:38):
shouldn't have crossed, where wehave uh missed the mark, okay?
But he paid for it, he bought usback so we could be forgiven
from all of that, according tothe riches of his generosity,
his ability to pay for it, hisdesire to reconcile us to
himself, which he lavished on usin all wisdom and insight.
(10:59):
He lavished it, he generouslypoured it all over us in wisdom
and insight, making known to usthe mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, whichhe set forth in Christ as a plan
for the fullness of time tounite all things in him in
heaven and things on earth.
Again, it talks about hispurpose was to unite us with
(11:23):
him.
He's called Father, and his planhas always been to adopt you,
always has been to lavish hisgenerous self all over you, to
bless you with every spiritualblessing at the source level.
And on to verse 11.
In him we've obtained aninheritance.
You ever get an inheritance fromsomeone?
(11:44):
In him, we've obtained aninheritance, having been
predestined according, again,back to this, according to the
purpose of him who works allthings according to the counsel
of his will.
And we already know his will isfor us to be his beloved kids,
so that we who were first tohope in Christ might be to the
praise of his glory.
(12:05):
In him, you also who heard theword of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, the good news,the amazing news that has to be
told of your salvation, of yourrescue, of your complete rescue.
Salvation means complete rescuein every way, and believe in
him.
In him, you also, when you heardof the word of truth, the
(12:28):
gospel, the good news of yourcomplete rescue, your salvation,
and believed in him, were sealedwith the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of ourinheritance until we acquire
possession of it, to the praiseof his character, of his glory,
of his reflection.
Verse 15.
(12:48):
For this reason, because I'veheard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus and your love toward allthe saints, I don't cease to
give thanks for you, rememberingyou always in my prayers, that
the God of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of glory, may
give you the spirit of wisdomand revelation in the knowledge
of Him.
He wants us to know what God isreally like, not what religion
(13:09):
is like, not what somebody whodoesn't understand their father
can make up, but he wants us tohave divine revelation of the
knowledge of God, having theeyes of our hearts enlightened,
so that you may know what is thehope to which he's called you,
what are the riches of hisglorious inheritance in the
saints, and what is theimmeasurable greatness of his
(13:32):
power towards us who believe,according to the working of his
great might that he worked inChrist when he raised him from
the dead, and seated him at hisright hand in the heavenly
places, far above all rule andauthority and power and
dominion, and above every namethat is named, not only in this
age, but also the one to come.
(13:52):
And he put all things under hisfeet and gave him as head over
all things to the church, whichis his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
I hope you're getting a glimpseof the will of God, of the
desire of God.
From the beginning, God haswanted you as his child.
(14:22):
Walking free from shame, fromguilt, um, and being a person
that is free from insecuritiesthat provoke lies, insecurities
that provoke all the dumb thingswe can chase in this world.
But he wants you to know yourvalue in him.
He wants you to know you belongto him.
He's paid a price for you.
(14:43):
He wants you as his own.
And then, like I just read, backto verses 20, 21, etc., that
he's also got power at work forus.
He wants you as his own,established, sealed with the
Holy Spirit as a promise of yourinheritance.
And that he's rich ininheritance by having us as his
(15:05):
kids.
He paid the price of his own sonto get us.
And Jesus was seated far aboveall rule, authority, might, and
power and dominion, not only inthis age, but in the age to
come, and put all things underhis feet and gave him head over
all things in the church, whichis his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Jesus has been given authorityas the head of the church and as
(15:27):
his body, we are to do what hedoes, say what he says, act
under his authority, for hisreflection, for the father's
reflection to be known in theearth.
And what's the first part ofthat?
You knowing that your father hasalways wanted you.
Your father thought of youbefore he made the baby room,
(15:50):
before there was any problem orbefore any of us failed.
God made us and planned for usto be his kids.
He planned to take care of theproblems, put us back in
relationship, and we should havea revelation of what he's like,
where we came from, so that wecan walk like him, talk like
him, behave like him, and bringsalvation to the earth.
(16:12):
It's all coming through ChristJesus.
But we're his body.
So in getting personal with God,how about a conversation with
him?
When you have emotions andfeelings coming up and behaviors
that don't align with what youquote, should do, or a behavior
that's constructive to yourrelationships versus
(16:33):
destructive, and say, God, whatam I believing?
Where am I wrong about who I am?
Where am I wrong about thebeliefs in my life that would
make me want to be destructive?
What are the painful lies Ibelieve?
And God, I ask you to startgiving me revelation of who you
say I am in Jesus Christ.
(16:53):
You know, when I'm doing thispodcast, I do dive into the deep
end really fast sometimesbecause I can be a real goofball
or I can be super intense.
It's just like a two-edgedsword.
So stick with me on this journeyand let's just keep talking.
Or I guess I'm the one talking.
Sometimes I'll have interviews,but let's just keep on this
(17:14):
journey of becoming convinced ofwhat our father's really like.
He loves listening to you.
He wants to talk with you.
He planned for you before hemade the earth.
He said it.
I'm just repeating it.
He planned to bless you beforeyour life even started.
He chose you, wants you as hisown.
(17:36):
His eyes are on you, his plansfor you are good.
That doesn't mean we don't fightbattles.
It means we need to know him,and he will teach us how to
fight our battles and win themin Jesus' name.
Well, join me next week as wekeep talking about your value,
your father's love for you, hopefor your future, how to get
(17:56):
untangled from anything thatmight be hindering you.
Because God's plan for you ishope and a good future, and to
grow up in him to be the mighty,amazing human beings created in
his image after his likeness.
One young friend of mine, whoI've known for a good number of
years now, had suggested alwayshaving prayer in the episode,
(18:18):
and I love that.
So, Father, give us revelationand the knowledge of you.
Give us revelation.
Open up the eyes of ourunderstanding to the knowledge
of you, to the hope, the goodexpectation of your calling, of
the incredible riches you'vegiven us, invested into us, and
how much you treasure us and thepower that's working in us,
(18:40):
according to the power you usewhen you raise Christ from the
dead.
You are the source of life, andthat life is working in us right
now.
And I thank you for it in Jesus'name.
Amen.
Hey friend, I hope you enjoyedtoday's episode.
Would you share this withsomeone else who may need to
hear it?
Also, please take 30 seconds andleave a quick review for the
(19:00):
show on Apple Podcasts.
And of course, subscribe if youhaven't already.
It really makes me happy to knowthis podcast is helping you.
And remember, a link to get mybook is in the show notes.
Thank you for listening.
I'll see you back next Mondayfor another episode.
Until then, remember, be kind toyou because it makes it a whole
lot easier to be kind to anybodyelse.
Do you think your image of a father impacts your
image of God?
I do.
Do you hear a weird religiousvoice when you read the Bible in
your head?
I did.
So let's talk about that.
Because I have found out, andyou may or may not know, God is
incredibly in love with you.
And he's not religious or boringat all.
(00:21):
So let's dive in and focus onthe book of Ephesians.
Do you love God but forget topray?
Or feel guilty instead ofenjoying his presence?
I understand.
I know how unsatisfying timewith God can feel if we believe
he's distant or busy.
I'm Lenora, mom, Jesus lover,and international trainer.
If you're looking to feel closerwith God without fear or
(00:44):
pressure, have a greater abilityto receive from him and desire
more confidence to make animpact with your own life.
Well, get some coffee and let'stalk.
If you're carrying stress andwant support with prayer, I
wrote a book to help you.
100 Prayers, Releasing 100Cares.
It's full of real stories,scripture, and 100 prayers for
(01:05):
every part of life.
A link to the book is in theshow notes.
Have you ever been watching amovie and you overreact?
Well, you don't overreact, youjust react differently than you
planned to or expected.
Yeah, certainly I've done that.
Sometimes a line in a movie hasreally impacted me.
Stories are powerful, but Iremember one about a boy who was
(01:27):
trying to find a way to pleasehis father.
The father was not good atcommunicating to his family, not
good at feeling good abouthimself, much less the
achievements or lack thereof ofa particular son of his.
Anyway, his son has this linethat says, I just want to know
(01:49):
the honest feelings about mefrom my father.
And I found myself with tearsjust coming down my cheeks.
And I'm I'm really fortunate tohave a good relationship with my
father.
But that wasn't always the case.
He wasn't raised in a generationwhere the majority of people
talked a lot in their familiesor expressed excitement about
(02:11):
their kids or had a lot of funwith them, those types of
things.
And so accidentally, if you grewup in something like that, it's
really easy to think that you'rethe reason your father won't
play with you, or your fatherdoesn't spend time talking with
you.
He doesn't communicate what hefeels about you or your value.
(02:32):
Maybe he was someone who justexpressed his frustration or
with the intention of making youstronger or doing his version.
Maybe the only version he knewof how to parent was to be super
strict.
Now we kids, when we're littleand don't know anything
different, it's like our parentsare God to us.
(02:55):
We honestly survive because ourparents take care of us.
So it makes sense that we ofteninterpret any problem.
It can't be the parent.
We can't afford that.
They have to be perfect or haveto be competent.
So it must be me.
That's a safer risk.
And because of those tendencies,we can easily decide my father
(03:17):
doesn't talk to me because I'mnot worth talking to, or my
father criticizes me all thetime because I'm always wrong.
Or you grow up afraid you'realways going to be in trouble,
or you are always a constantdisappointment.
I'm really, I guess, talking tosome of the things I've had to
wrestle through in the midst ofa pretty good family.
(03:37):
We had a lot of things we didright, but there was some
dysfunction in there.
I remember seeing a t-shirt onceabout dysfunctional families,
and there was a t-shirt, and itwas the like the Conference of
Functional Families.
And there was like two familiesin a room with a thousand
chairs.
So most of us grew up with amixed bag of who knows what in
(03:58):
our families.
But we all gain beliefs aboutourselves because of that.
And then by other people thatcontinue to influence us, and
then we gain beliefs aboutourselves.
And then often we spend the bulkof our lives trying to prove
something or fight against thesewhat I call painful lies, we
believe about ourselves, to tryto feel better, feel good, prove
(04:20):
something.
And if you mix that with growingup in church, who knows what you
got?
I got a mixed bag of God lovesme and God's angry.
So I don't know how you grow up.
I don't know all the impressionsyou got.
All of us learn by, in fact,scripture says this: precept
upon precept, line upon line,here a little, there a little.
(04:43):
And so we all grow up bylearning one little thing or a
bunch of little things, and webuild on that.
And I mean, you go from as aninfant learning how to roll over
to get your knees up underneathyou to eventually be able to
crawl, eventually be able towalk, and then eventually be
able to run.
All those things are a lot ofteeny steps that build on each
(05:05):
other to learn.
Well, that's necessary, butoften in our own assessment of
God or assessment of ourselves,we get all kinds of stuff mixed
in there, which makes us walkall kinds of weird ways
emotionally, weird ways inrelationships, etc.
So I thought for today'sepisode, what I was gonna do is
(05:27):
just talk a bit about Ephesianschapter one.
Ephesians happens to be, atleast for the last few years,
one of my favorite books in theBible.
It just says so much.
And you can read it in a lot ofdifferent translations.
I'm just gonna talk a little bitabout this first chapter because
it really helped open my eyes upto God's opinion of me that was
(05:48):
different from what I capturedor what I experienced based on
other adults' behavior when Iwas growing up, the various
churches we went to and all thedifferent styles and things they
did and didn't do to help me geta solid foundation of being
loved by God.
So anyway, here we go, Ephesianschapter one.
Now I'm gonna add my thoughtsjust as we go along the way.
(06:10):
So take it or leave it, okay?
But Paul, this man, was anapostle, and that just means a
sent person, a sent one byChrist Jesus, and it was the
will of God.
God wanted him to go, and inthis case, he was talking to the
saints who are in Ephesus.
Now we know religiously saintsare some, only a dozen people
(06:33):
are saints.
The rest of us are I don't knowwhat we are.
But the Bible called anyone whobelieved in Jesus a saint.
Okay, the saints who are inEphesus, the faithful in Christ
Jesus.
Grace to you and peace from God.
Now, grace is a whole study ofits own.
It's just it's God's absolutelyabundant, generous self giving
(06:56):
his life and empowerment to you,and peace from God.
Peace is more than uh like twocountries not being at war.
Peace in in a study is moreabout wholeness.
I mean being whole.
Your heart is whole, your mindis whole, you have peace inside,
you can sleep well, you havejoy, okay?
(07:17):
So grace and peace from God ourFather.
We just say that God our Father.
Maybe your church didn't say itthat way.
But personally, I listen toBible apps where they'll read
the scripture to me, but I don'talways love the voices or the
tones, because I just wantsomebody who sounds like a real
person talking to me with wordsI can relate to today, which
(07:40):
typically takes some word studyor the amplified version or the
passion version, etc.
But grace to you and peace fromGod our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Verse three blessed be the Godand Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Again, God and Father of ourLord Jesus Christ, who's blessed
(08:00):
us in Christ with everyspiritual blessing in the
heavenly places.
It's so easy to read Bibleverses and not at all pay
attention to what they'resaying.
See, so many of these words cansound religious.
Or I don't know how you hear thetone when you read the Bible.
Or maybe is that like invisiblevoice of whatever you grew up
(08:22):
with religiously?
Is that how the Bible's talkingto you?
What I want you to see is justseveral verses.
I'm just going to touch on acouple today.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3,blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who'sblessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in heavenlyplaces.
And if you don't know this,everything started in the
(08:42):
spiritual realm.
So he's given us blessings whereit counts, this at the source
level.
And then it says, even as hechose us in him before the
foundation of the world.
So I don't know about yourearthly parents, but your
heavenly father chose you in himbefore the foundation of the
world.
(09:03):
This place was made as your babyroom.
He chose you in him to be in hisfamily before he made the world.
He chose us in him before thefoundation of the world that we
should be holy and blamelessbefore him in love.
To be holy is to be a peoplethat are honest with each other,
a people who would never betrayeach other, people who put other
(09:26):
people before themselves.
Those are holy people, peoplethat do what they say and say
what they do and blamelessbefore him in love.
They don't feel ashamed, theydon't walk around feeling
guilty.
We weren't meant to walk aroundfeeling shamed, walk around
under guilt.
But in love, he predestined usfor adoption to himself as sons
(09:51):
through Jesus Christ, accordingto the purpose of his will.
So often people want to knowwhat's the will of God?
What's the will of God?
The will of God is for you to beadopted to himself, confirmed as
a child of his through JesusChrist, according to the purpose
of his will.
That's the purpose of what hewanted to do, okay, to the
(10:15):
praise of his glorious grace,back to verse six, with which
he's blessed us in the beloved.
You belong to him, you'recherished, okay.
In him, we have redemptionthrough his blood.
In Jesus Christ, we haveredemption.
We were bought back through theblood of Jesus for the
forgiveness of our trespasses,of where we've crossed lines we
(10:38):
shouldn't have crossed, where wehave uh missed the mark, okay?
But he paid for it, he bought usback so we could be forgiven
from all of that, according tothe riches of his generosity,
his ability to pay for it, hisdesire to reconcile us to
himself, which he lavished on usin all wisdom and insight.
(10:59):
He lavished it, he generouslypoured it all over us in wisdom
and insight, making known to usthe mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, whichhe set forth in Christ as a plan
for the fullness of time tounite all things in him in
heaven and things on earth.
Again, it talks about hispurpose was to unite us with
(11:23):
him.
He's called Father, and his planhas always been to adopt you,
always has been to lavish hisgenerous self all over you, to
bless you with every spiritualblessing at the source level.
And on to verse 11.
In him we've obtained aninheritance.
You ever get an inheritance fromsomeone?
(11:44):
In him, we've obtained aninheritance, having been
predestined according, again,back to this, according to the
purpose of him who works allthings according to the counsel
of his will.
And we already know his will isfor us to be his beloved kids,
so that we who were first tohope in Christ might be to the
praise of his glory.
(12:05):
In him, you also who heard theword of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, the good news,the amazing news that has to be
told of your salvation, of yourrescue, of your complete rescue.
Salvation means complete rescuein every way, and believe in
him.
In him, you also, when you heardof the word of truth, the
(12:28):
gospel, the good news of yourcomplete rescue, your salvation,
and believed in him, were sealedwith the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of ourinheritance until we acquire
possession of it, to the praiseof his character, of his glory,
of his reflection.
Verse 15.
(12:48):
For this reason, because I'veheard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus and your love toward allthe saints, I don't cease to
give thanks for you, rememberingyou always in my prayers, that
the God of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of glory, may
give you the spirit of wisdomand revelation in the knowledge
of Him.
He wants us to know what God isreally like, not what religion
(13:09):
is like, not what somebody whodoesn't understand their father
can make up, but he wants us tohave divine revelation of the
knowledge of God, having theeyes of our hearts enlightened,
so that you may know what is thehope to which he's called you,
what are the riches of hisglorious inheritance in the
saints, and what is theimmeasurable greatness of his
(13:32):
power towards us who believe,according to the working of his
great might that he worked inChrist when he raised him from
the dead, and seated him at hisright hand in the heavenly
places, far above all rule andauthority and power and
dominion, and above every namethat is named, not only in this
age, but also the one to come.
(13:52):
And he put all things under hisfeet and gave him as head over
all things to the church, whichis his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
I hope you're getting a glimpseof the will of God, of the
desire of God.
From the beginning, God haswanted you as his child.
(14:22):
Walking free from shame, fromguilt, um, and being a person
that is free from insecuritiesthat provoke lies, insecurities
that provoke all the dumb thingswe can chase in this world.
But he wants you to know yourvalue in him.
He wants you to know you belongto him.
He's paid a price for you.
(14:43):
He wants you as his own.
And then, like I just read, backto verses 20, 21, etc., that
he's also got power at work forus.
He wants you as his own,established, sealed with the
Holy Spirit as a promise of yourinheritance.
And that he's rich ininheritance by having us as his
(15:05):
kids.
He paid the price of his own sonto get us.
And Jesus was seated far aboveall rule, authority, might, and
power and dominion, not only inthis age, but in the age to
come, and put all things underhis feet and gave him head over
all things in the church, whichis his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Jesus has been given authorityas the head of the church and as
(15:27):
his body, we are to do what hedoes, say what he says, act
under his authority, for hisreflection, for the father's
reflection to be known in theearth.
And what's the first part ofthat?
You knowing that your father hasalways wanted you.
Your father thought of youbefore he made the baby room,
(15:50):
before there was any problem orbefore any of us failed.
God made us and planned for usto be his kids.
He planned to take care of theproblems, put us back in
relationship, and we should havea revelation of what he's like,
where we came from, so that wecan walk like him, talk like
him, behave like him, and bringsalvation to the earth.
(16:12):
It's all coming through ChristJesus.
But we're his body.
So in getting personal with God,how about a conversation with
him?
When you have emotions andfeelings coming up and behaviors
that don't align with what youquote, should do, or a behavior
that's constructive to yourrelationships versus
(16:33):
destructive, and say, God, whatam I believing?
Where am I wrong about who I am?
Where am I wrong about thebeliefs in my life that would
make me want to be destructive?
What are the painful lies Ibelieve?
And God, I ask you to startgiving me revelation of who you
say I am in Jesus Christ.
(16:53):
You know, when I'm doing thispodcast, I do dive into the deep
end really fast sometimesbecause I can be a real goofball
or I can be super intense.
It's just like a two-edgedsword.
So stick with me on this journeyand let's just keep talking.
Or I guess I'm the one talking.
Sometimes I'll have interviews,but let's just keep on this
(17:14):
journey of becoming convinced ofwhat our father's really like.
He loves listening to you.
He wants to talk with you.
He planned for you before hemade the earth.
He said it.
I'm just repeating it.
He planned to bless you beforeyour life even started.
He chose you, wants you as hisown.
(17:36):
His eyes are on you, his plansfor you are good.
That doesn't mean we don't fightbattles.
It means we need to know him,and he will teach us how to
fight our battles and win themin Jesus' name.
Well, join me next week as wekeep talking about your value,
your father's love for you, hopefor your future, how to get
(17:56):
untangled from anything thatmight be hindering you.
Because God's plan for you ishope and a good future, and to
grow up in him to be the mighty,amazing human beings created in
his image after his likeness.
One young friend of mine, whoI've known for a good number of
years now, had suggested alwayshaving prayer in the episode,
(18:18):
and I love that.
So, Father, give us revelationand the knowledge of you.
Give us revelation.
Open up the eyes of ourunderstanding to the knowledge
of you, to the hope, the goodexpectation of your calling, of
the incredible riches you'vegiven us, invested into us, and
how much you treasure us and thepower that's working in us,
(18:40):
according to the power you usewhen you raise Christ from the
dead.
You are the source of life, andthat life is working in us right
now.
And I thank you for it in Jesus'name.
Amen.
Hey friend, I hope you enjoyedtoday's episode.
Would you share this withsomeone else who may need to
hear it?
Also, please take 30 seconds andleave a quick review for the
(19:00):
show on Apple Podcasts.
And of course, subscribe if youhaven't already.
It really makes me happy to knowthis podcast is helping you.
And remember, a link to get mybook is in the show notes.
Thank you for listening.
I'll see you back next Mondayfor another episode.
Until then, remember, be kind toyou because it makes it a whole
lot easier to be kind to anybodyelse.
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