FORERUNNER SATURDAY SERVICE JUNE 18, 2011 DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER PASTOR MARTINA HUANG

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1 DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER PASTOR MARTINA HUANG DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER 11 Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let s have a feast and celebrate 25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, Look! All these years I ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! 31 My son, the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. (Luke 15: 11-14, 20-4, 25-31) OUR RELATINOSHIP WITH EARTHLY FATHER VS. HEAVENLY FATHER In the story, both sons are unhappy because they do not know the father s heart, which is you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. The enemy wants to attack our relationships with our fathers so that we cannot come to understand Abba (Heavenly) Father s love. 2 You want something but don t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3) Whether you feel comfortable asking God in prayer or not depends on your relationship with the Father. In the Old Testament, Jewish people viewed God as very high above, so far away that He is unapproachable, and anyone who became close would be slaughtered. Therefore, it was very difficult for them to understand the Heavenly Father as gentle and loving even though the Old Testament did mention Him as gentle and loving. If we feel like God is high above and

2 DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER PASTOR MARTINA HUANG Page 2 unapproachable, we will never be sure of whether He will grant us anything, regardless of whether we ask or not. This will lead us to eventually quit asking all together. Our relationships with our earthly fathers will affect our relationships with our Heavenly Father because the impact of habituation is enormous. Story: Pastor Martina never had much communication with her father in the past; as a result, after she became a Christian, even though she zealously pursued God, she did not ask God or anyone else, for that matter for anything, in part due to a lack of a feeling of sonship. Whenever Pastor Martina wanted something, she would ask Pastor Grace to pray for her about it, thinking that she was not as good as the other coworkers and that God might not always listen to her prayers. In fact, she divided her life into two separate parts: matters concerning church she could as God about, but anything about her daily life, she would think is too small and therefore would not ask God for. Nor would she ever chat with God. On the other hand, Pastor Grace was always very eager to ask of Father God, even about the little things of daily life. 2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. 4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. (Psalms 149:2-4) God delights in His people. Delight also means enjoy and accept. Story: While Pastor Martina was preparing her message and putting on a facial masque at the same time, Father God told her, I am very happy, because you have begun to learn to love yourself, and because I love you very much. On another occasion, when Pastor Martina was meditating on how God pursues us using the first chapter of the Song of Songs, she saw Jesus walking and circling her, telling her, though you are dark, you are lovely. Learning to love ourselves in the right way is very important. Abba really loves us. Hence, all of His belongs to us as well. If He treasures us so much, is there anything that we cannot tell Him? If we dare to ask Abba Father, He will answer us instead of shaming or laughing at us. Let us stop being continually effected by our past experiences or living in our old habits. We can obtain new and powerful revelations from the Holy Spirit, but unless we walk out of our past lifestyles, mentality, thoughts, and shadows; we would only continue to live in the habits of the our past. What we need to do is to experience Him more. Story: Once, Pastor Martina lost her backpack, and no matter what she tried, she couldn't find it. One evening, a sister found a backpack that had been left behind, which turned out to be Pastor Martina's backpack. Pastor Martina was very touched, feeling so precious that God looked after her so much, even finding things for her. Now, Pastor Martina asks God about and for everything, and chats with

3 DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER PASTOR MARTINA HUANG Page 3 God too. ASKING OF GOD IS INDISPENSABLE IN OUR DAILY LIVES 13 So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah? 14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. 15 The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. 16 Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom. (Daniel 5:13-16) Our conversations with God must become a part of our lives, so that when we need to talk to God in the future about our marriages or work lives, we are used to talking with Him, we will be able to ask Him and hear His response. Even though Daniel gave an unfavorable prophecy to King Belshazzar, God still gave him honor, because he had the spirit of the gods in him, and that he had insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom." We should ask of God often, because God delights in responding to us. That is because we are not used to having conversations with Him yet. Do not give up, continue talking to God. If we ask God about everything, we will become ones that have insight, intelligence and outstanding wisdom. In our work and school, we should often ask God for wisdom like that of Daniel and for His Spirit, so that we can solve and answer that which others can't. We should all be little geniuses, because Jesus is omniscient. We should not be like the elder son described in the Story of the Prodigal Son in Luke, who constantly worked, but did not know how to ask of God. YOU CAN ASK FOR ANYTHING! We can ask God about anything. As for whether we are asking out of the wrong motives, God will tell us. We can express our feelings and thoughts to God, but the decision rests with God. For example, in 2 Samuel 12, God took the life of David's son whom he had through Bathsheba because of David's sin of adultery. Even though David knew God was going to kill this child, while the child still lived, he still fasted and prayed, in the hopes that God would have mercy on him and spare the life of the child. We can talk to God about everything, even negotiate with him, like Abraham did with God upon learning that God was going to destroy Sodom. When we talk to God more, we will know what is on His mind. We will be able to leave our old lives and enter into His fullness. When we do everything, we can feel God s delight on us and His encouragement for us because He is our best cheerleader. This almighty God is right beside us, thus, we do not need to go outside to find other pleasure like what the younger son in Luke 15 did.

4 DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER PASTOR MARTINA HUANG Page 4 We need to continually read the Bible and listen to God s voice. If we keep on practicing, we will be able to hear God s voice because God the Father, Son and Spirit loves to talk to us. When we start to have dialogues with God, we can choose to do things that we want to do instead of only doing things that will make us feel shameful afterwards because the Holy Spirit never ceases to guide us. We need find our channel with God; some people see images, others hear sounds, and still others simply feel a conviction within them. ACCEPT A CHALLENGE The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg makes a personal challenge for himself every year in order to better understand this world, to expand his fields of interest, and to train his self control. We can also start our own personal challenges starting from today with our goals being: to know God even more, to expand territory of reign (We have impact, just like Daniel!), and to train our self self control. All spiritual gifts require practice. We should challenge ourselves to spend a little time everyday praying for ourselves, praying for others, and pray for God to use us today. Once we start to seek progress in our weakest points we will begin to be able to feel God s delighted heart toward us. ACTION PLAN 1. Memorize Luke 15:31 and James 4:2 2. What was the shadow or old habit the Lord reveal to you last week? Take the initiative to do something opposite, in order walk out your habit. Challenge yourself to take action about one thing (may be your old habit) you want to break through this week. (For example: Tardiness, trustworthy, regular devotion and follow bible reading, spend 10 minutes to pray for non-believers/small group/family members, exercise, say hi to at least 3 people that you are not familiar with, etc.) 3. Try talking to Abba Father everyday, whether it's small or big things, ask Him what He thinks (may be your work, school, or any problem in life), then take actions after listening to His response. 4. Write QT journal at least twice this week. Listen to God with an expectant heart that He desires to speak to you in His Word and through the Holy Spirit. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. In your own heart, how do you see God as a father? Do you think He is high above the sky, or one who is approachable and intimately cares about you? After listening to Pastor Martina's encounters with the Lord, has your perspective about God and prayer changed?

5 DIALOGUING WITH ABBA FATHER PASTOR MARTINA HUANG Page 5 2. If you encounter problems (whether big or small), will you or have you ever asked Heavenly Father to help? What was the outcome? If you had not asked Him before, why? 3. What are some things you are afraid to ask God? Or are there some things you had never thought of to ask God? How can you be yourself and chat with God? 4. Please share your experience after practicing Action Plan #2-4.