‘Jesus was really annoying‘. I laughed as I noticed how I’d paraphrased it. The teacher, from Bethel’s ‘Deeper Life’ course, was explaining how infuriating it was when Jesus kept calling God (whose Name the Jews would not even dare to pronounce or write) Abba, as in ‘Papa’ or ‘Daddy’.

 

This resonates with me. The more I get to know Him, calling Him ‘God’ seems so distant. He’s my Father. This delights me. My heart leaps every time I remember, my whole being rejoices as it exclaims, “I have an amazing Papa!”

 

So that’s what I call Him. This sometimes raises eyebrows, but if Jesus annoyed people, then who am I not to? I’m being facetious but, really, where would we be had Jesus downplayed His relationship with the Father in order to keep the ‘peace’?

 

I doubt there would have been a cross for us to be on the resurrection side of.

“I am not going to oblige the world by smothering my joy. If they don’t approve, then I say let them, ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’, (Psalm 34:8)”. ~Reinhard Bonnke