A”.W. Tozer once said, “what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Maybe you’ve heard this before. I’m pretty sure I’ve used it in some different ZealHouse articles that I’ve written. Yet, it is extremely impactful and a great place for us to start.

Whether you agree fully or not with a statement like this one, it’s a great thing for us to pause and reflect on. When you stop and think about what comes to mind when you think about God, what shows up? I can’t answer it for you. But some people picture God as angry, violent, disappointed, or their bff just to give you a few examples. And whatever picture they have of God (even the picture that He doesn’t exist) they will live from that place. They will make decisions, talk to others, and view themselves through the lens of what they think of when they think about God. 

It’s truly an incredible reflection question. 

A few weeks ago, we released an article called “Handed Down” where we took an in depth look at the Apostles’ Creed. We dove into the idea that without understanding the essentials of what it means to be a Christian that have been handed down through generations, we will be tossed all over the place by what’s popular or sounds good at the moment. So, if you haven’t read that yet, go check it out, because this article exists within the same series of articles on the creed. 

And this is the best place to start. Because if we misunderstand God the Father, we will misunderstand everything else.

Before we go any further, let’s read the Apostles’ Creed one more time: 

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I believe in God the Father Almighty;

and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord,

who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,

who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried,

on the third day rose again from the dead,

ascended into heaven,

sits at the right hand of the Father,

from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

And in the Holy Spirit,

the holy church,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the flesh. 

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So who is God the Father? What do we need to believe and internalize about Him in order to live rightly?

Let’s start with the very beginning. In Genesis 1 we are let in on the fact that God is a Creator. He is the One who set everything in motion from the sky, to the animals, to the sun and moon, to you and I. He is the all powerful being to got everything moving. The Originator of it all. A proper understanding of God begins here. With His ability and power to create.

But… the Creed lets us in on two very important things about God the Father. That He is Almighty, and that He is our Father. A quick word on both of these. 

First, what does it mean that God is almighty? Does this mean He is powerful? That He is strong? Sure! But it’s more than that. What it means for something to be Almighty means that nothing can stop what it wants to accomplish. So if that is true about God, that means that absolutely nothing can stand in the way of what He wants to do in the world as we head towards redemption and eternity with Him. 

I’m not sure what your reaction is to this, but I hope it creates a sense of security. What this proper belief does, it takes the pressure off of us to figure everything out, and it causes the evil of the world to be taken out of the spotlight. It doesn’t make the evil suck any less nor do it make life harder when we find ourselves in tough times, but it grounds it all in a God who is Almighty and will stop at nothing to redeem the entire world and remove sin, death, sadness, pain, and sickness forever from those who are His children. Now that’s powerful. 

Not only that, but God is our Father. Our Good Father who desires to know us and be known by us. For those who believe in His Son Jesus, He draws us closer than we could ever know and defends us with His all powerful nature. This also creates security. We are not held at arms length or kept on the outside, but we are brought into His kingdom and blessings as His children. 

If all of this is true, then we have nothing to fear. We can stand firm and mighty within the powerful truth of our Almighty God. Amen!   

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