I love you as deeply as a father loves his children.

Psalm 103:13 New International Version (NIV)

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

The point of this promise is that God the Father loves us just like a loving father would love and have mercy on his own children. I am continually amazed to see the ongoing analogies throughout the Bible where God wants us to know that He is really a Father to us! Not just a 'father figure', but a real Dad!

Some of you might be reading this promise and thinking about negative past experiences that you have had with your own father and shudder to think that God would treat you in the same way. I think that is one of the most common roadblocks that many of us experience in our journey to know God as Father.

It is very natural for us to project onto God many of the same life experiences that we have had with our earthly fathers. Over the years, we have even heard some comments where people have said to us... "I have had one father and I don't want another one!"

The truth is that God is the perfect Father and He loves us completely and infinitely better than even the best earthly dad. Jesus came to show us what His Father was really like and to bring us into a real, authentic relationship with God as Father. If you don't feel safe relating to God as Father, ask Jesus to show you what He is really like and He will be glad to do it.

A few years ago, I produced a short boasting on the goodness of my Heavenly Dad. It is called... My Dad is the Best Dad in the Universe. If you would like to watch it, click here . You can even copy and paste the script listing all of the verses that I used to produce this video.