The Father's Love ebook

Discovery

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! —1 John 3:1

Many people know in their head that God loves them, but this truth hasn’t found its way into their hearts.

That’s how it was for us – Manfred and Esther. We had been Christians for many years and tried to live our lives accordingly. I (Manfred) followed a call into the ministry and became a pastor. We adopted three children from other countries and tried to be good parents. On our journey with God we experienced highs and lows. We had some gratifying as well as painful experiences. 

A few years ago we both experienced – at slightly different times – a life crisis. During this time the foundations of our faith were tested. Influenced by a largely performance oriented and fear dominated view of God, we tried to please Him and earn His approval. We were faced with an increasing number of challenges in our family, our church, our health as well as inwardly. The expectations we put upon ourselves were hard to live up to. 

We believed that God loved us and would carry us through difficult phases. That belonged to the category of theological beliefs that we never doubted. But reality felt completely different. God’s love felt like it was extremely far away. What we believed until now, no longer gave us the strength we needed. During this time I (Esther) prayed nearly every day “let me be rooted and grounded in your love, understanding and comprehending its full dimensions” (inspired from Ephesians 3:17-18).

Our sincere desire was to have God touch us in a new and deeper way. At this low point in our lives He revealed His love to us as never before. We began to understand that God really does love and accept us as we are. A process began. This truth of God’s love began to fill us. A lot that was bound up in us began to be released and relaxed. We received new courage and new hope. 

Since then our understanding and experience of God’s Father love keeps growing. 

Because of this increasing revelation, our trust in God has deepened and sustains us through the difficult phases in our lives. 

Over the course of the last few years we have discovered many practical ways which have helped us to allow God’s love to travel from our heads to our hearts.  In this Quadro, we have shared some of these practices, which have become very dear to us.  

The first part includes some Biblical foundational truths about God’s Father love and how that applies to us personally. In this section and throughout the Quadro, we have not only used scripture from the New Testament and the words of Jesus but also consciously included verses from the Old Testament as well as quotes from people who have experienced God as their Father. 

The second part is about the liberating and healing effects that we experience the more we realize that we are unconditionally accepted and loved. 

In the third part, we give ideas and suggestions about how we can receive and enjoy God’s Father love in our everyday lives.

Finally, the fourth part is about how we can continue to grow into a lifestyle of living loved. 

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Love is the greatest. Abiding in God’s love, and giving it further, is our first and highest calling. 

Our wish for you is that this Quadro will be an inspiration to help get you started as well as being an encouragement for you along your journey into discovering and experiencing more and more of the Father love of God. 

—Esther and Manfred Lanz

We developed this Quadro together, however, when “I” is used, it usually refers to Manfred.