When I Can’t Call Him Daddy (Part 2)

There is something significant about the titles we use both for people and for God. There’s an emotional response we have to the words we choose. When we’re feeling snuggly with a partner, we might call them honey or babe. When we are feeling affectionate with our kids, we might call them peanut or sweetheart, but when we’re irritated with them, we might use their first, middle and last name aggressively to make a point.

In my last blog, I mentioned that sometimes the most endearing way I can address God is, “Dear Heavenly Father. There is NOTHING wrong with talking to God as our “Dear Heavenly Father,” I often do, especially in social settings. I am however finding myself addressing Him more often than not in my prayer journal as Daddy because my prayer journal is often filled with things I feel very emotionally vulnerable about like my intimate relationships; things that are deeply meaningful to me.

When I talk to God about people I don’t know, situations I’m not as close to etc, I tend to refer to Him as Heavenly Father. I have never tried to explain it or even really thought about it until right now, but it’s like those prayers are more formal business meetings. “Hey God, I’m bringing the needs of the world to You now, trusting You with them and leaving them on the table. Good meeting. Thank You for taking care of that.”

When I’m talking to God about a need for healing, I tend to speak directly to Jesus because Scripture refers to Jesus as the one who carried our infirmities and He is called our Healer. When I need wisdom, I tend to say something like, “Holy Spirit, there is something You know that I don’t know. I need Your wisdom in this situation.”

When I’m talking to God about areas of obedience, those times I’m talking about what I KNOW He’s asked of me or areas where I’ve failed to walk in obedience, I tend to refer to Him as LORD. When I refer to Him as LORD, I’m reminding MYSELF that HE IS THE LORD of my life. He KNOWS that He is the LORD of my life. When I call Him LORD, I’m not reminding HIM, I’m reminding MYSELF.

God is One. There is ONLY one God, yet He is clearly described in the Bible as three distinct personalities…the “person” of God the Father, the person of Jesus Christ His Son and the person of Holy Spirit who is the promised inheritance of the ever present presence of God in us.

• Jesus commissioned His followers in Matthew 28:19 to baptize in the “name (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

• Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:14 offers a blessing mentioning the “grace of the LORD Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”

• 1 John 5:7 says “there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”

• In John 14:26, Jesus says “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

• Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one LORD, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all and in you all.”

I have no interest in arguing about the concept of the trinity, the validity of speaking to God in the way I do, or defending the relationship I have with God. I feel compelled to share this all with the hope that as you hear my perspective, you will become curious about the relationship God is seeking to have with you.

He emphasises certain aspects of Himself in certain seasons of my life. When I am grieving, He wants to be my Comforter. When I am sick, He wants to be my Healer. When I am weak, He wants to be my Strength. When I am confused, He seeks to bring me clarity. Who is God trying to reveal Himself to you as in this season of your life?

According to one blog (newcreeations.org), in the Bible God is called {First Seen In}:

Elohim (God) 2599 times {Genesis 1:1}

Yahweh (LORD, Master, Jehovah) 6519 times {Genesis 2:4}

El Elyon (The Most High God) 52 times {Genesis 14:18}

Adonai (LORD, Master) 434 times {Genesis 15:2}

El Roi (The God who sees me) 1 time {Genesis 16:13}

El Shaddai (LORD God Almighty - Absolute power) 48 times {Genesis 17:1}

El Olam (The Everlasting God) 439 times {Genesis 21:33}

Jehovah Jireh (The LORD will provide) 1 time {Genesis 22:14}

Jehovah Rapha (The LORD who heals you) 1 time {Exodus 15:26}

Jehovah Nissi (The LORD is my banner) 1 time {Exodus 17:15}

El Qanna (Jealous God) 6 times {Exodus 20:5}

Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The LORD who sanctifies you) 2 times {Exodus 31:13}

Jehovah Shalom (The LORD is peace) 1 time {Judges 6:24}

Jehovah Sabaoth (The LORD of Hosts) 285 times {1 Samuel 1:3}

Jehovah Raah (The LORD is my Shepherd) 4 times {Psalm 23:1}

Jehovah Tsidkenu (The LORD our righteousness) 2 times {Jeremiah 23:6}

Jehovah Shammah (The LORD is there) 1 time {Ezekiel 48:35}

God is only referred to as Father 15 times in the Old Testament. Jesus referred to God as “Father” 65 times in the synoptic gospels, over 100 times in John, and taught us to pray to God as “our Father” in Matthew 6:9. Paul emphasises the Fatherhood of God over forty times in his writings, especially as “the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ.”

There is one last thing I feel to address before closing out this blog post:

God is not a man. He is not male. He is not female. The Bible referring to God as Father is not referring to gender as we humans understand gender. The use of male pronouns and terms like Father are simply used to help our human minds understand God, who I believe is far beyond our ability to truly comprehend.

God is Spirit. He is not limited by our human understanding of gender. I’ve had many interesting conversations with people who want to argue against the idea of calling God Father because of gender. Feminists began explicitly referring to God using female pronouns like “goddess” or “mother in the late 1960s and 1970s. There are many even today who argue for using female or gender-neutral pronouns for God to normalize the idea that God is beyond human gender. They aren’t wrong that God is beyond the human concept of gender, but their attempts to change the wording in the Bible is missing the point.

If we can somehow set aside ALL of our limited human attempts to understand God and box Him in by carnal realities like gender, we will get a little closer to understanding the heart of God for man as expressed in the pages of Scripture.