Editor’s note – We are glad to bring you this reflection from Ogo, whose ministry serves women seeking freedom in Christ. The piece presses on a quiet but decisive question: do we know God chiefly as Judge and King, or as Father? How we answer shapes everything – whether downstream our faith rests in grace or hardens into anxious performance. The author writes from experience rather than theory, and that gives her words a weight that abstract arguments cannot. We commend it to you as a help toward knowing Him as He truly is.
It amazes me to see how many believers do not truly know God as Father.
We know Him as God, Judge, King, etc., but rarely as our Father.
This lack of understanding changes everything for us, especially in our relationship with Him and our perception of Him.
Knowing God as Father forms the foundation of an endearing relationship, not one of rules and duty.
Jesus frequently referred to God as Father to reveal a personal relationship and teach His disciples how to relate to God.
This was intentional.
When the word Father is mentioned in the Bible, it is easy to equate it with the word daddy due to our frame of reference.
So, we may be tempted to view God in this light because of how affectionate and emotional daddy feels, but it is a wrong estimation of God’s Fatherhood.
Daddy cheapens the concept of Father that Jesus taught us.
And I believe it needs to be understood in order to enjoy a robust relationship with God.
The Idea of Abba Father
The idea of Abba Father consists of two profound concepts.
Deep Intimacy: It is the warm, familial term used by Jewish children and adult children within the family home. It conveys supreme trust, safety, and a close personal relationship.
Reverent Obedience: In ancient Jewish culture, a father held absolute authority over the household. Therefore, crying out, “Abba,” was not just affectionate; it was a statement of respectful submission and duty.
I believe Jesus referenced God as Father for our benefit because it bridges the gap between God’s majesty and our humanity.
It makes Him approachable, yet ought to preserve our reverent fear of Him.
In the same vein, Father communicates the heart posture of God, which is His immeasurable love for mankind.
A father is first loving. It is His love that compels Him to protect, provide, and rescue.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:16]
Even though our physical fathers give us a frame of reference, it doesn’t come close to the kind of Father God is.
"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" [Matthew 7:11]
I cannot say I fully know and understand the extent of the Fatherhood of God, but I can say one thing with absolute confidence: knowing God as Father delivers believers from becoming trapped in religion and welcomes unbelievers to come to Him.
Editor’s note – The distinction the author draws here is the heart of the Reformation: a God approached as Father through grace, versus a God served as taskmaster through works. Scripture frames the same contrast when it says we have received “the Spirit of adoption,” by whom we cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). Adoption, not employment, is the relationship.
The reason believers fall into works is because, somewhere along our journey, we begin to see God as everything other than Father.
Father, which is meant to be the foundation of our relationship with Him, the premise by which we come, becomes eroded by the loud or subtle theology of works.
Instead of seeing God as Father, we begin to see Him as a taskmaster.
The God who demands our constant sacrifice instead of our obedience.
The God who demands duty instead of our love.
A God who is punitive instead of redemptive.
A vengeful and hateful God instead of One full of love.
God’s love language is obedience.
When we obey Him, we show that we understand that He is our Abba and that we love Him.
Even in the natural, a father who is obeyed by his children feels loved and is ever willing to favor them.
It’s no different for God.
Knowing God as Father (Abba) makes it easier to want to please Him. We begin to serve Him from a place of love and not of duty.
This is where obedience becomes natural, prayer becomes sweet, and ministry becomes genuine.
True follower-ship of God should stem from, and be sustained by, our love for Him.
Knowing Him as anything other than Father eats away at this love, making our allegiance forced, performance-based, and competitive.
This eventually produces faith that is based on works, which we know as religion.
And religion, in my opinion, is anti-Christ because it undermines the very life Jesus exemplified.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." [Ephesians 2:8-9]
What Is Religion and Why It Cannot Save
Religion is when a group of people or an individual holds the belief that observing a strict set of rules is service toward a deity. Observing such rules is intended to please and ward off the displeasure of that deity.
The trouble with this arrangement is that it is stripped of the very essence of God. And that is love.
God is love.
Religion is devoid of love. It’s all about, “See what I can do, my strength, my will, what I can do for God.”
And that is detestable to God.
"This is what the Lord says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.'" [Jeremiah 17:5]
When religion enters the picture of a person’s faith, it demands a standard that is not given to man to attain.
So, it produces condemnation for those who sincerely want to know God. Sooner or later, they find out their strength isn’t able to sustain them in their seeking.
It produces self-righteousness in those who manage to be disciplined through willpower, causing them to think they are superior and to judge others who aren’t able.
It also produces hypocrites in those struggling to keep up with the act of being spiritual. They create a facade as if they are in relationship with God, while their focus is to cause men to perceive them as so. They practice their righteousness for men to see.
Unfortunately, the church is full of all three categories.
Editor’s note – The author’s honesty about her own season of dryness deserves attention. The danger she names is subtle: not abandoning God, but substituting good things – sermons, books, gatherings – for God Himself and His Word. Means of grace become snares the moment they displace the One they were meant to point us toward. This is not an argument against sound teaching; it is a warning that even good teaching can become an idol when it crowds out Scripture and quiet communion with the Father.
In my own walk, I have been on both sides of the spectrum.
First, knowing God as Father. God encountered me on His own terms.
I called out to Him in anguish, and He saved me from my destruction, like He promises to everyone who calls upon His name.
"For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" [Romans 10:13]
After my salvation, I was hungry for a deeper knowledge of Him. Instead of turning to God, I turned to men.
There is nothing wrong with listening to sermons, but there is everything wrong with replacing the Bible with the sermons you listen to.
The problem wasn’t whom I listened to; it was whom I turned to.
My gaze became fixated on men instead of Jesus.
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." [Hebrews 12:2]
Many people say, “But I don’t understand the Bible.”
Keep at it.
Keep asking God to help you understand, and He will answer.
Reading the Bible isn’t what we want to do anyway, so we find a thousand and one reasons why we can’t.
There are many things in our lives that we don’t understand, yet we keep going. We don’t just say, “Oh well, I’m just going to stop trying.”
So I did exactly that – replaced reading my Bible with sermons. I’m talking boatloads of them.
Even though it helped in some ways, it definitely stirred me into works – what I can do for God.
At first, it went well, I guess. But in no time, I started feeling a kind of dryness that I cannot fully explain.
My rest in Jesus was removed.
My peace is completely gone.
My compassion for people eroded.
The feeling of condemnation became my norm.
I wanted to live right by observing all the rules I was taught but consistently fell short.
I was burned out and burdened.
Then I turned to the only One who releases burdens.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." [Matthew 11:28]
And He showed me where I had veered off.
I had prioritized sermons, church attendance, and involvement over and above reading His Word.
So the purge began.
Do not listen to any message or join any prayer groups until He says so.
Do not read any other spiritual book except the Bible.
Steer clear of social media and its likes until further notice.
I have been faithful with God’s instructions by His grace, but sometimes I stray. Yet I am confident that He who began a good work in me will surely see it to completion.
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." [Philippians 1:6]
One thing I can say, though, is that my straying is not without consequence – not because God punishes me, but because there is cause and effect for every choice we make.
When I stray, I sabotage my peace.
I open myself to anxiety and racing thoughts, giving the enemy permission to take advantage of my shortcomings.
Maybe you are going through the same feelings – anxiety, fear, confusion, etc.
I can categorically tell you that your distractions are directly feeding your weaknesses, and you are giving the evil one grounds to keep tormenting you and keeping you bound.
I’m not sure how we got here, but I believe it needed to be said.
In the end, no one can truly love God unless he or she first knows Him as Father.
The foundation of a true relationship with God is to know Him as Abba.
Until our paths cross again,
Remain in Him.
A Call to Salvation
Jesus says;
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me. [Revelation 3:20]
If you are reading this message, please do not harden your heart.
You do not know the time or hour when Jesus shall return or demand your human spirit.
A Word from the Editor
Ogo has handed us the same key Paul handed the Galatians: we begin in the Spirit, and we are not perfected by the flesh. The cure for a religion of works is not less devotion but a truer one – devotion to a Father who first loved us. If reading this has stirred a longing to know God this way, do not turn that longing into one more task. Turn it into prayer, open His Word, and come to Him as a child comes to a father. He is not a taskmaster waiting to be impressed. He is Abba, and He bids you come.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
Distributed by – BCWorldview.org
Editor Comment: You let your own story of dryness do the persuading rather than arguing the point abstractly, and that honesty is what gives the warning its force. The distinction you draw between Father and taskmaster is one many believers feel but cannot name, and you named it clearly. Grateful for your faithfulness in writing it.
This article appeared on Medium and is reprinted with modifications and by permission.