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There is never a time thou prayest, hearest the word, but thy Father seeth with what form
of Spirit it is. Oh therefore if thou art a Son of God, thou wilt discover it in thy whole
carriage: a Son feareth the frowns of his Father; I dare not do this; my father will be
offended; and I, Whither shall I go? Thus the Apostle Peter, If ye call him Father, passe
your sojourning here with fear, 1 Pet. 1.17.
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Let childlike reverence overflow in love to your Father--a love that constrains
you to employ all the means of grace, to obey His commands, and to work for Him.
Burroughs writes, Do all you do out of love, be not mercenary. A servant doth not care
to do anything any further than he may be paid for it, but a child doth not so; he doth
what he doth out of love.
(2) Submit to your Father in every providence. When He visits you with the rod,
don`t resist or murmur. Don`t immediately respond by saying, `I am not a child of God,
God is not my Father, God deals harshly with me; if He were my Father, He would have
compassion on me; He would then deliver me from this grievous and especially this
sinful cross`--to speak thus does not befit the nature of an upright child, writes Brakel.
Rather, it is fitting for a child to be quiet, to humbly submit, and to say, `I will bear the
indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him` (Mic. 7:9).
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Burgess says, If thou hadst a Child-like disposition, thou wouldst say, although
all I feel be bitter, yet he is a Father still. I have been an ill Child, and this makes him a
Good Father in chastising.
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(3) Obey and imitate your Father, and love His image-bearers. Strive to be like
Him, to be holy as He is holy, to be loving as He is loving. We are to be imitators of
God (Eph. 5:1) to show that we bear the family likeness.
We are, then, to love the Father`s image wherever we see it. Willard writes, The
Saints are living Images of the Lord, we may see in them, not only the likeness to, but the
shining reflection of his communicated perfections: Hence we should love the Saints.
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We are to live as God`s children in mutual love and patience with each other, having the
same Father, Elder Brother, and indwelling Spirit. It is enough that the children of the
world wrangle one with another and fight; let not those that profess God to be their
Father, oh let them not in the presence of their Father wrangle and fight one with another,
for certainly the Spirit of God cannot bear it, Burroughs concludes.
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