• “I can’t be Truly Free until I touch the Healer, Jesus Christ.”

• One of the things that get in the way of touching our Healer is a distorted concept of the image of God resulting from the environment we were (are being) raised in or our parent’s behavior.

• The purpose of today’s message is to promote forgiveness. Specifically, forgiving our parents for their behavior. Please take time to reflect and ask God to reveal to you if there are any areas of unforgiveness in your life dealing with your parents.

• For the majority of people, their concept of God is based on their parent’s behavior. You naturally relate or don’t relate to God based on the relationship you have with your mother and father.

Genesis 1:26-28 NKJV

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

• The purpose of parenting is to bear the image of God.

• We cannot allow our image of God to be twisted or get distorted by the wrong image we may have because of our parents. We need to reconcile the issues with our parents and start relating to God for who He is and not for who our parents are.

Here are some behaviors of parents that directly affect the way we see God and relate to Him:

• The only way to have the real Jesus is by not allowing our concept of who God is to be affected in any way by the hurts of our past and our parents.

5 Steps To Heal:

#1) REALIZE YOU WERE AFFECTED

Jeremiah 6:14 Voice

To heal the brokenness of My people, they offer superficial words. They say, “Peace, peace,” as if all is well. But there is no peace.

1 John 1:8-9 NLT

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

• Realize the fact that your concept of who God is has been affected by your parents and the environment in which you were raised.

#2) ACCEPT GOD REGARDLESS OF OTHERS

• Accept the fact that God is who He is regardless of your parents behavior.

• At one point in your life you must make the decision to disassociate the twisted, distorted image of God from our parents and get to know the real God, the real Jesus.

• We need to distinguish what is and isn’t like God.

#3) FORGIVE YOUR PARENTS

Psalm 27:10 NLT

Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.

• Once we realize how our parents failed to accurately present God’s love and character to us, we must admit that they were wrong and forgive them.

• Once you have forgiven your parents or others who may have harmed your concept of God when you were a child, the next step is to ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the truth about God.

#4) ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR HELP

John 16:13-15 NLT

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

• The Holy Spirit came to us to reveal who God is on a personal level.

#5) SUBMIT TO HIS WORD & THE HOLY SPIRIT

• If we want healing, we need to seek for the Truth in His Word and ask the Holy Spirit for the wisdom to understand it. We need to fill our minds with His Word. It’s important that we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us who God really is. Not the distorted image that we may have been raised or created, but who He really is.

Here are 7 Things/Attributes of the Nature of God that His Word says…

1) God Is Holy

Psalm 99:9 ESV

Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy!

Holy = set apart; perfect.

2) God Is Loving & Compassionate

1 John 4:7-8 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Psalm 145:8-9 NLT

The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.

• There is nothing you can do that will make Him love you more and there is nothing you can do that will make him love you less.

• Even when you mess up, He loves you!

3) God Is Unchangeable

Hebrews 13:8 NLT

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Psalm 100:5 Passion

For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you— so kind that it will astound you! And he is famous for his faithfulness toward all. Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for he keeps his promises to every generation!

• Even if your parents changed, God doesn’t.

4) God Is Omnipotent

Psalm 147:5 NKJV

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.

Revelation 19:6 NKJV

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!

• We should be raising them with Christ mentality.

• If you see God little, then you will always see your problems as too big for God.

5) God Is Omnipresent

Jeremiah 23:23-24 Voice

Am I only a God who is close by, and not a God of the farthest reaches? Am I a God anyone can hide from? Do I not see what happens in secret? Am I not everywhere, filling heaven and earth?

Proverbs 15:3 Voice

The Eternal can see all things; His gaze is fixed on both the evil and the good.

Matthew 1:23 NKJV

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

• God is with us, even if others have abandoned us.

6) God Is Omniscient

1 John 3:20 NLT

Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

Romans 11:33 NLT

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

• Our Heavenly Father is brilliant and knows all things.

7) God Is Faithful

1 Corinthians 1:9 NLT

God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 119:90 NLT

Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created.

• Maybe your parents made many promises and broke many of them. But God is always faithful.

CONCLUSION:

• Sometimes we look at other families and think “Wow! They have it all together!” “I wish my family was more like theirs…” But the truth is that there are no perfect families. We all come from some form of brokenness. We all experience some form of brokenness.

• Who is God? He is Holy, Compassionately Loving, Unchangeable, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, and always Faithful. He is not like your dad, mom, or anyone else. He is like no other.

Numbers 23:19 NLT

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

1 Samuel 2:2 Voice

No one is holy like the Eternal One— no, no one but You; and there is no rock as solid as our True God.

Isaiah 46:5-9 NLT

“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal? Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it. Then they bow down and worship it! They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there. It can’t even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer. It can’t rescue anyone from trouble. “Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones. Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.

• He is incomparable. God is always God no matter who lets us down. No matter if our image bearers failed us.

• The truth is that all parents are broken people who raise broken children. We are all broken. That is why we all need the help of the only perfect one, the Uncreated One.

Psalm 139:23-24 NLT

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.