“O, Father, where art thou?” We have all wondered it, especially during trials of our faith. Where is our spiritual Father—really? He is not where we just think He may be. He is not where the preacher thinks He is. He is not where we hope he is. He is not where we imagine Him to be. He is not where we feel He is. No. No. The answer to this question does not come from a feeling. Feelings will let you down. So, how can we really know where He is?
“O, Father, where art Thou?” We will find the answer to this question in God’s words that have been written down. He is where He said he is. The word says that the Father is in His Son. Christ said that the Father is inside the Son. In fact, Christ commands us, “Believe me that the Father is in Me.”
The Son of God is the head of the spiritual body of Christ, which is the church. We are “members in particular” of His body. He is the head; we are His body. Because the Father dwells inside the Son, and because we are a part of the Son’s spiritual body, the Father dwells inside of us, too. That is if we have received His Spirit within our hearts.
“O, Father, where art thou?” The Father lives within the hearts of His children. We need only look in the mirror to see the Father’s dwelling place. He is in His temple—you and me. I wrote a song right after my conversion to Christ some 50 years ago called “He’s Living Here.” He is living here, deep inside, and it’s so clear this love I can’t hide because with Christ my old man is crucified…
His sweet presence can only be enjoyed when the Spirit of Truth is in our hearts. For the Father is the Spirit of Truth. If we have error within us, we are blocked from the Father. Because He is Truth.
How Our Father Communicates with and through Us
Hearing from our Father is through words that the Spirit of Truth speaks. These words are from the Word. The words from the Word comes to us through thoughts. Our thoughts come from primarily two sources–our Father and the adversary Satan, who oversees dispensing evil thoughts and confusion into the earth (see Job 1). Remember Satan’s lies in the garden of Eden? “Has God really said that? God didn’t mean that. God just does not want you to know the best things.”
Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses through negative thoughts running through our minds. Consequently, not every thought is from God. How can we discern? How can we tell which thought is from God and which is from Satan? For the answer, we must go back to the written word of God, for His thoughts will coincide with His written word. So, let’s not be waiting for audible words spoken to us by God in order to receive His words to us. We waste time doing that. No doubt that is what the five foolish virgins were doing. They did not study the written word, and they wound up with no oil in their lamps (Matt. 25:1-13). Go to the written word; these are His thoughts which outlines His plan and purpose. By studying His written words, we will have a library of His thoughts that the Spirit within can draw from. But do not go down every rabbit hole that Churchianity provides. They are in error; I didn’t say it; He did.
Christ said, The words I speak, they are spirit, and they are life. Our thoughts, no matter how lovely they sound to us, must agree with the written word of God. Dreams and visions do not always come from God. That is why we must “study to show ourselves approved unto God.” That is why we are told to “bring into captivity every thought unto obedience to Christ.” It helps to have the Teacher, the Spirit of Truth, teach us.
“O, Father, where art Thou?” His word says that the Father, the Holy Spirit, resides in the Son, of which Christ is the head, and we are the Son’s body. The Father dwells in us if we have indeed His Spirit residing within our hearts. But the Spirit will not dwell in unclean temples filled with error. It will not happen. Why? Because His word says so.
Where is the Father, the invisible Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit? I leave you with this quote. We will let the Spirit in Paul answer: “There is one body, and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Kenneth Wayne Hancock