Hope Mangiafico (00:00)
Who is God really? Not who you've imagined him to be, not who someone told you he was.
Not even who your life experiences have made you believe he is. Who does Scripture reveal him to be? Many of us spend our lives trying to understand God through the lens of our circumstances, our disappointments, or even our earthly fathers. But what if we've been looking through the wrong lens? Today we're continuing our Godhead series by focusing on God the Father. We're going to discover his character.
His nature and why understanding who he truly is changes everything about how we live, pray, trust, and worship. Because the more we know who God is, the more we learn to trust what God does. Hi, I'm Hope.
Nikki Humphrey (00:50)
Hi, I'm Nikki. Welcome to Equip Fellowship where friends become family through Christ. We're to Jesus Loving Friends on a mission to share personal stories, resources, and real talk about our triumphs, breakthroughs, struggles, and setbacks. Why? Because we believe you are called to live victoriously and we're here to equip you with Holy Spirit-led tools and strategies to strengthen your faith.
Hope Mangiafico (01:05)
Mm.
Nikki Humphrey (01:18)
Transform your mindset and walk boldly in God's promises. Because here's the truth. You have been given great and precious promises by God. So grab your coffee, lean in, and let's grow together. It's time to step into everything God has for you.
Hope Mangiafico (01:39)
And we are so grateful that you're here with us today and excited to continue our Godhead ⁓ journey, this series, because last week we introduced the Godhead and our experience with all three parts. They're one God existing eternally in those three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, which is Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit.
Throughout this series, we're slowing down and looking closely at each person of the Trinity, which is also the Godhead, so we can deepen not only our understanding, but more importantly, our relationship with God our Father. And I know Nikki and I both are on on fire about this because even every time I keep saying God the Father, I just feel the love that He wants it just exp explode, implode.
Pour out, I don't know, all the things get into every crevice of our life. So before we jump in, we want to encourage you to simply listen with an open heart. Maybe you've walked with Jesus for years. Maybe you're just beginning your faith journey or almost like a rededication, a renewal, if you will. Or maybe you've unknowingly built your picture of God from painful life experiences instead of from His Word, the Scriptures. Our prayer today is that scripture, not culture.
Not religion, not past experiences would shape your understanding of who God truly is. Because everything changes when we know him as who he really is. So I'm excited to begin because I know Nikki and I have journeyed this out and I think we get a better understanding of the depth every moment of every day.
Nikki Humphrey (03:21)
Yes. And that's why when we were talking before, and like Hope said in the introduction, we need to define who God the Father is, because immediately when we say God, everybody has their own experience, their own circumstances, their own thoughts, their own visions, their own relationships or non-existent relationship with God. And I think one of our greatest mistakes is just coming to these conclusions on our own.
without actually having a relationship and knowing who God the Father is, who his character is, and having that biblical truth being rooted in scripture of who God really is. And he's not someone who simply exists to like solve our problems. God is not a genie. And I think for years when I was not even a tiny, like a wee little infant.
Christian, I thought God was a genie. Like I was I would pray when I was hurting, I was praying when I was sad, I was praying when I was desperate. And I just thought like that was gonna make that's what God did. He was gonna come through. And he does, but that's not his main character trait. That's not his job title of being genie. And while God absolutely invites us to bring him our every need.
That relationship that we've talked about before, his greatest desire is not simply to fix our circumstances. Our greatest desire is for us to get to know him. When Moses asked to see God's glory, God didn't hand him a theology, textbook, or tablet, or a stone. He revealed his character. Listen to how God introduced himself to Moses in Exodus, Exodus.
34 verses six through seven. The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Did you notice it? God introduces Himself by describing who He is, not simply about what He does. That's because everything God does flows from who.
God is. His actions reveal his nature. And not because we're trying to collect facts, but because knowing God's character builds trust. And we talked about that last week. You can't deeply trust someone who you don't truly know.
Hope Mangiafico (06:10)
that genie aspect you were talking about as you were speaking, I was like, man, God, this is making a lot of sense because you're talking about needing that intimacy. And the first thing I felt that the Lord highlighted to me about his character and who he is is he's creator. And when you think about someone being a creator, you do think, well, they're gonna create.
This circumstances to change or provide. And like you said, it's not that that's not true. That's actually the first characteristic of him that he wanted me to emphasize. So there is something there, but with each layer as we communicate today and we go through the scriptures and we go through the podcast, it gets deeper and deeper and deeper because you grow in depth with your relationships. So
That creator aspect, which is really Genesis 1 through 2, where he made the heaven and the earth and living creatures and us. He made us in his image. And Isaiah 43, 7 says, even everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him, which is you, Nikki, it's me, it's the listener, for his glory. He has formed us. Yes, he has made us.
So there's this beauty in that, but if we're not careful, we stop there and we're like, what can we get from him? Because he makes all these things. Look at it all. It all screams his glory and this beauty. So give me more, God.
Nikki Humphrey (07:35)
Right. Yes,
and it's not that it's wrong, like going back to last last week. It's okay to be like we said last week, to be at camped out at Camp Jesus. And it's okay to reach out to God in times of desperation and want a circumstance to change. But it's so much more than that.
Hope Mangiafico (07:43)
Yeah.
Absolutely. Yes. ⁓ and we said it right in the beginning. And I know for me it's the next thing that jumped out to me. And I don't know if you have a note or you have something else to share before this, but you know, you have creator God. So we can camp out there and and do the genie, stop at Jesus, or you go deeper to begin that father dynamic of him. That thing that like I was saying, we've latched onto and we've
we have held so closely in our hearts on our journey because of our our own our own stories, right?
Nikki Humphrey (08:29)
Yeah. Yeah. And I wrote here, the attributes of God aren't qualities he occasionally demonstrates. They are his very nature. God doesn't wake up one day and decide to become loving. He is love. He doesn't try to be faithful. He is faithful. He doesn't occasionally become holy. He is holy. He is those, he is those things consistently day in and day out.
Hope Mangiafico (08:38)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (08:58)
Where for me, I'm like all over the place in all these areas.
Hope Mangiafico (09:05)
Yeah. I had that he's love, just like you had. And to quote the scripture reference that Nikki just had had about God is love, that's first John 4.8 that says Yeah, I figured so for where you went. I was like, I'll go ahead and pick up where she stopped. First John 4.8 is anyone who does not love does not know God, but God is love. And when you started listing that he's faithful and merciful and he doesn't go back and forth like we do.
Nikki Humphrey (09:15)
Yeah, I had that too. Yeah. Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (09:35)
Something that was highlighted to me, and actually might have shared this on a podcast episode before, but First Corinthians 13, 4 through 8. Since we just said God is love, 1 Corinthians 13, 4 through 8 is known as like the love scripture, where it's like, love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast. Well, if God is love, we can put God in the place of the word love. So it is God is patient, God
Nikki Humphrey (09:56)
Mm-hmm.
Hope Mangiafico (09:59)
kind. He does not envy. He does not boast. He is not self-seeking. And then it keeps going and then it ends that scripture with love covers all, or it's God covers all. So we have that ability to just switch it out because that's his nature, that's his character, and it covers all of those words that we swing on pendulums as humans with.
Nikki Humphrey (10:22)
Yes. And doesn't it just
excite you, Hope, that I want to I want to know all these aspects of God personally. Not just read about it in the the Bible. And it is exciting to read it in scripture and just see how it all comes about. And everybody, you know, God's character, God's traits, God is just mentioned throughout. Because it is the Bible, by the way. But it excites me to like.
Hope Mangiafico (10:46)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (10:50)
How can I get to know God more on this level?
Hope Mangiafico (10:55)
Absolutely. And that goes back again to the father part. because if you as Nikki made reference to our last episode, you are at Camp Jesus, wonderful, because he is our savior and it's through him that we get to know the father. But you want the fullness of everything. Nikki wrapped up the last episode or she mentioned, I think it was in the overflow, about about it being a present.
the Godhead is like a present. We want the whole shebang, the whole present, the precious promises of God. And I know I keep bringing up the father aspect, but I did want to highlight like we as Christians, and even if you didn't grow up in the church or maybe you only heard a little bit of Jesus or God sprinkled in your life, most people know Matthew six nine, which is the Lord's Prayer. And I wanted to emphasize the beginning of the Lord's Prayer is our Father. Jesus is praying
Our father. He is not saying my father. He is saying our father.
Do you I'm asking this rhetorical question for the listeners and as well as to myself, like, I do you want to know him as your father?
Romans eight fifteen says the spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again, rather the spirit you received brought ⁓ about your adoption to sonship and by him we could.
You have to have that heart posture to be able to move forward in the fullness.
Nikki Humphrey (12:27)
Yeah. Because if you don't trust you God the Father, then there cannot be in a relationship. A full relationship. The full shebang.
Hope Mangiafico (12:37)
Ray, he said.
Or else, you know, makes me think about Nikki in the intro talking about like having things defined of maybe your earthly fathers and things like that. Or just experience, like we've already talked about a couple times. And what I liked about Romans 8 15, it says the respirit you receive does not make you slave, so that you live in fear again. You do not want to go back to the spirit of fear. That is a place we can live. It is a place that.
We land many times because of events that have happened in our life. And God says, I don't want you to live there. Come boldly to the to the throne room with confidence that He is your father. He will answer you. He is all of these beautiful traits. And I as I feed into that just for a moment, I did not realize I had written out the whole scripture, First Corinthians 13, 4 through 8. And as we talk about going boldly to the throne.
Nikki Humphrey (13:20)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (13:37)
I feel like I'm supposed to read one more time in the correct format. the whole love is patient, love is kind, but replacing it with God, because I actually have it here and whoopsies. So think about going boldly to the throne room and hearing this. God is patient and kind. God does not envy or boast. He is not arrogant, he is not rude, he does not insist on his own way, which is a big one, guys. Free will.
He will let you choose your path. He's not irritable. He's not resentful. God does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but he rejoices with the truth. He bears all things. He believes all things for you on your behalf. God hopes in all things and he endures all things. It is not you and you alone. Nikki said before, Jesus goes before us. The only way that that's possible is by them being able to endure all things. We are not on the journey alone.
God never ends. Prophecies they will pass away, tongues they will seize as for knowledge it will pass away. But love or God endures forever.
I feel that as I try to go boldly to the throne. Ugh, it's rich.
Nikki Humphrey (14:55)
It makes me want to worship the Lord when you say that. Like in Isaiah 6:3, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. And how many of us are walking around angry, depressed, just fighting life when the whole world is full of his glory and all those.
Hope Mangiafico (14:57)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm.
Nikki Humphrey (15:22)
attributes of God that hope just listed. It just makes me want to break out in song and just be like, you're so awesome. And you care about us so much and you created us and you just you have everything for us and it's us who get in the way of it.
Hope Mangiafico (15:43)
Yeah. I was listening to worship.
Earlier today, Nikki and I, before we hopped on, we have our little like, hey, how are things going? You know, and her and are both are on just a little roller coaster. And that's life. Like, you know, like that really is life. I'm trying to be mindful of how I present life because I Nikki talks about it all the time, victim mindset, and I'm like journeying with the Lord of what this looks like in certain areas. But I say this because Nikki just emphasized the glory and what it says in Isaiah. And if you look up the word glory, you'll find all kinds of beautiful scriptures.
But a new song played on my phone while I was making lunch. And it was talking about the glory is already yours. And all of a sudden I had this aha moment of like, wait, God, it doesn't matter what I do. I don't need to keep pushing to my max, trying to endure all things in my own strength. You've already gotten the glory, which means you're gonna work all things for good. What am I trying to do to work harder to get to you, to work harder to bring you more glory? It's already yours. So I can just be your daughter.
Nikki Humphrey (16:44)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (16:44)
Let you
be my father because the glory's already yours. Like that's wild, guys. We could just be and we talked about it, but it hit on a new level today.
Nikki Humphrey (16:58)
Yeah. It does. And I saw this on Instagram and I shared on my Instagram stories. It was I don't I forget who's gonna get credit for this, but it's somebody wrote like Life is life and but God is God. And it was just like that hit me like life is all over the place, especially for Hope and I right now. Like we are on crazy train.
Hope Mangiafico (17:00)
⁓
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (17:25)
I don't even know how he showed up today, but we did. God has got him. He's got it.
Hope Mangiafico (17:29)
I honestly don't know either.
Mm.
Nikki Humphrey (17:35)
He's so good. And we forget that.
Hope Mangiafico (17:39)
⁓ have you you know that song? it's one of my favorite little lines. It really is just a line that's like, all of the glory, all of the glory, it's yours, it's yours, it's yours, it's yours. I've like I've sung that forever, but today it like hits different. ⁓ And it's exciting. We get to be a vessel of his glory. And
He already wanted that from the beginning and kind of picking up where it Nikki left off just a little bit ago, she's like, We can be the ones getting in the way.
'Cause you were meant to glorify him. He he wants that. All we have to do is be open. And I can I like have this image of us just opening our arms and surrender and seeing light just like push out of us.
And that's like love overflowing. It's his power overflowing. It's all those characteristics that I read from First Corinthians thirteen. It's the father going out to everybody. Mm. Mm. That's so good.
Nikki Humphrey (18:46)
And I encourage everybody who's listening to this, it's just like ask God to reveal what is getting in your way right now. What are you, I but I am the queen of self-sabotaging. And I have to ask God a lot, like show me, show me exactly where I'm failing you at this moment, or I'm blocking you, or I'm pushing you away, or not, like I'm missing the mark.
Hope Mangiafico (19:08)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (19:15)
You need to show me 'cause I can't see it. And
Hope Mangiafico (19:17)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (19:20)
for me, sure this is true for a lot of us, we can see how other people are block blocking God, blocking his glory, blocking everybody.
Hope Mangiafico (19:23)
⁓ so it's so easy,
yeah. It's embarrassingly easy.
Nikki Humphrey (19:33)
But then when it comes to us, it's almost like you have blinders on.
Hope Mangiafico (19:40)
You think that's probably intentional because are you to do this alone, right? No, exactly.
Nikki Humphrey (19:44)
⁓ Right.
Hope Mangiafico (19:47)
We're all his body, the body of Christ, which I know we're not talking about Jesus today, but you can't talk about God without throwing in the other two at some point. But yeah, it is it's so interesting. And I had thought about my own journey of like and I know Nikki, you also have parts of your own story like this where I think I figured it out. And then he throws me a surprise curveball. I'm like, I did not see that one come in as a problem I had.
I thought I done did have them all and figured them out because I sit in the Jesus corner. I sit and ask questions. And then out of nowhere, right? Two weeks later, you're in the middle of cleaning a dish, right? It is bam. Jealousy, envy, bitterness, whatever the answer is. And you're like, I wasn't ready for that. But you instantly in your spirit, because you say I choose you, I align with you, you're Abba, you're my father. Whoo, I feel that, and I know that's the answer to something I was trying to figure out weeks ago.
You just know through that relationship Nikki was talking about.
Nikki Humphrey (20:51)
And what is so hard when life is lifing, because I was like trying to be intentional since Sunday with this, like thinking about the character traits of God and like what am I missing and how I miss missing the mark and what can I do to like be more like in God's character, especially in treatment to others. And yesterday we're we were at a swim meet and I was just like, Let me try something different.
Hope Mangiafico (21:10)
Mm-hmm.
Mm. Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (21:21)
⁓ like tried something different and boy will they will Satan just try to smack you down when sometimes when you try to be more like God and I was like this is my heart posture it's pure it's everything arms wide open trying to mend a relationship and it was like smack
And boy, did I want to get bitter, because I can get bitter quick. It was so hard.
Hope Mangiafico (21:53)
Well,
here's a real life example that doesn't go person to person that complements what you're saying, because I planted this seed talking to you before, and I think this applies another example. So we we think relationally, because absolutely the body is made up of people. We're all members. But another thing, Nikki and I have talked many times about our I would lack a better term, almost call it radical beliefs in certain things like certain healings.
I know that I know that I know what the father is capable of when it comes to healing. Thanks to the blood of Jesus, right? And I've been on this journey with diabetes. I mean, you see it on me all the time when I'm on the podcast. Well, I was telling Nikki, I've been doing some work of just, you know, so many of us go about life stressed, not even on purpose. So just whispering in your ear if you're a listener, sometimes when you feel stressed and overwhelmed.
It's just your body responding. You're not being unfaithful. You're not being a bad kid. You're not being a bad Christian, whatever. Sometimes your body just needs to relearn how to handle life. Cause life be life. And as Nikki said, right? So I'm sharing this because I've been learning these strategies that have like instantly calmed me down. Where I'm like, dang, Lord, that's amazing. Like you're so good that you're teaching me about my body, how you've made it and how to rewire it in alignment with you.
Nikki and I talked about this. It was kind of like Equipped for wholeness, but I'm learning it on a deeper level for myself. And what I have noticed, complimenting Nikki's example, that was person to person. I have noticed because my body's more settled having diabetes, I react to everything. Diabetes causes you to react to stress, to food, to water, to everything that crosses your path. And as of late, my sensitivity to food has increased.
And that sounds really minute, except for the crap that I skyrocket, I get really sick feeling, and I can't come back down. Never in 25 years have I dealt with that. I can quickly be extremely upset and I blame the enemy because I know sickness and disease is not of God. But simultaneously, I know that I'm healing. Just like Nikki knew in the moment with that person, she's choosing God's way.
She's doing the right path. I'm doing the right path for my body. The fruit is looking like complete garbage and making me feel like the scum of the earth. And I'm like, God, when my sugar goes this high, I risk amputations, bad vi-I mean, the list of diabetes is awful. So what do I choose to focus on? Using Nikki's example as well. Do I choose that I'm choosing the character of God, the alignment, the for me, the healing?
Or do I choose to hyperfixate on Nikki's example, the person's reaction, or for me, what potentially could be side effects of these, you know, these skyrocketing blood sugars? Cause that's really I've had 25 years of practice with that. Every second of my life. Like diabetes doesn't take a moment off, you know? So I have to choose. I have
To choose who will be Lord over my life in every area. Nikki has to choose that in every area, every relationship. Again, the body's made up of people. And it's I I say all that because we are choosing the right path. No one said it's gonna be easy. All we can hold on to is all of the glory is yours, is yours. Let me be that vessel and continue on the
The straight and narrow path. You can hop off that path at any point in time. And it may look easier. The grass may look greener. But I'm here to tell you, Nikki is here to tell you that it's hard. But every moment of it is worth it. And I will not lose sight of the promises that are available, just like our entry says, the precious promises, seeing my body healed.
Of a disease that takes life like every second of the day. Nikki, I don't know fully what she's sharing in regard to her story, but for seeing relationships restored, or if not the way we were hoping, it'll still be in a glorified, beautiful way because he gives precious gifts. He is a loving father.
Nikki Humphrey (26:23)
That's what I love so much about God is He never changes. We change, we can change by the minute, by the hour, like like you said, Hope. It's like our reactions and trying to change them and regulate our nervous system. And like we have to do all these things to relearn, to rechange, to readjust. And God just is. His his mood doesn't change based on our actions.
About our performance. His mercy is always there. And cause his character is eternal. And that's what's so cool. While we're here on earth trying to figure things out and we're unsure. And sometimes we act from fear or anger or disappointment. He's just
And that just saying that out loud when you talk about nervous system regulation, I just felt the peace come over me.
Hope Mangiafico (27:25)
Yeah, a thousand percent. I have not been able to white knuckle my way through nervous system regulation. Everything that I've seen progress in goes back to him teaching me. He may drop a resource in my lap for a moment, but the building blocks, it's his character.
And I'm so confident in saying that, even realizing what happened today with my blood sugar. I like had an instant knowing. I'm like, dude, is it because my body's more settled, it can digest faster. So it's hitting like all of a sudden, all this science that I don't know just connected. And then I Google to validate to make sure I heard I heard it right. My body's working. I just gotta figure out how to work with the
Nikki Humphrey (27:59)
Right. Yes.
Well, it's like when you flip
on a switch, like it's like a power surge. And your body is waking up and things are waking up that were dead before.
Hope Mangiafico (28:13)
Yeah.
Exactly. Amen. That is whoo, that's that'll preach for all of it. Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (28:20)
And then they get like a spark, like a surge, like an igniting
throughout your body. And of course, that's gonna have temporary chaos until it starts to work together and it weaves in throughout all of your body systems. And it's like a celebration. We can always look at things that like two ways and like fear and like anxiety are like celebration of like what my body is doing and what it's capable of of.
Hope Mangiafico (28:27)
Yeah, Amen. Exactly.
Nikki Humphrey (28:50)
And it might seem scary, but we want it to turn on. We want it to click.
Hope Mangiafico (28:57)
like what do we have to lose? We've said that before on the podcast as well, but the more you settle in on these truths, the more you believe, like, what do I have to lose?
Nikki Humphrey (28:59)
Right.
Hope Mangiafico (29:09)
Literally nothing and everything to gain. Mm.
Nikki Humphrey (29:12)
Right. Cause God's
character never changes to go back to what I just said. And he's got you this whole time. He's not gonna like let you go like whoop, not gonna catch you this time. Caught you, you know, ninety-nine times, but that hundredth time you're just gonna like, no, he's there. He's always gonna be there.
Hope Mangiafico (29:20)
Right.
That makes me think about the first thing he highlighted to me when I sat on this is him being creator. A good pause question is also to be like, Papa, you created me. You chose to create me. Like highlight more as to why. Like, what do you see in me, right? Because Nikki's point, he's not gonna drop you now. He didn't create you into a beautiful vessel just to drop you on the ground and shatter you.
Nikki Humphrey (29:39)
How?
Hope Mangiafico (30:00)
Potter don't do that after all their hard work and love poured into a vessel. Amen.
that's good.
As we're talking, Nikki, I it makes me think about I didn't even think of adding these. And maybe you'll be able to we can work together about like the the all knowing, the all seeing, the like all present, because that's something that I didn't get as a download, but that's what separates him from the enemy, for example.
Nikki Humphrey (30:29)
Yes, the omnipresence of God.
Hope Mangiafico (30:32)
Omnipresent,
omnipotent, omni I always run out. But the presence is a big one because when you get afraid of something, the enemy may be right beside you in that moment, but homeboy doesn't know the next step you're gonna do. He doesn't know where God's leading, he doesn't know the big picture.
Nikki Humphrey (30:53)
Yes. And God's in charge, period, of everything.
Hope Mangiafico (30:56)
That's the omnipotent part, right? The all powerful. I know I need to like have my own lesson on this. I I can never finish them. But it's such a good reminder of his his size or going back to his glory. Like just see this expansion.
Nikki Humphrey (30:58)
Yes.
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (31:13)
Mm.
Nikki Humphrey (31:15)
And if that's our father, what do we have to be afraid of? We got the biggest, baddest, smartest, most clever, most perfect, generous, all the world's father.
Hope Mangiafico (31:26)
Hmm. Generous.
That's a beautiful word. I don't think we believe it takes time to believe that one. That was a good word.
Nikki Humphrey (31:37)
I mean,
could you imagine rolling up to school up to the biggest bully with God your father and your
Hope Mangiafico (31:44)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (31:44)
Kevin, you're back.
Hope Mangiafico (31:46)
But it's true. That's that's that sacred imagination, like utilize that aspect of the gifting he's given you to picture that and continuing to picture these traits of him. And that makes the claiming, and we had that as an episode, ⁓ submitting the claim I'm a child of God, full full circle moment here. Like you have to keep practicing to be able to submit that.
Nikki Humphrey (31:47)
Yes. And we need to claim it. We need to claim it.
Hope Mangiafico (32:14)
Claim with confidence. That's one thing the enemy can read is lack of confidence and conviction. That's what makes us predictable.
That's that relearning like neg and unlearning and relearning and regaining alignment in the process with who he's called you to be. And you know, first John three, one says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.
Period. I like how it says that is what we are. Like that's our identity.
And today hopefully paints that picture of okay, I'm a child of this loving father, this patient father, generous father, kind father, ⁓ my gosh, rejoicing father, celebratory father, strong, you know, like feeling the
Nikki Humphrey (33:06)
Yes. Teaching father,
a father who correc corrects out of love.
Hope Mangiafico (33:12)
Yeah.
Nikki Humphrey (33:13)
I mean we forget that correction is is loving. That's what we call it, hoping I call it like a loving correction. He does it out of love. 'Cause if he didn't care about us, he would just let us go. Be like, okay.
Hope Mangiafico (33:16)
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
Well and and to to separate the the definition or meaning of loving correction from criticism. I think we so quickly think they're the same and they're not. We're used to criticism, but that loving correction comes from one person. He's the only one that can do it.
Nikki Humphrey (33:47)
'Cause people will think of
like the God of the Old Testament.
like judgmental and wiping people out and
Hope Mangiafico (33:56)
Yeah. Yeah. And no he's ⁓ he just wants you.
And even in the Old Testament, Nikki, he just wanted his people. Scripture says
Nikki Humphrey (34:05)
That's right. He just wanted a relationship
with his people.
Hope Mangiafico (34:09)
It it scripture says he's a jealous God. That means he wanted all of us to himself. That term jealous God sounds really awful, but when you understand jealousy as you want it offer yourself, well, it makes sense. He created you into this beautiful vessel. He's proud of what he turned you into and all you're gonna do. But then you turn and go elsewhere.
That's upsetting. He's like come back home.
I want that relationship and it's like the story in the Old Testament of the father chasing the prodigal son, right? God will sprint to you. What does that look like? I don't know, but you'll feel it.
Nikki Humphrey (34:47)
Yes, you
will.
Trust. You'll feel it.
Hope Mangiafico (34:51)
Yeah, it's so good.
have this list of the names of God, and I'm I'm excited. We've talked about a lot of these today, and I believe, Lord willing, we're gonna have a whole lot of fun with the names of God in the future. Nikki and I've had ideas for this that I look forward to seeing how it unfolds. But I have just these like high note names slash characteristics, I guess you would say.
and they're all based on scripture. I'm just gonna list the names, and you know, you can listen, close your eyes if you want to listen, whatever you you feel led to do. But I would encourage you after this episode to sit with any of these and press further into one of them and just keep pressing into one of those aspects because that helps you personally and directly.
Grow that relationship, Nikki has referenced so many times. And through latching on to one of the names or characters of God, characteristics of God, you grow in that trust. And like Nikki said in towards the beginning of a question to ask the father about what's blocking you, the walls start start just crumbling. It's a journey.
But latch onto one of the traits because you will guarantee to see progress because you're latching on to the character of
So God is advocate. He is the Almighty One. He is the Amen. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is comforter. He is foundation. This next one makes me want to cry because this next one we associate with Jesus, but we have no Jesus without God. He is the friend of sinners.
He is the guide. He is an indescribable gift. He is judge. He is the light of the world. He is mediator. He is Messiah. Again, a lot of these you might be thinking, Jesus. Remember what Nikki ha already planted the seed in this episode. We can stay at Camp Jesus or we can go beyond that. So every trait of Jesus goes to our Father. He is the one who sets us free.
He is our hope and our peace, our great physician. He is redeemer. He is refiner. He is refuge. He is sacrifice. He is a servant. He is shepherd and teacher. Nikki mentioned teacher earlier. He is truth and he is wonderful counselor. He is a living God. He is helper. He is savior. He is light.
And as we said already once, he is father.
Latch onto one of those. They open up the doorway to the next two parts of the Godhead. You did your brain kind of do that, Nikki, a little bit. I was like, it's kind of fun as I'm reading this. It's like, man, this feeds so well into our last episode too, where I know I talked about how I'll latch on to one part of the Godhead.
Nikki Humphrey (37:56)
Yeah. Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (38:08)
And that makes us miss a huge part of that gift.
Nikki Humphrey (38:14)
It's so exciting when you read all that and it's so many emotions came up for me for each one that I encourage people to go through the transcript and just crop out that part.
Hope Mangiafico (38:28)
Mm-hmm.
Nikki Humphrey (38:30)
And post it somewhere for yourselves. And if you just look at that.
everyday or every just every once in a while
It'll ignite something in you. God will highlight something in you from just reading over that list, reflecting on it, praying it out. I mean, that I mean I can barely talk because it's like so much came up at one time for me. So just go in the transcript, clip up that, copy that portion, and have it available for yourself.
Hope Mangiafico (38:40)
Yes. Mm.
That's good. And you know with that.
The transcript and also in the show notes, ⁓ we'll add the scripture for each one. It's actually only one or two scriptures for each word, so it makes it very attainable if one's specifically one jumped out. Like begin with that scripture and and dig deeper, whether it's one or you do the whole list, like the richness is there and he's gonna meet you.
Think that'll do it.
Nikki Humphrey (39:32)
Think that'll do it.
Hey friend, thanks for listening. If today's episode encouraged you, we would love for you to share it with someone who may need a fresh perspective on the heart of God and who he is. Next week, we'll continue our journey through the Godhead as we turn our attention to Jesus Christ, the Son. We'll discover why he came, what he accomplished on the cross.
And how he perfectly reveals the Father's heart. Until then, remember this. The more you know God's character, the more you'll trust God's heart. Keep seeking, keep abiding in him, and keep living equipped by his truth. We'll see in the overflow.
