Hi all,
I recently spoke on this subject during my weekly Facebook/YouTube video teaching, but most who receive my Weekly Thoughts do not watch those videos, and for those that do, this can go into more detail than a 9 minute video.
 
Many years ago I was in a particular city to minister in an 'auditorium' church. As the pastor and I talked he kept referring to the Father as 'daddy': "We will see what daddy thinks about that", and "Daddy has been so gracious to us" and so on. 
 
I have to be honest - it didn't feel right inside, in fact the Holy Spirit in my spirit was horribly grieved, and I didn't know why. After all, the teaching going around was that 'abba' meant 'daddy' in Hebrew, so why not address the Father God as daddy; Jesus did, didn't He? 
 
I set about to study and think through why the Spirit and my spirit were grieved when that pastor and through the years, many others, used 'daddy' to talk of the heavenly Father. 
 
In English, daddy is used by young children who do not have an intellectual understanding of what it means to be a father. My daddy can do anything. My daddy is the strongest man in the world. My daddy is perfect. It's just me and my daddy. 
 
All those uses of daddy are typical in English, and again, it is used by a young child who knows nothing of what it is to be a father. Daddy is part hero, part perfection, part playmate, part absolute authority, but always the one who can make you feel like you are the only one in the world in his eyes. Daddy. 
 
The word father however, carries with it an intellectual understanding of the man, their father. Father is a husband. Father works hard for a living to provide the roof over my head and food on the table. Father is absolute authority. Father is someone I don't want to get on his bad side. Father carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. The word father carries with it an understanding of what it means to be a man and provider and the essence of responsibility. 
 
Somewhere in my teen years the distinction between 'dad' and 'father' came into my understanding, and I would use either at the appropriate time. 'Sure dad' meant I would jump up to empty the trash in response to him asking me to do so. "Yes Father" meant he was commanding me to empty the trash, or disciplining me, for a couple of examples. 
 
The answer to that is, no, He did not call His Father, 'daddy'.
When teaching, Jesus never referred to His Father as 'abba Father'. He did not tell us to pray, 'Our Abba Father, who art in heaven..." He never said the Abba Father wants us to bear much fruit, just the Father wants us to bear much fruit. 
 
None of Paul's prayers are to Abba Father. In Ephesians 1: 17, 3: 14-20, it is to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not Abba Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When speaking of the act of salvation the Father brought, Paul never speaks of the Father as 'Abba Father' who brought salvation. Not even John 3: 16 says, "For Abba Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." 
 
If 'abba' means 'daddy', why not use it in prayer? Why not refer to the Father as Abba Father when teaching of salvation? 
 
The word 'abba' is used only 3 times in the New Testament: Mark 14: 36, Romans 8: 15, Galatians 4: 6. 
 
It is an Aramaic word - not Greek, not Hebrew. In each place it is used it is followed by the Greek: pater (Father). 
 
"...to redeem those who were under the law so you could be adopted as sons into His family. Because you are His sons, God the Father sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying out, 'Abba, Father!' For you are no longer a slave (under the law), but a son..." Galatians 4: 5-7
 
"..for you did not receive the spirit of slavery again (the law) to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption as sons, therefore we (joyfully) cry out, 'Abba! Father!' Romans 8: 15
 
"...and He said, 'Abba, Father', all things are possible for you. Take this cup from me, nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will!" Mark 14: 36, Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before His (voluntary) arrest. 
 
Those are the 3 uses of 'Abba, Father' in the New Testament. Notice that 'abba' is always followed by 'father', meaning 'Father' is there to help modify and provide context and definition of 'abba'. Abba never stands alone. It's always with Father. 
 
There is no direct translation of 'abba' to English
So we need to look at the word historically, how it was used in Jewish culture, and then put that in the contexts of the above 3 verses to gain an accurate understanding. 
 
In the Talmud the word 'abba' was used when speaking of respected rabbi's who held positions of honor and authority. A lesser ranked or esteemed rabbi would never refer to their superior as 'daddy', but abba was used with 'father' as a term of endearment. It carried with it the intellectual element of understanding which is why 'father' was used with it.
 
In Jewish society adult children called their own father 'abba father' as a term of endearment once again. Not just the core 'father' meaning a classification of who that man is in their life, but 'abba' father meaning he is their father, their dear father. 
 
The closest translation of 'abba' to our understanding is: 'Dearest' or 'Precious'. (My dearest, My precious)
Notice in scripture both times Paul uses the terms he is contrasting the difference between being in bondage to the Mosaic law versus being a child of God. Both times he says we have been adopted, THEREFORE we, or our spirit-man, calls out 'abba father'. 
 
Change 'daddy' in those verse to 'dearest' or 'precious' to understand abba father.
 
"...because we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons...our spirit cries out, '(My) precious Father!' '(My) dearest Father!'
"...you have received the adoption as sons, therefore we (joyfully) cry out, 'Precious and dearest Father!'
 
And Jesus in the Garden: "(My) Dearest Father. (My) Precious Father, all things are possible with you. Take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will." 
 
Say that, call out to Him like that - My dearest Father, my precious Father! See how that resonates with your spirit, feels right in your spirit....if you will follow this as I have these (as of this writing) now 44+ years walking with the Father, your world can change....
 
He is not daddy, He is yours and mine, our, dearest Father, our most precious Father...abba embodies child-like faith coupled with intellectual understanding of Who He is, and who we are...
 
New subject next week, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
I've visited the catacombs of Rome a couple of times, spending hours considering the lives of the people whose bones I was now casually walking past as a tourist. Each time I've been deeply moved. The catacombs in Rome are a series of passageways and burial shelfs dug into soft volcanic rock deep underground (about 20-60 feet or 6-20 meters). 
 
Christianity became legalized in the year 312 and the State religion in 380. In the 250 years of Roman persecution the 40 catacombs discovered thus far, we find the remains of millions of believers. Those discovered cover a total of about 600 acres (2.4 square km) under Rome, and in the Catacombs of San Callisto alone there are over 500,000 of our early brothers and sisters in the Lord buried there. In St. Domitilla there are about 150,000, and those are just 2 of the 40. 
 
The artwork in these underground chambers is quite amazing, not only for the images of the lives of the people buried there and the Bible stories depicted, but for the common theme: Death has no power and heaven is certain.
 
Something is missing in the art
What struck me and that which stays with me, is that there are no cross scenes depicted there. There are Bible scenes like Noah in the Ark and the '3 children' in the fiery furnace, but no crosses. Everything, and I mean everything, has to do with the resurrection. Their gospel was not one of the cross, but of the resurrection. 
 
What they expressed in their art is consistent with the writers of the New Testament: Christ is in you! The resurrected Christ, the power of His resurrection, abides within you!
 
Do you realize...
...that 'cross' is only mentioned 12 times in the letters, and that between only 6 letters: I Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews. That's it! The word "crucified" is mentioned only 12 times among 5 letters. 
 
By contrast as I've mentioned before and have emailed in an attachment to those who asked for it (and will do so if you'd like just email me at cwowi@aol.com) there are at least 108 mentions of us being 'in Him' or Him in us; Christ in us or us in Him.
 
If you study Paul's letters especially you'll find he referenced the cross only to teach it as the means by which the Father brought salvation, but not something to focus on. He always moved on from there to focus on the resurrection and Christ in us. "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Behold! Old things have passed away, and all things are made new." II Corinthians 5: 17
 
There is no cross in that verse - the focus is on the resurrection power of Christ in us, the new creation in Christ. 
 
A good example is Ephesians 1: 3-14, which says it is the Father who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (v3), and the Father adopted us by using Jesus to do so (v5), and it was the Father who purchased our forgiveness through the blood of His Son (v7). 
 
Paul presents Jesus as the means by which the Father accomplished our salvation, and then he moves on to what being in the Royal Family means. Jesus is worthy of worship and honor for His role of course, but the Father used His Son to accomplish His will - great teamwork, but the cross is merely the means by which they brought us salvation and what we have now in Him. 
 
In Ephesians 2:7 Paul says we are saved in this age "that in the ages to come He (Father) would continue to show us the riches of His kindness which is towards us in Christ Jesus." 
 
Paul is not cross-minded other than to teach it as the tool used to bring salvation - and then he moves on to Christ in us. 
 
Consider...
When you walk into a Christian bookstore, compare the number of crosses you see against the number of empty tombs. Except at Resurrection Day, those scenes are not prominent. How many of us were raised in a denomination that included a processional of a priest carrying a large cross at the start of each service? What if that priest carried a scene of the empty tomb? How many reading this have crosses hanging on a wall in their home or sitting on a shelf? How many empty tomb scenes do you have? Are you cross minded, or as Paul and the early Christians were, resurrection power minded? 
 
You may find this cynical, but consider...
Historically speaking, the New Testament does not focus on the cross, but on the resurrection, Christ in us, and the certainty of heaven. The artwork of the catacombs and writings of the earliest church fathers are consistent with this focus on the resurrection.
 
That all changed when Christianity was legalized in 312 and became the state religion in 380, and many of the pagan temples were taken over by the new State religion. As a tour guide told us there, the pagan temples fit perfectly with the crowds coming out of the homes, for the pagan temples had pews, a platform, a pulpit - and the auditorium church was born. 
 
Forgive me for this observation if you need to, but from what I've studied and seen, the constant reminder of the cross and that we were sinners in the past serves in part, to keep the flock coming to the auditorium, keeps them weak in their faith and always looking over their shoulders at their past. One cannot look forward to resurrection power if constantly reminded of what you used to be.
 
When you study the dynamics of the early home and family based church that was focused on Christ in you and the power of the resurrection to live holy and purpose filled lives versus the continual reminder of what we used to be before Christ, the contrast is startling. 
 
The ultimate finished vision
Whatever promise we have received now for our lives, for our loved ones, in this life, those promises are within larger promises of a finished vision. Like the Russian 'nesting dolls' in which one fits neatly inside a larger, and that inside a larger, and so on, so too is any promise we receive in this life. It is nested inside the larger Christ in us, heaven awaits us. The final scene in The Revelation is that of the city we call heaven coming to earth. 
 
Paul directed the Philippians twice to remember our citizenship is in heaven (3: 17, 20), and to the Colossians he said, "You were raised with Christ, so set your mind on the things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. For you died already, and your life is hidden in Christ with the Father God." (3: 1-4)
 
Learn what you have in Christ - can you imagine Who we have in us!? The One who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, lives in you! (Exodus 3: 14, John 8: 58) Be thankful for the cross by all means, but that cross bought us life in Christ, our newly created spirit man, created by the Spirit of God that we may walk with the Father and Son - so do that - focus on walking with the Father, our ultimate destination!
 
New topic next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Before we started cwowi in our home, while we were still in the auditorium church, Barb had seen a vision about our future, though at the time we had no idea what it was about, though we thought we understood it. That is key to today's main point - we thought we understood, but what was communicated was different from what actually happened. 
 
The vision
She was standing at the open front door of our house looking outward, greeting a never ending line of people who were coming into our house and receiving ministry - healing physically, emotionally, spiritual balance and health, some born again, but all were made whole. 
 
Then she saw these people after a time going out of our house able to live whole and balanced lives. With each person's  first step as they left the house their feet touched down and created ripples like a pebble on a smooth pond, which represented other lives they touched. This went on and on until as far as Barb could see there was nothing but people stepping out and creating ripples that in turn touched each other. 
 
At the time we were in the auditorium church, so we thought it was literally thousands of people who would be coming into our home. We took that vision and immediately saw it as a ministry headquarters, a working ranch and farm, a training center and community of believers centered around our home. It was essentially a small Christian neighborhood able to be self-sufficient should society collapse. 
 
It wasn't until the Lord appeared to me 2x in 2001 to tell me: "I want you to start a house church and house church network, and structure it in such a way to facilitate the development of house churches around the world", that we understood what Barb saw was CWOWI, for we started it out of our home. Though the network is now in many nations, spiritually speaking, people are coming into our home, becoming whole, and then going on in wholeness in their life.
 
The literal vision didn't happen, but the spiritual truth communicated in the vision has come to pass. 
 
Paul's vision
In the How to be Led by the Spirit 2 series I talk about a situation in Paul's life where the vision God gave him wasn't fulfilled in the exact way the vision described. 
 
This is where we get into trouble. We have something in our hearts from the Lord and take it to be literal, right now, and it must be done exactly as the word/vision/burden from the Lord was told us. But that is not always the case, as seen here and in our own lives above. 
 
In Acts 16: 6-10 Paul and his group have been going east to west across our modern nation of Turkey. At several points they kept trying to turn left to go south to the coast, but the Lord did not allow them the text says. 
 
Being forbidden by the Lord to turn south, Paul kept going west until he found himself at the coastal city of Troas: He had run out of land and only the ocean before him. It was then he saw a vision of a man in Macedonia, across the sea, to 'come over here to Macedonia to help us'. This vision was a confirmation to keep going west, into Europe. 
 
And this is the point:
Paul never met the man in the vision. Acts 16:11-15 tells us instead he found a business woman named Lydia, and she hosted the first house church of the Philippians. Paul's later letter to her and them is the warmest and most transparent of his letters, and it is clear they held a special place in his heart. They also gave regularly into his ministry. 
 
Some years ago Barb and I led a tour group retracing Paul's steps and we visited Philippi and her home, which became a chapel after Christianity was legalized. Not much is left except the lower walls and the beautiful inlaid tile floor. But there is no record of Paul ever meeting the man in the vision - the man who asked him to come to Macedonia to help. 
 
Human nature being what it is...
We start to question ourselves as to why 'the vision' hasn't happened, or where we missed it. Sometimes like the vision of the people at our door and in our house, or with the man of Macedonia, the vision, the dream, the promise is spiritual. It comes in a different form than what we thought it would. That word to you expresses the spirit of what God has in mind, not the detail. It isn't a blue print, it is an impressionist's painting of the spirit behind it. He sketches the outline but lets you and I paint the picture. 
 
Examples
A man says he is called into the ministry as a pastor but is locked in a career job, thinking he has failed God. The reason is he took the call to mean a pulpit, but NT truth is that Christ is in us, and the gift of pastor has nothing to do with how one earns a living. He doesn't realize in his work he is in ministry for Christ is in him, so how he conducts himself, the advice given to coworkers, the peace and wholeness of the department he oversees, are him serving as their pastor. Those who work for him feel safe, secure, loved, there is freedom and peace in the office - that is a pastor's anointing. 
 
I've seen children pastor other children, tenderly caring for their friends. There are executives in industry whose office is like a personal guidance office, the executive loving the people in his or her charge more than the job, giving them life advice as well as instructions for their work. 
 
The couple who can't help but to reach out to other couples with family advice, budgeting finances, and business planning. The shop owner who looks for opportunities to give the products in his shop to those less fortunate or provide some work for someone needing extra money. All these things and more are the spiritual gift called 'pastor' or literally 'one who tends the sheep'. Tending the sheep isn't in the pulpit, most pastors are men and women and teens and children of all walks of life. Christ is in us wherever we are, so the job title means little to Him.
 
I can imagine...
NT truth is this: I was hungry and you fed me. Thirsty and you gave me drink. A stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. Sick or in prison and you visited me. That is NT truth. THAT is ministry. Pulpit isn't in there. Evangelistic campaigns are not in there. Basic love, caring for those around us, THAT is ministry. It flows from the individual's heart, then their home, then outward to others. 
 
I can imagine a woman arriving in heaven at the end of a long life, but feeling horrible that she never entered into the ministry she felt the Lord had for her, feeling like she let Him down. She felt called to ministry as a child, then she fell in love, married, had a family, then by her 70's wondered what God thought of her because she was never 'in ministry.'
 
But as He reviews her life He assures her she was in ministry her whole life, she just applied her religious culture to what He had put on her heart, and therefore misunderstood the call on her life. 
 
He shows her where she from a child helped others, was the first to talk to the new kid in class, volunteered as a teenager at the soup kitchen, gave up a career to stay home and raise her children, took food multiple times to those in crisis, wrote notes of encouragement to others....and the Lord would make her realize that was Him in her looking after those people, loving those people, caring for them as a pastor...she was in ministry the whole time, she had just applied her ideas to what was His heart, leading to a lifetime of feeling like she had let Him down.
 
When I was a pastor of a small church Barb was at first the recipient of scorn and derision by some when she told them she didn't sing, she didn't play an organ or piano, she wasn't a teacher, that her ministry was to be behind the scenes allowing me to pastor and lead the church. 
 
Feeling horrible and self-conscious that she didn't measure up to the expectations of some women in the church, the Lord assured her, telling her that we are one as husband and wife, and that her ministry was first to me and our children, and after that to others as she is able. That word from the Lord and the security of peace it left in her heart helped carry her though much during those times. Hope this offers similar encouragement to you. 
 
More next week...until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Last week I shared about our (handicapped) son Chris, and his great but child-like faith. 
 
There is a certain amount of peace in my heart knowing the Lord spoke to him and told him that He would 'walk through the mountains' with him. The peace in our hearts allows Barb and I to endure the management of Chris' life both at home and his group home. He lived at home his first 24 years, but after his brothers grew up and moved on to school and marriage we realized Barb and I could not care for him on our own. So we made the most difficult decision in our lives, to place him in a group home, then moved closer to him to remain involved in his life. In December he will be 39 as of this writing, though mentally he is about 4 years old, but with the ability to take in and understand more than that mental age would suggest. 
 
If you have ever cared for someone long term you can relate to our lives. There are the happy and care free Fridays where Chris and I run errands around town: I pick him up at his group home about 8am, shower and shave him, and out we go, usually to Sonic, a regional fast food drive-in restaurant. Once we push the button after we pulled in to 'our' stall, #21, Melissa the manager greets the push of the button with 'Hi John and Chris', and we always answer back...and so the day begins like that, people knowing us all over town. 
 
About 4pm we head home where Barb has prepared a meal for the evening....and Saturday morning I get Chris into a bath, then he watches TV while I fix a big breakfast; he loves dad's 'cheese eggs' which are nothing more than scrambled eggs with cheese, but at the group home his standard breakfast is cereal, so it's a weekly treat. Most of Saturday is spent watching his favorite movies or tv shows - the only time of the week he can control where he goes, what he does, what he eats, what he watches on tv - the group home setting means others decide all those things. 
 
We have fun together and he makes us laugh - and is used of the Lord. I've shared how one morning I was in a bit of a pity party internally and silently brooding as I was asking the Father how I can take care of Chris 2 days a week, do all I need to do with cwowi, travel, maintain a home and such, and generally feeling sorry for myself. I concluded my complaint to the Father with an internal 'What am I, a beast of burden?' At that moment I was kneeling down in front of Chris putting on his socks, and just then he patted me on the head and said, "You're a good horse." Message received Father. Change my attitude and mood and stop feeling sorry for myself. LOL. 
 
That's what people know and see - John and Chris around town
But what people don't see are the meetings at the group home. The emails and calls with staff. Last week it was about adjusting his portions for meals as they are watching his weight. The week before it was scheduling an annual eye appointment. The week before it was taking him to the hospital for lab work. This week they want him to go to a sedation dentist that we've gone to before as it's been 2 years since his last cleaning (he has to be knocked out for it as he won't put up with dental work) but it's $1500 we have to save up for and plan, and on it goes...continual care. 
 
And eople don't see the other side of brain damage, whether that damage is from birth or war, car accident or fall, brain injury people don't like sudden changes to what they are doing. Loud noises, changes in schedule or direction, often leads to an immediate and violent reaction - yelling, hitting, throwing whatever is in his hand or nearby, biting, extreme behavior. Then once that tension is released, they are humble, apologetic, and back to their normal loving self. That is Chris. That is life with Chris. 
 
I can't count the times I've been hit, slapped, bitten, scratched, had his nails dug into my flesh as he squeezes as hard as he can, had him yell and take a swing at me when simply rolling down a store aisle and unexpectedly I back up or change direction - that behavior is from brain injury. 
 
Why am I sharing this?
Because while Chris (and we) have the promise that one day the Lord will walk through the mountains with Chris, until then we have the above to deal with, for the rest of ours, or the rest of his life, or until that healing happens. And the Lord knows this. The Lord saw this when He gave the promise. Yet still our lives with him are a constant burden and joy. 
 
Even at his group home we wonder; What is Chris doing now? Is he warm? Does he need to go to the bathroom? Is he hungry, is he behaving himself, what kind of week will they say he has had when I pick him up on Friday? No matter where I am in the world, Chris is always, always, in the back of my mind. He is basically a 4 year old being cared for by others who can never do as good a job as Barb and I can. (As I said, he is almost 39 years old). 
 
Yet the Lord knows this. The Father knows this. The Lord gave Chris the finished vision, the mature and complete promise: I will walk through the mountains with you. But between now and then is a whole lot of burden, anguish, and emotional toll to be paid by him and us. Yet his positive attitude is a joy, an inspiration to us. An example for us.  
 
In II Peter 1: 3-4 Peter says this: 
"...as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness....by which we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of His divine nature..." 
 
Did you catch that? He gave us great promises that we might be partakers of His divine nature. That statement is 100% opposite of every Word of Faith, Charismatic, Seeker Friendly, Evangelical and any other label we might put on a 'stream' of faith: The promises are given so we can be partakers of His nature. 
 
Not to have answered prayer. Not to give us the desires (or lusts) of our heart. Not to give us our dream (fill in the blank; home, car, job, spouse, vacation, bank account, etc). But the promises are given that we might partake in His nature. 
 
We see the receiving of a promise from Him as answered prayer to a need or desire. He issues those promises to us so we can grow in Him. Both are true, both are required. One is earth looking up to heaven, the other is heaven looking down to earth. He calls the shots, He is God. He issues a promise that we might become like Him. That's 1st priority. 
 
He gives the complete vision, the mature and beautiful end result - but getting there requires becoming a partaker of His divine nature. Every promise issued requires growth to see fulfillment no matter when that fulfillment comes: This life or the next. 
 
Settle that in your heart. Change your perspective in your heart to look for how you can grow as you stand on the promise He gave you, as you look with expectation for its fulfillment. Realize every promise has a condition, and that condition will always involve change in character towards godliness. 
 
Next week about apparent contradictions in His promises and gaps in our time line of life...until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com