The Everlasting Father Who Keeps His Promises

Devotional

Day 1: Meeting the Everlasting Father beyond broken promises

You may know the ache of promises made and then broken, the waiting that turns into worry and then into walls around your heart. Earthly fathers can love us and still fall short, but Jesus is called the Everlasting Father—good, loving, and perfect. He does not forget, He does not fail, and He keeps every promise He makes. Where others have been a no-show, He shows up with compassion, wisdom, and steadfast care. You can trust His heart toward you, because His name tells the truth about who He is [03:12]

Isaiah 9:6 — A child will be born for us, a Son given; real authority will rest on Him, and He will be known as our wise Counselor, our powerful God, our Father who never ends, and the Prince who brings peace.

Reflection: Where has a human father’s failure shaped the way you expect God to act toward you, and what is one small way you can open that place to His steady, promise-keeping care this week?

Day 2: Resisting the enemy’s lies about the Father

There is an enemy who works hard to distort your view of God by wounding your view of fatherhood. When trust is fragile, it can feel safer to keep your distance, but the Everlasting Father invites you to draw near and see His goodness firsthand. He is faithful, not fickle; kind, not cruel; present, not absent. Bring Him the fear that says, “I’ll never trust again,” and let Him meet you with patient love. His voice is clearer than the lies and kinder than your fears [04:18]

Matthew 10:29–31 — Two tiny birds are sold for almost nothing, yet not one falls without the Father noticing. He even keeps count of every hair on your head. So do not be afraid; you are treasured far beyond the sparrows.

Reflection: What lie about God’s character has felt most convincing lately, and what practice could help you listen to His voice instead—perhaps five minutes each day to name the lie and invite His truth?

Day 3: Adopted as children, not hired servants

God does not recruit you as a servant to work off your debt; He welcomes you as family. Through Jesus, you are adopted—brought close, given a name, and invited to rest in “Abba, Father.” You don’t have to earn His love or outrun your past; you receive what Jesus has already secured. Let your prayers sound like a child who knows they belong, not like a stranger begging at the door. You are His, and He delights to call you His own [03:33]

Romans 8:15–17 — You didn’t receive a spirit that drags you back into fear; you received the Spirit who brings you into adoption, so you can say, “Father!” God’s Spirit joins your spirit to confirm you are His children. And if you are His children, then you are heirs with Christ, sharing both His sufferings and His glory.

Reflection: In what daily moment could you practically pray “Abba, Father” this week—during your commute, at lunch, or before bed—to rehearse your identity as a beloved child?

Day 4: The Father who protects and guides

Your Everlasting Father is not passive; He steps toward danger on your behalf and stands with you in places that feel bigger than you are. He guides like a wise shepherd and shields like a strong defender. His presence doesn’t always remove conflict, but it changes your courage in the middle of it. You can stand your ground, knowing the One behind you is greater than what’s in front of you. Take the next step with confidence in His covering [05:02]

Psalm 91:1–4 — Those who live close to the Most High find shelter in His shadow. They can say, “You are my safe place and my strong God.” He rescues from hidden traps and deadly threats. He spreads His wings over you, and His faithful care becomes your shield.

Reflection: Where do you feel outmatched right now, and what is one concrete way you can step forward while consciously relying on the Father’s protection—an email sent, a conversation begun, a boundary set?

Day 5: Come home to forgiveness and new life

The good news is not that God overlooks sin, but that He loves you and is ready to forgive when you turn toward Him. You can’t outrun His love and you can’t earn it; you receive it. Like a father who sees his child from far away and runs to embrace them, God is eager to restore what shame has tried to steal. Today can be a beginning—new heart, new steps, new hope. Take His hand and come home [03:59]

Luke 15:20–24 — While the son was still far down the road, his father saw him, felt deep compassion, ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. He dressed him in the best robe, gave him a ring and sandals, and started a celebration, saying, “My child was as good as dead, but now he’s alive; he was lost, and now he’s found.”

Reflection: What specific regret or failure are you carrying today, and how could you respond by turning toward the Father—naming it honestly, asking for forgiveness, and taking one new step in His grace?

Sermon Summary

Caleb’s story sounds like a lot of ours: promises made, promises broken, a heart that keeps hoping and keeps getting hurt. He waited for a dad who never showed up, and after enough no-shows, he decided he’d never trust again. I get that. I’m a dad who loves his kids, and I’ve still missed it at times. My dad is a good man, and he missed it at times too. Earthly fathers, even the best ones, are limited. But Isaiah points us to a different kind of Father—Jesus, the Everlasting Father—good, loving, faithful, and perfect.

There’s a real enemy who wants to use our pain to fog our view of God. If he can warp your experience with your earthly dad, he can make it hard to believe that God sees you, provides for you, keeps His word, and delights in you. But Scripture tells a different story. Jesus said the Father feeds sparrows and dresses wildflowers—how much more will He care for you? The Old Testament is full of His wisdom and guidance for His people. Romans says He adopts us—not as servants, but as sons and daughters. The Psalms call Him compassionate, near, and a defender.

I still remember facing a bigger kid who scared me. He backed away, and I thought I was tough—until I turned around and saw my dad standing there, silent but present. That’s a picture of the Father: you may not hear Him shout, but He stands with you. Luke 15 shows us a Father who runs toward prodigals; His love can’t be outrun and can’t be earned. That love doesn’t minimize sin—it makes real forgiveness and real change possible. We were born into sin and can’t fix ourselves, but God so loved the world that He gave His Son. Today, I invited all of us to trust that love, to turn, and to receive the Father who never breaks His word.

Key Takeaways

1. Stop projecting your dad onto God. Our view of God is often shaped by our best and worst memories with our earthly fathers. The enemy uses those wounds to make God look distant, harsh, or unreliable. Jesus shows us the true face of the Father—steady, truthful, and near. Healing begins when we let Christ, not our pain, define who the Father is.
2. The Everlasting Father provides, guides, defends. He feeds sparrows, leads His people, and guards His children—that’s not poetry, it’s promise. Provision may come through ordinary means, but the source is still Him. Guidance often arrives as quiet wisdom that steadies our next step. Defense can look like courage you didn’t know you had because He is standing right behind you.
3. Grace welcomes you, then changes you. You cannot outrun or earn the Father’s love; it meets you where you are. But grace is not a shrug—it’s a hand extended, pulling you toward life. Repentance is how we take that hand, turning from what breaks us to the One who heals us. Forgiveness removes the past; grace empowers a new future.
4. Adoption gives a new name and home. In Christ, you are not a hired hand trying to keep your place; you are family. Adoption reframes identity, which reshapes trust—you approach God as a child, not an employee. This makes prayer more honest, obedience more hopeful, and suffering less lonely. The Father’s house becomes your steady place, even when life is not.

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
- Isaiah 9:6 (“For to us a child is born… his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”)

Observation questions (3–4)

What four names does Isaiah 9:6 give to the coming child, and what image or expectation does “Everlasting Father” create compared with the other three names?
In the sermon summary, what specific ways did the speaker say the enemy uses our relationship with an earthly father to distort our view of God?
Which stories or images from Scripture and the pastor’s personal example were used to show God’s provision, presence, and protection? Name at least two and say what aspect of the Father each one highlights.
How did the sermon describe the relationship change that “adoption” brings—what is different between being a servant and being a son or daughter?

Interpretation questions (3–4) — speak about a person in third person

How would a person explain the phrase “Everlasting Father” to someone who grew up with an absent or abusive dad? What does “everlasting” add to the idea of fatherhood?
The sermon said the enemy “uses those wounds to make God look distant.” How would a person identify the thought-patterns that show this has happened in their life (for example: mistrust, fear of intimacy, believing God is punitive)?
The pastor taught that grace both welcomes and changes. How would a person reconcile the tension between “God loves regardless of choices” and “God is not okay with our sin”? What does that mean for how change actually happens?
How would a person practically distinguish living like a hired hand from living like an adopted child in daily life (prayer, church involvement, decisions, suffering)?

Application questions (5–7)

Identify one specific memory, belief, or statement about your earthly father that you still project onto God (for example: “God will abandon me,” or “God is always angry”). What truth from Isaiah 9:6 will you choose to replace that thought this week, and how will you remind yourself of it (phone note, memory verse, sticky note)?
When you feel anxious about provision or care, what is one concrete action you can take this week to remember God’s provision? (examples: keep a “God provided” list, tell the group one need and ask them to pray, journal one answered prayer each day.)
Name a sin or pattern you tend to run back to and describe one practical step you will take this week to receive grace that leads to change (pray a short confession each morning, meet with an accountability partner, remove a temptation).
If you usually approach God as a worker trying to earn favor, what one change will you make in your prayer life to approach Him as a child of the Father (examples: begin a prayer with “Abba Father,” ask God for one simple need and accept rest, practice listening quietly for five minutes)?
Who is one person you will tell this week about your struggle to trust the Father (a friend, spouse, leader)? Schedule a time to share and ask that person to pray for you.
If you have never made a simple surrender like the prayer the pastor invited people to pray, will you pray it this week? If yes, when and where will you pray it, and who will you tell afterward?
Choose one concrete act in the next seven days that demonstrates trusting God as your Everlasting Father (go to a worship service, forgive someone small, take a step of obedience you’ve been avoiding). What is the step and when will you do it?

Closing suggestion for the group leader
- Invite each person to choose one application question to act on this week and, if comfortable, share which one they picked and how the group can pray or help hold them accountable.

Sermon Quotes

The thing is the devil, the enemy of your soul will do everything in his power to not let you see that.

One of the best ways he does that is by destroying your relationship with your earthly father, and if he can, he will dominate and distort your relationship with your heavenly Father.

He can make it to where you have trouble believing that God is good, faithful, loving, and doesn’t break promises, so you stop trusting the Father who has amazing plans for you.

We have looked at the fact that He is a Wonderful Counselor to us, and we last week talked about the fact that He is a Mighty God, but He is the Everlasting Father, and He is a good Father!

He is a loving Father, and He is a perfect Father, but the devil will try to keep you from seeing that by destroying your relationship with your earthly father.

Luke 15 demonstrates His unconditional love and forgiveness; all we have to do is ask. You don't have to get it all together; you can't outrun His love, and you can't earn it.

The Bible tells us God adopts us as His children, not servants; He is compassionate and near, protective and defending — a Father who provides and welcomes us into his family.

As Caleb grew, he noticed nothing changed, but he kept hoping and trusting one more time, wanting his dad to be proud of him and to cheer him on.

If your dad was angry and ready to punish, it's natural you see God that way, but the gospel says God loves you regardless of your choices and wants to forgive.

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