The Father's Grip

UV 2267/10000 The Father’s Grip
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

John 10 v 29

Jesus always acknowledged and praised the greatness of the Father. He never tries to appropriate the glory of the Father. He attributes all goodness and greatness and power to the Father in heaven. Even all the people who believed in the word and work of Jesus were given to Him by the Father. We did not, therefore come to Jesus on our own but we were given to Him as an inheritance among mankind. We belong to Jesus according to the express will and choice of the Father.

The question arises whether our own hearts and minds play any role in being so chosen by the Father and given to the Son Jesus. It is certainly not any inherent goodness on our part but a deep sense of need of union and fellowship with the Father gets the attention and compassion of the Lord. Once we are chosen, can we be lost? Can we be separated from the Father’s love? St Paul had such sense of security in his personal relationship with Jesus and with the Father that he wrote in the epistles that neither death, nor depth nor height nor persecution nor anything else can separate us from the love of the Father.


The prodigal son in the parable of Jesus never returned to his life of separation from his father once he was welcomed back into the latter’s house. Likewise, we are firmly fastened to the Father by and through the Son Jesus. There are powerful forces at work to try to draw us away from the Father but the Lord battles for us. He becomes our wall of protection to prevent anyone from plucking us out of the Father’s hand. Picture ourselves being held in His firm and strong hand and the world and the enemy of our souls trying to prise us away but in vain. The Father’s five fingers that hold us firmly are the Word, the Holy Spirit, the fellow believers who pray and encourage us in our walk of faith, our inner assurance of salvation, our trust and hope in the many promises of God. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God that He continues to breathe into us. He communicates the love of the Father. The grip of the Father’s hand on us is not to crush us or to harm us but to hold us securely and forever in His love. We should cease to struggle or wrestle to get out of His “love grip.” Whenever we face troubles or tribulations, His grip is tighter around us. Even when we on our own accord try to move away, He never gives up on us.


Prateep V Philip