. . . that the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, our glorious Father, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in knowing Him. Ephesians 1:17 TLV

Choosing Our Protagonist!   Did you catch that in verse 17?  “. . . the God of our Lord Yeshua . . . our glorious Father . . .”

As an author, one of the first rules of writing is the Point of View (POV)—it is a vital tool in character development and helps the reader understand how the character sees the world. When I am writing in a character’s POV, the character’s narrative and dialog can only be through their eyes, their perspective.

The other primary rule is determining who is the protagonist—the main character. Because the story revolves around the protagonist—and there is only one protagonist. There are other important characters, like the “love” interest and helpful/friend character, but only one protagonist. (We can talk about the antagonist another time.)

So What Does This Have to Do With This Verse?

Paul’s epistle has a definite protagonist and that protagonist’s POV. Paul is the author, yes, but his “character” development revolves around, whom? The protagonist.

Jesus? No.

The Holy Spirit? No.

Only one guess left. Our glorious Heavenly Father.

Nearly half of the verses in chapter one are about the Father.

• Naming God, not only the Messiah’s God, but Father (vss. 2, 3, 17)
• It is through the Father that wisdom and revelation are made known to us (vs.17)
• The Father made known the mystery of His will, through His Son—our redemption and adoption (vss. 9, 10, 11, 12)
• Yeshua’s resurrection from the dead was by power of the Father (vs. 20)
• The Father gave the throne at His right hand to Jesus—no one else (vs. 20)
• Only by the Father’s authority, Jesus is head over the community of believers—past, present, and future—His Body (vss. 22, 23)

So Why is This Important?

Each of my novels has a protagonist. Like any author, I want you to get to know that protagonist well. To understand why they do the things they do. To care about them and see the story from their eyes.

No doubt Paul loves Jesus. For roughly three years Yeshua fulfilled the most important role in history. But Paul is also saying the protagonist of Scriptures—Genesis through Revelation—is the glorious God, our Father.

Many of us focus all our worship, prayers, and attention on Jesus. Did Yeshua do that? No, of course not. His worship, prayers, and focus was and will always be His Father.

Are we to worship Jesus? Yes!

Pray to Him? Nope. Really? Stick with me.

Had the Father not planned for our redemption from the Fall in the Garden (vss. 9-10), Jesus would never have come to earth as a babe in Bethlehem to be the glory of the Father (Matthew 16:27). He would never have hung around a bunch of grubby folks who really had no idea who He really was, teaching them universal truths even the pharisees didn’t understand (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). And ultimately, because of His love for the Father, Yeshua suffered and died for us (John 17-19).

So, where do we go from here?

Let’s begin with what Jesus taught us to do. Pray to the Father (Matthew 6:9-15), give glory to the Father and His Son (John 17).

*Sigh* Sounds pretty lofty doesn’t it?

How about if we also remember that because of Yeshua’s sacrifice, He gave us the authority to call His Father, Abba—Daddy—as He did.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall again into fear; rather, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15, TLV, emphasis mine)

Now because you are sons, God sent the Ruach of His Son into our hearts, who cries out, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6, TLV, emphasis mine)

That just means, we don’t have to figure out how to pronounce the ancient YHVH (יהוה), because Jesus went through a lot to allow us to call His Father, the Creator of the Universe, Daddy.

Abba is the protagonist of our story, too. Let’s get to know our Abba Father and read His Story from His POV.