|
As we honor fathers this special day,
let's also honor our Heavenly Father by focusing on
His Love for us.
When we grasp the revelation of God
as "Abba" (Dad or Daddy) we can experience
His unconditional, inexpressive Love. Knowing and
receiving the Father's Love is the key to an abundant
and fulfilling Christian walk. "Behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should
be called the children of God. I John 3:1
It's one thing to have knowledge of
our Father's love for us - it's another to personally
experience it.
Some thoughts
about the nature of the Father's Love for us, His
children:
His Love Is:
Unconditional
... He loves us just as we are,
our imperfect selves, yet He paid the full price as
a sacrifice for us. (Rom. 5:8
Merciful
... His mercies are new every morning. (Ps 103:13
Ever-Present
... His love for us began when we were in our mother's
womb. (Ps. 139:13
Inititive
... He loved us first! (I John 4:19)
Forgiving
... He forgives all our sins (Isa. 1:18) (and many
passages too numerous to mention)
Giving
... He gave us Yeshua (Jesus) to save us and desires
to give us the Kingdom. (John 3:16 & Luke 12:32)
Jealous
... He is passionately in love with us. (Song of Songs
- 7:10)
Protective
... Nothing can separate us from our Heavenly Father's
love. (Rom. 8:38-39)
Blessing
... He blessed us at creation, and blesses each of
us with our own blessing. (Gen. 49:28)
Jack Frost of
Shiloh Place Ministries taught many wise concepts
concerning God our Father. Among them:
"I am Father
God's happy thought!"
"All creation is about a Father longing to have
sons and daughters."
"The best father is simply preparing you to move
on to the Perfect Father."
Biblical fatherhood is expressed in
the many blessings that the Jewish father bestows
on his children. Even today the father lays hands
on the heads of his sons and daughters on Shabbat
and other special holy days. They repeat this blessing
... To a son: "May God make you as Ephraim and
Manasseh." To a daughter: "May the Lord
bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine
upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up
His countenance upon you, and give you peace."
Think of the many blessings our Heavenly Father has
and continues to bestow on us!
Because we have less than perfect
earthly fathers sometimes we end up feeling like 'orphan
children' ... some fathers have behaved toward their
children in unloving ways, exhibiting any number of
human frailities. When our earthly fathers disappoint
us or fail to nurture us, we sometimes see God in
that way and have a difficult time feeling safe and
secure in His love.
The enemy works through these failures
of our fathers to try to keep us from knowing God's
love for us. One of the best ways to overcome this
insecurity is to first forgive those failures. This
is of course only one aspect of growing in the faith
and feeling secure in the Lord, but it is an important
step. When a man can feel free to be secure in his
Heavenly Father, he can be a better father to his
children.
In a perfect world, all fathers would
be godly and nurturing. But since this is not a perfect
world and seemingly becoming even less perfect than
ever before, we need to encourage all the fathers
we know, helping them to grow in the Lord and honoring
their desire to be good fathers.
Many of our Christian fathers try
to do their best in a world where the culture is increasingly
antagonistic to the traditional family. A family where
the father is the spiritual head and responsible for
the bringing up of his children in the way of the
Lord. Those fathers, especially need to be honored
and they need the prayers of their family and loved
ones.
So, this is a day to honor our fathers.
Let us honor them by understanding that they are not
perfect and need our love, support, understanding,
and respect. And just as important, it bears mentioning
again ... they need our prayers!
CLICK HERE
for a prayer for all fathers
on this day and every day: (penned by Marjorie
Castleberry)
Please visit Yuko's site to hear more
of her beautiful compositions and performances.
Yuko has music on CDs to purchase .. Please support
this young lady's music.
|
