Tag: Fathers

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Sovereignty

OCTOBER 9

MATTHEW 7:9_bread, will he give him a stone?

God is the father portion of the Trinity. He wants to be yours. Because God is a loving and just Father, He gives freedom to accept or reject Him. To accept God is to accept His sovereignty in your life.

An earthly father may fail you, and for that matter you may fail your earthly father. Your Heavenly Father will never fail you. Jesus has already made it clear that the Heavenly Father meets needs of food and clothes – even if you have to go through a time when they are limited. 

Jesus teaches the kind of heart that He wants in an earthly father—one who loves his children and meets their needs.  

God wants children to feel free to ask their fathers to meet their needs. He wants fathers to love and trust His heart, and believe He will help them meet the needs of their family. Fathers who love God and have a desire to guide their families in His steps, will not lack God’s support. Again, that does not mean you get everything you want. It means something far greater. 

John 14:23 (KJV), “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

The very God of Heaven and His Holy Son are a daily part of the lives of their children. 

God is a true father!

PRAYER

True God, Help me grow into a Godly person who keeps Your Words. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.          

Christ wants to consume me with His love—I want it!

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Because

OCTOBER 26

MATTHEW 7:14_Because…

If you have never been to Rock City in Chattanooga, Tennessee, add it to your bucket list.  You’ll find it at the top of Lookout Mountain. The area known as Rock City is full of many unique rock formations.

There are different paths to take as you encounter fascinating natural wonders. I have taken youth groups there but have never had a group that completed the journey at the same time—even when they took the same path. Some rush through, some stop and explore.

Because Jesus’ gates lead to life paths, you have the freedom to choose the path to follow. You have the freedom to decide how to spend your time on each path. How it ends is your decision. The apostle John says in I John 2:12-13 (KJV), “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.”    

There are a lot of becauses in these verses. Each one is directed to a different stage in life. They are each about receiving the truth because of choosing the path which leads into a relationship with Jesus.   

 PRAYER

Lord of Truth, I know the Bible is written to me because I choose the truth! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                           

Christ caused the Bible to be written to me—I will study!

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You Are Precious in God’s Sight

OCTOBER 17

MATTHEW 7:11_how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?

You are precious in God’s sight. Never let the devil tell you otherwise. 

What Jesus is teaching in this verse is a kind of comparison lesson between earthly fathers and the heavenly Father. If you are blessed with a responsible and loving father, never cease to praise God for him. If you have an adoptive or foster father, as many people in the Bible had, praise God for bringing you together as family. 

Pray for your father. He faces tremendous responsibilities that you are not old enough to fully understand. Do everything in your power to support, help, and encourage him. Make your gratefulness known to him—don’t just assume he knows it. And more than anything love and respect him.

If an earthly father will meet your needs, because he hears you when you ask—what are the capabilities of your heavenly Father? He is the owner of the universe. His love and compassion are as big as His kingdom—which knows no end. 

If your earthly father experience did not go well—you have the opportunity for an even closer relationship with your heavenly Father.  

PRAYER

Owner of the Universe, Help me see the vastness of Your power and love. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                                 

Christ’s abilities are boundless—He uses them for me!

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A Kinder Place

OCTOBER 16

MATTHEW 7:11_If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children…

If you are in the neglected, abused, abandoned category, my heart breaks. I trust God to show Himself strong. I want to bring you to the place of understanding that God’s heart breaks for you. Even if you needed some type of corrective discipline, God would never design it through neglect, abuse, or abandonment. 

We are not in heaven. We live in a fallen, sinful world. Bad and evil things happen. God’s part is to pull us out of the pit. He wants to bring us to a kinder place (which will still have trials and troubles).

Praise God for Psalm 40:2 (KJV), “He [the LORD] brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”

God promises to use all the circumstances of life for your good. Remember Romans 8:28 (KJV), “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

God promises never to abandon us. Deuteronomy 31:6 (KJV), “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them [your enemies and God’s enemies]: for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”  

You’ll be a stronger, wiser, and more compassionate person because of the pain you’ve known.

PRAYER

Great God, Only You can make my pain into something good. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                                                 

Christ knows all my pain—He is right there with me!

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There Was An Almost

OCTOBER 15

MATTHEW 7:11_If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children…

God loves everyone, the entire world. So much so that He let His own Son suffer and die for the world. 

God wants righteousness and goodness to reign supreme—as it did for a brief time in the Garden of Eden—pure perfection not only in people, but in all nature. But there was an almost in that perfection. When the almost won the battle over free will, everything changed—but God didn’t. He’s still just, He still has all power, and He’s still God of the Impossible.

I believe Jesus in His infinite power and unsurpassed love, works every day to restore as much of the Garden experience as possible in our fallen world. Every time He transforms a heart and gives it the ability to become salt and light, He’s made some restoration. It will take a new heaven and a new earth to bring full restoration.

When God uses evil people in ways that result in good for His children, He is exercising His fatherly powers. God wants fathers to do good to and for their children. Unfortunately, there are those whose fathers genuinely neglect, abuse, and abandon them.

God has a plan for those children as well, Psalm 27:10 (KJV), “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.”

PRAYER

Jesus Lord, Only You can transform—we all need it. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                                                                                                          

Christ’s love is perfection—I want to love like that!