Word of the Week - Father
“Our Father in Heaven” ~Mathew 6:9
“A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way” – A wise father
The power of the Father relationship? A Father's Influence is paramount in the development of faith. Here are some interesting statistics from the aforementioned article/link: “Father’s Influence – Part 1”: When a child is first to find faith in Christ, about 5% of the time the family follows. When a mother is first to find faith in Christ, 22% of the time the family follows. However, when a father is first to find faith in Christ, 93% of the time the family follows. It is in the family environment led by a Christian dad that God does an incredible work.
The Father relationship has the power to shape our view of God and ourselves at the deepest level. A Father has many critical roles in life to include provider, protector, teacher, modeler, encourager, exemplar and much, much more. These are all very important roles to meet the very real needs of a child, growing adolescent and young adult. As important as all these characteristics are in our development, what matters most is that we experience and know the unconditional love of our Father. Love is the key, because “love overcomes a multitude of sins” 1 Peter 4:8.
Unconditional Love of our Abba Father: I am blessed with a wonderful dad. I never ever doubted my dad’s deep and unconditional love for me. This reality along with Jesus’ healing hand has been the catalyst for me receiving and knowing the love of God our Father. Now as a Father of 3 wonderful daughters, 2 sons by marriage and 7 awesome Grandkids (see attached recent pics of our family with all 7 grandkids along with a fun moment with my older grandkids, it is true that Grandkids are a great blessing from God 😊), I have the amazing responsibility and privilege to be a Father to my children and grandchildren, and I can say it is the most meaningful, joyful and fulfilling role of my life to date. Just like my dad, I am doing my very best, but I have made many mistakes along the way and unintentionally hurt my children. That being said, I am so very grateful to God our Father in Heaven who gives us the perfect example of how to be a loving Father, our Abba Father. “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast (unconditional) love” Psalm 103:8. With this love and example from God our Father through His son Jesus along with great examples from our parents and others, we are equipped to be godly Fathers who sow blessings and life into our kids for many generations to come as stated in Psalm 127:3 “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him.”
Heavenly Father: Finally, no matter what your situation and relationship or lack thereof with your earthly Father, God is our eternal Father and He loves us and deeply desires to redeem and restore us to wholeness through the power of His unconditional and everlasting love. This is available for all His children (us) no matter your circumstance or experience with your earthly Father, through the Lord Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Abba Father God is a Good, Good, Father…..He will gladly leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep, that is how much He loves us….“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him;” Psalm 103:13
“And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” Malachi 4:6.
Happy Father’s Day…..
Duane
Duane and the Grandkids!
Popsicles with the Grandkids.