Are You Influenced By Your Father?
Good Morning Friends,
Do you have memories of your father taking you by the hand and sharing experiences? I do, but not everyone does. Through my earthly father I learned about allegiance, and service…about motives and the difference between needs and wants. I learned to recognize what was really important and stopped disguising what I really needed. I learned to stop always expressing my wants based on others expectations. I learned to ask God what He wants. And I learned from God’s Holy Spirit, how to give real gifts that are precious and priceless without a price tag. I learned how to really be present for somebody else. Here I learned that our relationships with our earthly father can be something of great joy but that it is the gift of the power of God’s presence… Are You Influenced By Your Father?
Scripture: I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:18 (NIV)
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:5-13 (NRSV)
Message: Whether it is the moral imperative of His promise in a marriage covenant that motivates God or an overwhelming and compelling love, we are still the product of His creation…we are still His children. And a key characteristic of our Heavenly Father is that He gives mercy and grace to His children. He knows we have a debt we cannot pay. Being a father is about giving nourishment and life. Being a child of God is learning about how to ask in a way that glorifies our heavenly Father. Being a father is about being concerned with what we put in our children’s minds and bodies…but it is also about the gift of time and not so much things. Presence is what really matters. That is why it is so important that we spend time with our children…it is so important we spend time with God.
Pray with praise for a God that loves us. Pray His personal presence is in our lives and is a redemptive presence in the lives of children. Pray for fathers who are not active in raising their own children. Pray we embrace the paradox of a God that has promised to be intimately connected in our lives and to His purposes of extending His Kingdom…His family through both His will and love. Pray we embrace a transcendent divinity of God without denying that He has empathy. Pray we not let logic get in the way of our believing or our believing get in the way of our experiencing God. Pray we experience His presence. Pray we experience our Father in heaven in the majesty and glory of His kingship and His love. Pray we learn how to give real gifts to our children. Pray we listen. Pray we engage in this life and invite God’s presence into every minute, exhausting it until nothing is left of time. Pray we desire the good things in life and are willing to pay the price. Pray we want to serve Him, but also want to obey His law. Pray we pursue Him with unrelenting commitment finding the joy of being His blessing to others.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 