The Perfect Father's Day Gift [All American Series, Part 3 of 10]

Psalm 68:5-6

"A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land."

 

The ideals of fatherhood are strong in the Bible. Unlike the gods of other religions, the Judeo-Christian God is shown as a loving Father. Christ described God as his own intimate Father and claimed to show in himself what the Father was like (Jn. 14:9-11). God gave His beloved Son for the salvation of the world (Jn. 3:16). Consequently, wherever the Christian ideal has manifested itself and prospered, fatherhood has taken on a deeper meaning. The tender appeals of the apostles John and Paul to their "children" helped foster this attitude. To see for yourself, read I John 4 in its entirety.

Christian, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things about God I am about to write:

The Father as a Wall Builder. Only God knows how to repair the breaches in our lives. Consider II Chronicles 32:5-8,

⁵ Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

⁶ And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,

⁷ Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

⁸ With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

For further study, read up on Nehemiah, Chapters 1-7. Then pray and allow Him to build up the broken walls of your life.

The Father as a Builder. God builds from the ground up. Just like a good restorer doesn't take a broken down shack and improve upon it, God does not leave the sinner in his miserable state and add on a few token gifts. He is a thorough builder, using His word to edify and establish (Col. 1:21-23; 2:7). And, the building begins on a strong foundation. To wit, Matthew 7:24-27,

²⁴ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

²⁵ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

²⁶ And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

²⁷ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

For further study, please read Ezra, Chapters 1-6 regarding the rebuilding of the Temple. If you're born again and saved, Friend, then your body is the temple of the Lord (I Cor. 6:19-20). Treat it right and let the Master Builder do His work in you and through you.

The Father as a Watchman. God protects and watches over you. In Psalm 121:3, we  read that "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber."

God’s sleepless vigilance is for our good. In verse 5 says, “The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.” God keeps us, protects us, and cares for us. If there is a need for refreshing the Lord will provide it. Our Protector is constantly seeking our good. As one song puts it: “He never sleeps, He never slumbers. He watches me both night and day.”

Are you facing difficulties? Turn to the One who never sleeps. Each second of each day, let Him “...preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” (v.8).

The Father as a Provider. Who knows better what we need than God the Father? No one, not even our earthly fathers. Matthew 7:7-11 states, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

To say the least, God is so much more than this abbreviated list of traits. He is our All in all. Someone once said, "If you've got Jesus, you've got everything. If you've got everything else but Jesus, man - you've got nothing!"

How Deep the Father's Love For Us

1. An earthly father sees himself in his children because they were born of his flesh. To some extent, they look like him and act like him.

• God gives us His Spirit, who indwells us and empowers us to act in ways that please Him. Our task is simply to let Him live through us (Romans 8: 9-10).

2. Children can’t provide for themselves. In fact, they usually don’t even try. They simply trust their parents to provide food, clothing, and shelter. 

• Because we are God’s children, we don’t have to worry about our basic needs. Like little kids, we can trust our Father to supply them. Will we still have to make wise choices? Yes. But we can place our burdens on the wide shoulders of our heavenly Provider. Read Matt. 6:34 and Psalm 84:11-12, and meditate on their promises.

3. A good father doesn’t expect his three-year-old to be able to mow the yard. Nor does he become impatient if his child can’t tie her shoes the first time he shows her. 

• Similarly, God doesn’t expect us to be mature instantly. He gradually gives us more responsibility and teaches us to lean on Him more completely (Ephesians 4:11-16). 

5. Parents usually regret it when they fail to set boundaries for their children. Although discipline is difficult for both the child and the parent, it is necessary to form a child’s character.

• Although our heavenly Father is patient with us as we grow, He will discipline us when we persist in willful sin. (See Hebrews 12:5-11.)

6. Unfortunately, many fathers express love to their children only when their child looks good, succeeds, or is well-behaved. Or, a father may communicate a lack of love by spending very little time with his child. 

• In contrast, our heavenly Father is willing to express His love for us at any time (Psalm 103:17-18). 

7. Little children can’t plan a vacation, buy a house, or select the school that’s right for them. They trust their parents to plan a good life for them. 

• As believers, we often think we have more control over our lives than we really do. God wants us to trust Him to give us His goals for our lives (Ephesians 5:15-17). Often, His guidance will come one step at time, not all at once (Proverbs 16:9).

 

Origins of Father's Day

The campaign to celebrate the nation’s fathers did not meet with the same enthusiasm--perhaps because, as one florist explained, “Fathers haven’t the same sentimental appeal that mothers have.” On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, West Virginia. But it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday.

The next year, a Spokane, Washington woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on July 19, 1910.

Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day.

However, many men continued to disdain the day. As one historian writes, they “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products--often paid for by the father himself.”

Advertisers redoubled their efforts to make Father’s Day a “second Christmas” for men, promoting goods such as neckties, hats, socks, pipes and tobacco, golf clubs and other sporting goods, and greeting cards. When World War II began, advertisers began to argue that celebrating Father’s Day was a way to honor American troops and support the war effort. By the end of the war, Father’s Day may not have been a federal holiday, but it was a national institution.

Today, economists estimate that Americans spend more than $1 billion each year on Father’s Day gifts. That's a lot of neckties!

Seriously though, the best gift you can give to God the Father is to entrust Him with your life (Click Here). The best gift you can give your earthly father is your respect. Oh, a hug would be okay, too.


Sources: usa.gov, artofmanliness.com, history.com, intouch.org, fathersday.com

The God of Another Chance

Romans 5:3-6

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

Sometimes your burdens may seem endless. You repeatedly go through the same trial, making the same mistakes. The last time through, you thought you had truly mastered this area of your life. However, now you realize that it continues to cause you pain.

You question if God has abandoned you or if you have displeased Him so greatly that He would allow this suffering to persist. You wonder if you will ever learn the lesson God desires to teach you. Take heart; the Lord loves you, He is with you, and He will never forsake you (Heb. 13:5). He allows the trials in your life because He desires to give you freedom through them and show you His love.

James 1:2-4 teaches, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

Through your troubles, God develops perseverance, character, hope, and the ability to accept His abundant love. It is said that those who were closest to Christ our Lord were those with the greatest trials.

He is drawing you close through this repeated problem. Do not despair. Cling to Him and He will fill you with His love.

Consider this illustration:

A lecturer raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20 ounces to 100 ounces.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

And that's the way it is with a burden. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.

A word of caution, you can put the burden down for a while and rest before holding it again. You may feel refreshed momentarily, but the weight of the burden will continue. Imagine carrying that burden with you month after month, and year after year. I dare say that some of you have been doing exactly that. Now imagine that what you're holding in that glass isn't water but poison; you may be nursing it, sipping it, gulping it and refilling it. And that's exactly what's happening when that burden is anger or bitterness.

You can carry on with the burden alone or you can turn it over to Jesus, who said "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”  Matt. 11:28-29

Other Scripture to encourage you includes,

Psalm 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

and,

I Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

So, Reader, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Be still and know that He is God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. In a world of inconstancy, it's good to know that Jesus is the Eternal One who changes not.

Come to know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour: I Want Jesus to Give Me A Chance

portion of this post courtesy of Dr. Charles Stanley

Vox Populi, Vox Dei

Psalm 24:10
"Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory."

The biggest cost of ObamaCare is not the increasing cost of health insurance or providing coverage to every American, it is the loss of economic freedom. Coercing people into making economic decisions and being obligated to enter into legally-binding contracts (by purchasing a government approved health insurance plan regardless of personal want or need, or facing a fine) forsake the values that our Founders established as inalienable.

These 3 days of hearings are the most significant in terms of constitutional challenges. We're at a critical juncture in American history and that's no hyperbole. The ruling from the SCOTUS will be momentous when it comes later in the summer. Whether the citizens of the United States take this sitting down or go to the polls to express their outrage remains to be seen. Truly, freedom is at stake. What this nation - and the world, for that matter - is witnessing is the formation of government control the likes of which have not been seen beforehand.

And what the world is witnessing is the clash of ideas of economic, political & religious freedom versus ideas of collective, technocratic fiat with no center. That is, a godless center is no center at all. You see, without God being the center, there is a void - whether it be in a person's life; family's life, civic life; or the governance of a society - and it is easily filled up by man, who takes the place of God.

Good luck with that.

The Latin phrase, Vox Populi, Vox Dei means: The voice of the people is the voice of God. When people have Jesus Christ in the center of their lives, it would be easy to see how this Latin phrase would be applicable to the government as well as to the governed. Sadly, the voice of the people is not heard, not heeded; instead, it's ignored or worse, distorted.

When people seek relief through the court systems, the cases end up (if accepted) at the Supreme Court of the United States, which is called the Highest Court in the land.

I beg to differ.

The highest court is the holy throne of God where children of God, who are born again by Christ's atoning work at Calvary, may approach (Heb. 4:16).

Americans find themselves in troubled times, but not hopeless times, so long as we keep looking up beyond and above man's institutions, because our hope is a living hope. His name is Jesus Christ, the King of Glory!

Remember this: One day every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11).

To find out more about how to possess the living Hope, click here: The Living Hope

Your Worth to the Father

Isaiah 49:16
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;"





A well-known preacher began his sermon by holding up a $100.00 bill.

In the auditorium of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $100 bill?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $100 to one of you, but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $100 dollar bill.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still, the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?"

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Yet, the hands went into the air.

"My friends," he said, "There's a valuable lesson in this illustration. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $100. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and by the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened, what is happening or what will happen, you will never, never ever lose your value in God's eyes. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to your Heavenly Father. The worth of your lives comes not in what you do or your social standing in life or what political influences you wield. The life is worth very much - indeed, worth more than gold - because you were purchased with the most precious commodity there is in life. You were bought with the blood of His Son Jesus Christ at Calvary. You are special to God and the proof is there at the cross. Christ's outstretched hands are ready to receive you."

Romans 8:35-39

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Jesus knocks on the door of your heart (see Rev. 3:20) with his nail-scarred hand. Answer Him now!

For Jesus shed His precious blood
rich blessings to bestow;
plunge now into the crimson flood
that washes bright as snow.

Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now.
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.

Here's how: The Plan of Salvation!

The Happy Man

"Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." (Psalm 127:5, KJV)

This message could be considered a belated Father's Day message, but I couldn't wait until 2011 to write about the happy man who has many children. Recent events have caused me to ponder about this matter. You could say, three little blessings arrived quite suddenly in our home and that made me stop and take in the reality of parenthood. You see, any man can sire a child. But, it takes more than a hombre to raise a child, let alone into a godly one. From where I stand as a father, the view is a long one, arcing over the next meal, bedtime stories, prayers, and scraped knees and into the eternal question: What kind of child do I want him to be? Parenthood is a lifelong state of existence because you never stop being a parent; you never stop hoping the best for them; you never give up in believing that things will be better for them; and on and on and on. It never stops. This isn't a complaint; it's a fact of life.

There's a song by Randy Travis that clearly points out what the parent, the father in particular, has to face:

"I’ll provide for him,

Walk beside of him,
I am strong enough.
'Cause it's time he knew
What a son can do
With a father's love:

He could change the world."

[from "Raise Him Up" lyrics found in "Rise and Shine" album, released: Oct 15 2002 ]

Because children are a heritage from the Lord (Ps. 127:3), they are not ours to keep. We are simply their stewards. So, if children are a gift of the Lord, what are we to do with them?

1. We are to teach them who God is. Gen. 1:1; Ps. 139:14-16
2. We are to teach them about God's Law. Deut. 6:1-9; Exo. 20:1-17
3. We are to discipline them. Prov. 22:6, 15; Eph. 6:4
4. We are to teach them about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jn. 1:1-4; Jn. 14:6

These are just a few Scriptures I'm quoting. There's more to be sure because God's Word is a treasure and inexaustible.

If you have children and you are not training up your kids according to God's Word, you will be called to account your time with them when you meet God, assuming you're a born again believer. If you're not, then you've got an entirely different problem; that is, you are spiritually dead and in need of salvation through Jesus Christ. Applying the principles of the Bible will not get you anywhere with God unless you are born again (John 3:3,5).

One final thought: Training up a child is NOT easy. It requires a strong commitment to God, placing faith in His awesome grace, and involves a lot of prayer, especially as they grow older and began exercising their will. There will be a lot of things you will not like in their choices, but take heart that they will have the Word of God in them. Once they become adults, they are out on their own and will have to live with the consequences of their choices. My heart goes out to those parents who have wayward adult children who have walked away from God. My only advice to you is to keep your faith and know that what is impossible for man is possible for God (Luke 18:27). Happy is the man whom the Lord blesses with children!


See here for more information: The Plan of Salvation