PRAYER TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER FOR FATHER'S DAY 2021

Oh Great Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank You that You are the God Who calls us unto Yourself, depraved sinners though we are, who can be redeemed only by the Precious Blood of Your dear Son, the Savior.

You are a Father to the Fatherless. You are the Hope to the Hopeless. You welcome the Loveless. You comfort the brokenhearted. You bind up the wounded. You are the Almighty and Everlasting Father and keeper of our souls.

Lord, as we approach a time where the world celebrate Fathers, on Father’s Day, we know that many today grew up with missing dads or single moms. In Your mercy, grace and compassion, You never moved but many…in fact, more and more are moving away from You, as the follow the corrupt systems and ideologies of this world. We pray that the scales may fall of their eyes, in so much that while this perverse and corrupt generation of leaders are turning the hearts of the majority towards the god of this world, to their pending doom, You remain seated High and Lifted up in the Heavens with Your loving Arms wide open.

You’re so good that even Jesus, Who did not consider equality with You a thing to be grasped, gave up His Throne and the Scriptures says in Hebrews 5:8 that He obeyed You, even while He suffered, as He came to accomplish You Will, and not even His.

So now, dear Heavenly Father, while You loved this cosmos so much You gave Your Own Son, in so much that whosoever believeth in Him would have everlasting, eternal life, we are the “whosoever”.

In Your Great Grace, Almighty God, Who shakes the heavens, cause the seas to roar and still pastes the real rainbow on the matchless sky after the rains in a display of Your Majestic Power, we pray that today, this week, this month and while it is called NOW, we pray and ask a special measure of grace.

You have already given us all we need in the form of God, the Holy Spirit, and now we ask for a turbo boost of supernatural power to execute and fly to our next phase in spiritual maturity. But Lord, help us as we grow in grace, and dunamis and boldness for the gospel, help us that this goes hand in Hand with Delight and Joy.

Our Faith is the one TRUE Faith ever, in all the universe. Because of our redemption, dear Father, we can delight in You. We delight in Your Truth. We delight in Your Word. We delight in Your Son. We delight in the Holy Spirit – God Three in One and the gates of hell cannot steal our Joy, far less prevail. The overflowing blessedness from this delight, should empower those of us who are fathers, and who represent You on earth to our children, grandchildren and those around us, to find rest, peace, love and joy in You as well.

Spur us now and always to the heights of holiness that our piety may bring Godly pleasure because our true Hope really is our happiness. What some may call our duty, is really our delight in serving You this day and always, proving, dear God, that the root and the flower are as intertwined in its blooming such as delighting in You is and the doctrine of our Faith. Lord, to that end, we bow before You in all humility, commitment and submission to Your Almighty Power in Heaven, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, in His Name, amen and amen.

DANGER AHEAD - TURN AROUND!

If you are driving along a country road and saw a sign that says "DANGER - BRIDGE OUT", would you step on the gas so you can get to the bridge even faster? You would, if you had a death wish. All sensible people glide to a stop, way before you even come close to the edge of that bridge. You would not like it, but it would require you to turn the car around and head back the other way. If you had a GPS unit available, new coordinates would have to be punched in to find a different direction.


Not just that, if you saw another motorist ignoring the "BRIDGE OUT": sign, you would try desperately to warn them to look out for the danger ahead. Sometimes, arms would be waving frantically, if we noticed someone not paying attention to the warnings of impending doom and disaster, in order to get their attention! Depending on what the wrong-direction motorists want to see, they may decided we are lunatics to be standing outside our cars trying to get their attention...while hurtling towards sure destruction ahead.


This is what those of us who proclaim the Word are doing when we call attention to a meltdown of a country as we see now. What we proclaim from the Very Heart and Lips and Spirit of God, is actually a Clarion Call for everyone to pay attention that there is no bridge ahead and you are guaranteed to go off into a pit, if you do not stop and turn around (repent). We don't do this out of hate or because we like to hear the sound of our own voices. Contrary to what those who are sons and daughters of perdition, who call us names like "intolerant" and "this or that - phobe" shout, we are the ones of Love, Tolerance, Compassion and Care.


These people have no clue what we do in our personal lives...or how many people we care for...or what we do, when no one's looking...or the lives we affect in a meaningful way, day after day. But that is not the issue, our Heavenly Father sees that. What their problem is, is their own sin...and it does not matter what the sin is. The unrepentant sinner always projects unto someone else and wants everyone else to validate their ungodly choice of lifestyle...whatever it is. This is why they ignore the warning signs of the Gospel and are heading full speed ahead to Judgment.

God has given direction for a people, a nation, who if it recognizes it has "GONE WILD" after death and doom, can hit the brakes, turn around and turn back to Him. He says these well known words in 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if My people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.


Over 80% of America, of all races, say they believe in God...some kind of God. The only God is Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, His Son is the ONLY SAVIOR.
We do not act like we know Him, by the conduct of most in this corrupt society. 
We are not a humble people....that is, until we are brought so low, that the only direction to look is up. 
We do not pray, even though we tell others they are "in our thoughts and prayers". 
We do not seek His Face, because we are seeking our own fancy place, pleasure, leisure and a healthy 401K. 
We will not turn from our wicked ways, because we refuse to read the signs that the Bridge is Out.  
Because of that, He will pull His Hands off us, unless the People of God - the few small church pastors and the bigger guns in our individual cities, call the people back to Repentance. Only then will our Heavenly Father forgive and smile on this land again and grant His Mercy and Favor.....because Great is His Faithfulness, if we will only believe and trust what He says. 
Amen.

BRINGING UP DAUGHTER

"To her, the name of father, was another name for love..."

                                                                      Fanny Fern

Part 3 of 'THE FAMILY SERIES"

When I first started this series of family, earlier this week, I knew it would be easy to write about something I knew about - boys. As a father and a follower of Jesus Christ, I know what He expects of men. Therefore it is easy to pass that on to younger men or just people in general. Yesterday's blog got some major feedback from significant folks who blessed these efforts and provided more encouragement to proceed.


Raising and leaving a Legacy through a teenage daughter (through the eyes of this father) is another story. From time to time on this week, I could not help but analyze how to approach this, in a meaningful way....and came up with no major revelation!


Any mom, from across America, Canada, Australia, Finland or South Africa (where this blog is read) can do a better job than I could, explaining my own daughter Sarah. In fact, what I am noticing more and more on the internet or social media etc. is that the most popular blogs and websites, for families, are run by moms!

I have yet to come across any site run by a dad dedicated to raising girls. In my case, while I wish I had two or more daughters to raise, the one teenager we have at home now is quite a handful. At the same time, what a joy she is! What I have noticed, for the most part of daily life, no matter how the day went, at the end of each day, our daughter goes through this wonderful routine of hugs and kisses before bed with both my wife and I. This underscores not just our love as a family, but the impact we would appear to be having on her as parents.


Spending time with Sarah is uniquely different from the boys...and as it should be! I have been doing more, going on more shopping dates or movie dates with her, since our two sons got older and part-time jobs to pay for their car maintenance! Since way before Christmas, we have gone to fashion shows; teenage stores in the mall; fancy yogurt shops with her BFF's and the one that shocked me the most - the best World War II movie I ever saw - REDTAILS! In fact, I would not have even gone to see that movie if she didn't bug me to take her on opening night. Sure enough, she was one of the very few girls there in a large theater packed with men and a few wives!


Of course, all of the physical issues of growing from my baby 8 year old to preteen to teenager, are handled by Vicki, but developing this once in a lifetime relationship with my daughter has become one of the most exciting things of this past year! She is loyal and very strong-willed.  Just like her brothers, she was saved as a young child. Unlike most adults, who claim to be saved, she can remember when it happened and can discuss the Gospel in real terms. Just this past week, I was explaining what  Cessationism is, after she revealed a certain incident that happened in a class last weekend.


To me, this is an overflow of walking with the Lord and growing children up in the church, the correct way. The incorrect way leads to rebellion against God and Christ by pastor's kids (PK's) who long to bust free, because their parents have to appear a certain way, all the time. What we have raised our own children to do, with fine-tuning (depending on the kid), is to think for themselves and never force them to attend this or that extra-church event. What we have since discovered is each of them are now stepping up to read Scripture aloud or sing a gospel song or discuss the error of baptismal regeneration!


I like what John Gregory Brown said here "There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself".

My wife and I are not wealthy people but what we are is rich in love and the sense of the Christian family. We would never trade that for anything in this dying world. In practice, ours is a faith which reaches out by its love, but nevertheless, is grounded in Truth. We believe telling people the Truth is  love. What we're doing here is allowing God's little daughter, whom He placed in our care, to blossom into one day, the woman I may be forced to give away down a wedding aisle! But that too, will be a legacy.

Because of the time spent walking, talking, praying with and in discipleship with her, neither my wife nor I ever felt the need to read any book about "Bringing up Daughters". For discipline, grounding her from her friends is all that's needed to alter a certain shortcoming.

During my difficulty of two surgeries, about 3 years ago, when I was laid up for a total of 8 weeks, my favorite nurse was my then 11 year old Sarah! Still, I know both her and her mom have these long drawn out discussions. When these things happen, I turn immediately around and leave the room! This is the way it will be until Sarah is in her 20's and sees things a little differently.

There really is no advise to give anyone about raising a daughter! I will leave that to all the dear women who raise 2,3 or even 4 daughters and still keep smiling and driving that mini-van around to soccer or volleyball practice! In this celebration of family this shortened week, it is an honor to celebrate the life of our only daughter....who is now bringing us more joy. Just a few days ago, I was back in the Indoor Soccer rink for the first time in over 7 years, as yet another kid took up indoor soccer! It felt great to be back with that kid-like enthusiasm and joy we get from cheering on a loved one!

In conclusion, when I lay on my dying bed and look at our kids, I would want to be as completely satisfied as I am right now, that I represented my Father in Heaven, to my little Sarah, by being her father here on earth. That will be, most certainly, the greatest legacy any person can hand off to the next generation!

In Jesus' Name, amen.