A FLAWLESS FATHER

Everyone wants a good dad. A Dad who earns the title “Dad”, who is not there just for show but one who actively participates in the life of someone.

A father is one who is present in the life of the child, when the child wants and needs them the most. One who is never too busy for their child engaged in some highly important agenda, more important than their family.

Yes, we all desire such a father, I could go a far as to say that we all deserve a good dad, worthy of that title.

But what do we get instead,

·      Absentee fathers who are never there or are too busy for their children.

·      Unproviding fathers who do not meet the needs of their children, especially the physical (e.g. food, shelter, education)and psychological (love, security, sense of self-worth) needs.

·      Overbearing fathers who want us to be as THEY want with little regard to our dreams.

·      Vendetta daddies who never forget a single wrong done by their children but somehow develop amnesia whenever we get it right.

·      Abusive fathers who do more harm than any good by oppressing us, hurting us both physically, emotionally or psychologically.

On the other side we get daddies that are not present physically because of various reasons:

·      Pregnancy out of wedlock (we end up bastards and its not our fault)

·      Parents divorced (we know our father but we don’t have a dad)

·      Deceased fathers (we don’t have anyone to blame, neither them nor us, but that does not mean that the void is not there.)

Yet in these situations we know that we can never have the father we need because all are human beings and are therefore faulty in one way or another… as a man I hope to be the best Dad I can be but there is only so much I can do as a human.

So therefore with each generation we find that fatherhood ends up causing more harm than good and it’s benefits almost becomes non existent. Yet with these very standards that our fathers taught us we approach all men and any figure of authority, be it our teachers, our mentors (bosses and people we look up to), the government (police and other officials) and yes, even God.

Our Fatherhood issues affect us gravely and that is why God goes to grave pain to heal these issues that have been plagued upon by the very men who should protect us from them!

But I have to say, I met a Father who is sufficient, who is everything we ever want and more. A PERFECT FATHER!!

Ladies and gentlemen,

Boys and girls,

Allow me to introduce to you

The greatest Father who ever lived

And one willing to adopt you

And take you as your own son/daughter

Our Lord and God:

Yahweh, Jehovah, El Shaddai, Adonai.

(Can I get a Hallelujah?)

Yes ladies and gentlemen…

He is the ideal father,

the Lord of Lords,

King of kings and

Father to fathers and to those who are fatherless and father-spited!

Why??

He is

(a)    Loving!

He loves us so much that we never have to feel alone and unwanted ever again. Psalms 73:25.

He draws us to Himself and clears away any obstacle in the way between us and Him, Romans 8:35

He loves us too much He is willing to do anything for us. John 3:16, Romans 5:8

(b)   Gentle, kind and Good.

As God’s child, you can be assured that nothing comes from God other than that which is good and meant for our own good. Jeremiah 29:11

His gifts are so unconditional such that “the Lord’s gifts are without repentance,” Romans 11:29. So unconditional that if we will it, He shall deliver.

(c)     Powerful, Almighty

If the Lord says He will do something, believe me He will get it done. He has the capability of doing anything He sets His mind on, Mark 9:23, moreover He has given us His power.

Not only is He able to do anything for us, be He is also willing to do it. Romans 8:32

(d)    Protector and Provider

He is the only one standing in the way between us and the ravages of evil spirits. Job 1:10 shows us how the devil complained to God how He had protected Job from Him and furthermore blessed Him abundantly.

He not only provided the Israelites with fresh water, food, and shelter in the exodus, but also protected them against Egyptians, Amalekites, Canaanites and indeed even from Himself.

(e)     Forgiving

He is ready to forgive us when we truly repent of our misdeeds. Him being the Father has the mandate to discipline His children, not because He hates them, but because He loves and cares for them so much He doesn’t want to see them hurt because of indiscipline. Hebrews 12:5-7

He also promises not to keep a record of wrongs (Isaiah 57:16) but He declares that He will separate our sins as far as the east is from the west. (Psalms 103:14)

(f)       He takes care of us

He tells us not to concern ourselves with worldly riches but to focus on Him and everything else shall be added unto us. Matthew 6:30-34.

He promises protection from all enemies Psalms 91 simply because He loves us so and would do anything for us.

THE LIST COULD GO ON AND ON…

Let me tell you something about God, He loves us so much that is we only opened our hearts to Him He would not just receive us, But He would take us to that sacred place where He longs to fellowship with us.

A beautiful God, Perfect Creator and a Flawless Father, What more could I want????

Psalm 73:25

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. (NKJV)

prayer of reconciliation

LORD, let me just be honest,

I can’t sit here and pretend that everything is okay,

That all is perfect and that I’m in paradise

You know that that’s not so

That it cannot be farther from the truth.

Truth is,

I am having trouble in my prayer life

I feel like I’m in the wilderness

Since though everything is seemingly perfect

Underneath it all I’m falling apart

For I do not have the one who holds it all together close to me anymore

I feel lost

Please Father, be not far from me

I’m sorry for my errors

Inadequacies

My human weakness

My failures and my mistakes

How I constantly keep on tumbling back

Even after you pull me up countless time

How my heart keeps on brewing evil

Even after you have washed me

How I so easily fall prey to the enemy

Even after you have equipped me with just the right tools

And the right arsenal to use against the enemy

He somehow finds a way to overthrow me

Even though you’ve promised me that

You can’t allow that I be tempted beyond what I can handle

And that you will always provide a way to escape it

Father, show me your ways

Release your grace

I don’t want to stray

I want to hold steadfastly

In keeping to your will

And regarding your desires in me

I want to live to fulfill the purpose you had for me

When you created me

I want to learn at your feet

What it means to live right

I want to be your student

In certain thing such as praying

Worshipping, serving and even evangelizing

Your gospel

I do want glory

And fame and recognition

But when I look at why I want them

I see what you meant when you said

That we ask because of wrong motives

But if that’s the case

Then I have never done a thing right

Because though I may do the right thing

But is the motive right

Or am I just doing it to gain something somewhere

So I gaze at you

At your standards so high

And I look at myself

A beaten down dog without a leash

Battered because of my own desires

And deceived because of my blindness

Like a sheep

I lead myself to my own slaughter house

So I wonder

How can you still condone me?

How you can even allow continued association with me

Let alone have fellowship with me

You who is so HOLY

And so sinless

Wash me please

Cleanse me with your blood

Take out any trace of sin in me

And remove all forms of wickedness in my life

Create in me a clean heart

And refresh my body

For it is your temple

Take over my life

And all I have

And make

 Me yours

For

All eternity

Then

To prevent me from going back to sin

Come and live in me

Be my driver, controller, and instructor

Anoint me with your Holy Spirit

And safe guard me from my own self

Fill me with your grace

To prevent me from stumbling back

And lead me in the path of righteousness

For your name sake

Jude 1:24-25

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

 And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen. (NKJV)

REALLY, CHRISTIANS, REALLY???

Christians are simple creatures. They really seem not to have much or to live by much but only just the bare minimum, and some more. It’s incredulous how such people can claim to be heirs of the world, under leadership of the “Maker of the universe” or even purport to be content with so little! What a lie, or so it would seem.

A true Christian does not care much about wealth or power or fame and all that, he stands aloof, oblivious of these true goals. Instead he is much more concerned with serving a non-visible being that he cannot perceive by physical eyes, rather by faith!

Yet the most annoying thing is that they think they have it better than everyone else in their vain believes and so they spend every waking moment trying to convince everyone else to adopt their practices.

This is an all too familiar argument among by atheists and skeptics, people who do not believe that there is a god, scientologists who claim that the universe was not created; it evolved from nothingness; basically opponents of Christ and the Christian faith.

That’s not a way to start a note quite frankly, but let me for now. It seems illogical to speak out in such a way so let me explain where I am coming from.

I am a Christian, a believer and in fact a devout Christian in my service of the Lord God. I encountered a bunch of friends who were atheists and skeptics of the existence of a superior being thought to have brought the universe into existence. So like many others I set out to try and convince these people of the truth about my God. Of course I could not agree with the all too familiar argument that “it’s better to live your life as though God exists only to find out that he does not rather than to live our lives as though he doesn’t only to find out that he exists.”

So I tried convincing of His existence and tried even quoting scientific evidence of creation and all that, but I ended up hitting a blank wall. So I was sitting and wondering what the hell happened, how even after I had prayed before I started talking and convincing them I still faced defeat. So I started questioning God what happened, how it ended up that I would face a sore defeat at best.

So God started dealing with me at a personal level. He asked me a series of questions; you can say I was on a hot seat.

First question:

Even after all that arguing I still couldn’t convince the skeptics that God actually existed, but they too never actually managed to shake my Faith in My Lord’s existence, why?

I began to beat around the bush but I couldn’t find a better solution or an answer, so I said to Him, “how can I doubt your existence when I’m actually speaking to you?”

That was sufficient.

Simeon Peter’s argument in Acts 4:20 that we cannot but speak of what we’ve seen and heard were on point. I have seen God’s manifest in my life and I should never be ashamed of saying of how we engage in conversations.

On a light note someone said that God should sometimes be called Jehovah ‘something’ because as people start recognizing that God has been speaking to them all along they start saying “something told me ….” They are afraid to proclaim the truth about their conversational relationship with God.

Second question:

God asked me this, if I believe in Him, not because of what I’ve read in the Bible but because I have experienced being with Him, what makes me think that the skeptics haven’t had such experiences?

A tough question, I admit and it got me thinking that I must be so self-centered to believe that the Creator of all beings manifests more to me than to other beings, even to animals. He says that He loves everyone equally and no partiality.

Now I got to understand His insistence on FAITH! See if you do not believe then you will always find an excuse… no no, let me rectify, if you have allowed yourself to be deceived that He doesn’t exist then the deceiver will always find a way of convincing you that He is not there, no matter what He does and no matter how much He manifests Himself in your life. It adds up since people who claim to commune with God are referred to as liars at best and schizophrenic at the worst.

Third question:

What do you think I am doing about reaching to these people?

I must admit I really thought about it, and finally having no answer I chose to hear about it. So He sent me on a quest to research on anyone who ever prayed to Him that “God, if you really exist…” and how they were answered.

After a not-so-intensive-research, I came with an answer, He does NOTHING! (You can re-read that if you didn’t get that the first time)

Yep, He does not do a single thing, why? I found the answer to that in Romans 1:20 that the evidence of His existence is fully manifest even of His invincible qualities such as the Godhead so that they are without excuse!! (I’ve paraphrased) but generally you get the point. It’s pretty clear that God exists even more He loves us so we cannot claim not to know, the same chapter says that they’ve exchanged the truth about God for a lie.

I don’t want to point a finger but here is the deal,

God exists,

He cares for you,

He wants to speak to you,

He LOVES us so much,

Just take time and listen to Him, open up your heart to this simple truth,

And you’ll come to experience a love like no other

A life so fulfilling

And a promise so secure,

Trust me, I know, I’ve lived through it!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Now I understand that there are people out there who are quite concerned about what I’ve said, tell you what, take a breath, think it through… no one is judging.

I am not going to appeal to logistics at all, I wish you to perceive beyond that point. If you are open up to it, out of the sincerity of your heart (not how we dare God move a particular object or strike us with lightning) let Him reveal Himself at a personal relationship, pray to Him, ask Him to show Himself to you. If you are honestly confused and are in fact really wondering about this and not just another proud guy who just won’t admit of His existence, He will come to you and dine with you and you with Him Revelation 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (NKJV)

If you are sincere about your desire to know that God exists then ask Him, He who looks at our hearts will show Himself to anyone who really and sincerely want to know Him.