OPINION: Faith to be a godly father
As I began to personalise Scripture, God the Father became a reality in my life.
Regardless of who you are or how you grew up, you can be a good and Godly father. Our city, our society and in fact the world needs good, Godly fathers. A good, Godly father is one of the most unsung, unpraised and unnoticed, yet the most valuable asset of our society.
God intended for fathers to be more than just providers. A father is also the protector, priest, guide, teacher and disciplinarian. Potentially, the father is the best possible teacher about God that a child can have, for the father is the human counterpart of God the Father. Even when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He taught them to use the term: “Our Father who art in heaven”.
(Matt. 6:9). He taught His disciples to think of God in terms of a wise, devoted, loving, generous, forgiving Father. The child who never had the privilege of knowing a loving father has a serious handicap at the point of never getting to know and understand the nature of God.
To be a true Godly father, you yourself need to be “Born Again”. John 3:16 (AMP) changed my life: “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized (Nevil – You can put your own name in there) the world, that He even gave up His only Son, so that whoever (again I put my name in there) believes in Him may not perish … but have eternal life”.
As I began to personalise Scripture, God the Father became a reality in my life. He was no longer just God up in heaven, but He was my God and my God was also my heavenly Father, my Abba Father. Abba is the expression of warm affection. Rom. 8:15 (AMP) says: “For the spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit producing Sonship in the bliss of which we cry Abba Father.” So when you get “Born Again” you receive from God the Father a “Spirit of Sonship”. This breaks the spirit of rejection in you and over you. Now God is your God, your true, loving and caring heavenly Father and because of this you can be a true, loving father to your children. Now you can ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what it is to be a true Godly earthly father.
Here are just a couple of practical thoughts in terms of fatherhood:
1. Give your children the greatest gift by believing in them and telling them that you believe in them and that they are special.
2. Don’t be so concerned about your children not really listening to you, although listening is important, be more concerned about them watching you.
3. Daddy let your child be sure of your protection.
4. Don’t just be a Father, be a Dad. Be Abba Father. Your child only has one Daddy.
5. Daddy do your child a great favor by loving their mother. They need a man and a Dad.
6. Daddy, if you are divorced, don’t break your child’s mother down through speaking disrespectfully about her, regardless of the situation.
7. Daddy remember that each day you make deposits into the memory bank of your children. Make valuable deposits.
8. Daddy don’t keep telling your child what they are doing wrong and just increase their feelings of guilt, show them and help them to do things right and grow their confidence.
9. Daddy, above all, love your children by showing and telling them that you love them.
Love covers a multitude of sins! I’m praying for every Daddy.
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