Church Notes: Father's Day Edition (Pastor Peter Ayo-Alabi)
Dear Reader,
Today’s exhortation from the Identity series was different as it we had a special feature for
father’s day. God, our father models what being a father is to us by being our
source, having the largest heart, being our present help in time of need,
blessing us and choosing the families we came to the world through. Amazing
love in its purest form! Thank you God for fathering us! In addition, Happy Father’s
day to all dads and dad-to-be’s! God’s blessings always!
Following our identity in Christ, as believers we are
exhorted to continually feed your faith through studying and reading the word
of God, praying and confessing the word of God daily. This simply put refers to
measuring how fit we are spiritually. We cannot tell how fit we are until there
is a demand. If you feed your faith when you don’t need it, you will be feed
and fueled by faith when you need it. Hence, we are to continue in God’s word,
know the truth and understand it in its simplicity. This helps you to be a
disciple by continuing in the things of God and his word.
Understanding the commensurate grace of the Father
emanates from understanding who God is. The Greek word “Abba” means “Father” and
this refers to “The Source”. As we all know, every man came from a place; hence,
spiritual fatherhood represents our link to God, while our physical fatherhood
represents our relationship with God as God chose our families for us. Abraham
modeled the ultimate father, God, by fathering with God’s agenda in Genesis
18:17-19. He did not father with a personal or secret agenda.
In fatherhood, a key thing to note is biologically, a
father is the first human face of God to his children. This does not mean
fatherhood should be your physical or spiritual ambition and status; it must be
by the leading of God. As much as we see family planning as a scientific thing,
it is spiritual (you can ask God for the number of kids you want, when they
should come and know their personality traits before they come), and it must be
done by the leading of God. I Corinthians 4:14-17.
Highlighted are key marks of a father. These include:
- Largeness
of heart: A father should accommodate several persons regardless
of uniqueness and diversity. This is portrayed in the ability to forgive,
forget and reconcile (like accounting, balancing the books and bringing things
back to position);
- Presence:
A father need not be omniscient, but his children should feel his
impact in their lives. Here, out of sight is not out of mind. A father stands
with his children through thick and thin and is not embarrassed by their
failures or intimidated by their successes. John 16:32 & John 8:29;
- Supernatural
foreknowledge: A father knows the needs of his children before they
ask, this is easier with God, as God’s plan for each child’s future is revealed
to the father to protect them from evil, provide in due course and usher good
till it gets to his children;
- Foresight:
A father sees people and things before his children as Joseph saw
the liberation of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land in Genesis 50:24 -25;
- Training: A father is characterized by an unmistaken grace to almost effortlessly discipline his children, this means to father with firmness – love, tenderness and foresight. This is not bullying your children as everything fathers do should be guided by love! John 8:28 & Proverbs 4:1-7; and
- Blessing: A father blesses, he should not be S.A.M (silent, absent and missing), but he has the grace, authority and responsibility to bless – father’s blessings are key as seen when Esau was asking for Isaac’s blessings after he had blessed Jacob in Genesis 27:4, 25:34.
In conclusion, as children in order to provoke the
father’s blessings, we have to be thoughtful. These blessings provoke great joy
and ease in life. Please read - Genesis
48:9, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 24:50-53, Genesis 18:19.
In addition, there is a #PaulinePrayerChallenge for
the next two months until August 20, 2020. We are encouraged to join in by
daily praying the Pauline prayers. See listed my
- Romans 1:8–10, 10:1, 12:12, 15:13,30,33;
- I Corinthians 1:4-9, 16:23, II Corinthians 2:14-16,
9:12-14, 12:7-9, 13:7-9;
- Galatians 6:18, Ephesians 1:3, 15-23, Ephesians 3:
14-21, 6:19&20, Philippians 1:3-6,9-11, 4:23,
- Colossians 1:13-14, 4:2-4, I Thessalonians 1:2-3,
13-16, 3:9-13, 5: 23-24,28;
- II Thessalonians 1:3, 11&12, 2:16-17, 3:2-5, 16, I
timothy 1: 12, 2:1; and
- II Timothy 1:3-7, 16-18, 4:22, Titus 3:15, Philemon
4-7 & 25.
Stay blessed!
Aramide 💞
Thank you for this, I was greatly blessed.
ReplyDeleteThank God!! 🤎🤎🤎
DeleteThank you for this amazing write up. God bless
ReplyDeleteAmen! Stay blessed too. 🤎
Delete