Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – June 13, 2014
The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness. Isaiah 38:19
Where are the faithful fathers? Where can they be found? They can be found in church, on the little league ballfields, building sandcastles at the beach, and on their knees in prayer for their child’s future spouse. They camp in the woods, buy ice cream, go shopping, teach the Bible to middle school youth, and coach high school athletes. They can be found in stable societies and in cultures that love Christ. Faithful fathers matter.
Faithful fathers are not a fantasy, but a reality rooted in the fear of the Lord and care for their own children. They are compelled by their heavenly Father to provide a home that nurtures, disciplines, accepts, and loves. Determined dads research and discover creative ways to win over their child’s heart for Christ.
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
Faithful fathers are friends with Jesus. They see Him as a model of unselfish service, generous giving, radical responsibility, and the ability to put the needs of others before His own needs. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10). Dedicated dads find strength to carry on from Christ’s affirmation and accolades. They father for the audience of their heavenly Father.
Lastly, faithful fathers lead their children to know, love, and obey their heavenly Father. This is your most vital role as a dad. Children learn from your life how to live, but they need to hear from your lips how to believe. Tell them the scriptural stories of salvation, sin, forgiveness, and faith. Joseph’s perseverance, Esther’s courage, Moses’ leadership, David’s repentance, and Ruth’s encouragement, are character qualities for them to emulate. Ask God for wisdom and grace to be a faithful father.
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
Prayer: How does my heavenly Father love me? How does He want me to love my children?
Related Readings: Psalm 44:1–2; Malachi 4:6; Luke 1:7; 1 Corinthians 4:15
Post/Tweet today: Determined dads research and discover creative ways to win over their child’s heart for Christ. #wisdomhunters
Taken from the June 15th reading in Boyd’s 365-day devotional book, “Seeking Daily the Heart of God vol. 2” … http://bit.ly/Tv6y9a
Free eBook when you sign up 5 friends for the free email devotional…https://www.wisdomhunters.com/invite-your-friends/
© 2014 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.
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Do you all still send out via email the devotional? I was receiving it, then it stopped. So I signed up again, but did not receive it. So I have signed up again. Can you help me with this?
I would also like to say that there is another place where faithful fathers can be found — behind prison walls. My husband and I are the founders of Possum Talks, a day-and-a-half workshop for inmate dads that gives them tools to become Faithful Fathers, as modeled by the faithful father in the story of the prodigal son. As we remind our “possums” (that’s a story unto itself), Faithful Fathers never, ever give up. These men have incredible challenges and roadblocks to become that faithful father that most are ill equipped to be. But what a blessing to see them buckle down and determine to become the fathers God intended them to be: Faithful Fathers who never, ever give up. And I very much enjoy your daily devotionals. God bless you.
Dear Jimmy,
Thank you for contacting us with your question. I am sorry you stopped receiving the devotionals. Yes, we do send them to our fellow wisdom hunters via email and unfortunately, unexpectedly, they are stopped, for no apparent reason.
Several email providers block wisdom hunters from time to time without our knowledge. We will reinstate your email address today and hopefully, you will start receiving the devotional right away.
Also, if you would add: info@mail.wisdomhuntersdevotional.com to your address book, this may help if your devotional is getting sent to your junk mail.
Please let us know if you do not start receiving the devotionals and we will look into it further.
Thank you Jimmy. We are so thankful for you and appreciate your comittment to Wisdom Hunters!
Blessings to you and yours.
Believing and trusting~
Gwynne
Dear Shari~
Thank you so much for reaching out to us at Wisdom Hunters and bless you for the work you and your husband are doing with our fathers behind prison walls. What amazing work for the Kingdom! Wow! We would love to know more about “Possum Talks”. Could you email me at gwynne@wisdomhunters.com with more details of this faithful outreach?
What a blessing you all must be to these Dads and to their children as they try to be the fathers God intended them to be. Our Heavenly Father loves them so much and sent His Son to die for them, along with all of us.
Looking forward to hearing from you and learning more about “Possum Talks” (and please, let me know how you came up with the name!!)
We are so thankful that you are a fellow wisdom hunter!
Believing and trusting~
Gwynne