Monday, June 13, 2011

A Father's Love......

The Lord's Table
Our Heavenly Father invites us all!


This coming Sunday it will be a day to honor FATHERS!  I love this day because I am full of gratitude to be married to a wonderful Christian man who loves and adores children!  He loved ours before they were born and everyday he truly devotes himself to others who are important in his life.  God smiled on our children to give them such an amazing father.  He was there when they were born, he was there when they learned to walk, he was there when they learned to ride a bike, he was there to dry their tears when they fell or were hurting, he was there to show them how to live, he was there everyday of their lives and still is!  He is a gift! I am truly grateful! My own father was not present much in my life.  That is one of the reasons that I treasure so much the love I see my husband have for our family.  Sometimes, one has to wait and be patient to see how God will restore what is lost.  But be sure, HE WILL!!!


A father's love is such a special kind of love.  It is modeled after our Father in Heaven who loves and cares for His own children, created and fashioned in HIS own image.  In the beginning of creation, His sole intent was to create a perfect place for families to live and grow and be nurtured by His love and tender care.  He provided everything that they would need for a happy and wonderful life.  Those, blessed to have families know the value of a loving Father in the home.  A shepherd so to speak.  One who guides and provides for his family and sees his role in that light.  A Godly home can be a haven for those who dwell within it's walls.  God provides for families, according to the size of each one.  In the book of Genesis, in the story of Joseph, when Joseph's brothers came to him in need of food during the famine in Egypt, "Joseph provided his father, and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to their little ones."  states Genesis 47:12  For us also, there is a Heavenly Father who provides for every need that a family has.  So whether it is one, two, three, four, or five, or more......God will provide for the size of a family.  It is a loving attribute of a Father's love.  Prayer and faith working together builds strong families.  The foundation that is built upon a belief in God as our Father opens our lives to blessings.  Showers of blessings!


One of the most special examples of a Father's love and the blessings of a Godly father is found in Chapter 15 of Luke.  It is the story of the Prodigal son.  It's the story of a certain man who had two sons and the younger son asked for his share of the inheritance early.  He gathered all his belongings and went off to a distant country and he squandered his estate with loose living.  He found himself at the worst possible place.....without work and without food.  It was at that point, he remembered the "father" who had loved and cared for him and graciously had given him his inheritance.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit brought this loving thought of his wonderful father into his mind.  It doesn't matter how it happened but the truth is, the Bible says it did!  He quickly set out to go to his father's house and while he was still a long way off his father saw him, and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  The son told to father that he had sinned against heaven and in his sight and that he was no longer worthy to be his son......the father just was so happy to see his son, nothing else mattered....his son was home!  He called for the fattest calf to be roasted and the dancing and merry times to begin.  What an amazing evening that must have been!  Tears, embraces, forgiveness, unconditional love abounding and abounding.  It does not matter, my friend what you've ever done.....A Father's Love is ready to embrace you.  I just imagine that father, on his knees, praying everyday for his son to come home.  A Father's love intercedes for his children.  There are times when one doesn't know exactly what to say or how to pray.  It doesn't matter.  The Heavenly Father's love is available to take your words and fashion them in a way that will be presented before a Throne full of grace and love.  Know for SURE.....God loves you!