This Sunday is Father’s Day, and we will be doing a Child Dedication service at Eagleville Bible Church! I am always blessed to see parents dedicating themselves and their children to the purposes and plans of God in their lives.
I am also so excited for the line up of songs that we will be singing this Sunday, because they all point us towards freedom we have in Christ when we allow Him to be Lord of all of our whole lives! When we say, “My Heart is Yours” to God, we can expect His blessing and favor upon our lives, and we can expect to see His purposes fulfilled in us! I can’t think of anything more exciting than that! Here is the set list of songs that we will be singing this Sunday (6/20/21):
- No Longer Slaves (Youtube Link)
- Rom 8:14-16,
- 1 Pet 2:9,
- Ps 32:7,
- Zeph 3:17,
- We are Free Forever (Youtube Link)
- Gal 5:1,
- John 3:16,
- Rom 7:24-25(a),
- Rom 6:11,
- Rom 6:17,
- Goodness of God (Youtube Link)
- Lam 3:22-23 (ESV),
- Ps 103:8,
- Ps 145:8-9,
- Ps 23:6,
- My Heart is Yours (Youtube Link)
- Exod 33:14-15,
- Matt 16:24,
- Ps 51:10,
- Ps 143:10,
- Ps 86:10,
- My Beloved (Youtube Link)
- Song of Sol 2:10 (ESV),
- 1 Thess 4:14-17,
- Rev 21:4,
- John 1:4,
Devotional Thought
How does it feel to you when your Dad says he loves you? I know that for some that question will be hard to answer, but for the majority of people we are all looking for that affirming voice of our Father that confirms his love for us. It is so secure, so comforting, so protecting to hear these words coming from our loving Father.
It breaks my heart each time I think of those in this world that have not heard these words from the earthly Father, or maybe do not even want to hear them because of the pain and hurt they feel from their Dad. I want you to know that you have a Father in Heaven that absolutely loves and cares for you! He will never abandon you, whether physically or emotionally! He has a covenant with you that if you should so choose to enter into that covenant with Him will seal His commitment to be with you forever, to protect you, to provide for you, to fight your battles, to enjoy you! This is what your Father in Heaven wants to do for you! He can’t wait till you and I come to Him and submit our hearts to Him, asking Him to loving lead us through this life through the coaching presence of His Holy Spirit! He, and all of the Angels of Heaven, rejoice together when one sinner comes to repentance and asks Him to save them! This is your Father!
All-too-often our perspective of the earthly Father we have clouds our vision of the True Father in Heaven! We must protect ourselves from creating an image of the Divine based upon the image portrayed by the physical. Your Dad may not have been the most loving, present, and caring Father, but that doesn’t mean the Father in Heaven isn’t going to be that for you. I know it is difficult to envision another type of Father than the one you have/had, but I assure you that our King in Heaven is a Good Father that longs for you to feel and know that you are loved and cherished!
God is full of goodness, and it is His desire to share that goodness with His children! The Bible says that His goodness actually pursues us all of our days. Think about that for a minute – God’s goodness is chasing after you (Ps 23:6)! Not only His goodness chasing us, but His faithfulness too! Your Dad may have abandoned you, misused you, treated you in very hurtful and demeaning ways, but I want to assure you that will never happen with the perfect Father in Heaven! We can trust Him. We can rest in His warm embrace and bring all of our cares to Him and He will never turn us away!
Look what John wrote in 1 John 3:1-2:
1 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are!… 3:2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now…
1 John 3:1-2
Paul also writes in affirmation of this text in Romans and Galatians. Check out these texts:
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.
Rom 8:15-16
4But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.
Galatians 4:4–7 (NET)
“Abba, Father”. These words were used of Jesus so often throughout the Gospels, because He had that intimate relationship with His Father that we can now access because of Christ’s sacrifice! Abba is an endearing term that literally can be understood as, “Daddy”. When Jesus prayed to the Father, He usually started with, “Abba”- or “Daddy”. When Jesus was going through one of the most difficult times of agony recorded in His life, He cried out “”Abba”, Father” (see Mark 14:36). I believe that Christ is a good example to follow, so I would say that when we are feeling pressure, agony, a lack of guidance, and so-on, it would be the best thing to call out to our Heavenly Abba for help!
So many of us who have had good earthly relationships with our earthly Father’s can attest to the value of being able to go to our Daddy and ask for his help and guidance. There is such a sense of security and protection to know and sense that no matter what your daddy will be there for you and with you! It is an awesome, and empowering, feeling that each of us can experience through our God and Father in Heaven.
This happens to its fullest degree as we submit and surrender our hearts over to His Lordship, and seek to trust Him in every area of our life. He calls us His beloved for a reason, because that is what we are! He loves us and is absolutely trustworthy with our deepest feelings of worth, adequacy, value, fear, love, and any other emotion that we may be struggling with! Take those concerns to your Father and have a time where you sit on His lap and get reminded of your infinitely precious value in His sight! Ps 139 tells us that His thoughts toward us are innumerable, more than the sand on the seashore! Be blessed by that thought, and allow it to compel your prayer life to going deeper and more intimate with the lover of your soul, child of God!
So, as we recognize that by the love and sacrifice of Jesus our Lord we are freed forever from being slaves to sin and the ways of the world, and we hear the words of the Father in Heaven calling us His beloved children, we will more freely give our hearts fully over to Him and will experience the goodness of God to its fullest measure! So, get to it today and grow more and more in your relationship with the Good and Perfect Father who loves you.
God bless you!
*If you have experienced pain and hurt from your father and you are having a hard time forgiving and finding freedom from this hurt, please contact Eagleville Bible Church (click here) and we will gladly provide resources and try to help in whatever way that we can. This is an unfortunate reality for so many in our culture today, and I pray that the God of all comfort will be ministering to you and providing healing to those areas of your life that have been deeply impacted by the careless actions of your earthly father. Look to the Heavenly Father to provide the acceptance, identity, security, and purpose that you so desperately wanted to be fulfilled through your dad. There is a God who loves you and has a plan for your life, please run to Him for the fulfillment of those needs you rightfully have! He is the only One who can adequately provide them for you! God bless you and I am sorry that you have had to endure such pain and hurt from your earthly father. It is such a difficult wound to heal from, but through the love of your Heavenly Father, the salvation of the Son, and the guiding counsel of Holy Spirit – YOU CAN find the healing you need!
