This is the manuscript of a sermon preached on Father's Day June 17, 2018 at Church of Divine Guidance Los Angeles, CA
Father's Day was inaugurated in the United States in the early 20th century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting.
Father's Day was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about ' Mother's Day in 1909, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them.
It did not have much success initially. Americans resisted the holiday during a few decades, perceiving it as just an attempt by merchants to replicate the commercial success of Mother's Day.
In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "[singling] out just one of our two parents".
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972
THE MOST WONDERFUL FATHER OF THEM ALL
Well, here it is Father’s Day again. I am always amazed at how we treat Father’s Day. On Mother’s Day we often hear sermons exalting the role of the mother in the family. Mothers are encouraged, praised and lifted up as the most important person in the home. And, we should thank the Lord for godly mothers.
Then there’s Father’s Day. Dad comes to church and hears a sermon on how he does not measure up as a father. He is told about some biblical father and the perfect life he lived, and dad leaves feeling like a failure who will never measure up as a dad. Well dad, I have two pieces of news for you today. First, you are a special person too! You are just as important as mom. Many experts now believe that fathers can be just as nurturing and sensitive with their babies as mothers. [4] As their children grow, fathers take on added roles of guiding their children's intellectual and social development. Even when a father is 'just playing' with his children, he is nurturing their development.Second, today you do not have to listen to a sermon telling you how you could do a better job as a father.
Because Today, I want to talk about The Most Wonderful Father Of Them All.
Luke 12:29-32 NKJV “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
I'm gonna talk about the One Jesus referred to as “My Father” fifty-three times in the Gospels. But, when Jesus talked about the Father, He did not just call Him “My Father.” He also called God “Our Father” Jesus clearly shows us that those who believe on Him share the same relationship with God in Heaven that He Himself shares
Matthew 6:9 NKJV In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Luke 11:2 NKJV So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
But, if you do the research, you will find that it gets even better than that! Jesus calls God “your Father” twenty-one times in the Gospels as well! It’s in our main scripture, Luke 12:29-32 twice. It’s also in John 20:17. When Mary Magdalene recognize Jesus in the garden after His resurrection.
John 20:17 NIV Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
I want to encourage everybody today not just the Father's to rejoice in your relationship with your Father, God. I want us to The Most Wonderful Father Of Them All.
The Jews, the people Jesus was talking to, in Luke, had no concept of God as a “Father.” They saw Him as Jehovah, God Almighty. They would never have thought of God in such intimate of terms. So, when Jesus called God “Father”, it was a totally new concept and it even angered many of them.
The Jews had dozens of names for God. What they needed at any given time usually dictated the name that they used to call on God. We often do the same thing today. For instance:
1. If we have a need we call on "Jehovah-jireh", which means, "The Lord will provide."
Genesis 22:14 NIV So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”2. If we’re anxious, we call on "Jehovah-shalom", which means "The Lord our peace."
Judges 6:24 NIV So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.3. If we're lonely, or afraid, we might call on "Jehovah-shammah", which means "The Lord is there."
Ezekiel 48:35 NIV “The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. “And the name of the city from that time on will be: the Lord is there.”4. If we need leadership, we call on "Jehovah-rohi", which means "The Lord our Shepherd."
Psalm 23:1 NIV The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.5. If we're sick, we call on "Jehovah-rapha", which means "The Lord our healer"
Exodus 15:26 NIV He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord , who heals you.”There are literally dozens more, but you get the picture. When these people needed to get a hold of God, they referred to Him by these various names. However, for those who are in Jesus, there is a different name that we can use to speak to God. This name was revealed to the Disciples in what is known as "The Lord's Prayer". The disciples had seen the amazing prayer life of Jesus and they wanted the same access to God, so they asked Him to teach them how to pray. Since they were Jews they probably expected to hear which name He would give them to use in their prayers. They must have been really surprised when Jesus spoke the word "Father." The word that Jesus used was the Aramaic word “abba”, which translates to the English word “daddy”.
Today those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior have that kind of relationship with God.
We Have A Personal Relationship –
Luke 12:30, 32 NKJV For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
The title “your Father” reflects a very personal relationship. At the instant that you make your confession of faith and accept Jesus into your life you are brought into a very personal relationship with the God of the universe. You are actually “adopted” into the family of God. The word “adoption” literally means “to place as a son.” That person instantly becomes a child of God in heaven.
Romans 8:15-17 NIV The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “ Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
In adoption a son or daughter is brought into a family and is given the same rights as a child who is born into that family.
John 3:1-2 NIV See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
This is a remarkable thing when you stop to think about it because according to the Bible before salvation you are a slave to the world, the flesh and the devil, and God’s enemy.
Romans 8:7 NIV The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Ephesians 2:1-2 NIV As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
It's true that those who refuse to become God’s children, are doomed and condemned to an eternity in Hell as it says
John 3:18 NIV Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
The sad fact is this: every person in the entire world who has not been saved is in this horrible, lost condition.
When you stop to consider the truth that a lost, hell-bound, hell-deserving sinner could even be saved by the grace of God, the fact that same person becomes a child of God through Jesus is profound. We can’t really grasp how an enemy can become a son or daughter and an heir with the same personal relationship as Jesus.
John 17:20-23 NIV “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
When God adopted us into His family, He did not do it for just a while. He did it for all eternity! You see, adoption, as it was practiced in biblical times, could not be undone. A man had the right to disown his natural children; but an adopted child was a child for life. He or she could never be disowned by the father. This is the same guarantee that we have today.
John 10:28-29 NIV I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 6:37-40 NIV All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
Philippians 1:6 NIV being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
What God does when He saves a someone is a done deal it's forever.
Just as a human father has certain responsibilities to the children that are born to him; God has taken on many responsibilities in relation to His children. Here are a few of those responsibilities.
Luke 12:30 NKJV For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
The Bible says that He knows that we need things. The Greek verb for “have need” is in a tense that means our needs are “many and they are constant.” In other words we are a needy people!
Even though we all have needs and we all have them all the time; God is well aware of every single one of them! You see, the word “knows means “to be aware of something.” The tense of this verb means that “He is always aware of everything that affects His children.” We may not always know, but our Heavenly Father always knows.
Nothing happens in your life or mine that goes unnoticed by our Father. He’s always aware.
Luke 12:24, 26-28 NKJV Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
Then one of our favorites;
Romans 8:28 NKJV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
God is aware of everything that is going on, and that is going wrong, in our lives.
Too often our focus is on the physical and the material; but we also have needs in the emotional, mental and spiritual areas of life. Regardless of what the need is, He’s aware of it.
It isn’t enough for the Lord just to know what His children need; He must be able to meet those needs, or His knowledge of our needs doesn't do us any good.
Luke 12:31-32 NKJV But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
According to this passage, God not only has the power to take care of us but it pleases Him to do it.
Like a wealthy, benevolent king, God has the wherewithal to meet every need that arises in the lives of each of His children. When He says “all these things shall be added unto you”. He has the ability to back up that promise.
Many people live in doubt of God’s great ability to care for His people; but I would like to remind you that if God can speak this universe into existence, He can take care of you. If He can keep Noah safe through that flood; keep the three Hebrew boys safe in the furnace; protect Daniel in the lion’s den; feed Israel manna in the wilderness for forty years; part the Red Sea ; raise Jesus from the dead; and countless other things too numerous to mention; I think He is able to take care of you!
He is able. God will never fail. He is eternally able to perfectly care for His children!
God’s awareness of our needs and His power to help us is a wonderful thing; but if He is a God who is far removed from His children, then His power does us no good! He must be available.
Before Moses died God gave him some instructions to give to Joshua in preparation of their entrance into the Promised Land, into Canaan, He told Moses to tell Joshua.
Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you”
Then He told Joshua directly
Joshua 1:7-9 NIV “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Here's what David said about God’s availability;
Psalm 139:7-12 NIV Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Then Jesus told His disciples;
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
God is always available to His children. He is as close to us as a simple prayer of faith!
There are times when we are not as available as we should be. Sometimes we are busy. Sometimes one problem or the other gets in the way. But, that's not true with God! He is always near and He is always available.
While we can count on God doing His part perfectly; there are times when we, as children, fall short on our end. We have a role too.
Luke 12:29 NKJV “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
Jesus said that we shouldn't have an anxious mind. This phrase means “to be agitated or harassed with cares.” It is a term that was used to describe a ship that was being tossed about upon a stormy sea. Here, it is used a metaphor for worry. Jesus is saying, “Child of God, do not allow your mind to be tossed up and down by the waves of worry, doubt and fear.”
Back to verse 32 again.
Luke 12:32 NKJV “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
We are told to “fear not.” That phrase means “to be seized with fear.” In Greek the phrase”fear not” is in the “middle voice.” That may not mean much to you but it means that it could be read this way, “Do not allow yourself to be seized with fear.”
Jesus is challenging us to learn to trust God; regardless of what circumstances may look like. There are times when it may appear that there is no solution; never count God out! Learn to look to Him and to trust in His power in every circumstance.
Psalm 62:8 NIV Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 46:1-3 NIV God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Always remember that we serve a God Who is Sovereign. That is, He is in absolute control, even when things look impossible, they are not impossible, if God is in control of them! Trust in the Lord and He will never allow you to be put to shame.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Romans 10:11 NKJV For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
We Must Alao Be Faithful –
Luke 12:31 NKJV But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
If we want to experience the awesome power of God in our lives we must be faithful in seeking Him daily. The word “seek” means “to crave something.” We are to crave, or desire the things of God above of all other things in our lives. When we put Him first; God will put us first! However, when our desires are misplaced; we miss out on the Lord’s best for our lives. When He is first, you never have to worry about the rest.
God remains faithful even when we fail Him and ignore Him, He is always our Father but, we miss out His best when we fail to put Him first. If God, His Word, or time with Him, are not the priorities of your life you need to change your priorities. When you put Him first on your priority list, He’ll keep you at the very top of His.
God truly is the most wonderful Father of all! The fact that He would love the unworthy, save them by His grace and adopt them into His family proves this. Add to this the fact that He looks out for His children and takes care of them in spectacular fashion. I am glad that He is my Father today on Father's Day.
The title “your Father” reflects a very personal relationship. At the instant that you make your confession of faith and accept Jesus into your life you are brought into a very personal relationship with the God of the universe. You are actually “adopted” into the family of God. The word “adoption” literally means “to place as a son.” That person instantly becomes a child of God in heaven.
Romans 8:15-17 NIV The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “ Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
In adoption a son or daughter is brought into a family and is given the same rights as a child who is born into that family.
John 3:1-2 NIV See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Our Relationship is Not Only Personal but also A Profound Relationship –
Romans 8:7 NIV The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Ephesians 2:1-2 NIV As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
It's true that those who refuse to become God’s children, are doomed and condemned to an eternity in Hell as it says
John 3:18 NIV Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
The sad fact is this: every person in the entire world who has not been saved is in this horrible, lost condition.
When you stop to consider the truth that a lost, hell-bound, hell-deserving sinner could even be saved by the grace of God, the fact that same person becomes a child of God through Jesus is profound. We can’t really grasp how an enemy can become a son or daughter and an heir with the same personal relationship as Jesus.
John 17:20-23 NIV “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Our Relationship with God is A Personally Relationship, A Profound Relationship, and It is A Permanent Relationship –
When God adopted us into His family, He did not do it for just a while. He did it for all eternity! You see, adoption, as it was practiced in biblical times, could not be undone. A man had the right to disown his natural children; but an adopted child was a child for life. He or she could never be disowned by the father. This is the same guarantee that we have today.
John 10:28-29 NIV I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 6:37-40 NIV All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
Philippians 1:6 NIV being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
What God does when He saves a someone is a done deal it's forever.
A DISCUSSION OF GOD’S RESPONSIBILITIES
He’s Always Aware
The Bible says that He knows that we need things. The Greek verb for “have need” is in a tense that means our needs are “many and they are constant.” In other words we are a needy people!
Even though we all have needs and we all have them all the time; God is well aware of every single one of them! You see, the word “knows means “to be aware of something.” The tense of this verb means that “He is always aware of everything that affects His children.” We may not always know, but our Heavenly Father always knows.
Nothing happens in your life or mine that goes unnoticed by our Father. He’s always aware.
Luke 12:24, 26-28 NKJV Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
Then one of our favorites;
Romans 8:28 NKJV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
God is aware of everything that is going on, and that is going wrong, in our lives.
Too often our focus is on the physical and the material; but we also have needs in the emotional, mental and spiritual areas of life. Regardless of what the need is, He’s aware of it.
Not Only Is He Aware He is Also Able
Luke 12:31-32 NKJV But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
According to this passage, God not only has the power to take care of us but it pleases Him to do it.
Like a wealthy, benevolent king, God has the wherewithal to meet every need that arises in the lives of each of His children. When He says “all these things shall be added unto you”. He has the ability to back up that promise.
Many people live in doubt of God’s great ability to care for His people; but I would like to remind you that if God can speak this universe into existence, He can take care of you. If He can keep Noah safe through that flood; keep the three Hebrew boys safe in the furnace; protect Daniel in the lion’s den; feed Israel manna in the wilderness for forty years; part the Red Sea ; raise Jesus from the dead; and countless other things too numerous to mention; I think He is able to take care of you!
He is able. God will never fail. He is eternally able to perfectly care for His children!
He’s Aware, He's Able, and He's Available –
Before Moses died God gave him some instructions to give to Joshua in preparation of their entrance into the Promised Land, into Canaan, He told Moses to tell Joshua.
Deuteronomy 31:6 NKJV Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you”
Then He told Joshua directly
Joshua 1:7-9 NIV “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Here's what David said about God’s availability;
Psalm 139:7-12 NIV Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Then Jesus told His disciples;
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
God is always available to His children. He is as close to us as a simple prayer of faith!
There are times when we are not as available as we should be. Sometimes we are busy. Sometimes one problem or the other gets in the way. But, that's not true with God! He is always near and He is always available.
A DISCUSSION OF OUR ROLE
While we can count on God doing His part perfectly; there are times when we, as children, fall short on our end. We have a role too.
We Must Have Faith
Jesus said that we shouldn't have an anxious mind. This phrase means “to be agitated or harassed with cares.” It is a term that was used to describe a ship that was being tossed about upon a stormy sea. Here, it is used a metaphor for worry. Jesus is saying, “Child of God, do not allow your mind to be tossed up and down by the waves of worry, doubt and fear.”
Back to verse 32 again.
Luke 12:32 NKJV “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
We are told to “fear not.” That phrase means “to be seized with fear.” In Greek the phrase”fear not” is in the “middle voice.” That may not mean much to you but it means that it could be read this way, “Do not allow yourself to be seized with fear.”
Jesus is challenging us to learn to trust God; regardless of what circumstances may look like. There are times when it may appear that there is no solution; never count God out! Learn to look to Him and to trust in His power in every circumstance.
Psalm 62:8 NIV Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 46:1-3 NIV God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Always remember that we serve a God Who is Sovereign. That is, He is in absolute control, even when things look impossible, they are not impossible, if God is in control of them! Trust in the Lord and He will never allow you to be put to shame.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Romans 10:11 NKJV For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
We Must Alao Be Faithful –
Luke 12:31 NKJV But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
If we want to experience the awesome power of God in our lives we must be faithful in seeking Him daily. The word “seek” means “to crave something.” We are to crave, or desire the things of God above of all other things in our lives. When we put Him first; God will put us first! However, when our desires are misplaced; we miss out on the Lord’s best for our lives. When He is first, you never have to worry about the rest.
God remains faithful even when we fail Him and ignore Him, He is always our Father but, we miss out His best when we fail to put Him first. If God, His Word, or time with Him, are not the priorities of your life you need to change your priorities. When you put Him first on your priority list, He’ll keep you at the very top of His.
God truly is the most wonderful Father of all! The fact that He would love the unworthy, save them by His grace and adopt them into His family proves this. Add to this the fact that He looks out for His children and takes care of them in spectacular fashion. I am glad that He is my Father today on Father's Day.
