As we continue this year the next plan I have selected to go through is “Finding Dad” which is a 7-day devotional from the Bible.com site by Luke Cunningham and published by The Ark Church. It caught my attention as I was looking for my next dad related devotional because it says in the introductory paragraph:
Jesus didn’t come to replace the role of dad, He came to redeem it! In Finding Dad we discover how to forgive, heal, and reconcile the father wound while finding trust, protection, and identity in our heavenly Father.
Finding Dad on Bible.com
Today’s devotional relates to the following verses: Mark 14:35-36, Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 9:10, Psalm 37:3-5, and Isaiah 26:3-4.
‘Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” ‘
Mark 14:35-36
‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” ‘
Deuteronomy 31:6
‘Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. ‘
Psalms 9:10
‘Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. ‘
Psalms 37:3-6
‘You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. ‘
Isaiah 26:3-4
It’s always interesting for me to read God’s Word and hear what He has to say. In the midst of the highs and the lows, hearing from God is still key. Some may wander off when things get easy but we need to stick close to God through it all so that we don’t get so far away or so far off track that we start to get tripped up or backsliding. Today’s verses get us started with Jesus right before taking on the most painful and torturous act of giving up His life for all of us. He could feel the pressure and the stress and He knew what was coming. He knew why He had come and that if there were another way to make a way that His Heavenly Father, His Abba Father, would be able to find it. He wasn’t trying to manipulate or change things but wanted to make sure there was no other way to break the power of sin and death that all options were exhausted and if it were the only way that He was all in. We hear that when Jesus says ” Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus has warned us that in this world we will have troubles and at the same time spoke hope to us in that we can take heart because He has overcome the world. Jesus speaks hope and love to us when He calls us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds because they are a refining process to help make us complete and lacking nothing. So let’s lean in on God through the troubles and the trials. Let’s trust Him! Let’s grab hold of what being the dad means and look to Him for instruction and direction, for discernment and correction, so that we can be the dads He has created us to be and become.
God’s Word for today continues to speak life and hope and encouragement to us. We get to hear God as we step up and step into His calling for us that He wants us to be bold and courageous, not because we are going it alone or going on ahead of Him but rather we can be bold and courageous because He is going with us and He will never forsake or abandon us. Let’s be strong in the Lord! Let’s be courageous in the Lord! Let’s walk through this life with Him!
God’s Word for today continues to call us to Himself. He desires for us to trust in Him and His name. He desires for us to cling to Him and not be forsaken.
God’s Word for today calls us to a higher level. God’s Word tells us to both trust God and out of that trust to do good. We are to stick close to God who never forsakes us and who is going with us and dwell in this land under His protection. Let’s seek God’s will, God’s purpose, God’s plan for us so that He will give us the desires of our hearts. Let’s remember to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and allow Him to take care of the rest. Let’s not allow the wind or the waves to make us sway in our walk but rather let’s commit ourselves to His ways and trust Him and allow Him to work in and through us so that His righteousness will shine through us and vindicate us through Jesus.
So today as we get started, let’s put our trust in God so that His peace that surpasses all understanding can guard our hearts and mind, allowing us to move forward steadfast in accomplishing His will, His plan, and His purpose through us. Let’s decide today to make our foundation be the Lord, the solid, eternal rock on which we will make and take our stand into eternity. Let’s trust Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength!
Today’s devotional has been provided by The Ark Church (more details can be found https://arkhuntsville.com)
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me: (check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
- Is there a way someone can get your attention? If they call you a certain way does it speak a different meaning?
- Have you ever done something you probably shouldn’t have been doing and when called all your names show up and you are like “oh oh, I’m in trouble now”? Not just your first name and your last name but your middle names show up too?
- When you think of being the dad, what name comes to mind? dad? daddy? pa? papa?
- We see that Jesus uses the word Abba in today’s readings. We see it used 3 times in scripture. We only see it spoken by 2 people, Jesus and the apostle Paul.
- 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.” – Romans 8:15
- “Abba, Father,”he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” – Mark 14:36
- Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” – Galatians 4:6
- Consider what dictionary.com has to say about the word Abba:
- The name Abba was used by two people with strong relationships with God.
- The name Abba was used by two people who had miraculous beginnings and encounters with God.
- They both have intimate relationships with God.
- Relationship is one of the words that resonates most to me about when the reality of Jesus came to me. After years of church and things, it wasn’t till the reality of having an intimate relationship with Jesus was revealed that my life was transformed.
- It’s not about rituals and routines, it is about an intimate relationship with God, with our Abba Father.
- We don’t need a mediator, we can go directly to Him because of our intimate relationship with Him and the saving grace of Jesus that opened this door to us.
- Do you realize how deep the relationship was between Jesus and our Heavenly Father? It was so deep that Jesus uses the intimate name Abba.
- Do you realize how deep the relationship was between Paul and Jesus after the encounter on the road to Damascus? The encounter between the savior of the world and a transformed Saul into Paul.
- They were spiritual brothers for all of eternity after that encounter.
- They both were leaning in so deeply to God that they lived lives like no others in all of history.
- They both faced incredible dangers but trusted God because they knew His victory in the end.
- Jesus wants us all to live in such a relationship!
- God created each of us in His image and desiring to be in an intimate relationship with each of us.
- Want to dig a bit deeper into Abba Father? Check out “Abba Father” – What Does This Name of God Mean? (biblestudytools.com)
- So today as we journey down the road of discovering Abba and drawing closer to God our Heavenly Father, let’s lean in to having an intimate relationship with God!
- Let’s invite Jesus into our hearts and start to live out our days walking and talking with God.
- Let’s invite Jesus into our hearts and lives so that we aren’t trying to go it alone but instead are walking out this gift of life, the present, to bring praise, honor, and glory to God in Jesus’s name.
- Our Heavenly Father is trustworthy!
- Our Heavenly Father is a dad we can trust!
- Let’s turn to God and start to be the dads that are like our Heavenly Father!
- Let’s turn to God can grab hold of His promises so that we can know what being the dads is supposed to look like.
- Let’s lean in to God so that we can become more and more like our Abba Father with each passing day.
- We may be in an awkward spot if we are comparing our dads to our Abba Father, bringing in words like trust, but they are different and through Jesus we have a way to step into an intimate relationship with God, our Abba Father.
- God is truth! God is light! God is love! So let’s trust our Heavenly Abba Father to help us step up and step out of our past.
- Let’s grab hold of the reality that we have a dad, an Abba Father, and He is trustworthy!
