The Bible.com (or Bible App from YouVersion) has so many great plans to go through and read. As I continue through the list of dad devotionals using their search capabilities, I have come across today’s devotional which is a 12-day devotional titled 10 Challenges Every Dad Must Conquer. Checking out the publisher’s information and signing up for their newsletters as well as getting to download their survival gear, I am excited to get better connected with them as I believe they have many resources that will be helpful and useful for men who answer the call to step up and step into being the dads God has called and created them to be. Looking into this devotional and trying to better understand the purpose of Manhood Journey, I discovered they are “a ministry who helps dads become disciple-makers. We do this through various tools. Things like blogs, eBooks, Field Guides, Bible studies, digital courses, and live events“. I am so excited to get to go through this devotional with all of you and see where God will take us. I am excited to have gotten to communicate with Kent and to have found their resources as I believe it will be of great help to dads.
The Bible.com site describes this plan as follows:
“Feel overwhelmed—or worse—like a failure? We took your most-pressing challenges and matched them up with battle-proven, busy leaders who also happen to be dads—to give you theologically deep and super-practical help. You CAN be the dad God calls you to be. This plan will help.”
10 Challenges Every Dad Must Conquer
Today’s devotional points us to Proverbs 22:6.
‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. ‘
Proverbs 22:6
Today’s Word from God speaks to the importance of investing in our kids. That we need to be the dads who pour life and truth and love into our kids at a young age and lead by example how we are to be in a relationship with God and how to live out our lives. I realized later in life the importance of a relationship with Jesus but a lot of the principles and ways to live were poured into me by my parents and grandparents. So we need to decide that we want to be the dads who will help our kids grow up to succeed. Let’s be the dads who help our kids from a young age to know the way they should go along with the reasons why. Let’s be the dads who realize that it is never too late to pour into our kids and help them get back on track. Let’s be the dads who keep looking for our kids as they are older to turn back to God if they depart or to press in deeper if they never walk away. Let’s be the dads who train our kids as they grow up. Let’s be the dads who direct our kids as they grow up. Let’s be the dads who demonstrate the way our kids should go as they grow up. Let’s be the dads who teach our kids to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents. Let’s be the dads who pray for our kids as they get older that they will stick with God, lean in on God, and trust Him for wisdom and direction all the days of their lives. God’s Words of wisdom speak to us from proverbs how important this is and how when we start them off on the way they should go they will remember and lean in on it so that when they are old they will not turn away from it.
Today’s devotional has been provided by Manhood Journey (more details can be found https://www.manhoodjourney.org/fieldguides/)
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)
For more information, please visit Manhood Journey: https://www.manhoodjourney.org/fieldguides/.
Day 2: You’re not sure whether you’re winning or losing.
- Ever played the game of life? Spining the wheel and getting to make life decisions?
- What about this life you are living now? How are you deciding which decisions to make when they are real?
- In this life you are living now, are you being the dad who knows what is most important to pass down to your kids?
- In this life you are living now, are you being the dad who wants to pass down to your kids what is most important?
- In this life you are living now, do you know what is most important to pass down to your kids in order to be the dads?
- Is it about education? Is it about athletics? Is it about finances? Is it about a relationship with Jesus?
- Let’s be the dads who lead by example and show the importance as head of the household to have a relationship with Jesus and to follow Him and His ways in and through our lives.
- Let’s be the dads who show our kids by the lives we live what a Christian should look like!
- Let’s be the dads who grab onto today’s verse so that we can know that by having raised them up to know God and how to be a Christian that they will choose to live it out for themselves!
- Let’s be the dads who are training up our kids in the way they should go!
- What does that mean to you? What does that look like to you?
- Let’s be the dads who play a major role in shaping who our kids become.
- Let’s be the dads who help our kids know what’s truly important!
- Let’s be the dads who point our kids to Jesus rather than to worldly things!
- Let’s be the dads who point our kids to Jesus rather than to worldly accomplishments!
- Let’s be the dads who help our kids to realize the importance of having a relationship with Jesus!
- Let’s be the dads who help our kids build their own relationship with Jesus!
- Do you know where to start?
- Today’s devotional gives us tools for our toolbelt so that we can know what to do:
- Let’s be the dads who trust God at His Word and choose to keep it simple and “Read a verse or chapter with your kids and ask: what did you guys just read or what questions do you have about God after reading this?“.
- Let’s be the dads who point our kids to God rather than ourselves! Remember that “Praying goes well with reading the Bible.“.
- Let’s be the dads who get involved with our kids in ministry! Be it helping in kids or youth ministry. Be it having them come serve with you in another ministry.
- Let’s be the dads who track when our kids as us questions about stuff that matters!
- Let’s be the dads who mark those moments down as victory moments, as memorials of success!
