Today we get to continue digging into the traits of a godly dad. It’s interesting to just go with whatever the search results provide as the devotional to dig into. Today’s devotional from Bible.com is looking to empower us to be the dads. Today’s devotional from Bible.com is looking to help us address our feelings of inadequacy by providing us with the traits we need to be the dads. Today’s devotional from Bible.com is looking to help us get out of the starting blocks and into the race by sharing 6 biblical traits we need to model in our own lives in order to be the dads God created and purposed for us to be. So let’s dig in deeper as we jump into this new devotional in order to be able to learn and practice what God’s prepared in advance as good works for us to accomplish. Let’s grab a hold of these traits in order for us to be the dads, the godly dads we need to be for our wives, our kids, and our world.
Today’s devotional connects with the following verses:
‘For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ‘
1 Timothy 4:8
‘Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ‘
Ephesians 6:13-16
God’s Word is so powerful and so timely! God’s Word never changes! God’s Word is beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness! God’s Word never returns void! God’s Word is a love letter from our Heavenly Father! So let’s never stop looking and digging through God’s Word! Let’s seek wisdom and discernment from God!
Let’s be the dads who are more interested in our spiritual health than our physical health. Let’s be so focused on God’s purpose and plan, grabbing hold of the reality that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and as such not only should we be taking good care of our physical health but we should more importantly be taking care of our spiritual health. Let’s grab hold of God’s Word when He is reprimanding the scribes and Pharisees about their need to do both, it is important for them to tithe but Jesus shares how it is equally important for them to take care of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus tells them how they should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. So similarly, let’s be the dads who need to be taking care of both our physical and spiritual health. We need to take care of the latter without neglecting the former too. In 1 Timothy we read from Paul how “godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” So let’s not lose focus on God’s purpose and plan for our lives! Let’s choose to draw near to Him and stay in His presence!
Let’s be prepared! As we start today, let’s be the dads who put on the full armor of God! Let’s be the dads who are prepared and dressed for success so that when the day of evil comes we can stand our ground! Let’s be the dads who are prepared enough and dressed in our full armor of God so that after we have stood our ground we will be able to continue to stand! Let’s be the dads who get it and stand firm! Let’s be the dads who get it and are wearing the belt of truth buckled around our waist! Let’s be the dads who get it and are wearing the breastplate of righteousness! Let’s be the dads who get it and are wearing the boots of readiness that come from the gospel of peace! Let’s be the dads who get it and are holding tight to our shield of faith that protects us safe and extinguishes the flaming arrows of the evil one! Let’s be the dads who get it and are shielding our minds from the lies and attacks of the devil with the helmet of salvation! Let’s be the dads who are standing our ground on what is right, dressed to the nines, and holding onto our one and only offensive weapon that is the sword of the Spirit that is the Word of God so that not only can we stand our ground for our wives, our kids, and this world but that we can start to take back what the devil has tried to steal, kill, and destroy from us by moving forward and taking back what is ours!
Today’s devotional has been provided by Manhood Journey (more details can be found here: About The Publisher (manhoodjourney.org))
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)
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“Day 4 The godly dad understands biblical discipline.“
- Today’s devotional gets started with an interesting quote from Bear Grylls from Running wild that says:
- Let’s be the dads who can see beyond our physical realm and realize that we are in a spiritual battle!
- I remember many years ago being in a Cleansing Stream class and one of my classmates happened to share a story about a vision of someone sitting on the beach (like the beach of Normandy) on their sun chair like a day at the beach while in reality there was a war taking place all around them. Imagine being on that chair and being clueless to the reality of the war raging around you? There are many people today who don’t realize that we are in a spiritual battle right here and right now. So let’s be the dads that choose to take a stand! Let’s be the dads who are more focused on the spiritual lives of our wives, our kids, and the world around us! Let’s be the dads who are prepared for battle! Let’s be the dads God created and purposed for us to be for our battle isn’t against flesh and blood but rather against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
- Today’s devotional calls out how it is important to understand the battleground situation before we can prepare for it.
- We must dress for the role we have to play!
- “Most of us suit up for some type of job, and whether we put on a suit and tie, a uniform shirt, a pair of khakis, or a pair of sweats, we dress for the job we have.“
- Today’s devotional does a great job of describing the full armor of God:
- “What exactly is the full armor of God?”
- Let’s be the dads who understand if the armor is for offensive, defensive, or both types of actions.
- Let’s be the dads who are prepared and trained up to be able to use the armor that God has given us.
- Let’s be the dads who are prepared and equipped to use the armor God has given us to stand strong.
- Let’s be the dads who are prepared and equipped to use the armor God has given us to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
- Let’s be the dads who are prepared and equipped to use the armor of God “to move forward with God’s Good News into our world, and sometimes to do both.“
- “The belt, breastplate, boots and shield”
- “The belt of Truth”
- “To hold up your pants! Also to tie the armor together so there are no openings (“chinks in the armor”) that an enemy could penetrate. A person who tries to fight without a belt would be considered a fool. But when you have the belt of truth, you are wise!“
- Let’s grab hold of what today’s devotional shares when it comes to Jesus being the truth when it says:
- Let’s be the dads who seek biblical truth and live with integrity!
- “The breastplate of righteousness”
- “It protects the vital organs, especially the heart. Our hearts are the most vital organs in our body.“
- Today’s devotional shares insight into the word righteousness:
- Let’s be the dads who guards our hearts!
- “The boots”
- “They protect your feet from getting hurt and help you move better and faster.“
- Let’s be the dads who take on God’s calling: “go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mk. 16:15).“
- Let’s be the dads who are ready to go and spread the good news of Jesus!
- “The shield of faith”
- “It protects you from arrows, swords, and other weapons of the enemy. “
- Today’s devotional shares how the shield is both offensive and defensive:
- “The belt of Truth”
- “What exactly is the full armor of God?”
- Let’s be the dads who are godly dads that live by faith in God!
