The Heart Of The Father – Day 2

My search for dad devotionals brought this one to the surface for our next study and I am looking forward to hearing and learning from God through this devotional. The introduction caught my attention too as it points to our hearts when things are challenging and what lies the devil to speak that we are vulnerable to accept as truth. We need to be the dads who trust God and persevere! We need to be the dads who know that God is for us and not against us! We need to be the dads who know that God’s plans for us are for good and not for evil, to give us hope and a future! We need to be the dads who know that God’s plans for us should give us life and life more abundantly whereas the devil’s plans are to rob, kill, and destroy us! So let’s grab hold of the author of our devotional’s prayer for each of us, that we will have a revelation of the Father’s heart for each of us!

Today’s devotional gets us started with the following verses:

• John 3:16-17
• Luke 15:1-7

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ‘

John 3:16-17

‘Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.’

Luke 15:1-7

Let’s reflect on what God’s Word has to say to us as dads before we jump into today’s devotional. God’s Word is alive! God’s Word is ready to teach and train us to be the dads God created and purposed for us to be! So let’s be like our Heavenly Father and lead with love! We see He loved so much that He gave His one and only Son on purpose, with purpose, and for a purpose! Let’s be the dads who are interested in the eternal destination of the people God has put in our lives starting with our wives, our kids, and then the world around us! We see how God didn’t send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it! Let’s be the dads who see our purpose so that we can accomplish it for God’s glory! God’s got a plan for us and for them and it is for our good, their good, and His glory! Let’s not lose them! Let’s not ignore them! Let’s not forget about them! Today’s Word models this when we read about the tax collectors who were viewed so negatively, like Zaccheus, and yet Jesus stopped and that connection and attention from Jesus transformed his life from the inside out forever!

‘Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” ‘

Luke 19:1-10

In today’s case where God is sharing the purpose of finding and saving the Lost, we see another use of the tax collectors. The people who were holier than though missed it! The people who were all that and a bag of chips missed it! But Jesus doesn’t want us to miss it! Let’s be the dads who are paying attention to the world around us! Let’s be the dads who are getting filled by God so that we can overflow into the lives of our wives, our kids, and the world around us! Let’s be the dads who are ready and willing to share Jesus with the people God has brought into our lives! Let’s be the dads who aren’t afraid to meet with and pour into people who are in need of Jesus! Let’s be the dads who grab onto Jesus’s parable for today! We have to be ready and willing to seek and save the lost! Let’s be the dads who won’t and don’t give up on people and so will go after the one who is missing! Let’s be the dads who won’t and don’t give up on people and so will continue to look for ways to inject Jesus into their hearts so that they can be saved and healed too! Let’s be the dads who celebrate with them when they see the light and receive Jesus into their hearts and lives as their Lord and Savior! Let’s be the dads who join with the heavenly in rejoicing over one sinner who repents! Let’s not be so interested in a country club feeling of hanging with the saved but instead be interested in being a hospital where we receive and bring healing to people!

Today’s devotional has been provided by Inspirations by Lisa(more details can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/author/lisasingh)

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)

Pastor Lisa Singh is the Senior Pastor at Heavenly Grace Ministries in Queens, New York.

For more information, please visit About The Publisher (amazon.com).

Takeaways from Today’s Devotional: “His heart longs to find you“

• Let’s be the dads who have such a heart for our kids that wherever they are and wherever we go we have a heart longing to find them!
• Let’s be the dads who have such a heart for God’s will and God’s ways that whenever we meet someone who is lost that our heart breaks for them and looks for a way to help them get reunited with God!
• Let’s be the dads who grab onto the reality of who our Heavenly Father is and what He is like so that we can imitate it and live out our lives in a way that will be for our good and His glory!
• Let’s be the dads who are involved in the lives of our wives and our kids!
• Let’s be the dads who are in connection and contact with our wives and our kids!
• Let’s be the dads who tell and show our wives and kids how valuable they are to us!
• Today’s devotional starts off speaking to this as follows:
  • “Can you imagine with me for a moment the heart of the father longing to find you? It gives the image of searching, seeking, and even hurting in the process of trying to draw you in. I often hear the statement, “I was searching and finally found God,” but the truth is our Father is always pursuing our hearts. As we look at the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, we get a view into the heart of the Father. What I want you to pay attention to is the close proximity of Jesus with sinners. The bible tells us that tax collectors and sinners were gathering to listen to Jesus’s teachings. Still, the religious leaders of the day – the Pharisees complained about him being willing to hang out with such unworthy people. (Luke 15: 1- 2).“
• Let’s be the dads who see the hurting and look for ways to help, to heal, and to restore!
• Let’s be the dads who see the hurting and look for ways to help them realize their worth!
• Let’s be the dads who see the hurting and look for ways to help them become pure!
• Let’s be the dads who see the hurting and look for ways to help them be set apart for God and be holy!
• Let’s be the dads who realize we are all God’s creation!
• Let’s be the dads who know that God is love and God loves us all!
• Let’s be the dads who grab hold of John 3:16-17 and look for ways to point people to Jesus so that they can get rid of the sin and receive the Savior!
• Let’s be the dads who turn to God and ask for wisdom and discernment in how to live out our today in a way that will point people back to Him so that their hearts will be drawn to God!
• Let’s be the dads who grab hold of Jesus’s parables and look to put them into application!
• Let’s be the dads who realize the importance of seeking out the lost in the world around us!
• Today’s devotional speaks to it this way:
  • “Jesus explains if someone owns one hundred sheep and happens to lose one, how precious is that one that goes astray. We would be willing to leave the ninety-nine good sheep and find the one that’s lost. (Luke 15: 3 – 4). It’s the same way with our natural children; all our children are not the same; we can do our best to raise them well, teach them the word of God, and still, they can find themselves in difficult situations. But even when we see them straying, it breaks our hearts, we long to save them from the perils of the actions that could lead them to destruction. We would pull out all the stops to try to save them, and here Jesus is revealing this same heart of our heavenly Father toward us.
    
    The parable goes on to describe the person searching for the lost sheep desperately until he finds it, and the delight of his heart when the sheep is found is heart-warming. Jesus describes the person putting the stray, wayward, unworthy sheep on his shoulders to bring it home. He doesn’t only rejoice alone, but when he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors to celebrate his find. (Luke 15:5 – 7).“
• Let’s be the dads who care enough for our wives, our kids, and our world that we will seek the lost with desperation!
• Let’s be the dads who care enough for our wives, our kids, and our world that we will come alongside them, pick them up, and even carry them if necessary to bring them home!
• Let’s be the dads who realize how much our God loves us, how much our God seeks us, how much our God wants us, and how much our God desires for us to spend eternity with Him!
• Today’s devotional closes with this nugget for us to hold onto as we start our day:
  • “This is a clear picture of how our heavenly Father feels about us and more so the ones that may seem far away from Him right now, the ones that are in rebellion, the ones that are turning their backs and walking away – the Father’s heart longs to find His lost children. So even amid COVID-19, God can use this crisis to draw His sons and daughters home and His hope is we who know His heart would also reflect His heart to those around us. There has never been a better time to reflect the heart of the Father than now. If you feel far away from God today, I want to encourage you right now – know that your heavenly Father’s heart longs to find you!“