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:
‘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
‘Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. ‘
Luke 15:11-24
God’s Word is so amazing and today’s devotional wants us to never forget how great our Heavenly Father’s love is for us and hence John 3:16-17 continues to be a part of today’s scripture. Let’s be the dads who love our wives, our kids, and our world enough to give sacrificially something of value, and that matters because they matter to us! Let’s be the dads who aren’t looking for a temporary fix, but are looking to leave a legacy of truth, hope, and love! Let’s be the dads who love enough to allow for second chances! Let’s be the dads who love unconditionally! Let’s be the dads who are looking for a way to restore others! Let’s be the dads who are ready to receive with wide-open arms those who have gone astray but are coming back with repentant hearts! Let’s be the dads who are more interested in the heart, just like Jesus is more interested in the state of our hearts! Let’s take a look at the scripture from Luke 15 from today’s devotional and see what we can learn about what happened and how we can be the dads with the right heart and mind to respond like God wants us to. How would you respond if your child wanted their inheritance early? Would it make you think they are saying you are dead to me? Would it make you think they were being selfish or unwise? Would you respond as the father did in today’s scripture? Would you give it up and give them up to God in hopes that God would bring them back one day? Would you give it up and give them over to God to take care of? We see how the younger son’s choices took him away from his father and off the good path and lead him to a very trying time. I’ve heard it said that sin feels good for a while but eventually, you start to feel the pain, the suffering, the chains, and the shackles of your decisions. We see in today’s scripture how Jesus speaks about the younger son as “came to his senses”, sometimes people just have to hit rock bottom before they are ready to look up and turn back to God. Let’s be the dads who try to teach our kids to hear from God, listen to God, and follow God rather than straying and discovering how hitting rock bottom feels. Let’s be the dads who try to teach our kids that God is compassionate and forgiving so that if or when they do get off track they know they can turn back to their loving Heavenly Father and be reconciled. Let’s be the dads who try to model this behavior when it comes to our relationships with our wives and our kids and this world too. We see how the son comes to his senses and is ready to turn back to his father and repent for what he has done. We see how the decision to leave originally and now his decision to return were both matters of the heart more than matters of the mind. Let’s consider the response of the dad and the behavior of the dad so that we can model it as the dads God designed and created us to be. We find the following when the dad is described, even before the son gets back on the scene.
‘So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. ‘
Luke 15:20
Let’s be the dads who are looking and waiting for them to come back with a changed heart! Let’s be the dads who aren’t brooding but rather praying for them to have a change of heart! Let’s be the dads who aren’t sowing bitterness and anger but rather forgiveness and love, hope and compassion, so that if or when they come back we are ready to celebrate and welcome them back home. Let’s be dads who love our wives, our kids, and our world! Let’s be the dads who are compassionate for our wives, our kids, and our world! Let’s be the dads who are ready, prepared, spirit-filled, and spirit-led! Let’s be the dads who are ready to reunite and restore them to the family! Let’s be the dads who are ready to celebrate their return! Let’s be the dads who speak to the ones who never left and are able to explain how much we love them and how proud we are of them, and we don’t love them any less because we are welcoming home the one(s) who decided to go wild and do their own thing. Let’s remind them how they were lost and how God found them and brought them home and that is worth celebrating!
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 prays, waits, and looks for you“
- Ever noticed how in this society there are many of us who are looking for instant gratification?
- Ever read this story from Luke above and had a judgmental perspective for the younger son?
- Ever heard that one of the risks of pointing fingers at others is that there are others in your hand pointing back at you? The natural pose would be 1 finger-pointing at others and 3 back at ourselves. So be careful.
- Ever wanted God to answer your prayers on your timing and schedule rather than His?
- Even knowing that God’s timing is perfect, we don’t want to wait.
- Even knowing that God’s timing is perfect, we want it now.
- Even knowing that God’s timing is perfect, we think we know better.
- Let’s be the dads who pause and choose God’s way in God’s timing rather than our way right away!
- Let’s be the dads who are ready to wait upon the Lord for the right way and the right time rather than our way right now!
- Let’s be the dads who turn to God who knows the beginning and the end rather than thinking we know best!
- Let’s be the dads who turn to God, trust God, and allow things to work in His timing rather than becoming rebellious to authority, getting involved in the wrong crowds, and even choosing to live for the temporary highs and pleasures.
- Let’s be the dads that take these truths and lessons and share them with the people God has brought into our lives so that we can leave them a legacy of love, hope, joy rather than pain, suffering, and anger!
- Today’s devotional speaks to the younger son and this topic as follows:
- We see how the younger son “demanded his inheritance, left the guidance, counsel, and protection of his father, and ventured into the world to live the life he thought was best for him.“
- Let’s be the dads who teach our kids how to pick good friends and be good friends!
- Let’s be the dads who teach our kids how to make good choices and the benefits of them!
- Let’s be the dads who teach our kids how to be good stewards and walk in alignment with God!
- Let’s be the dads who plant seeds in our kids so that they know they are never alone, even when they are hitting rock bottom or getting close to it!
- Let’s be the dads who pour into our kids God’s love so that they won’t have to wander away and forget our love for them and God’s love for them and how God has a plan that is for good and not for evil, to give them a hope and a future!
- Let’s grab a hold of the heart of our Heavenly Father as we consider the younger son and what it says to us and how we should be the dads in our own lives.
- Today’s devotional speaks to it this way:
- Let’s be the dads who continue to pray for our kids, even if they go off on their own and on their own track!
- Let’s be the dads who wait for them and never lose hope!
- Let’s be the dads who keep looking in hopes that they will come back and get back on track!
- We don’t know the day or the time, so we need to be the dads who are always ready!
- Let’s be the dads whose hearts aren’t filled with bitterness because we allowed a bitter root to get into our hearts!
- Let’s be the dads whose hearts are filled with love and compassion!
- Let’s be the dads who realize that our Heavenly Father is praying, waiting, and looking for us too if and when we go off track!
- Let’s be the dads who remember how much God loves us, no matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, so if we are off track, let’s turn back to God and run into His open arms!
- Today’s devotional speaks to it the following way:
- “What a scene? I believe his father continued to pray, wait, and look for his son daily. The father could not have known which day his son would come home, so he chose to live in expectation for his return. The father’s reaction to his son’s return was priceless. He did not reprimand or even condemn him. He did the opposite, he ran to meet him and hugged him despite the mess he had gotten into, and he called for the servants to prepare a celebration for this son that seemed so unworthy. He had his son cleaned up and gave him the best robe, a ring, and sandals. (Luke 15:21 – 24).“
- “Today, I want you to know that our heavenly Father still prays, waits, and looks for his lost sons and daughters to come home – His heart is for you so no matter where you have been, or what you have done rest in this truth- Your Father is waiting for you to come home.“
