Finishing the end of our first week of the devotional strong with day 7. I found this devotional: Being Fathered By God. The devotional seems very powerful and purposeful as it calls out how “Every man has had authority figures in his life, and much of what a man perceives about God was shaped by those authority figures. His earthly father is at the top of every man’s authority list.” So I took on the offer to join the journey into this devotional. Will you join me on this 14-day journey?
Scripture for Today’s Devotional:
‘Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.’
John 14:8-14
‘I and the Father are one.” ‘
John 10:30
Do you make time to hear from God in His Word? Do you take time to prepare for the day by spending time meditating on God’s Word? God’s Word is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. It is good to spend time in God’s Word for the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Let’s be the dads who spend time with Jesus and in the Word of God to know Jesus even better! Let’s be the dads who realize there is but one God that is expressed and explained to us in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Let’s be the dads who know there is only one God and so Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus and similarly, Jesus is in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is in Jesus and hence why the Holy Spirit reveals to us the truth, the truth expressed, shared, and explained by Jesus! Let’s be the dads who believe in Jesus and are living our lives performing the acts of Jesus in the world around us and leaning into Jesus’s promises of getting to do even greater things because the Holy Spirit is in us! Let’s be the dads who are staying connected to Jesus as the vine and the branches so that God is able to produce good fruit and abundant fruit in and through our lives!
‘ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. ‘
John 15:1-17
Today’s devotional was provided by Michael Thompson where on zoweh.org they share the following: “Every man has had authority figures in his life, and much of what a man perceives about God and projects onto God was shaped by those authority figures. At the top of every man’s authority list is his earthly father. How your dad handled your heart has shaped you and contributed significantly to how you perceive God. Join us for this journey towards experiencing the heart of the Father and getting everything out of the way that is in the way of being a Beloved Son.“
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)
Through zoweh.org, you are able to download today’s devotional and many others.
For more information, please visit https://www.zoweh.org/youversion.
Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“If You Have Seen Me“
- Let’s be the dads who get it!
- Let’s be the dads who even when people come to your home and try to convince you otherwise, know who Jesus is!
- Let’s be the dads who spend so much time with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, God’s Word, and in prayer that we know Him and we get it!
- Let’s be the dads who lean in on God rather than our own understanding, asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom and discernment!
- Let’s be the dads who grab hold of the reality that Jesus and the Father are one, not two different people or gods but One God!
- Let’s be the dads who are ready to hear from Jesus and get it straight!
- Let’s be the dads who are more interested in hearing from Jesus and getting it straight than trying to get our way and setting the record straight!
- Let’s be the dads who learn from Jesus’s model when He sets us straight, “doing it with love, kindness, mercy, and grace“!
- Let’s be the dads who learn from Jesus’s model and when we have to set things straight with our wives, we do “it with love, kindness, mercy, and grace“!
- Let’s be the dads who learn from Jesus’s model and when we have to set things straight with our kids, we do “it with love, kindness, mercy, and grace“!
- Let’s be the dads who learn from Jesus’s model and when we have to set things straight with our world, we do “it with love, kindness, mercy, and grace“!
- Today’s devotional wants us to get this so much that they share a quote from John Eldredge from The Way of the Wild Heart (Fathered by God):
- Today’s devotional closes with this challenge for us as we spend time with God:
