As the week is coming to a close, our devotional finished yesterday and today I went on my search for what’s next. As I scrolled through the many devotionals that come up when you search for “dads” I came across this one that feels like a good topic and reminder for us to hear from and think about over the next 10-days.
Ever considered what the fundamentals are of being a dad? Ever considered how active we need to be in order to be the dads God created us to be and the purposes for us to become? Let’s be the dads who make time daily to discipline ourselves to do what is necessary, the fundamentals, and do them well for our good, our wives’ good, our kids’ good, and God’s glory! Let’s be the dads who are prepared and equipped to finish the good works God has prepared in advance for us to accomplish!
Scripture from Today’s Devotional:
‘ Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, Who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God’s power through [your] faith [till you fully inherit that final] salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time. [You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed.’
1 Peter 1:3-7
‘ So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell–and great and complete was the fall of it.’
Matthew 7:24-27
It’s amazing to get to spend time going through devotionals vetted by the YouVersion team and for dads. God’s Word never returns void! God never fails! So let’s lean in and learn from God’s Word, trusting in Him rather than our own understanding!
Let’s be the dads who look to God and praise Him! Let’s be the dads who choose to live in God’s mercy and in the freedom and truth of being born again! Let’s be the dads who live with the inheritance given to us and provided for us by Jesus! Let’s be the dads who receive and accept the inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for us! Let’s be the dads who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God’s power through our faith till we fully inherit that final] salvation that is ready to be revealed for us in the last time! Let’s be the dads who are exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while we may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, so that the genuineness of our faith may be tested, our faith which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire! Let’s be the dads who live our lives, proving our faith which allows us to praise God!
Let’s be the dads who hear God’s Word and act upon them! Let’s be the dads who obey God’s Words and live sensible, prudent, practical, wise lives! Let’s be the dads who have the firm foundation on which we build our lives that is Jesus! Let’s be the dads who can stand firm because we have chosen to hear God’s Word, obey God’s Word, and put it into practice!
Today’s devotional has been provided to us by Discerning Dad!
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: https://discerning-dad.com/
Takeaways from Today’s Devotionals:
“What does the future hold?“
- What comes to mind when you think about the future?
- How close or far away is the future that you think about?
- Today’s devotional makes an interesting point to kick off our devotional when it says:
- Let’s be the dads who are “ready for battle“!
- Let’s be the dads who seek and ponder what “ready” means and what is required of us to be ready!
- Today’s devotional raises some interesting questions to help us ponder and seek this wisdom and insight:
- Let’s be the dads who make and take the time needed to get and be ready!
- Let’s be the dads who realize the answer is easy but that it’s not easy!
- Let’s be the dads who reflect on where we are in life and the solutions that can help us be prepared!
- Let’s be the dads who prepare and plan because we know that even though the solution may be easy it is going to take work to make it a reality!
- Today’s devotional provides some practical and real examples:
- Let’s be the dads who get back to the basics and consider the fundamentals we need to do for the solution to become a reality!
- Today’s devotional puts it this way: “We need to focus on the fundamentals of the Christian faith and by doing this there are daily disciplines we need to focus on.“
- Let’s be the dads who make time with God a priority so that we can be prepared!
- God’s Word tells us that in this world we will have troubles but that we can take heart because Jesus has overcome the world!
- Since we know that troubles are either in progress, just finished, or just about to happen, we don’t need to be surprised but instead can work on being ready, preparing, and strengthening up!
- Today’s devotional uses an example of a real storm coming and how much preparation is required to be able to weather it:
- Today’s devotional points us back to God’s Word:
- “1 Peter 1:7 says this about trials, “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”“
- “If you claim Jesus is Lord but then crumble at the slightest storm, then you have not built your foundation on the rock, Jesus, as He tells us in Matthew 7:24-27. Your foundation cannot be on anything that you can lose!“
- Let’s be the dads who are ready when the rains, the storms, the challenges, the trials, and the troubles come!
- Like we saw above, it’s not if they come but rather when they come and so we should get prepared!
- Let’s be the dads who get ready ahead of time!
- Let’s be the dads who are preparing now rather than getting surprised in the moment they show up!
- Let’s be the dads who realize that God is with us always!
- Let’s be the dads who lean in on God and have been building up our relationships with Him so that when the storm comes, His peace that surpasses all understanding is able to give us peace by either calming the storm, calming the storm in us, or just walking through the storm with us!
- Today’s devotional closes with these words:
- “Jesus did not say if the rain comes, but when, and we need to be ready. You are ready by what you do before the storm comes, not during, because during is too late!“
- “This is not a fear-based approach, where we are afraid of the next storm. We can be fearless in Christ, knowing that we have Someone who will be with us in the midst of anything in life we face.“
- “It takes practice to prepare, practicing for anything is not a onetime thing. Just think of the dedication it takes to learn an instrument, practice a sport, or train for the military. We will explore this concept further tomorrow.“
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