The Father Knows Best – Day 2

The search continued for dad-related devotions and I found this one titled “The Father Knows Best” by Dr. Tony Evans. This devotional is interesting as it speaks to “major loss or difficult setbacks or emotional turmoil” and how “it can be a temptation to fall prey to despair.” As we spend the remaining two days going through this devotional we will get to hear about how “he found peace through hanging on to hope“. We each have things we have, are, or will be going through and the more tools we can put in our toolbelt to help us press on the better prepared we will be to thrive for the glory of God! Let’s be the dads who are looking for ways to lean in on God when the world starts to press in on us because we know that we can trade our sorrows for the joy of the Lord! Let’s pause for a moment and allow a song to get us prepared for God’s Word and the message of hope from Dr. Tony Evans.

Let’s check out our scriptures for today’s devotional lesson:

• Proverbs 19:21
• Psalms 37:5

‘Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. ‘

Proverbs 19:21

‘Commit your way to the Lord ; trust in him and he will do this: ‘

Psalms 37:5

God’s Word is the truth! God’s Word never changes! God’s Word is powerful and alive! Let’s never take for granted that we have God’s Word to reference and take with us! Let’s cherish God’s Word to us and that we get to read it, reference it, and meditate on it daily!

Let’s be the dads who seek God for wisdom and discernment to help us prepare and plan for our lives and the lives of our wives and kids! Let’s be the dads who pray for God’s protection and healthy to allow us to complete the good works He has prepared in advance for us to accomplish! Let’s be the dads who capture and offer the plans in our hearts to God so that He can refine them and direct us in the ways we should go! Let’s be the dads who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness so that the desires of our hearts align with Him and that His purposes will prevail! Let’s be the dads who are sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit so that we can walk out our lives in a way that will bring God the praise, the honor, and the glory! Let’s be the dads who commit our way to the Lord! Let’s be the dads who trust in God! Let’s be the dads who lean into God trusting Him so much that we will and can receive His promises like ‘He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. ‘ (Psalms 37:6)

Today’s devotional has been provided by The Urban Alternative (Tony Evans) (https://tonyevans.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)

For more information, please visit About The Publisher.

Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“Saying “yes” in the face of God’s “no”“

• Let’s be the dads who are focused more on being obedient to God’s will than getting our own way!
• Let’s be the dads who are ready and willing to say “yes” to God’s “no”!
• Let’s be the dads who are pursuing the will of God, even if it isn’t what we are asking for or desiring!
• Let’s be the dads who break the process of our natural tendencies in order to choose and receive God’s plan and purpose for how our lives will play out!
• Let’s be the dads who are willing to deal with the pain and suffering for a season because we know that it will end and that we will find joy in the morning!
• Let’s be the dads who are willing to let God end one season in order to start a new one!
• Let’s be the dads who are ready and willing to let God start something new in and through us!
• Let’s be the dads who learn through it so that we can share the lesson with others!
• As I typed that I reflect on how I had to trust God even when He called me to something I thought was so much bigger than anything I could ever do!
• As I typed that I reflect on how I had to trust God and be obedient when He called me to forgive those who had hurt me and how forgiveness was the key to freedom and that I was going to be positioned to speak forgiveness into the lives of so many others!
• Let’s be the dads who like Jesus when He was in the garden and asked if there was another way, submitted to the Father in order to do it His way that would open the door to forgiveness and salvation!
  • ‘Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” ‘ Matthew 26:36-46
• Let’s be the dads who are ok to let this cup pass from me so that God’s will can be done in and through our lives!
• Let’s be the dads who are able to release that which is behind us in order to press onward to what lies ahead!
  • “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
• Let’s allow God to be God and not try to take control out of His hands!
• Let’s choose to surrender to God’s purpose and plan because we know it is for our good and His glory!
• Let’s choose to surrender to God’s purpose and plan no matter how much it hurts in the moment!
• Today’s devotional shares these ideas like this:
  • “Saying “yes” in the face of God’s “no” is a breaking process, and it is very painful. But it is also the place where God begins a new thing. Rarely do we understand it at the time. The Lord does not ask that we be okay with being broken. He only asks that we submit to the breaking and trust Him with it. The apex of obedience to God is to faithfully say, “Lord, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done,” to release what is behind and press on to what lies ahead, to surrender, to let God close the door, regardless of how much it hurts. “
• With my promised son from God whom for that reason I named Isaac, there are many times when I wonder about all that took place in the life of Abraham.
• Abraham trusted God to the point of getting to be called His friend!
  • “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6
  • “Abraham showed his love for God through his faith accompanied by obedience (Genesis 12:1, 4; 15:6).”
    • ‘The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. ‘ Genesis 12:1-5
    • ‘Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? ‘ 2 Chronicles 20:7
    • ‘Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. ‘ James 2:21-24
• Let’s be the dads who are more interested in what God says and thinks than what people say and think!
• Are you ready to put something behind you because God says and open yourself up for the miracle God prepared for the outcome of that obedience?
• Today’s devotional tells the story this way:
  • “Let Abraham testify. He was commanded to surrender his will and lay his son, Isaac, on the altar of sacrifice. Isaac was Abraham’s miracle baby, born when his father was one hundred years old. And yet God called Abraham to lay his miracle on the altar at Mount Moriah. Facing the biggest loss in his life also led to Abraham’s biggest miracle, becoming not just Isaac’s father but the father of many nations. “
• Today’s devotional closes with this question for us to ponder:
  • “How is obedience related to the discovery of God’s will for your life?“