After a long busy weekend offline looking for our next devotional to review today, I discovered this one titled “Anger Free Dad” by Manhood Journey which provides excellent resources for and to dads. Its description caught my attention and resonated with me when it says: “No dad wants to get angry.” “We want to raise our kids well, but fatherhood has its share of “anger land mines!”” “When we’re not on our guard, sometimes the smallest misstep can cause us to explode into anger.” And calls out to us as dads to be the dads “who aim to overcome anger“. If you are a dad who wants to be able to live your “life of peace and joy” then let’s dig in and learn how we are the dads who “can be an anger-free dad—in Christ“!
Scripture from today’s Devotional:
‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ‘
Colossians 3:12-15
‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. ‘
Ephesians 2:8-9
‘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. ‘
John 3:16
God’s Word is so powerful! God’s Word is alive and active! God’s Word knows what to say to help us in our times of need! Will you pray and listen to hear through the Holy Spirit what God has to say? Will you spend enough time in the Word of God to be able to know what the Holy Spirit is telling you? Are you ready and willing to get started today?
Let’s be the dads who clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience! Let’s be the dads who bear with each other and forgive one another if any of us has a grievance against someone! Let’s be the dads who forgive as the Lord forgave us! Let’s be the dads who put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity! Let’s be the dads who allow the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace! Let’s be the dads who are thankful! Let’s be the dads who live humbly because we know that we’ve saved by grace through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast! Let’s be the dads who realize how much God loves us because we know that 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!
Today’s devotional has been provided by Manhood Journey.
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://manhoodjourney.org/anger-free-dad/.
Takeaways from Today’s Devotional:
“Receive the Gift of Forgiveness“
- Let’s be the dads who do our best in hopes of one day receiving and having the right to wear “the “World’s Greatest Dad” T-shirt“!
- Let’s be the dads who “love our kids and will do what we can to make them happy“!
- Let’s be the dads who sacrifice and are determined to bless our kids!
- Let’s be the dads who don’t miss out on the blessings and incredible gift of God!
- Today’s devotional tells an interesting story of gifts, I’m going to pause and allow us to read it together and grab a hold of the powerful truth found in it!
- “Consider the dad who wants to do that for his own son. Christmas is coming, and he’d love to gift a bicycle to his son. Money’s tight though—real tight—but this father is undeterred. He works overtime. He cuts back on some of his own expenses. He even sells a couple of items he’s held on to for sentimental reasons. Why? He doesn’t want to just give his son a bike; he wants to give him a top-of-the-line bike.”
- “And he does. Christmas comes, and this father is thrilled as his son opens all his presents. Then he rolls out the bike with a big bow. The son looks at the bike, tosses out a perfunctory “Thanks, Dad,” and turns his attention to playing with all the cardboard boxes. Days pass, then months, and the bike stands untouched in the garage. It still has the bow.”
- “It’s hard to imagine any kid ignoring the freedom and exhilaration that comes with owning a bike, but a lot of us ignore an even greater gift: forgiveness. God paid a huge price, giving His most prized possession, His Son, to die in our place. With that death, the penalty of our sins was dealt with, and forgiveness is offered to us. Forgiveness is ours when we trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior.”
- Let’s be the dads who don’t miss out on God’s gift to us which is forgiveness!
- Let’s be the dads who don’t miss out on the opportunity to share this gift and give forgiveness to others!
- Let’s be the dads who realize that forgiveness is the key!
- Let’s be the dads who realize how powerful forgiveness is!
- I’m going to pause again to share a moment when I got to share the power of forgiveness to people at work from my past experience.
- Let’s be the dads who know that “Forgiveness is truly a gift—it’s not earned through your efforts—and it’s just waiting for you to unwrap it!“
- Let’s be the dads who realize that “God won’t unwrap it for you; it’s up to you to choose to accept and embrace His forgiveness or ignore it”!
- Let’s be the dads who won’t allow unforgiveness to exist in our lives because we know that “Anger often arises out of our own sense of unforgiveness“!
- Let’s be the dads who won’t allow unforgiveness to have power over us because “we feel the guilt of our sin”!
- Let’s be the dads who won’t allow unforgiveness to have power over us because “we feel the frustration of living under the burden of our own sin, and that can trigger a lot of anger”!
- Let’s be the dads who won’t allow unforgiveness to cause us to take it out on others because we know “Even if it’s self-directed anger—angry at ourselves for our sins and mistakes—that too quickly boils over into anger toward others“!
- Let’s be the dads who “see ourselves as forgiven in Christ, we can forgive the offenses of others and not let anger rise in our hearts“!
- Let’s be the dads who “want to live as a dad free from anger“!
- Let’s be the dads who “start by unwrapping God’s gift of salvation and receive His forgiveness“!
- Let’s be the dads who “with His forgiveness in our life, let that forgiveness overflow out of our life into the lives of others“!
- Let’s be the dads who realize “A forgiven and forgiving heart has no room for anger“!
- Today’s devotional challenges us:
