Father’s Day

Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said “Father” and Abraham responded “Here I am, my son.” Gen 22:7, ESV. The strong bond between Abraham and his beloved son is one every child yearns to have with his father/elder.

Father’s Day is a time when we honor our fathers, our elders, those who have a few more grey hairs than we. Probably no one’s father, nor we ourselves, were perfect parents. As someone wisely said, ‘we each worked with the best tools we had at that time.’ Regardless of what their parenthood score would be, our lives today are greatly impacted because of who they were. Those parents/elders who were flawed gave us the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and to do better. Those who were godly gave us examples of how to conduct our lives and hopefully do as well as they did. Despite the conduct, or lack thereof, God says we are to honor them.

Romans 12:10b instructs we are to: “Honor one another above yourselves.” To honor is more than giving someone special recognition, respect, compliments etc. It means “to value.” In 1 Corinthians 7:23a it says, “You were bought at a price” the word translated price is the same Greek word translated honor. Its root word is usually translated precious, of greater worth or dear” To honor one another is to treat each person as valuable, costly, precious.

Many of our fathers or elders are aging. How do we treat them? Do we honor them? It is easy to become — too busy — too stressed — too involved with our own agendas to have time for the older generation.

Ponder: do we take our fathers or elders for granted? How can we show we value them as precious?

Prayer:

“Thank You, precious Father for having placed godly men in our lives. We pray Your blessings on these men. We ask that You help us to forgive those men who didn’t know how to be fathers. Bless them and draw them to You. Thank You for Your amazing healing of family-relationships. We continue to be in awe at ALL the prayers You answered in the last year. Thank You for allowing us to partner with You. We pray Your continued healing on physical bodies, spirits, relationship, finances. Turn the hearts of Americans to You. In Your precious Name, we pray.”

IMMEDIATE Prayer Requests:  

1. Pray for Israel!
2. Protection of the persecuted church.
3. Pray for America.
4. Mary & Joe (Wycliffe Bible Translators): trip to Japan.
5. Deb: victory over overwhelming circumstances. Encouragement!! God will provide; prayer for wisdom and favor with all those involved in the decision-making. Protection from false accusations and that truth, victory, and peace will reign. That Deb’s spirit will be lifted up: that she will have the words and clarity of mind to accomplish what needs to be done. That there will be a miraculously successful outcome of fairness and provision for her future.
6. Connie: healing.
7. Jim: recovery knee replacement surgery. Please pray flexibility will increase, pain will subside, and all other parts of his back, etc will operate pain-free..