Today's Devotions

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Showcase: Assorted Treats

  • Leaning on His Spirit: Francis Chan +

    Are we really listening to God, or just the words we want God to tell us? Francis Chan, former lead Read More
  • Crazy Love: a book by Francis Chan +

    This is the introduction to Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love. Read More
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SylviaI never tire of talking about or receiving the Father heart of God.

We have a crisis of fathering in this country. A hundred years ago Teddy Roosevelt said, "What we need in our public officials is not genius, not even brilliancy, so much as the exercise of the ordinary, rather commonplace qualities of honesty, courage, and common sense -- the qualities that make a man a good husband, a good father, a good neighbor." Our crisis in good fathering is ultimately more serious than any economic or political crisis.

Very few people have been fathered in their spirit and soul. We need to receive from Father God his reparenting us as true sons and daughters. The good news is that God wants to be our Father. Jesus came to show us His Father and ours.

Receiving the perfect Father nature of God is essential if we are to love Him and be assured of His love, trust Him, be secure in Him, pray to Him, yield to Him, live holy before Him, receive His guidance, serve Him, be like Him, and much more. Spend time with your Father in His Word, His love letter to you. Receive His Father love for you. He is our Father by right of the blood of Jesus (John 1:12). Our basis of eternal security is being in the Father's hand (John 10:28-29). We pray to the Father in Jesus' name (Mat. 6:9). God's Father love for us is our highest motivation to holiness (1 John 3:1-3). His Fatherhood is the basis of understanding His guiding hand (John 5:20, 10:3-4, 27). Every family derives its name from the Father, so God the Father is the model for headship in our families (Eph. 3:14-15, Psa. 68:5-6). Our Father wants us to yield to His gentle parental authority (Hos. 11:1, 3-4, Eph. 6:4). The basis of trusting Him is seeing Him as our totally able and faithful Father (Mat. 18:19-20, Heb. 13:5, 2 Tim. 2:13). When we know Him as Father, we will trust His generosity (Mat. 6:32-33, Jam. 1:17, Psa. 37:3-5). Knowing Him as Father is the basis of receiving His affection (John 17:23, Hos. 11:4, Jer. 31:3, Deu. 33:12). His Father-heart is the basis for His parental attentiveness (Mat. 6:25-26, 31; 1 Pet. 5:7). When we rightly knowing Him as Father, we are secure in his acceptance and rest securely in Him (Gal. 4:5-7, Rom. 8:15-16, 32-33; Zeph. 3:17). His relationship to us as Father is the legal basis of receiving all our inheritance in Christ (Eph. 1:13-14, Col. 1:12, 1 Pet. 1:3-4). The Father is seeking worshipers. When we understand His Father heart, we will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).

Knowing our loving Father is the foundation for intimate relationship with Him. First Corinthians 13:4-7 is a picture of our Father's love. Personalize it, and receive it for yourself. My Father who loves me is patient with me, kind to me.... My Father's love is not rude, nor self-seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of my wrongs. My Father's love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. My Father's love always protects me, always trusts me, always believes the best about me, always perseveres and never gives up on me. My Father's love for me never fails.

That's shouting ground!

Reflections to Consider

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Publications

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Music

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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Falling in Love With God +

    “falling in love with God,” as Boa’s subtitle for the facet explains. In this approach we attempt to enter into Read More
  • An Infallible Assurance: John Donne +

    Our God is not out of breath, because he hath blown one tempest, and swallowed a Navy: Our God hath Read More
  • At the Feet of Jesus: We Fall Down +

    Chris Tomlin We fall down and lay our crowns At the feet of Jesus The greatness of Your Mercy and Read More
  • I am Not a Robot, I am a Unicorn: Learning How to Communicate in a Fallen World +

      Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Praise as Warfare by Sylvia Gunter +

    Praise is adoration of God for who He is, His person, His character, His names. It is loving God because Read More
  • Followers First by Steve Tamayo, Chatham Community Church +

    What does it mean to be a Christian? Read More
  • Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation +

    What does it mean to be a disciple, to follow the disciplines necessary to serve Jesus with our whole heart? Read More
  • Cultivating joy to proclaim the gospel +

    And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15 Read More
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