Hear It on Sunday, Use it on Monday: Father's Day from Daddy

I went to visit my family for Father's Day weekend; which means I sat under my Dad's preaching.  It is always a special treat...I swell all up with good pride...if I had buttons they'd pop.  I'm a Daddy's girl...can you tell?!

It was a Father's Day sermon...He started out with this...

"From a biblical perspective we are to honor our fathers, not because they are so perfect and worthy of respect, but because they occupy a place in our lives that represents God's fatherhood."

He proposed the thought that our relationship with God as our Father is key in our prayer life.  Using Luke 11:1-13 (Lord's Prayer) as a guide he showed how it was true.  Rather than go on down through the points for ya...cuz you could just download it for yourself HERE...I'll share what struck me most...and what I'm chewing on this Monday morning after my long tiring drive home.

Some good reminders for me...prayer is not a conversation between equals.  If God is truly my Fatherly Hero I must appreciate him and love him.  It must start with me recognizing God's character.  Hallowed be HIS NAME...Hallowed= exalted as holy.

A painful point for this little control freak was seeing that He is our Fatherly Leader...which means I have to admit His right to rule...me.  His kingdom starts in my heart.  I also have to realize His wisdom.  There are NO good choices outside of God's will.

I have admitted here before that I skew God into being more disciplinarian than anything else.  But that means I'm failing to see Him as my Fatherly Provider (my daily bread) and my Fatherly Protector (leads me not into temptation but delivers me from evil).  Oh, He is my Fatherly Disciplinarian...make no mistake.  But, that is something to rejoice over, not bemoan.  It breaks my pride and gets rid of the yuck so I can humbly serve Him.  I was struck that I need to really be more concerned about my sins (big and small)...enough to remember and repent.  Dad said, and it's so so painfully true, "things we don't repent of grow and gain the need for crisis removal."

But, I was most impacted by something that God's already been chipping away at in my life.  Purity of speech, thought, etc.  I must choose the good.  Dad said that sin is SIN-tilating!  Haha...but not so funny is it?  It's why we watch what we shouldn't and say what we shouldn't.  We make ourselves bait for Satan.  I'm going to start naming my temptations to God...so that it's clear what I should avoid.  I choose safety.

"Our Heavenly Father is the key to our prayer life!  He wants us to come to him.  He will hear and respond to our prayers. He will give us good things--just what we need (and just when we need it!)"