Psalm 68:5,6 “5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. 6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”
The Impact Of A Dad…
- Only 34% of children will live with both biological parents through age 18,
- About ¼ of all family groups with children are mother headed, which is double the 11.5% figure in 1970. No other group is so poor, and none stays poor longer. Poverty afflicts 45% of these mother-only families, whereas the income of only 8% of married-couple families is below the poverty line. 94% of the current caseload for Social Assistance consists of single-parent families. An estimated 73% of all single-parent children will have some period of poverty before they reach age 18, versus only 20% of children in 2-parent families,
- University of Texas sociologists Ronald Angel and Jacqueline Angel conclude, “that father absence places children at an elevated risk of impaired social development, hinders their school performance, and, ultimately, can limit their chances for optimal social mobility”. They add that, “we can say with great confidence that father absence is… a mental health risk factor for the children”,
- Barack Obama: “Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of school and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems or run away from home or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.”
The Tragedy Is How The Media Portrays Dads Today…
Dads Are Not Celebrated Or Honored, And Positive Models Are Almost Non-Existent.
We Were All Born With A Deep Fatherneed…
There Is A Huge Difference Between Having A Dad And Being Fathered…
Having a dad does not mean you were fathered. And not having a dad does not mean you were not, because fatherlessness is not about absence or the lack of absence, but it is about full-hearted presence. Fatherlessness is about the absence of connection and loneliness.
The Hebrew word for fatherless is “yāṯôm” and meant an orphan or fatherless child. It came from a root meaning to be lonely; a bereaved or grieving person. It was so important to God that it was found 42 times in the Scripture.
From Our Fathers, We Gain:
Our Sense Of Worth/Value…
Our Sense Of
Our Sense Of
Our Sense Of Our Potential…
Our Sense Of How To
Our Sense Of Boundaries & Behavior…
Our Sense Of What To
Romans 8:15-17 (NLT): “15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to
affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory…”
“L.E.A.P.” → The Father ’s You…
Romans 5:6-8 (NLT):
“6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
True love, “AS YOU ARE” LOVE, is being fully known and yet accepted. It is being fully exposed and still being fully cherished. It is having one see you completely, as you are, without masks, and still loving what they see. One of the greatest revelations we can ever receive is not just that God loves us, but that He sees us in all of our sin,in all of our weaknesses, in all of our failures, in all of our shame, in all of our dysfunction and pride, and He still loves us.
The Father Heart Of God Is Love “AS YOU ARE”.
Philippians 3:12-14.
The Word Of God is full of people who God has loved and cherished despite their past. Some of us
are held back by the past because we think God holds it. The past is meant as a place of learning, not a place of shame.
God The Father has taken our sins and removed them into the “sea of forgetfulness” – Jeremiah 31:31-34; Micah 7:18,19. The Father Heart Of God is LOVE “DESPITE YOUR PAST”…
I John 4:17-19.
Hurt people hurt people. But those who are touched by God’s Love get healed and heal others:
• Luke 7:36-50 → Sinful Woman Healed By LOVE THAT HEALS YOUR PAIN…
• Luke 8:26-39 → Demoniac Healed By LOVE THAT HEALS YOUR PAIN…
• Luke 19:1-10 → Zaccheus Was Healed By LOVE THAT HEALS YOUR PAIN…
The Father Heart Of God is LOVE THAT HEALS YOUR PAIN…
The Father Loves You…
Extravagantly → I John 3:1 → Love Without Limits…
Therapeutically → I John 4:19 → Love Without Pain…
Completely → Rom.8:14-16 → Love Without Orphans…
Transformingly → Romans 2:4; I John 3:1; Titus 3:3-6; I John 4:16-19 → Love Without Weakness: His Love Changes Us, Frees Us To Love Others, And Frees Us From Fear…
If you are depressed or anxious…
If you are experiencing chronic depression or sadness or anxiety…
- You are not alone.
- You are not a machine with broken parts, but a human with unmet needs.
- Stop asking: “What’s wrong with me and how can I fix it?”
- Start asking: “What did I miss, and how can I experience it?”
The Father’s Heart – Part 1 – The Father Loves You…
1) Please describe your experience of God as Father.
2) Please describe your own experience of being fathered in your own life.
3) Prayer for one another.