House of Hope Online

June 18, 2023

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Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there and the children, young and old, who are hoping to honor their fathers today!  May the Lord bless your day with joy, knowing that your Father in Heaven is able to make all grace abound to you that having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good work!

I want to discuss Father’s Day a little and give a testimony about my father as well, but before I do that, let me review what we have been talking about the last couple of weeks because I think it ties nicely into a celebration of our Heavenly Father on Father’s Day.

Two weeks ago, my children gave me an early Father’s Day gift engraved with Psalms 37:25 “…I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. (NIV)

And so for the last couple of sessions we have been reviewing the awesome scriptures on tithing and how the Lord wants to overflow us with blessings and increase us and multiply us as we express faith in His word and are obedient to pay our tithes, which amount to 10% of our gross earnings donated to the work of the Lord.  We saw that the Hebrew word for “blessings” in Malachi 3 means benediction, or “good words,” and that these good words give us the power and creativity to make wealth.

But what stood out to me is that what God requires of us, He provides the ability to do through grace.  We said that grace is God doing for us that which we cannot do for ourselves.  In fact, the Greek word for grace means a divine influence upon the heart, which leads to gratitude, benefit, favor, gifts, joy, liberality, pleasure, and thanks.  The expression “divine influence” means God is the one who influences our heart.  In the flesh we do not want to tithe but He divinely influences our heart to do so, and we enjoy the benefit, favor, joy, etc.

I believe what we saw in 2^nd Corinthians 9 encapsulates all that.

2^nd Corinthians 9:

6 ¶ Now this [I say,] he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.

 7 Let each one [do] just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

  8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

If we show a willingness to sow bountifully and with a cheerful heart, He makes grace abound to us so we will always have sufficiency in everything, and an abundance for every good deed.  Now sufficiency is defined as adequate for meeting our needs but note that verse 8 says we will have an abundance for every good deed.  If you are afraid to tithe, just know His grace which abounds to us satisfies all our needs while providing abundance for every good deed.  Every good deed we do is the result of His grace!

Paul goes on in 2^nd Corinthians 9 to say explicitly that the Father supplies the seed for us and the bread for food, and He will increase us.

2^nd Corinthians 9:

10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;

 11 you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. (NASB)

These are awesome promises: He will multiply our seed and increase our harvest of righteousness.  And He will enrich us in everything for all liberality (that is, generosity) to produce thanksgiving to God.  Praise Jesus and his faithfulness to His word!

This is who our Father is!

So, on Father’s Day let us honor our Father in Heaven who is the Father of grace, who makes all grace abound to us, so we have everything we need and even more to do every good deed.  This is the heart of the Father – to give His kids all they need and more to enrich them.  Jesus made this point in Luke 11.

Luke 11:

 11 “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

 12 “Or [if] he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

 13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

He is the Father who enriches by giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.  The Holy Spirit provides the benediction, or the good words, creative genius, and wisdom to create wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).

God is also Father to the fatherless.

His word tells us that He is Father to the fatherless.

Psalms 68:

 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.

 4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up [a song] for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him.

 5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

Psalms 68 encourages us to be glad, to exult before God, to rejoice with gladness, and to sing praises to Him who is Father to the fatherless!

A number of years ago, when we were living in Birmingham, AL and attending Liberty Church, God spoke this word into my spirit.  Those of you who know me or have been following the blog know that my earthly father died when I was just two years old.  At a Sunday service at Liberty Church there was an altar call for the fatherless as well as those whose father-child relationship needed repaired.  I was not planning to go to the altar, but the Holy Spirit urged me (Ah—a benediction!).  I went to the altar and the man who was supposed to pray for me just embraced me and allowed me to weep as Father God poured into me. 

God told me I had been walking the earth with an orphan’s spirit, thinking I was not whole because of my dad’s premature death, when all the while God has been in Heaven wanting me to know His agape love for me.  God wanted to be a Father to me, the fatherless, but I would not allow it, because I chose to believe what the world made me feel – that I was disadvantaged.  God went further and convicted me of holding resentment against my dad for falling victim to alcoholism, and in effect abandoning our family.  He had me forgive my dad posthumously, and for the first time I felt my earthly father’s love.  There were the three of us, Father God, Nicola Giuliani, and me bathing in agape love.  It was incredible!  God told me I had bought into the judgement of others who blamed my dad for what happened, and I needed to realize alcoholism is a disease like many others and I needed to forgive my father.

This was a life-changing moment for me and my family.  I finally understood what a father’s love was all about.  After the service when we were in our van ready to go home, I just wept over my children with tears of joy for what God had done.  I knew I had become a better father that day because now I had the Father’s love in me.  We cannot love others unless we know His love through Jesus.

Paul writes in Romans 8 that being led by the Spirit of God is how we become children of God.

Romans 8:

 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 17 ¶ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] in order that we may also be glorified with [Him.]

The spirit of slavery I had to the orphan’s mentality was broken that day, and I knew that Father God adopted me when I received Jesus in my heart and became a fellow heir with Him.  I can now cry out Abba! Father! Daddy!

Many struggle with their relationship with their earthly father, which often leads to difficulty in their faith.  I want to pray for those in a few minutes but first I want to share Jesus’ words which encourage us to take pressure off that relationship by relying on our Father in Heaven, who is perfect.

Matthew 23:

 9 “And do not call [anyone] on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

Jesus is not saying to disrespect our earthly father, but He is saying stop relying on Him so much that we flounder when earthly dad fails us.  Instead, remember we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and makes all grace abound to us so that we have sufficiency in all things and even an abundance for every good deed.  Praise Jesus!

And finally, a word to all the fathers today.  Remember to affirm your children as our Heavenly Father affirmed Jesus.

Matthew 3:

 16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, [and] coming upon Him,

 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (NASB)

Tell your children today that you are very pleased with them.  Encourage them in love and in righteousness.  Encourage their relationship with Jesus and their reliance on Father God by the Holy Spirit.  It means a lot, and it imitates Almighty God!

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You for being our Father, a perfect Father to whom we cry out Abba! Daddy!  Lord, we pray for those whose relationship with their children or earthly father is strained by whatever circumstance or for whatever reason.  We know You are the God who restores what is broken, the God who forgives sin, the God of the prodigal son, and the God who resurrects from the dead. Do a work today to restore relationships between children and their fathers, and fathers and their children.  Help us all to realize there is One who is our Father, and that is He who is in Heaven.  In Jesus’ name we pray.   Amen.