In June we talked about the importance of being hard-working, that there is no other way to get spiritual or earthly wealth, but through work. This information will prove helpful for us to work on as a value, which we should consider in the month dedicated to family. As you know, a happy family relationship does not fall from the sky. Successful marriage – is the result of hard work!
Although the family is a union of two hearts, a man’s and a woman’s, I would like to pay special attention to the responsibility of a man. No wonder God created the man first.
Let’s dedicate this month to fatherhood and consider certain characteristics of a good father. God set the man as the head of the family not because he is better than a woman, but it is his position before God, to lead and protect the family. The leading role gives man the entitlement to respect, honor and dignity, but also confers certain obligations.
1. A good father should protect his wife and children.
1 Corinthians 13:7 “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
2. A good father is a father not only for his children, but also for his wife.
Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”
3. A good father provides stability, strength and reliability in the family. He helps to keep strong and healthy relationships in the family despite the different and individual characters of its members.
4. A good father provides for his family financially, irrespective of the wife’s income. He helps his wife to build a successful career and be the guardian of the hearth.
1Timothy 5:8 “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
5. A good father is the image of God the Father, which can be imitated and followed by his children and wife. He is the priest and center of spirituality in his home.
Titus 2:7 “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness.”
6. A good father has such a feature, as faithfulness. He is faithful in small things, to his wife and to God.
Proverbs 28:20 “A faithful man will abound with blessings”
7. A good father spends time with is wife and children. Nothing can replace the time that you separate for the family. Do not make your wife and children jealous of you for the car, TV, career or friends.
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven”
8. A good father loves the mother of his children. Children accept this model of family relationship and gain the experience of building their own happy, loving and healthy families.
Ephesians 5:28 “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
9. A good father plays with and talks to his children, and he is interested in their educational progress.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
10. A good father leads and raises his family by his own example. Children will act not merely as they are taught, but in the way that they see their father act, because children naturally imitate everything that happens in their predominant environments.
1 Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.”
11. A good father intercedes to God for the family.
Job 1:5 “When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.”
12. A good father cares about the future of his family.
2 Corinthians 12:14 “Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.”
13. A good father – is a loving, merciful and long-suffering father. He never leaves the task of his children’s upbringing unattended. He helps them to develop self-discipline and organization.
Proverbs 13:24 “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.”
Proverbs 19:18 “Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.”
14. A good father does not disgrace his family being an authority for others.
Psalm 25:4-5 “I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites. I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked.”
Men! Let happiness bloom in our families through proper understanding of the role of the husband and the father in the family.
For a deeper studying of this topic the following literature is recommended:
“In search of a Father”, “Successful marriage takes work”, “The dynamics of family life” – by Sunday Adelaja.
Bless you!
I wish all of you unspeakable family happiness!
With love, Senior Pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations”
Sunday Adelaja
Translated by Yevheniya Pustova
Edited by Kizito Leacock
