Generation NeXt Parenting

A Daddy Who Loves Me--Sharon Jaynes, Guest Blogger

“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters” (2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV).

One of my favorite retreat topics is from my book, Dreams of a Woman – God’s Plans for Fulfilling Your Dreams.

In this book I talk about five dreams every little girl has: to have a daddy who loves me, to be a bride, to be a mommy, to be beautiful, and to have a best friend. In talking to women all across the country, I have seen eyes fill with tears when I talk about the dream of having a daddy who loves me. But the tears are not for me, they reveal the longing in their own hearts.

Butterfly Kisses, a song by Bob Carlisle that climbed the charts in the year 2000, received international recognition in both the Christian and secular music industries. The song was about the tender love between a father and his daughter, starting from her birth to her wedding day.

Mr. Carlisle said, “I get a lot of mail from young girls who try to get me to marry their moms. That used to be a real chuckle because it’s so cute, but then I realized they didn’t want romance for mom. They want the father that is in that song, and that just kills me.”

Our modern society has downplayed the importance of fathers over the past forty years, but all the feminist rhetoric has not erased the deep seated need that women have tucked in the recesses of their hearts – to be fathered by the father of their dreams. Little girls and grown women alike want a daddy to protect them, help them, guide them, nurture them, and cheer them on through the struggles of life.

In the Old Testament, God has many names.
He is...
Elohim – the Creator
El Elyon – God Most High
El Roi – the God who sees
El Shaddai – the All-Sufficient One
Adonai – the Lord, Jehovah – the Self-Existent One
Jehovah-Jireh –the Lord Will Provide
Jehovah – Rapha – the Lord that heals
Jehovah—Shalom – the Lord is peace
Jehovah-Raah – the Lord my Shepherd

His covenant name with the people of Israel was I AM. “He is: and it is because He is what He is that everything else is as it is.”

In the New Testament, Jesus introduced a new name for God – Father. It is the name that Jesus referred to more than any other and the name that He invites us to use to address the Creator of the Universe.

Just stop and think about that for a moment. The God of the universe who created the heavens and the earth, who always has been and always will be, who is all-knowing, all powerful, and present everywhere at once – that same God invites you to call Him - Daddy!

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He said:

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name….’ (Matthews 6:6-9 NIV)

.J. I. Packer, in his book Knowing God wrote: “For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the Old, everything that is distinctly Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God."

All other religions demand followers to worship created beings (Mohammad, Buddha), but Jehovah the Creator, the great I AM, invites us to crawl up in His lap, become His child, and call Him Abba, Daddy. He said, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters” (2 Corinthians 6:18NIV).

Today, ponder the fact that God is your Daddy. Enjoy His love, embrace His presence, and engage in communion with the One who loves you most.

For more information about Sharon, go to her website.

posted by Tricia Goyer @ 9:31 AM