Father's Day

Father’s Day arrives on Sunday. This day can bring up many emotions – warmth; joy; sadness; bitterness; regret; gratitude; appreciation; loss to name a few. Our relationship with our earthly fathers will affect our Father’s Day experience. I’m thankful that my heavenly Father gave me an earthly Father who did so much for me. We had our disagreements in the teenage and early young adult years. But soon after we entered into that sweet spot of a kind of friendship that we enjoyed for the next 20 years. I hope many of you have had that with your fathers.

Of course no earthly father is perfect. Yet fathers are vital. I remember a prison chaplain sharing a story one time about his observations of prisoners on Mother’s Day compared to Father’s Day. On Mother’s Day, there was a long line up to use the phone for inmates to call their mothers. On Father’s Day, no one lined up to use the phone. A father can play a huge role in situating a child towards a good life direction.
Yet, if we have had a difficult or non-existent relationship with our earthly fathers, we can lean on our heavenly Father. Here are a few reminders from the Word about your heavenly Father.

Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:8
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:9
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:29
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

Matthew 24:36
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mark 14:36
And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Luke 6:36
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Luke 23:34
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

John 4:23
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

John 6:44
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 14:2
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Romans 8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

Philippians 1:2
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

“Thank you Father for our earthly fathers or whoever you brought to fulfill that role in our lives. Help us to continue to honor them and their legacy. Yet we also praise You for always being there for us. Lead us as your children.”