Skip to main content

Creating Safety

What is a father? A protector? A leader? A provider? A teacher?

On Father's day Sean Smith said from the pulpit, "We all need sanctuary and it is more than a building. It is a safe place." 

We live in a world with fewer and fewer safe places and, less and less fathers. 

When men are absent from the home a level of safety is lost. Worse yet, if a father brings violence in, the family is doubly violated. 

The Apostle Paul was a part of a violent system but God called him to face that very system. Paul was the forerunner missionary in confronting what was attacking the children of God the most at the time: the oppressive system of religion. 

Today, American Christians do not experience religious persecution like in the days of the coliseums. Children are more likely to get exposed to abuse at home. 

People who have walked through trauma and into healing can provide a higher level of safety for those who have suffered similar traumas.  

I believe there is a mandate for modern day Apostles to step into the role of father for a fatherless generation. There is a call to heal from the pains of the past and restore safety and protection for the next generation. 

None of this is possible without forgiveness. 

Father's day month is a time to thank fathers but it is also a time to forgive fathers. Remember the Apostle Paul was greeted in heaven by the Christians he persecuted.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revisting: If I Were a Bird & The Season of the Ox

Today I'm revisting two posts from June of this year. My regular devotional reading has me back in Ezekiel and back to the four living creatures. With the Hebrew calendar ending in September, today was the first day I asked the Lord for my word for this upcoming Hebrew year. All things considered, I felt it necessary to revist these posts. Now, I know of at least one dream that was not from the Lord. I'm not sure I am done learning about the ox, but I've learned a little.  If I were a Bird Recently I had three separate people, in three distinct settings begin a thought with, "If I were a bird."  Bizarre, right? At the first comment, I began to joyfully hear Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird" song in my head. By the third comment, in a matter of just forty-eight hours, I was curious. I could not recall ever hearing anyone share such a thought before, and then to have a few in a short matter of time had me wondering. Seemed either an odd coincidence...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revisting: Never Ignore

Today, we are revisting a post from July 13, 2023. One thing we can count on is changing emotions. One day we deal with intense anger, the next extreme apathy. Our emotions may not be wise, but they are telling. Never Ignore I came cruising into my day refreshed and ready to go. Then, I experienced anger. Someone's misinformation inconvenienced my easy, breezy day.  Anger is one of those emotions I find less becoming than others. I was trying to calm myself down when Holy Spirit reminded me that I was not designed to reconcile my emotions on my own. In the past, I have fallen prey to ignoring and stuffing my emotions, but nowadays, I am more likely to try and reconcile my emotions on my own. Perhaps when I have "figured out" what needs to change, I then might go to God to request said changes. Today, I managed to be reminded that God likes us to come to Him raw. In the heat of anger or depths of despair, He wants to be invited into what we are feeling, thinking, and exper...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revisting: Wisdom & Authority

Today we are revisting a post from August 18th, 2023. How important it is for each of us to rightly balance wisdom and authority in our own lives. That balance becomes more crucially necessary in marriage. Wisdom & Authority  My husband and I had our routine check-ups this week. He is an emergency room nurse and promptly schedules all of our appointments. For two decades of my adult life, I took care of these matters myself. His planning is a welcome change in married life. He is also handy and takes immaculate care of our yard. Really I won the husband lottery because he also cooks, cleans, and is good at basically everything.   Not that he does everything. We share a fairly even distribution of responsibilities in running our household and raising our daughter. I may not be handy, but I was a responsible homeowner before we met. As someone who left home at 17 and married at 37, I learned how to take care of things on my own, but life is better together. Both my husb...
Post a Comment
Read more