Fatherhood is God ordained. Even Jesus who was born without the physical participation of a man had a father in Joseph. Every child needs a father. The position of a father is key to the destiny of any child. Fathers are providers, protectors, and teachers. One of the several reasons a child needs a father is the need to understand God.
A child knows next to nothing about God and needs to be taught. Fathers are meant to provide for this need as they perform other functions. Unfortunately, most fathers have left this sacred duty for the pursuit of bread. Let me inform you that anybody with a source of income can be a breadwinner but it takes a father to introduce God to a child.
A father is meant to be the Jesus a child meets before hearing about Jesus from the pulpit or reading about him from the pages of the bible. It is important that fathers know God experientially. A child can read about the feeding of the five thousand in his book of bible stories. That child also needs a book of divine experiences to completely understand and validate the book of stories.
A father must state clearly how God dealt with him. He must have a testimony. It is not enough to show them what God did with Joshua. You must tell them how he defeated your enemies. You must make them see that the word of God works. You must give them specific examples from your life that will make them understand that it pays to serve Jesus. A man of God said “If you tell your child to take paracetamol every time he has headache, what will you tell him if he develops a cancerous growth”. We must tell them how he healed us.
As fathers, we must build our children to be strong in the lord. We must teach them to stand their ground against the devil. We must show them their superior position in Christ. We must teach them that nothing is impossible to God’s people. Our children are looking up to us for proof of what they have read from the bible. They need to see, through us, that those things they have read are true. A book of bible stories or a book of divine experiences; what would you rather be?
Psalm 78:1-6
1. Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7. That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments
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