Who's your Daddy? It can change your prayer life!

“Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other’s hearts in prayer.”  Charles G. Finney

  Recently, I finished reading The Comeback by Louie Giglio. One chapter is about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s a favorite of Jesus’ parables for many Christians. I know that it’s one of mine. Most focus on the son’s sin and the father’s love and forgiveness. Louie Giglio suggested something that I’d never thought about – What was the son thinking when he saw his father running down the path toward him?

  When the son started to get close to home, his Dad didn’t miss it. His father was eagerly waiting and just needed to see the top of his son’s head coming over the horizon. He pulls up his robe and this noble father sprints down the road, past the servants, past the gate, past the whole village, down the lane toward his son.

  The son must have thought the worst. First it was, Who’s the old man running down the road? Then it was, Oh no, that’s Dad. He’s so irate that he doesn’t want to wait for me to get to the house to crush me; he wants to crush me in full view of the whole town. But that’s not how it went down. In fact, it’s the only time in Scripture where God is portrayed as being in a hurry, because God is always in a hurry to forgive.

  As I thought about the son’s fears, it resonated with me. If I’d blown it and finally came home, and I’d seen my Dad running to meet me, I’d have expected the worst. There wasn’t much grace or forgiveness with my Dad.

  Here’s the problem – our view of God is colored by our view of our Dad. It took me years to realize that God wasn’t going to slap me silly or chew me out because I’d blown it again. God’s Word has been such a healing medicine for me over the years to help me realize who my heavenly Father truly is. Passages like Romans 8:1 have been healing balm for my wounded soul, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Or, Psalms 103:13-14, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”  

  The reason that I’m sharing this is that my unbiblical view of God greatly contaminated my prayer life for many years. I kept waiting for the hammer to fall. Sadly, I know that I am not alone. A distorted view of who God truly is hinders many of His children from praying.

  Some years ago sociologists from Baylor did a study about our view of God. I’m not sure how many believers were surveyed, but they discovered that 31.4% of Americans envision the Almighty as The Authoritarian God. They see him as deeply involved in the world, but angry at what He sees. God wants us to do right, but harsh judgments are pending for those who don’t. Another 24% visualize God as The Distant Deity, seeing Him as uninvolved, detached. Another 16% see God as  The Critical God, judgmental, censorious and highly critical.

  While scholars and sociologists dissect the data, the key to a correct and comprehensive view of God is not found in polls, surveys, studies or even experience. It’s found in the Bible. It’s found in God’s Word.

  Our view of God though greatly effects our prayer life. If you see God as some angry tyrant, like Pharaoh or the Wizard of Oz, you’re not going to be motivated to pray. Or, if you think that you have to beg and twist God’s arm to get Him to even listen, you’re not going to want to pray.

  There are many other reasons that we don’t pray either individually or corporately. For many, our past has contaminated our present relationship with God. It’s truly “fake news.” That’s not our heavenly Father. It’s why we can encourage you to pray both alone and together. We need to be a church who trusts our Father and consistently prays together.

  The Lord blessed me with wonderful and godly adopted parents, Dad and Mom Cummins. They helped me begin to learn who my Heavenly Father truly is. They modeled godly parental love. Please understand, they held me accountable and let me know when I crossed a line. It was always done though with love, forgiveness and hope. It sowed seeds in my soul that blossomed into a growing faith that I can come to my Father with anything at any time.

  One specific incident probably sealed this in my heart more than any other. In my early twenties, I’d finished my junior year at Bible college and I began to doubt everything; Was the Bible true? Was there really a God? Did He love me? It was my own, what one writer called, “A Dark Night of the Soul.” In the midst of this spiritual muddle, I had a meeting with a former Bible college professor and pastor who ended up treating me horribly. He said things to me that were some of the most cruel and harshest I’d ever heard…and none of it was true (It came out later that he was covering up his own sin of adultery). But I was so hurt, so ambushed, so broken and so angry all at once. It was everything that I could do to not hop in my car and leave everything…forever. But I calmed down enough to call Dad Cummins. I was so hurt, I was screaming into the phone and he gently urged me to come home, and I did.

  Though it was a Saturday night and Dad had to preach the next day, I drove through the night and arrived home about 2 am. And Dad Cummins was waiting up for me! I fell into his huge arms weeping and he wept too. And I think for the very first time in my life, I finally knew a bit what my Heavenly Father was like.

  This year we’re focusing on prayer as a church family. Maybe you’ve dodged prayer because you’ve had a distorted view of who your Heavenly Father is. If you’re his child, He’s the Dad you’ve always dreamed of having but He’s innumerable times greater. You can come to Him anytime, anywhere, about anything. He loves you and longs for you to come to Him. 

  Please though don’t come alone, come with your regenerate brothers and sisters. Let’s come to our Abba Father together and see the windows of heaven opened. During 2019 and more, let’s move forward on our knees!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Feeling Fatherless on Father's Day?

“It is easier for a father to have children than for children

to have a real father.”

  Do you hate having to buy an obligatory gift? What about obligatory cards? For years, one of my most difficult tasks was buying the obligatory Father’s Day card. Most cards for most occasions, I can find with very little difficulty in just moments. Every year though I’d struggle to find an appropriate, (and honest), Father’s Day card. I couldn’t send one that said you’re the greatest Father in the world or that growing up was wonderful. It wasn’t true and my Dad knew that I didn’t believe that.

  My Dad and I never did connect. Sadly, we were never close. After I left home, I’d try to call him to see how he was doing. Five minutes was a long conversation. After I left home at fifteen, in that forty year period before he died, I don’t believe that he ever called me more than five times. I’d have to initiate the phone call if it was going to happen. He never saw the high school, college or seminary I graduated from. He didn’t attend my wedding and didn’t meet Jane until several months after we’d been married.

  There was just a gap that we never seemed to be able to overcome. I’m not sure why. When I was younger, he was everything that I didn’t want to be. But then, God began to work on my heart. Even though my Dad wasn’t all I wanted him to be. Even though we never really had a relationship, I began to see how God used him in my life and even his many admirable qualities.

  There’s an overlooked verse in Matthew, where Jesus acknowledges the limitations of fathers (really all parents), “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).

  You and I have no choice in our Dad or Mom. God not only chose where we were going to be born, He chose who we were going to be born to. We may not understand what God’s plan is BUT we know He has one and will use even what’s difficult or seems unfair for our good and His glory. Perhaps your experience is like mine. It may have been far worse. God though has taught me some valuable lessons even from a difficult father/child relationship. They’ve helped me. I hope that the Lord uses them to help you.

  Look at where they’ve come from, not just how far they need to go. I loved my grandfather (my Dad’s Dad). He was a wonderful man…to me. But he wasn’t to my Dad. When my Dad was growing up during the Depression, his father, though a hard worker, was the local drunk. On one occasion when he was intoxicated at church (of all places), he pulled a pistol on the sheriff who came to arrest him. He ended up doing time on the chain gang. He was mean, brutal and violent.

  When I was just a child, I remember visiting my Grandmother at her sister’s home, not her home where we normally went. My Grandfather was committing adultery and had moved this woman into their home. He was in his seventies when that happened. I doubt it was the first or only time. It would explain too why my Dad was so close and so protective of his mother, yet looked down with disdain on his father.

  Kids are brutal. My Dad would often mention how he’d been ridiculed as a child because they were so poor and his father was a drunk. My heart went out to him. I can’t imagine the shame that he dealt with as a child.

  Look for the good intent even behind bad behavior. With that background, my Dad didn’t know anything about marriage or parenting. Back then, a biblical worldview of marriage and family wasn’t talked about or taught…even in the Church. Because of the shame of his formative years, my Dad was obsessed with success. He wanted my four siblings and I to have it better than he’d had it, though he didn’t know how to really give us what we really needed. We had some of the best education that money could buy at the time. I attended some of the best schools in the Atlanta area and never went to a public school. My Dad felt that their education level didn’t meet the standards.

  We lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Five bedrooms back then was a huge house. My Dad was a hard worker and a shrewd businessman. He saved enough money so that he could pay cash for it. He wanted to make sure we were taken care of and didn’t have to go without, as he had.

  Seek to use the traits that you inherited or learned for godliness. My Dad never met a stranger. When I was a youngster, he was so outgoing, he’d often embarrass me. He didn’t have a shy bone in his body. He was one of those individuals who could have sold icicles to Eskimos. I’m not naturally outgoing (that surprises many people), yet I learned from him how to build bridges with people I don’t know. He modeled how to have a conversation even with a complete stranger. By God’s grace, I hope and pray that I’ve used that for the Gospel.

  Thank God for the Dad and Mom that He gave you. One of my favorite passages is Genesis 50:19-20, where Joseph, after suffering horribly at the hands of his brothers, forgave them and said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” What freedom! To know that every detail, even who my parents are, was planned by my loving Heavenly Father! And if I trust Him and submit to Him, He can even use the worst parents or family situation for His glory and my good.

  I truly have no regrets that my Dad was who he was or that I lost my mother in a car accident when I was ten. Do I miss her? Do I wish that my relationship with my Dad could have been different? Absolutely! Knowing though that my Heavenly Father who loves me beyond whatever I can ever fathom planned all of this changes my whole perspective. Rather than it being a source of regret or bitterness, it’s a sense of rest in God’s loving care…even when I don’t understand.

  My three children are now adults. I’m sure they wish that I’d done many things differently, and so do I. On my part, I need to take responsibility where I’ve sinned or blown it. Yet, I hope too that they’ll allow God to use my innumerable blunders in their lives for their good and His glory.