Love For His People: #344

Showing posts with label #344. Show all posts

Thursday, June 14, 2018

For Our Children’s Sake - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

For Our Children’s Sake

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

"And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:6, NKJV)

I’ve heard it said that it only takes a minute to become a dad, but a lifetime to be a father. How true.

In this day and age when masculinity and fatherhood are much maligned, ridiculed often, and made to seem as a choice to be avoided, it takes much encouragement for a man to be a father to those whom the Lord has given him. The lion’s heart of the Lord, to be an overcomer and walk in that which he has been created to be, must reside in the heart of today’s fathers. Otherwise, the next generations will continue to slide into the depths of hell that the enemy would so delight to see happen.

Having raised four children, along with my good wife who continues to give so much of herself, even now I find myself even more so interceding for those who follow after us, to have the courage, strength, wisdom and resolve to give of themselves for their children’s sake. When it comes to having a father in your life, really the one person meant to be that one is the child’s father himself. I thank God for men who do adopt the fatherless, the orphaned, and for others who mentor those without a male figure in their lives, but I thank God even more so for the men who are being what a father is meant to be for his children. Being the responsible God-ordained male figure in their life is so needed in our ravished families.

Personally, over those years I have felt so inadequate so often when raising my own kids. With the pressures of marriage, the daily job rigors, and the temptations that come at us to pursue one’s own ambitions and pleasures - when it came to giving of oneself, only by the grace of the Lord has His example kept me committed as much as it did. Without the heavenly Father’s upholding hands touching my own life, I shudder to think where my kids themselves would have ended up. It has been because of the love of the Father working in and through me, for any good accomplished results, having laid that foundation in their lives, to follow after Him.

Steve & Laurie Martin family June 16, 2018

When I see them struggle, trying their best to achieve good, my father’s heart wants to make it all simple and easy for them. And yet I know that they themselves will only know the Lord’s intervention if they press on through these times too. In time, they will have grown the spiritual fruit necessary to raise their own kids.

As I consider what my role continues to be today in their lives, for my role in fatherhood never stops, I believe one major purpose is to daily pray for them. To intercede on their behalf, asking for the Lord’s protection, provision, and divine purpose, remains a true commitment I maintain for each of them.

My power is limited. His power, through the working of the Holy Spirit, is limitless. Praying in tongues, a mighty prayer weapon, activates His strength and coverage that I simply cannot do.

I remain encouraged that the Lord’s word will continue to instruct and assist in our efforts to be strong fathers in our day. I remain committed to being the example I am meant to be to those who call me Dad. I remain steadfast in my daily promise to pray for them and other fathers who also seek to stand for truth, love and faith in troubled times.

Through the love of God the Father, those who are earthly fathers can be the godly fathers we are called to be, for our children’s and grandchildren’s sake.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

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Now Think On This #344- in the year of our Lord 06.14.18 – “For Our Children’s Sake”, Thursday, 10:15 am

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Open Hands, Open Heart - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Open Hands, Open Heart

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24, NKJV)

One would think that when a certain age is reached in this human life, the need to press on in faith is not as great, or as needful as when one is just starting out in a younger age. I for one am finding that that is not necessarily so. The call to walk in faith, on a daily scale, seems to be just as needed as when I was young and raring to go, full of energy and vigor - to conquer the world for God.

It isn’t done until it is done.

It seems to be true that in this life we are not meant to reach that point where we can sit back and say, “I am finished. I did it all. No need to press on any further. There is no more for me, so I can relax and watch the remaining days go by, with ease and full pleasure.”

For me, it isn’t so. I find myself just as often these days, my “golden years”, visualizing my hands raised, open to the heavens, saying to the Lord, “I need You today. I need You to guide my steps. I need my heart to be open to your plans and purposes in my life for this hour, as they were in my past years, to accomplish what You want.”

Did not the Lord Himself advise the one who thought he had accomplished it all, by speaking these words of truth to him? “'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' "But God said to him, ' You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:19-21, NASU)

Looks like we must never come to the point when we sit back and basically say to ourselves that we no longer need to seek, ask, or find what the Lord has yet in store for us. He is always calling us to Himself, to expect more from Him, to rest not in our accomplished laurels but in finishing strong to the end the full package He has in mind for each.

My heart is open to going further in the ways of the Lord, to have Him even more so perform the works of the Holy Spirit through me, bringing light and glory to the ones around me, and in the nations. Though I am content with what has come, what has been completed, grateful for what has been achieved in these past years, I will yet desire to press on to full completion.

Retirement in the Kingdom of God doesn’t seem to be found written in the Word of God.

You yourself may be one, like myself, who has reached the late 50’s, 60’s, or beyond. At times we have grown very weary in the pursuit and the fulfillment of it all, but with the strength of the Almighty One we serve, we have yet more to do. In His might we will accomplish it.

Keep your hands open and your heart also. Be encouraged in your pressing on. The reward is great. There is much yet to be won. And then we can sit back and enjoy the mansion in heaven that even now is being built for us.