As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. Psalms 103:13
God has no grandchildren. This statement has often been brought forefront to my understanding. All of us were ‘knitted’ in the womb by God. All of us have a first hand relationship and access to Him, if we want it. Many times in the Old Testament and in the New Testament the concept of God being our Father is introduced to the people. Now if your earthly father wasn’t as good as you wanted Him to be, or lacked the wisdom and love you needed, then the ‘father wound’ developed within you. That often translated over to your feelings about God, and your own children. And the enemy of our soul uses that wound to hinder our relationship with our heavenly Father and our other relationships. This is where there is a need for the Holy Spirit and another spiritually mature male elder can help you see that forgiveness of your earthly father may be necessary for your growth and healing.
When the Holy Spirit showed me my dad in a vision as a young boy when I was prayer when I was about 40 years old … I understood so much. My heart understood how much my dad was also wounded in his soul. The tears flowed as I asked the Holy Spirit to heal my ‘father wound’, and to help me start a new relationship and understanding with my dad. That experience with the Holy Spirit and dealing with my father wound brought a whole new perspective with my own children.
We humans are far from perfect. Parenting by far is the most risky thing a person can venture into. Raising children is the biggest challenge in the human experience. So obviously there will be mistakes made. No one is ready for parenthood. And each child is SO different and unique. Just when you think you understand what to do – a challenge arises with a child that smashes that notion. But there are lessons and things learned about God that can only come through the experience of raising children. Oh how humbling it can be. Having children will increase your prayer life. And it certainly doesn’t end when they leave the ‘nest’. In fact in my experience, your prayer life for them increases. But parenting can also bring a love that is beyond words and expression. Our hearts will always expand in love to meet the need of a child – if we see them through the Heavenly Father’s eyes.
How would you wound a man in the deepest part of his soul? Attack his children. Harm his children. Destroy his children. God HATES the spilling of innocent blood and those that harm children. (Proverbs 6:16-17 & Luke 17:2) We need to understand how grievous it is to God’s heart when we allow children to be murdered. When we allow our culture, government, and laws to sweep children into becoming a ‘piece’ of property and trafficked. The enemy has ALWAYS sought the blood of the innocent children from the very beginning. And that grotesque sin expands greatly today. When God’s judgment comes to a nation and the consequences of the sin against His children floods over the land …it is a scary thing. This is where the ‘fear of God’ comes to reality and understanding. A dad will know this deep in his heart. That IS a child in the womb, NOT a ‘thing’.
As a dad I have realized I need the HELP of the Holy Spirit SO much. I clearly don’t know within myself the correct things to say, or do, in helping my grown children. My heart yearns so much… for them to know Him and have a vital intimate relationship with their heavenly Father. I rely so heavily on humility, gratefulness, and repentance — in guiding my actions and reactions with them, asking the Holy Spirit what I should say and do with them. I am clearly not able to supply all their need, only the heavenly Father can do that. (Philippians 4) But the love FOR my children continues to grow each day with age. The desire to hug them and be with them only gets stronger with each passing day. I tend to look at the past and long for the experience when families were much closer in proximity and within the community and worked together – and the elders were very much a part of the equation of raising the children, and grand children. Our modern culture and centralized cities seems to separate the elders from the younger more and more, just as the enemies of God want.
My father’s heart only yearns more for my children each day. Is our Heavenly Father’s heart different than that? It not more so? I am reminded of Jesus statement in Luke 13:34 and I think this is the Father’s heart. And it will be so — someday in His Kingdom, this I ‘know’ deep within my soul, for He has told me so. We WILL all be together with Him. This is the parent’s heart cry — that our children will grow deeply in their relationship with their heavenly Father, and that we would one day all be together .. forever. This IS our Heavenly Father’s heart too. Jesus said it was so.
So hug your children at every opportunity, and tell them that your love them.