I have noticed over the last several years, an awakening among God’s men in this country. I re-dedicated my life to Christ several years ago and have been on a path of restoration and transformation ever since.  But over the last two or three years I have noticed growing numbers of men seem to be awakening to God’s presence and call on their lives.

God has called me to a ministry of reaching out to men who are now, or have been broken. That is to say they are having a difficult time realizing who they are in Christ.
I firmly believe the key to true humility and service to God and others is understanding who we are in Jesus Christ.

If personal experience is any indication, there are multitudes of men out there living beneath their God-given birth right ( or re-birth right ), because they believe they have failed God or made Him so angry that they have some how been placed outside the reach of His mercy and grace. That is a lie of Satan, who as we all know is a liar and a deceiver. That is his modis-operandi. He has us living in discouragement and defeat, by deception that robs us of who we are in Christ.
Are you walking around with a huge load of guilt on your shoulders? Do you think you are somehow beyond forgiveness and restoration? Please , please, do not go one more moment living in deception and defeat.

The way to break the chains of deception is to understand the Truth, and the Truth is found in the word of God……example….If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from ALL Unrighteousness…take your burdens, all of them, and any sin that is holding you down or holding you back, and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Forgiveness and freedom are just a prayer away. You will be amazed in hind sight, at how you could have ever believed such an obvious lie of the enemy.

David went often to God, knowing how grievous his sin. He sought and found forgiveness for some things we today would find difficult because though we may allow God to forgive us, we can not seem to forgive ourselves or more correctly stated, we can not seem to allow ourselves to accept God’s forgiveness or walk in forgiveness. David is a great example of how we can take anything and all things to God and have our relationship with Him restored.

Look to the Word for the truth to defeat the lies and deception that hold you down.

Spend time with God every day even if it is only a few minutes, or if you have to carve out some time for Him. ” Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. ”
Be a man after God’s own heart
Be a man like David.

The Bible principal…you reap what you sow, is clear and repetitive, if you sow apple seeds, you will reap apples, if you sow to the wind, you will reap a whirl wind. Reaping of like kind has been engineered into creation by Godly design.

So what hope is there for we fathers who have the perception that we have failed miserably with our children?

Some teach that you reap what you sow….period. I cannot argue against the justice of that concept. However, along with the principal of reaping what we sew, God gives us example after example of His loving grace and forgiveness.

There in lies our hope.

We do not always reap what we deserve to reap.

” Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy” Psalm 126:5.

That does not offend God’s Holiness or justice, but magnifies His love and grace….For by grace are you saved through faith…” For God so loved…

David was not a perfect father. Some would say he deserved no children. Absalom, David’s son, may have been one of those. I can see him, invisible, next to his mother, walking through the market place, hearing the whispers about David his father and Bathsheba. Or even going to worship and having the other children say things, hurtful things, that built anger and resentment into Absalom’s heart.

Was David reaping what he had sown through the death of his son Absalom? Not for me to say, but what I do know is that the lineage of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,  is traced through Bathsheba and their Child Solomon. Do not underestimate the power of God’s unconditional, love, and grace.

Perhaps the greatest evidence of God’s willingness and even intent,  to see us spared from reaping what we sow, is our own salvation. If we all were to reap what we sow, we would still be in our sin, enemies of God and bound without hope for eternal destruction.

But Grace intervened.

We have all failed at times with our children, some of us maybe even beyond our ability to repair the damage we have done, But to just accept the law of sowing and reaping, without giving consideration to the grace and loving intervention of God, through repentance and forgiveness, would be a mistake.

David made a terrible mess of his family, and of Uriah’s family as well, beyond his power to repair, but not beyond the power of a loving God and His grace.

Be a man after God’s own heart, be a man like David…

My son’s Michael and David….I love you boys…

1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

I picture David and Solomon, sitting under an olive tree, while David shared truth with his son regarding the need for Godly council and for the daily reading of God’s word.

Solomon Demonstrated in his writing of Psalm 1, that we cannot live for Christ as well on our own,  as we can with the council of Godly men around us. Blessed is the man….the antithesis of walking not in ungodly council, is to walk in Godly council. He finds fellowship not in the way with sinners, that is men still living in their sin, but rather with men who are walking in forgiveness. He is not caught up in sarcastic mockery and ridicule, but reproves, rebukes and encourages. Seeking Justice, loving mercy, and walking in humility with God.

You cannot live and walk in Christ as well without the help and encouragement of Godly men in your life. His father King David had no doubt told Solomon stories of he and Jonathan in their youth.

I SAMUEL 18: 1-4;

1After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.So David had Samuel and Jonathan among other Godly men in his life that he walked and shared with, and from whom he would receive Godly council.

Not long after that David became brother-in-law to Jonathan by marrying his sister Michal.

Not only is it important to have men in your life to speak truth and as a brother love you, correct, rebuke and encourage you, but it is equally important to intentionally allow God to speak into your life daily through the reading and meditation on His word.

The results are fantastic.

Spiritual Growth, Wisdom, Spiritual maturity, strength, leading of God and leadership skills, deep rooted faith, fruit bearing, spiritual health, prosperity in all we do, etc.

A Godly father will impart these truths to his sons and daughters, both by teaching out of the word and by example, modeling these truths in his daily life before his children, So that they too will live Godly before God.

Are you intentionally modeling these truths before your children? Do you communicate these things to your son or son’s, as you mentor them into manhood? How much time do you spend reading  God’s word and then mulling it over in your mind, picking apart every truth, every promise and command of God to mold your character and that of your children? We are imperfect men and will fail at times in these tasks, but we must press toward the mark if we hope to bestow manhood on our sons and train up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord……Be a man after God’s own heart…..Be a man like David…

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Psalm 1 is believed to have been written by Solomon, the son of King David and Bathsheba. I can’t even imagine the problems that may have existed between David and Solomon. Talk about a dysfunctional family.  Solomon must have heard the stories and rumors growing up, possibly even getting into fights with the other kids, sticking up for his father.

In Psalm one you can picture David sitting down under an olive tree with Solomon, teaching him about where to find Godly council and why. But knowing  what we do about David, I also imagine him having those hard conversations with Solomon. How sin comes into our lives, the cost and consequences, how it may be avoided and the benefits, the Holiness of God, and the love, grace and forgiveness of God.

David sharing his imperfections with his son, and teaching him lessons from those imperfections, demonstrating honesty and integrity,  establishing trust and mentoring his son, as an imperfect man, that is loved by God…..sounds a lot like you and me…..

Be a man after God’s own heart….Be a man like David.