Father's Day

PK Promise #4 I WILL BUILD a strong marriage and family through love, protection and biblical values.

Ed Cole
“It was a great weekend and I felt really stoked to be there because the whole anointing was phenomenal.

This is Malachi 4:6 being worked out where God is moving to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children as well as the hearts of the children to their fathers.

We saw this in the massive response of the men to forgive their fathers.

This is very significant and what is happening will go beyond Promise Keepers to impact the nation.

It is breaking intergenerational curses and replacing those curses with blessings that will flow from generation to generation.

Promise Keepers is starting a national healing for men and as they come into alignment with the purpose of God, blessings will flow.

Personally, I have been really touched by the event in Tauranga and can see how very different it is to previous years.”

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FATHER'S DAY
Ropati Amosa
Speaker, Tauranga Event
Porirua Elim Church

A real highlight so far in 'The Challenge' Events has been the opportunity for men to put right their relationship with their father. This is a foundational key to living successfully as a Christian. Promise Keepers usually finds that about 50% of Christian men have problems and issues with their dads. Many don't feel secure or significant in their dad's eyes. This can persist even years after their father has died. Our attitude to one's dad should not be conditional on dad's performance. God says, "Honour your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God will give you." Deuteronomy 5:16 NLT.

It doesn't say we only have to obey if he's a great dad. There may be things you need to release and forgive him for; Father's Day is an excellent opportunity for reconciliation. One man, after thinking about this at Promise Keepers a few years back, wrote his parents a letter telling them how he felt about the way they treated him as a child, forgave them for their actions and asked the parents to forgive him for his attitude. His parents had never realised that he had been hurt. There was great reconciliation - and it happened when he took the first step at 40 years of age.

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Dr Ken Caulfield writes -

"How will you honour your father for all he's done for you? I encourage you to sit down and make a list of memories you have of your father, including your childhood, adolescence, and early adult years. (Of course, if thinking about your dad brings up only negative memories, you may have some healing to do before honoring your father is possible.)

Start with family vacations. Then, consider other places you visited regularly - hardware stores or diners or church. What smells and sounds remind you of him? Was there a favourite book he read to you, or a song you sang together?

For the full article and list of ideas go to www.fathers.com/articles/articles.asp?id=535&cat=42

ACTION POINTS for Committed Fathers

1. When your children wish you "Happy Father's Day", be prepared to tell them how proud you are to be their dad.

2. Involve your father or father figure in your children's lives. Being a grandfather is a joyful thing!

3. Even if you don't do something elaborate for your dad (or another father figure), make sure you find some way to express your positive feelings toward him.

4. If you feel mostly bitterness and pain regarding your father, let this Father's Day be an opportunity to look beyond his example, let go of blaming, and let the past be the past. Move forward with your family and commit yourself to be the best father you can be.

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Nobody can replace a real father. Some people say you can't miss what you never had. Tell that to Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft, who has said: “I'm dealing in the Youth Court, as are the other 42 Youth Court judges around the country, with boys for whom their dad is simply not there, never has been - gone, vanished and disappeared.

“When you ask them about their dads, as I sometimes do, the tears will stream down from their eyes or their anger will rise up. It's an awfully common characteristic.”

Commitment is what is missing. And one reason for the loss of commitment to children is bad social policy. It is too easy to walk out on a family, and too easy to casually create one.”

Lindsay Mitchell
Wellington
NZ Herald 12 July 2003