Our Dad Who Art In Heaven

by Joshua Bowles I grew up in church, born and raised in a Pentecostal home, hearing the word of God preached long before I knew who God was. I slept under pews, played in Sunday school rooms, and sat behind the pulpit watching my parents clean the church on Saturday nights.

At 8 years of age, I made a profession of faith, was born again, and had a very real encounter with the Holy Spirit. I would lay hands on the sick and pray for them. I would stand on an old tree stump in my grandmother’s backyard and preach to the pigeons. Many times, the birds would flock around that stump, as if they had been drawn there by the anointing on my preaching. (I found out later that my grandmother had thrown out birdseed in the yard.) My parents still have pictures of me holding toy blocks in my hands and using them as makeshift microphones to preach with. I knew the Lord, and He knew me. But it was only after growing up, getting married, and having my own children that I saw God in a new way. I saw Him as a dad. One evening, as new parents, our first little baby began to cry, and nothing we tried seemed to bring him solace. The crying became screaming. Our aggravation became fear. What was wrong with him? Was he sick? Should we take him to the doctor? What do we do? Being a new parent is scary enough, but this only added to our distress.

In a moment of panic, I took him from my wife’s arms and carried him into the bathroom. There, in the small en suite, I turned on the exhaust fan, the shower, and the sink in hopes of drowning out the noise of his screaming and my crying. I didn’t know what to do. In desperation, I prayed. I sat on the floor, leaning against the closed bathroom door. I began to weep and pray, “Dear God, please, help us. I don’t know what to do. My heart is broken for my son. I love him and something is wrong. Dear Lord please, we need you. Touch my baby. Heal him. He’s my little boy. I can’t stand to see him like this. Please, Lord, please move!”

With tears rolling down my face, I began to sing. It was a lullaby that I had never heard before. It was bubbling up out of my heart from the throne of God. It wasn’t me singing to my baby. It was the Lord singing over me. In that very personal and private song, the Lord reminded me how much He loved me. He reminded me that He was our Father and He cared for us all. It was there, looking at a little baby boy, now silent, now sleeping, that I saw my Father holding me in His arms. He was my kind and precious Heavenly Father. My second little boy was diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). This was not a momentary bout with colic. This was a situation of life and death. Just after his birth, he almost died. We stood and watched him suffer as doctors did everything they knew how to do. I remember thinking, “I would change places with him in an instant if I could!” That’s when the Lord spoke to me. “You don’t have to,” He said. “I already did!”

Jesus came and took our place. He carried our griefs. He bore our sicknesses and our sins! He did it. He came to give His children life! I watched the Lord move in my son’s body. I watched doctors do their part and Jesus do the rest! My son lived because the Son of God chose to die. Today, no matter if it’s big or small, colic or cancer, you have a Heavenly Father who cares for you. He loves you. And He has done, and will do, anything His children need Him to do. We only need ask Him, trust Him, and wait for Him. He really is a good, good Father.

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Love, Wonderful Love!

by Mary Coppage

“F or God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Amazing love! And love is amazing! One of the most wonderful things about God’s love is that it is the reason for His giving. Because of love, God gave His son for us. Because of love, Jesus obeyed the will of God and gave His life for us. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Because we love him, we… wait a minute, what DO we do because we love Him? What does He want us to do? Jesus tells us in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And what are His commandments? In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus tells the people that the two great commandments are: 1) love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and 2) love your neighbor as you love yourself. We are to give our greatest affection, respect, and reverence to God: to recognize and worship Him as Creator, Lord, and Savior. We are also to love our neighbor like we love ourselves. Just for the record, your neighbors aren’t just the folks next door. Check out Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. The Samaritan didn’t know the man who had been robbed and beaten up; he wasn’t even the same nationality. He just knew that he needed help, so he helped him.

Why is it so important to love? Because God is love! Love comes from God. Every person who is born of God and has the Holy Spirit in him or her loves God and others. It’s one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is in our spiritual DNA (1 John 4:7-8)! There are different kinds of love. There is the love you have for your parents and family and the love that you have for friends, classmates, teammates, and even your pets.

There is the kind of love that husbands have for wives and wives for their husbands and the kind that parents have for their children. All these different kinds of love are good and have their place in our lives, now and later on, and all of them contain some of the attributes of the love of God. 1 Corinthians 13 is sometimes called the Love Chapter. What does it say about love?

It says love is patient, kind, and isn’t jealous of what someone else has or does. It doesn’t brag and think it’s better than others. Love respects others, doesn’t anger easily, and doesn’t have to have its own way. Love doesn’t hold grudges or take delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth. Love always trusts, protects, and hopes. Like every gift that comes from God, love is good and perfect, and like God himself, love never fails. It says finally that three things remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. Keep going, growing, and walking in obedience and in God’s love.

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