Some Great Resources!

There are many great Christian books available that specifically address fatherhood, and the father's role in the family.  I recommend Bringing Up Boys, by Dr. James Dobson, King Me, by Steve Farrar, and She Calls Me Daddy, by Robert Wolgemuth.

Promise Keepers is an excellent organization that provides a wealth of information and support to men, in general, but also to fathers, specifically. www.promisekeepers.ca.

Another great resource for the family as a whole, but with many items of interest to fathers is Focus on the Family.  Check them out at: www.focusonthefamily.ca

A magazine that I have found to be extremely interesting and, at the same time, informative about a Christian man's finances, sex life and integrity, and especially important to REAL DADS, time and relationships, is New Man. Visit them at www.newmanmagazine.com

"When Daddy Prays"

Invite REAL DADS to your church! This simple event encourages fathers to pray for their wives, children, schools, communities, and all other things relevant to your child's life. This event is simply a time of prayer by men in your church, lead by REAL DADS. Choose a night, invite the men and REAL DADS will take care of the rest. There is, of course, absolutely no fee for this event.

Why bother having REAL DADS host this event at your church when you could just do it yourself? Something I have discovered over the years, is that when you contact an outside 'agency' to be involved with something like this, it almost makes it seem like a special, one-time event that guys don't want to miss. It is not meant to trick guys in to coming out, but, hopefully, will help them to see the importance of spending time in prayer for their children.

Intrigued or want to know more? Contact us and I would be happy to go over details with you. Let's see how God moves "when Daddy prays".

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"It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck, than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin."                        - Luke 17:2

 

As fathers, we should thank Jesus for the warning!  It is so easy for fathers to slip and let down the family.  We can directly cause our "little ones to sin" by doing things such as cheating on our wife, viewing pornography, getting drunk, allowing our kids to get drunk, using profanity, using the name of our Saviour as a cuss word (blasphemy), being violent towards our wife or kids,  or being neglectful towards our wife or kids.  We can also, however, indirectly cause our little ones to sin by not spending enough time with them, not taking an active approach in nurturing their Christianity, by being too permissive, by not disciplining, by not giving physical affection, and by not openly respecting their mother.  Are you guilty of any of these?  Check yourself, and heed His warning, because God has a lot of wrath for men who "cause one of these little ones to sin."

 

 

"Fatherless" Children

Jesus knew the benefits of children having a father.  He was well aware of the disadvantage children who did not have a father would have.  Jesus spent his life teaching people to care for the disadvantaged and the children, and the prophets preached it from God before Him.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."     - James 1:27

"He defends the cause of the fatherless..."      - Deuteronomy 10:18a

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in His holy dwelling.      - Psalms 68:5

"Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you."         - Proverbs 23:10-11

 

The list of verses warning against exploiting the fatherless goes on.  Clearly, God demonstrates a soft spot for those without a father.  Today, many kids are fatherless, yet their biological father still lives with them.  Providing for your children is a good start, but certainly not enough.  In most of the verses in the Bible in which compassion is mentioned for the fatherless, the word 'defend' (or derivative of the word) also appears.  God wants fathers to be present and able to defend their children.  This does not imply that we should literally be like blockers in football, but we should be blocking them from evil, danger, and sin until they are old enough to make their own decisions.  To need defence implies a certain level of vulnerability.  God understands that there are many who would like to exploit an undefended child (see almost every form of media), mainly because the children are easy targets for predators.  Children who are fatherless are especially easy targets because they crave a male role model, and sometimes will take one wherever they can find one - positive or negative.

Not spending quality time with your children, not teaching them right from wrong, allowing over-exposure to media, and not talking meaningfully to your child are various methods of making your child fatherless.  If God feels so much compassion for those who are fatherless, and so much wrath against those who exploit the fatherless, how much more anger do you think God feels toward those men who willingly (although maybe not unknowingly) render their child fatherless?  Is your child fatherless? 

 

"If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Timothy 5:8)

 

 

Check out the "Father First...Friend Second Seminar for Christian Men". This course takes a Biblical perspective to fathering and uses that to provide men with a refresher in fathering. It could be just what the men in your church and community need!