FOR THOSE NOT ABLE TO GET THE YOUR FATHER BOOKLET, HERE IS THE TEXT OF THAT BOOKLET (WITHOUT THE ILLUSTRATIONS) FOR YOU TO READ, OR DOWNLOAD FREE.
YOUR FATHER written by GRAEME C. YOUNG (c) Graeme C. Young
( Copying parts of this booklet is freely allowed providing that the source is acknowledged)
This booklet has been written because of a question that a friend asked my daughters, “What’s it like having a dad?”
I hope that it helps all you boys and girls who read it to know your Father in Heaven better, to feel his love for you, and to know your own special place in his heart.
For boys and girls who do not have a dad, or who feel that they miss a father’s love, I hope that you especially will discover all that is meant in the promise that God made, “I will be a father to the fatherless.”
My dad died a few days before my seventh birthday – I know that God’s promise is true.
If for some reason your father is not around, it leaves a gap in your life. Some children feel that gap every day – others notice it sometimes when they feel, “Oh, I wish my dad was here now!”
Although no person can completely take the place of another, that gap is sometimes filled by someone else in the family, or by special friends who do with you the sort of things that a dad would do.
Some children have a dad living with them who does not treat them properly, and they too can feel a gap or hurt inside. Sometimes the loving care that they receive from others means that their lives are happy – for others it is difficult for them to be all that they would be if they had a loving dad.
Even boys and girls who have a good father do not always have things easy – dads do not always get things right, and some situations are difficult for even the best dad to deal with well. It can be quite a disappointment when children realise
that their dad is not as brilliant as they thought he was!
We all would like a father to be all that a father is meant to be, and the wonderful thing is that Jesus has told us that we do have such a father. When Jesus was going back to heaven he said, “I am returning to my father and your father.”
Jesus wants you to know and love his father as your father, so that you will never need to ask that question, “What’s it like having a dad?”
On the following pages are some things that Jesus said about YOUR father – and some thoughts to help you to grow up knowing him as your very own daddy.
1. “Your Father who is in heaven” – Matthew 5v16
• He is unseen but he is near.
• He watches over you all the time.
• Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is “at hand” which means that it is near enough to reach out and touch.
• At times you will know his presence in special ways.
• You will hear his voice inside.
• You will feel his hug of love and see something of his glory.
• Your father is in heaven, so heaven is as much home to you as the house you live in.
• Your father is a heavenly father, so there is something heavenly about you.
2. “Your Father makes his sun to shine on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust”
– Matthew 5v44.45
• Nothing is outside his care – even the sun is his sun.
• He is full and overflowing with love.
• His love for you does not depend on how good you are.
• He wants to bless you, and every day he does things to make your life full of goodness.
3. “Your Heavenly Father is perfect” – Matthew 5v48
• There is nothing about him which would make him react in the wrong way to you, so there is no reason for you to be afraid of him.
• Everything that you need in a father is in him.
• He will never do or say anything which is unloving or damaging to you.
• He is completely suited and happy to be your father.
• You can become a complete child because you have a complete father.
4. “Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” – Matthew 6v4
• He notices what you are doing, thinking, feeling, wanting.
• He knows why you do the things you do – he understands.
• He is not wanting to catch you out – he is looking for ways to encourage you.
• Whatever you are doing for others or for him, he takes note and he will let you know that he is glad.
• When you are all alone with your thoughts and dreams, when you are trying to do and to be the best, he notices and he won’t ignore it – he will look for ways to bless you.
• He shares the joy of your special secrets.
5. “Your Father knows what things you need before you ask him” – Matthew 6v8
• He has plans for you.
• He is one step ahead of you all the time.
• He is ready for all the new things that you haven’t even thought of yet!
• He wants you to talk with him about each new stage you face.
• He doesn’t want to just give you things; he wants to face each new step with you.
• He won’t be embarrassed or unprepared for anything you ask him.
• He wants you to ask him for whatever you need.
6. “Your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” – Matthew 6v14
• You are precious to him; he is committed to you.
• He wants you to always be in close friendship with him.
• He won’t shut the door on you if you have gone wrong or wandered away from him.
• His arms are always open to receive you.
• He does not pretend that bad things do not matter; he properly puts right what has gone wrong.
• He wants your forgiving of others to be like his forgiving of you.
7. “Your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Food, Drink, Clothes) – Matthew 6v32
• He knows and is interested in the ordinary things that you need each day, and he considers it as his responsibility to take care of them.
• He does not want you to be worried about these things.
• He wants you to be thinking about how you can live for his kingdom, and how you can be all that you can be as his child.
• He does not want you to spend too much time, thought and energy on things that he already has in hand.
• If he can plan for providing food for all the birds – (Matthew 6v26 “Your Father feeds them.”) then you can trust him to do it for you too (“Are you not much more important than they?”).
• He is not going to make you go without these things unless there is a very important reason.
8. “Your Father in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask him” – Matthew 7v11
• He is not mean, he is generous.
• He wants to show his love for you in the things that he gives you.
• What he gives will always be good and right.
• You don’t need to be afraid to ask him for good things – it is not because you are good that he gives to you, it is because he is good.
• He has very special things in mind to give to you (Luke 11v13 “Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”).
9. “The Spirit of Your Father speaking through you” – Matthew 10v20
• You are never going to be all alone in facing difficult times.
• Sometimes, because you are God’s child, people will want to attack you, and to attack what you do and say.
• Your father does not like people trying to take advantage of his children or abusing them.
• He is there when it happens and he gives Holy Spirit power for you to say and do the right thing.
• If you stay close to him, you will learn to let his Spirit speak to you and through you.
• You will sound like him.
10. “It is not the will of Your Father that any of these little ones should perish” – Matthew 18v14
• He wants you to be safe with him.
• You can’t say, “He likes everyone else but not me.”
• Every child is wanted by him, including you.
• He is gentle, protective and strong for you.
• He will not allow anyone or anything to take you away from his care.
• When you are having a hard time or you feel you are away from him, he wants you back, and he is doing whatever he can to make things right again.
11. “Not one sparrow falls to the ground without Your Father’s consent” – Matthew 10v29
• He takes note of all the events of life.
• He is with you in every special occasion – the good times and the bad times.
• Everything about you is important to him.
• Your whole life is in his hands.
• You are safe with him.
12. “Your Father is merciful” – Luke 6v36
• He has tender and caring feelings for you.
• He is gentle in how he deals with you.
• He is not harsh, or cold, or distant.
• When things have gone wrong, or are not going well for you, he cares, and wants to make things better.
13. “It is Your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” – Luke 12v32
• He will provide whatever you need to live for Jesus and his kingdom.
• He is happy to share with you all that he has.
• He will not cheat you out of any good thing.
• You do not have to argue for or fight for your place in his kingdom – he has already decided that you can share in it all.
• You are in the royal family!
Your Father has a special place for you and other boys and girls in the work of his kingdom.
When Jesus was 12 years old he said, “Did you not know that I had to be about my Father’s business?”
I believe that children who haven’t a dad around, and who learn to know God in a special way as their own father, can have an extra-special place in God’s plans. That was true for 3 children in the Old Testament.
Samuel, from the time he was a little boy, lived away from his father and mother because he was doing special
work in serving God. Although he spent most of the year without his father around, and even though there were things where he lived that were not at all good, Samuel grew up well. God spoke to him in special ways and he became a very important person for God in hearing from God and in speaking for him.
A Little Girl was taken away from her home by a foreign army. We don’t know whether her parents were killed or were taken elsewhere, but she was made a slave to the wife of the army commander. When he had an incurable disease, she was able to tell him how to get in touch with a prophet who could tell him how he could be healed by God. In that foreign country, away from her father and mother, the little girl trusted God to heal the man of a disease that she had never seen healed. The man was made completely well and began to worship God and know him for himself.
David who is famous for fighting the giant Goliath while he was still a youngster, lived with his father and family. However, when the prophet Samuel came to anoint one of the boys to be king, David’s father brought all the older sons but did not think of David as important enough to invite to the special occasion. David’s father did not recognise that young David was the one that God was giving the very special work of leading God’s people.
So… You have a special father, and you are a special child.
• He is going to help you through the effects of everything that you have missed out on.
• He is able to heal your hurts and to make up for every loss.
• He has wonderful plans to share with you – an adventure that fits perfectly for you as his child.
• There is no one quite like you; there is no one quite like him.
• You are his child, he is your father.