Move Africa

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. Matthew 18:1-6

A male must have certain qualities to be called a father. For God to be called a Father, he has certain qualities. The same qualities must be found in every male that is called a father because it is written: “Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children” – Ephesians 5:1.

Every male need imitate his heavenly Father. “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” – Matthew 5:48. Let’s look at the qualities of our Father in heaven so to know what to do as fathers.

1. _He doesn’t forget_ _his children_ “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you” – Isaiah 49:15.

A father must not forget his children. A father must hold his children in contemplation when doing everything. A question a father must ask himself before doing anything is: what I am doing or about to do, how will it affect my children?

A father must think about the damage he is causing his children if he fails to pay his children’s school fees for instance. Let’s observe this tragedy. A man refused to pay for his son’s apprenticeship.

His son struggled and paid for his mechanic apprenticeship. He managed to set up a workshop. He prospered and bought a car. He was coming home one day and met his father walking a distance of sixteen kilometers home.

His son stopped by him and greeted him and left. So painful was it to his father that he summoned him the following day before elders with the charge that his son forsook him. In reply, his son said if he liked to sit in a car, he should have paid for his apprenticeship.

Let a father follow our heavenly father to have compassion on his children and provide their needs. Children are very smart to come closer towards the one who provides their needs. The day a father who forgets his children would need them, he risks loosing them.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me grace enough to always remember, divine law states that, you reap whatever you sow.

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”

From these three sons of Noah came all the people who now populate the earth. After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard. One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers. Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked. When Noah woke up from his stupor, he learned what Ham, his youngest son, had done. Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:
“May Canaan be cursed May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.” Genesis 9:19-25

God has also vested in fathers the power to curse. Noah was the first father found to have cursed his grandson Canaan instead of his son Ham, who dishonored him. Curse of a father is be differentiated from the curse of the law.

Canaan suffered heavy damages as a result of the curse Noah imposed upon him. God confirming the curse, dispossessed Canaan and descendants of the land they occupied and gave it to Abraham, a descendant of Shem, which now is occupied by the Israelites his descendants.

Why did Noah curse Canaan instead of Ham? First, in God’s law, anybody God has blessed cannot be cursed. “You shall not curse the people: for they are blessed” – Numbers 22:12.

Now God has blessed Noah and his children. “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” – Genesis 9:1.

Since Noah was not greater than God he couldn’t curse Ham whom God has blessed along with him. But the curse could still work on Ham’s children because the sin of a father is passed on to his children to the fourth generation. That was why Noah laid the curse on Canaan. Ham’s sin was in the blood of Canaan.

Because a father’s sin is passed on to his children to the fourth generation, God himself declared that when a father sins, he would punish his children to the fourth generation. “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” – Exodus 20:5.

Fathers need be very careful the things they do. If a father is an adulterer for instance, his children become adulterers not by choice but by inheritance. His children become Christians but they find themselves struggling to deal with what was injected into their blood by their father.

If your father committed a particular sin, or has a particular attitude you can break it by seeking for divine help or it continues to hunt your children too. I pray that God gives us understanding of these issues so to be sober to abstain from fleshly lust instead of enjoying them.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me grace enough to always remember that, children are mostly a reflection of their father. O Holy Spirit, give me grace enough to always seek divine help concerning any ungodly attitude so that it will not hunt my children in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen Amen Amen

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”

“Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of a wild donkey at a spring— one of the wild donkeys on the ridge. Archers attacked him savagely; they shot at him and harassed him. But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb. May my fatherly blessings on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the heights of the eternal hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers.” Genesis 49:22-28

Fathers have divinely imposed powers which God confirms when invoked. They have power to bless and to curse. The father may be evil or good but he is still a father.

Blessings are words spoken on an individual, by a higher authority, to make him succeed or have something by all means, no matter the odds in that person’s life. Blessings are meant to change a person’s doom into destiny.

You may be a failure today but words of blessings will make you succeed by all means. You may be poor now but words of a father can clothe you with riches without struggle.

It is worthy to note that God confirms blessings imposed upon you by the father you actually honour. This why God says that children should honour their father and mother. “Honour your father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) – Ephesians 6:2.

The husband of a woman is also her father that can imposed blessings upon her. This is why on a wedding day the biological father hands over her to her original father which is her husband. This why women normally call their husbands Daddy.

Women don’t leave their father. But the man is to leave his father for his baby to be brought to him. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” – Genesis 2:24.

Fathers are vessels of blessing on earth. Some fathers know this. As a result they keep blessing their children and their wives. David for instance decreed in blessing that his son Solomon will have gold from Sheba and it came to pass.

If you are a father, whether biological or spiritual, open your mouth and bless your children that honour you. You’re are God’s servant ordained to pour out blessings for God to confirm. “That (God)confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers” – Isaiah 44:26.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me grace enough to always remember that, blessing originates the outcome of person’s life.

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”

Then Absalom turned to Ahithophel and asked him, “What should I do next?” Ahithophel told him, “Go and sleep with your father’s concubines, for he has left them here to look after the palace. Then all Israel will know that you have insulted your father beyond hope of reconciliation, and they will throw their support to you.” So they set up a tent on the palace roof where everyone could see it, and Absalom went in and had sex with his father’s concubines. Absalom followed Ahithophel’s advice, just as David had done. For every word Ahithophel spoke seemed as wise as though it had come directly from the mouth of God. 2 Samuel 16:20-23

Father’s absence from financial, social and spiritual life at home, affects his sons more than his daughters. When his life is well ordered at home, both his sons and daughters become carriers of his traits.

A boy at school was very aggressive towards girls. He fought only girls at school. Teachers tried to save the situation by lashing him as soon as a report was made to no avail.

One day, in frustration, the teachers engaged the boy in counseling. They asked him why he was interested in beating only girls. He was very frank to them and said he beat girls because his father has been beating his mother, that was why he was also beating girls that look like his mother.

If that boy grows up to get married, it wouldn’t be for the peace of his wife. He would surely beat, torment and torture his wife because that was what he learnt from his father. Children learn from what they see more than what they hear.

Where did the father of the boy learn that ruthless character from? Obviously from his father. So you see, that chain of awkward attitude would continue until a father decides to break that chain by responsibly receiving Jesus to be Lord over his life to help him.

King David sleeping with Bathsheba had a reprisal effect on his children. Amnon his firstborn slept with Tamar his half sister. Absalom slept with ten of his father’s concubines and Adonijah lusted after Abishag of Shunem, his father’s caretaker.

Fatherhood isn’t something we should joke with. Fathers are like roots of a tree. When the roots are defected, the branches eventually wilt. So also fathers. When a father didn’t end sowing the traits of love, service, loyalty, generosity, respect, authority etc in his sons, his sons end up being liabilities to society.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me to always remember that one bad father is a poison to many generations but one good father is a legacy to a nation.

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”

2 Samuel 11:1-27

God had vested certain kind of powers in fathers. Am I despising the important role mothers play in our lives? Not at all. We shall get to there. However as fathers are being mirrored now in our devotions, I plead with mothers to pray seriously for their male children.

A father’s presence is needed in the home to produce order. The way a father lives helps his daughters to choose the kind of man they would want to marry. The father is responsible for his daughters love to marry or his daughters hatred for men.

When lady wants to decide whether to marry or not, she first looks at how her father treats her mother. Some ladies decide never to marry or enter marriage with fear because of the way their fathers mistreat, torment, and torture their mothers.

When a father becomes uncaring and wicked, his daughters think every man they ever meet in life is like their father. Hence they’re afraid. However if her father is good, she becomes optimistic of her marriage.

A father is either a killer of his daughters affinity for marriage or projector of his daughters’ desire for marriage. The virtues a daughter see in her father are a guide to knowing what kind of man to pick for a friend and husband for marital bliss.

A lady may be late in choosing who marries her even though she has a very tall list of lovers because she has never set her eyes on a father. Some ladies know fathers who are alive but dead. Will an irresponsible father start waking up from his deep slumber right now!

There’s something we call the interchange of sexes where the girls become close to their fathers and boys become so close to their mothers. The girls get so close to their fathers because they want to learn the difference their father makes with their mother. Let every man know that their girls need them so to be around them.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me grace enough to always remember that, if a vacuum of a father is created, girls are left to pick any male as a friend.

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”

So now the king ordered a chest to be made and set outside the gate leading to the Temple of the Lord. Then a proclamation was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem, telling the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, the servant of God, had required of the Israelites in the wilderness. This pleased all the leaders and the people, and they gladly brought their money and filled the chest with it. Whenever the chest became full, the Levites would carry it to the king’s officials. Then the court secretary and an officer of the high priest would come and empty the chest and take it back to the Temple again. This went on day after day, and a large amount of money was collected. The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the construction supervisors, who hired masons and carpenters to restore the Temple of the Lord. They also hired metalworkers, who made articles of iron and bronze for the Lord’s Temple. ……… 2 Chronicles 24:8-14

Truth is scarce. Even Pilate, a governor, who judged people under him never knew the truth. Jesus told him that he was born to be a witness to the truth and Pilate said in reply: “What is truth?” – John 18:38.

Like Pilate, many of our leaders don’t speak the truth because they don’t know the value of truth. Many of the citizens they rule over, follow their example. “This is a nation that obey not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receives correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth” – Jeremiah 7:28.

Try to speak the truth among those that hate it and they make you unpopular. “Yes, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment” – Isaiah 59:15.

God expects his children to speak the and practice the truth. “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another” – Ephesians 4:25.

Some believers love to speak lies than the truth. As a result believers are looking for work in vain. Is it that there’s no work? I want to bet you, there’s work looking for those that would be faithful and truthful. Just look at the kind of workers we are looking for.

“So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it. And _when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada” – 2 Chronicles 24:13-14. Are you surprised they brought the rest of the money?

It will surprise us to know that there’s work to be done in the house of the Lord. Believers who can do the work are there. But some Pastors prefer giving the work to others who are not in the church. Do you know why? I will tell you.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me grace enough to know that, truth always defends, no matter how late it comes. Lord give me grace enough to always speak the truth in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen Amen Amen

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”

So the people came streaming from the village to see him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other. Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest……. John 4:30-38

Jesus prioritized his Father’s work. Nothing comes in his life before his Father’s work. He suspended anything that came in the way of his Father’s work in order for him to do his Father’s work first.

First, he even suspended rest he needed from weariness to attend to a Samaritan woman. “Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour” – John 4:6.

Second, he suspended his preference for food to propagate the gospel. The disciples urged him to eat but he told them, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me” – John 4:34.

Third, where he wanted to save his life he lost it because he wanted to do Father’s will. “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, your will be done” – Matthew 26:42.

Jesus, throughout his life on earth, made sure his Father’s work takes the first place in his life. He demands same from us. “He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” – Matthew 10:37.

He told someone to follow him. But the person preferred going to bury his father before responding to his call. Jesus rearranged his priority for him and told him: “Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go you and preach the kingdom of God” – Luke 9:59-60.

Jesus told all his followers: “But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” – Matthew 6:33. Doing anything on this earth without God’s will disqualifies you from being a follower of Jesus who prioritize his Father’s will.

LET’S PRAY
Heavenly Father, give me grace enough to always remember that, if I place God first on my priority list, He will also place me first on his superiority list. O Holy Spirit strengthen me to do Your Will by focusing on the Father’s Work first as my priority in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen Amen Amen

AGREE WITH ME
You are a plant and you just need water to flourish and bear fruit to fulfill your destiny. So, you need to be connected to the Source that never dry. I therefore decree and declare this morning “May your business, finances, career, academics, marriage, family, health, physical person and spiritual person be connected to the Fountain of life, by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!”