Becoming the Father You Have Always Wanted to Be

Becoming the Father you have always wanted to be

What type of father do you want to be?

Assignment:

Go into the future. Your children and the people in your life are 20 years older.

Write your children’s names and ages in the year 2018. (You can also write your spouse or if you are single write the names of some important people in your life)

______

A wise man can go into the future to predict rain, wind and floods and so he builds his house accordingly.

“Therefore whoever hears these saying of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to be a wise man who built his house on a rock: “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Matthew 7: 24-25

Questions to ask ourselves:

If I stay to the path that I am on, what desirable character traits will they say I have in my life?

______

If I stay to the path that I am on, what undesirable character traits will they say affected my relationship with them?

______

What do I want them to say about me?

______

Assignment for Home:

Let us take more time to examine our selves more thoroughly. Good things in life take time. (Psalm 26, Lamentations 3:40, 1 Corinthians 11:28 and Galatians 6:4).

Here are some areas we could look. What would our children or the people in our lives say about us in the following:

Our relationship with God?

______

Our relationship with our self. Do I love and take care of my self? My mind? My body? My soul?

______

What is my prayer life like. What would my children say about my prayers? Did I pray for what was important to me? Was I sporadic in prayer or was their a definite pattern?

______

How did I express my love to them? How would they know that I loved them? What would each of them say?

______

What was my relationship like with the Church?

______

Did they see me worship and how did it affect their relationship with God?

______

How merciful was I as a father?

______

Did I extend grace to my children?

______

What would they say about forgiveness in my life? Did I ever ask for their forgiveness? Did I forgive them?

______

How compassionate was I?

______

What were my work habits like?

______

What would they say about my career and how it affected them?

______

What were my TV habits like?

______

What were my alcohol habits?

______

What would they say about affection and how I demonstrated my love to them? ______

What would they say about the role of play? What was the most fun thing I did with them over the past 20 years?

______

How competitive was I? How did it affect them?

______

What would they say about friendships in my life? Did I have any? Were they long term? Could I ask for help.

______

Note: Your children will model after your life. Without saying a word they will pick up both positive and negative. This is good and bad news. Sorry, it is the way it is. The better news is that we have a living relationship with a Savior who is willing to change us—if we want it. So don’t try to change you children. Allow God to change us.

What would they say about how we treated our parents? (How we treat their grandparents is most likely how they will treat us)

______

What would they say about how we treated their mothers?

______

What would they say about how we used “respect” in our lives?

______

What would they say about our respect for authority?

______

Would they say that I was fun?

______

Would they say that I spent enough time with them?

______

Would they say that I was easy-going? up-tight? nervous?

______

What would they say about my relationship with money? with bills? with giving?

______

Would they say that I was courageous?

______

Would they say that I had fears? What do you think they would think your fears would be?

______

How did I handle stress?

______

Was self-control operating in my life?

______

What would they say about my choices of discipline? Did they think it was effective? What would each child say?

______

What about my anger? When did I show it? How did I show it?

______

This list is just the beginning. I hope it will be useful to developing a life long pattern of examining and allowing God do finish and complete a work in us.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,

to sit up late,

To each the bread of sorrows;

For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like the arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.