Bev van Rensburg - Where are You, Father?: Absent fathers...Father, I need You!

Published by the South African Theological Seminary Press

2013

ISBN: 9780620582193

Fathers Love Letter

My Child,

You may not know me, but I know everything about you.

Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.

Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways.

Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.

Matthew 10:2931

For you were made in my image.

Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.

For you are my offspring.

Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived.

Jeremiah 1:45

I chose you when I planned creation.

Ephesians 1:1112

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book.

Psalm 139:1516

I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live.

Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mothers womb.

Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born.

Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented by those who dont know me.

John 8:4144

I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love.

1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.

Simply because you are my child and I am your Father.

1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.

Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father.

Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.

James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.

Matthew 6:3133

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love.

Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore.

Psalms 139:1718

And I rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you.

Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession.

Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul.

Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvellous things.

Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me.

Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires.

Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine.

Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager.

2 Thessalonians 2:1617

I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles.

2 Corinthians 1:34

When you are broken-hearted, I am close to you.

Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart.

Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

And Ill take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth.

Revelation 21:34

I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus.

John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.

John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being.

Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you.

Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.

2 Corinthians 5:1819

His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you.

1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love.

Romans 8:3132

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me.

1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you from my love again.

Romans 8:3839

Come home and Ill throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen.

Luke 15:7

I have always been Father, and will always be Father.

Ephesians 3:1415

My question isWill you be my child?

John 1:1213

I am waiting for you.

Luke 15:1132

Love, Your Dad

Almighty God

Preface

Where are godly nurturing fathers today? There is also a lack of nurture from mothers, but the fathers have a special role of heading up households, imparting values and knowledge and identity to their children.and how many parents are intentionally teaching the ways of God and modelling them themselves?

In an MTh thesis I completed in 2013 titled Children in Crisis: Imperatives and Strategies for the Church in South Africa, I discovered that abuse and neglect were major causes of crisis. The lack of a strong father figure in the home, and intentional teaching of the biblical values which are given in love, especially on sexual purity, is not giving strong roots to children and youth. They are supposed to become mature adults who know right from wrong and live lives of integrityand hopefully, develop a deep love for the Lord and His Word. Instead, children and teens are not learning to fly out of the nest into the world with strong wingsthey often have broken wings!

May this book help us to see the wonderful God we have, and the incredible fact that we are made in His image to worship Him and reflect who He is!

This book is dedicated to GodMay it bring honour to Him and bring the Father-heart of God into many homes.

Secondly, this book is a testimony to the joy of having a godly husband who loves God and his family and depends on Him for strength and direction.What a blessing to have a strong father in the homeone who reflects Father-God to his family. We appreciate youhusband, father, and grandfather, Reuben!

Bev, Ryan, Darren, Kerry (and husband, Byron and child, Luke).

Dear Reader

If you are not experiencing the love, the teaching and the direction God wants you to receive in your homemay this book help you onto the right road.

You can begin a godly heritage for the future. The help and support of godly mentors who value Gods Word, are Christ-centred, and live lives led by the Holy-Spirit, and by attending a God-glorifying church, you can be supported as you look to invite the Heavenly Father to be the head of your home!

Together in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1)

Bev

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

Look at your handImagine you are the centre, and the fingers are five people very close to youlike relatives or friends. For some it will be a father or a friend, for others a sister or a teacher.

We all have special people in our lives, connected like the fingers to your hand. You feel that you cannot live without them. God wanted families to be like thatthat each child should have a father and a mother, a brother and a sister, grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. He meant us to grow up in a loving family, receiving food and a place to stay, guidance and discipline, preparing us for the day when we step out of family into the big world.

Sadly many of us do not have close familywe grow up with other relatives or even strangers caring for us. We may have family, but for some reason are separated from them. We may also not even have close family, because one or both of our parents have died or because we have never known them. This is the case for an orphanone permanently separated from real family.

Are you an orphan? Have you lost a Mom or a Dad? Are you living with a single parentor another relative? Do you feel as if you are an orphanwith a father or mother you hardly know? Are you missing a deep relationship, especially with a Dad? Have you ever been abused, emotionally, physically, sexuallydo you battle to understand that there can be a loving Heavenly Father?