Father to the Fatherless

Psalm 68:5-6New International Version (NIV) 

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,

    is God in his holy dwelling.

6 

God sets the lonely in families,[a]

    he leads out the prisoners with singing;

    but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

Here's the thing that has been pounding on my heart lately; 

 I heard it said once, "If God is, and he says he is; the father to the fatherless,

 and the Church is the Bride of Christ, 

doesn't that make us (the church, His followers) the mother to the fatherless?"  

What is a mother to do with all these kids?!?

We, the church, have to step up our game. 

 A bride to Christ, should not let all these kids go around not knowing who they are or where they belong or how valuable and loved they are. 

 We, as the Church will have to answer for all the people we watched go through life without a clue.

I heard a testimony about my Aunt Diana who would not let her kids get out of the car for school if they couldn't tell her 

WHO THEY WERE!

They were to know and to tell her every day that they were,

 God's kids,

  sons and daughters of the

 KING. 

We sell ourselves short if we think that He is only calling us to kids that are ours to raise or maybe sometimes support those with no parents, but I know it's more than that.

  Some parents are unable or unequipped at different seasons or areas to be available or helpful.   I think anyone in our lives that are needing help and teaching and direction, and someone to walk alongside them for however long as it takes to give them direction and their feet under them, is what we are called to.  

Everything God gave us is ours to share.  

If we have a skill or a knowledge,  we are called to share it.

We are not only called to take care of the fatherless over and over in the Bible, 

 we are called to disciple.

  Isn't this the same thing...just maybe a different level?  

A mother (the church) brings the baby in and loves and nurtures it, and then when it's time for the next step, it is time to disciple. 

 So, in my mind...we are to be there for people to love them and care for them until Jesus comes back for his bride.

I'm  thankful for the people that walk alongside my kids to disciple and love on them at different points in their life.  

  My kids even have a wonderful, Jesus loving, smart, handsome, hardworking, hunk o' love earthly father,  who teaches them a ton, but it takes a whole bunch of voices speaking the same truth and beating the same drum to get these kids to believe and live in the truth taught to them.  

People, and especially men, if you are following Jesus please grab every kid you can, every time you can and point them to Jesus, and share what you know. 

  Teach them how to be the people God created them to be. 

Be like my Auntie Diana and don't let them out of your "care" until they can tell you who they are.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21English Standard Version (ESV)

18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.