Topics:<\/b> Children; Edification; Encouragement; Example; Fathers; Guidance; Mentoring; Parenting; Spiritual Disciplines<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Deuteronomy 6; Matthew 13:44\u201346; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Ephesians 6:4, 18<\/p>\n
Many kids wake up to the smell of coffee brewing or the sound of a rooster crowing. My wake-up call was my father\u2019s passionate praying. Sometimes I\u2019d ease downstairs and join him. One knee was usually raised, so I\u2019d slip in underneath, shielded by his body as he pleaded for my soul.<\/p>\n
I never caught Dad praying for our happiness. He realized that the pursuit of happiness for its own sake is a frustrating, disillusioning, often futile effort. Happiness usually hides from those addicted to its sugar, while it chases after those caught up in something more lasting than momentary excitement.<\/p>\n
I never heard him pray for a bigger house, car, or bank account. Instead, he prayed that our hearts would be ignited and inspired to do things of eternal consequence. \u201cTurn our eyes from the temporal, the physical, and the menial,\u201d he prayed, \u201cand toward the eternal, the spiritual, and the noble.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father never pressured us toward achievement. He knew that the push had to come from inner reserves, not outward designs. He simply dangled before us the possibilities. Thanks to his example, we sometimes took the bait.<\/p>\n
\u2014John Ashcroft, Lessons from a Father to His Son<\/i> (Nelson, 1998)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Children; Edification; Encouragement; Example; Fathers; Guidance; Mentoring; Parenting; Spiritual Disciplines References: Deuteronomy 6; Matthew 13:44\u201346; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Ephesians 6:4, 18 Many kids wake up to the smell of coffee brewing or the sound of a rooster crowing. My wake-up call was my father\u2019s passionate praying. Sometimes I\u2019d ease downstairs and join him. One … Continue reading “WAKING
\n UP TO PRAYER”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}