IN AN ENDLESS TRADITION OF GOD'S WORD AND THE MIRACULOUS!!!
I was privileged to know my father before he was pruned from this world. My lovely sisters would be sent by we miscreants (my brothers and I) in request for a favor. This request ranged from going out to rent a movie or play games to visiting the country club where we, as kids, had so much fun. Irrespective of the number of times we'd had more success than failures at this, our hearts raced with either the same or a greater anxiety as we waited in anticipation for our sisters to return with the verdict. I remembered the last time the room to my father's door slid open and my sisters came out with a gleeful face. "Dad said we should all dress up cos we leave at five."
It felt great to have a father who was always there for us.
It felt great to have sisters who advocated and stood in the gap for us.
It felt great to have a family who stood as the Great Wall for us to relax our backs on, anytime we wanted.
Food was always on the table; clothes, on our backs; tuition was always paid, and life felt so good.
The fact that my father was always there to provide for us made me feel like, for the rest of my life, my lot would be laid with beds of roses. The presence of his love convinced me that in the toughest of times, I would have someone to count on at all times. My father's nightly inspection of his kids while we slept stirred me into deeper slumber all the time.
A powerful observation was that sometimes my father denied me of my demands from time to time but I knew I was denied for my good, and my good only. He never gave me a stone in exchange for food. He never gave me a rebuke in exchange for encouragement. He never spared the rod in exchange for abuse.
...Because he was my father I never lacked what I needed.
Nature has granted me the right to infer that if my earthly father cared this much, and if the Lord is indeed my Shepherd, then I can say I Shall Not Want.
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." -Jn15:7
As kids, we needed to send someone to go for us and advocate for us; so also, His "Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be uttered..."
As we got our desires met just because of our earthly father's presence so also our needs are met when we ask the Lord.
The true test to verify my sonship to my earthly father is a positive paternal test.
The true test to verify my sonship to my Heavenly father is the Word that abides in me!
I don't receive everything I ask for from my earthy father. Why? He knows when to deny and when to provide. Simple.
I don't receive everything from the Almighty God. Why? He knows me more than I know my self and sometimes "I ask amiss to consume it upon my lust."-James 4:3.
...
Five minutes later. Fully dressed and ready to go out. My father came out of his room. "Come on kids. Its time to go."
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; I SHALL NOT WANT...
