Hello Everyone, I guess it is not out of place, when I say: ‘Welcome to the new Precious Thoughts’.
I had the intention of putting up the continuing post on Why you shouldn’t use ‘petrol’, but make use of ‘diesel’ [I know it is long overdue]. But when I read this article which my friend sent to me for the ‘Friday’s Guest Exclusive’ segment this week, I thought to myself: ‘Someone needs to read this, Friday is too far’. So enjoy and be blessed.
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OUR FATHER
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth…” (Luk 11:1-2)
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So this earlier this week, I made contact with someone whom I want to classify as a remarkable young man, who shared his testimony in a meeting and whose story I feel urged to tell. Somehow I’ve found myself procrastinating about writing it, lol (did I hear someone say ‘get thee behind me, Satan) but here’s it.
This young man- let’s call him Dave- a black British with a Caribbean heritage, was born into circumstances which are very common today. He had only a single mum, uneducated who struggled to fend for him and his half-siblings. He did not know his father, and his half-siblings did not know their dads too. They lived rough and in rough neighbourhoods too.
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth…” (Luk 11:1-2)
_______________________________________________
So this earlier this week, I made contact with someone whom I want to classify as a remarkable young man, who shared his testimony in a meeting and whose story I feel urged to tell. Somehow I’ve found myself procrastinating about writing it, lol (did I hear someone say ‘get thee behind me, Satan) but here’s it.
This young man- let’s call him Dave- a black British with a Caribbean heritage, was born into circumstances which are very common today. He had only a single mum, uneducated who struggled to fend for him and his half-siblings. He did not know his father, and his half-siblings did not know their dads too. They lived rough and in rough neighbourhoods too.
So Dave told me that when he was 3, he moved to a foster care home. The social services deemed his mum incapable to raising him and offered to ‘help’. The foster home was not of much good, as you don’t usually get natural love in such places. At four years, he got moved into a foster parent’s place for a new life; that was an adventure that was short-lived, you see.
The adventure was short-lived because he knew only one style of life- the ghetto life, life on the edge. So he was quite rough and unruly, getting into fights in his foster home, school and with foster parents. He still has the bruises, the injury marks of such fights. Of course he was very poor academically and one day he got into a fight with his school’s principal- whom he slapped. He was thrown out of school and out of his foster parent’s home.
By the time he was in his early teens, he had been thrown out of school a few times and was in his 6th foster parents home. One day, he was in the park and after a fight, badly bruised, on his way home. In his front was a man and his son, apparently a good man (in his words), as the man had his son on his shoulders and just finished a game of football with his son. And at that time, he remembered he could pray and spoke with these words, ‘God if you are really a Father, please treat me like this father here’. Sometimes simple, attenuated, pedestrian-like words make the most effective prayers.
The next few years of his life were a whirlwind, Dave told me. His foster parents became the last he had- and still are; he met some good friends who challenged him to be the best and utilize his skills, especially in sports. Slowly he stopped drugs, parties and immoral living. He reached out to his mother and his half-siblings. And academically, there was marked improvement; what he could not achieve academically became easy for him. He got a scholarship.
He is 23 now, a recent graduate of Cambridge University. Now Cambridge isn’t some ordinary University- pretty high standards of admissions and studies are maintained there. The options for him are much more than he hoped- he’s been offered a couple of jobs with some FTSE 100 companies and his Uni have offered him scholarship for further studies- a MSc and a PhD. Dave looks at me, with faint tears in his eyes and tells me, ‘I believe my life changed the very day, I saw God, not just as God, but as my Father’. I believed him.
So today, I encourage everyone to begin to see God and relate with Him as a ‘Father’ and not just God. That may just be the starting point of a new life. Perhaps that is why the verse of above- a clear guidance from Jesus- doesn’t start with ‘Our Lord’ or ‘Our Master’ or ‘The Big Man up there’, but Our Father.
Author- Okechukwu Okorie
Photo Credit: Google
Precious Thoughts! 
We treated this in church and the revelations were awesome.
God isn’t one far off terrible God up there, He is our father and he does care about every aspect of our lives,every little detail..He cares about it.
May this revelation sink into us in Jesus Name,amen
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Amen! Thanks for commenting!
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Before now, I’ve sometimes seen him as God and on some other occassions, I’ve seen him as a father. On those occassions I saw him as a father, I actually felt better; made requests as though I was asking my earthly dad for something. I mean I felt at ease on those occassions and got responses as well.
But, when I do things that makes me feel God isn’t happy with me, I feel there’s a big gap inbetween. On these occassions, it is so so evident even in the place of prayer.
In short, how I see God is relative and it depends on the state of my heart if you know what I mean
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Hi Jeffiyaro, I am sorry that it took this long to upload your comment. It was under spam and had no idea. [still getting used to the new blog].Pardon me….
I really get what you mean by your relativity of how you see God dependent on the state of your heart. I can relate, but I believe we are to see him as a father at all times, no matter what we do wrong, because his love for us never changes or moves; we, ourselves are the ones that move. God help us
Thanks for commenting. Precious Thoughts has so missed your presence. It’s good to hear from you.
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