"Perhaps it would be best, then, to start with your heart as a man, because we all know that it is hard to give what you have never received." For many of us, this is where we have to start. The wounds of the past halted our journey, some before it really began, and now we are left aimlessly wandering hoping no one notices. But we were created to be men, created live from a true heart of strength to fight battles, live adventurously, and rescue beauties. And to do that we must know that we are first and foremost, Beloved Sons.
This is the message God must communicate to us, even now. And so the question we must ask, no matter how old we are, is "how would you love to be fathered these days?" What are your passions that responsibility has edged out of your life? What are the things you always wanted to do but couldn't? "NO matter how old we are, our true Father wants us to experience being his Beloved Sons, and all the joys of boyhood that go with it. But it requires opening our hearts, which will take us back into some of our deepest wounds, and the cynicism and resignation that shut our hearts down a long time ago. God does this so that he might bring his love and healing to the fatherless boy within us, the boy that still needs to know he is the Beloved Son."
This has not been an easy process for me. Looking back at things like this usually isn't. I think back to things I feel like I missed out on as a boy, and part of me feels like I have to make excuses as to why it was like that. I don't want to say anything negative about my parents, and I know they did the best they could, but at the same time there are things I feel I didn't get to enjoy and experience in childhood. Now with life being the way it is, it’s hard for me to begin to ask God to work in these areas. The weight of responsibility is heavy, and in some ways I feel like the guy I mentioned yesterday, "How do I fit this in to life?"
But this is essential. Without the affirmation that comes from knowing we are Beloved Sons, the rest of the journey is doomed to fail. "We need God to come for the boy within... He will often arrange for some event to make us feel just as we did when we were boys and our hearts were broken. Feeling again what we felt then or perhaps suddenly a memory surfaces, we have an opportunity not to push it away, or run to the refrigerator, or get angry at someone (however it is we typically handle these emotions). Rather, we invite God to come to the broken place within us, come and find the orphaned boy within and embrace him. We ask the Father to come and heal our broken hearts, rescue the boy and bring him home."
Right now I'm going through a lot of rejection in the career area. I feel trapped in a cycle with no future that forces me to be something I really don't want to be. Doors keep closing and there aren't any windows in this dark hallway. It's a frustrating experience to say the least. There is no time or money to do the things I really love and I'm stuck doing something that sucks the life out of me, barely able to hold onto dreams for the future that seem to be growing dimmer each day. But reading this has challenged me to look at it as a source of healing, as an avenue God is using to show me who I am and more, who I am to Him.
"The Father's healing comes to us in many ways - sometimes quite immediately, through healing prayer, other times over the course of many months as he speaks to our hearts, brings us gifts, opens our awareness of our heart and reawakens memories. Our part is to remain open to the fact that there is often a boy inside that needs a Father's love, to cultivate an awareness of the yearning in our hearts to be prized, and watch for the ways our Father is bringing his love to the young places in our hearts."
God will bring healing, but I think it is as individually unique as the wounds we each bear. Each of our childhood's was different, and so each of us must be fathered differently by God. God will speak to our hearts in ways that we need to hear, ways that are deeply personal, but in order to receive them we must be in relationship with God. We must allow ourselves to be sons of the Father in order to be affirmed as His Beloved Sons.
"Remember - I am suggesting a whole new way of approaching life. No more independent living, no more acting as though everything is up to us. We are seeking a new orientation, where God is our good Father initiating us. In this stage, much of the initiation is a form of healing. I am learning to ask him 'Father, what do you have for me?' and I am learning to wait to hear an answer. Sure, it takes time, and there are successes and failures. Keep an open heart as you seek the Father's love."
God is patient, as a good father is with his young son. He knows it takes time to learn, and even more time to trust after we have been wounded. But the life He is inviting us into, the life He created us to live, is a life of complete trust in Him. Proverbs 3.5-8 is perhaps the most profound section of Scripture, and it is something we must learn to live by if we are to become Men of God. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones."
"The heart of the boy can be resurrected, and no matter what our age is now, we can know that we are prized, that we have a place in our Father's heart that no one and nothing else can rival. We are his Beloved Sons, and we can begin to experience that in deeply personal ways."
"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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