Devotion by Pastor Edmund Tay
Fatherhood is not always easy and being a father of three teenagers makes the task more challenging. Like many Christian fathers, it is my prayer and hope to see my children fall in love with Jesus.
This Father’s Day, I want to encourage every father with the thought that even with our imperfections, we still play a pivotal role in our children’s development. Regardless of our children’s ages and where they are in their spiritual walk, it is never too late to make an impact in their lives.
Recently, someone asked me: “How do I help my child to be comfortable with the Holy Spirit?” and “How do I inspire the kids to love Jesus?” My family is a work in progress, but there are some things that my wife, Jia Hui and I have purposed to do to keep our kids on the right track.
Since the kids were toddlers, we’ve made a conscious effort to create the right atmosphere at home. Besides bringing them to Harvest Kidz, having family devotions and testifying about the prayers that Jesus has answered, I try my best to model publicly what it is like to develop a personal relationship with Jesus.
Our personal relationship with God is not fixed on structures and formulas, but built on a continual personal walk with the Lord. Thus, I try my best to model to my children what it is like to walk with the Holy Spirit. Although we cannot see the Holy Spirit, I tell the kids that He is constantly by our side and that is perfectly normal for us to have conversations with Him every day.
It is not uncommon for my children to see me praying in tongues when I suddenly receive news that someone is unwell, or breaking out a “Praise the Lord!” when we find a parking lot. We live a lifestyle of awareness that God is in our lives daily and throughout the day—not just in saying grace before meals or during bedtime devotions. I practice my prayer life in front of my kids and worship Him spontaneously in the living room.
Besides telling my children about the goodness and faithfulness of God, and I also share with them about prayers that the Lord has not yet answered, and how we need to keep praying persistently, while trusting in God’s sovereignty. I share with them about the times when I missed God’s voice or failed to trust His prompting; and how God remained faithful, always watching over us and providing for the family.
In this parenting journey, especially as the children grew older, my conversations with them become more authentic and open. I make it a point not to sugar coat the experiences I go through in my walk with the Lord; instead, I want to encourage the children to hear God’s voice for themselves. Hearing the voice of God is easy and it gets better with practice. As God’s children, there is no shame in failure if we continue to step out in faith to hear His voice.
Although the challenges in parenthood can be daunting and there are times we don’t get it right, we must remember that God is not looking for perfect parents and certainly not a perfect Dad. He merely asks us to point our children to the love of the Father.
So this Father’s Day, take a deep breath and know that He uses imperfect people who will keep on stepping out in faith. No matter what kind of Dad you’ve been in the past, let us now purposefully move forward and know that as you put your seed of faith into the Master’s hands, He can multiply that seed for us to father the generations.