One of the greatest feelings in the world for any son or daughter is when we hear that our parents say they are proud of us. Especially fathers. Father’s hold a special power with words over their children, and when positive words are spoken to them, they hit the core of us children in ways that are never expected. The power of words of approval speaks life and inspires their kids to more and more greatness. Knowing they are doing something right is motivation to do more right and pleasing to their parents.
And that is where I have found a lot of my freedom on the race so far in my journey with my heavenly Father. Hearing those words of affirmation from my earthly parents has spoken so deeply to me, but growing up I never thought to think that there are positive words that flow from my Heavenly Father’s lips.
So many times in our Christian circles, we focus on what we need to improve on and what we haven’t done right. It’s a lot of words like “ I need to pray more, I need to show God I love Him more, I need to show others I love them more” and many more thoughts along the same lines. We never stop to think that Father may have some encouragement to give us in our walk with Him. Its not, “Hey more of this, more of that, more more more…” While striving for those things is so good, I think we need to stop and recognize Father’s words of encouragement, because if we are spurred on to more greatness when our earthly parents speak words of affirmation in our lives, how much more will we do that when we hear those words from Father above?
And again, while reading Raggamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning showed me how much we don’t allow the Father’s grace to overfill our lives in regards to how much we do for Him. We feel like we need to do all of these things so much better for the Father to be pleased with us. We are never doing enough. But what does the Father think of us and how much we are doing?
Brennan Manning says this, “ Living by grace inspires a growing consciousness that I am what I am in the sight of Jesus and nothing more. It is His approval that counts. “ And these are the thoughts we often overlook that Brennan challenged me, us, to think about from Father’s perspective: “Has it crossed your mind that I am proud you accepted the gift of faith I offered you? Proud that you freely chose me, after I had chosen you, as your friend and Lord? Proud that with all your warts and wrinkles you haven’t given up? Proud that you believe in Me enough to try again and again?”
“ Are you aware how I appreciate you for wanting Me? I want you to know how grateful I am when you pause to smile and comfort a child who has lost her way. I am grateful for the hours you devote to learning more about Me; for the words of encouragement you have passed on to your burnt-out pastor, for your visit to the shut-in, for your tears for the broken. What you did to them, you did to Me. Alas, I am sad when you do not believe that I have totally forgiven you or you feel uncomfortable approaching Me.”
Is He happy in how we are doing? More often than we think, yes! And when we remember that He is proud and He speaks those words of affirmation to us, we will be spurred on to even more greatness.
Always remember the Father is proud of you. He does not condemn anyone who is choosing to follow Him. Even through our mistakes. He loves you, no matter what, because that’s Grace.
