Author: Jim Corbett

My grandfather was a stoic German, who was incapable of treating his wife as anything more than a child-bearing servant of his whims. He also raised his children with harsh discipline. He could only do what he had been taught by his father, who probably learned from his father, etc., etc. I saw my dad reel at times from the lack of love he was given. He survived in a civil manner and was able to raise my brother and sisters and me relatively free from his father's abuse, only because of the kind of man he turned out to be.

That doesn't happen very often. Generations of fathers have unknowingly wounded their sons and daughters because their fathers wounded them. In general, men and women are either blessed or plagued by whatever capability or incapability their fathers had while raising them. Most people who struggle through life are doing so because of the input of their fathers. Many times lifelong struggles ensue because of some undoneness passed along by their fathers.

If you are still attempting to live up to your father's expectations, or reeling because he was incapable of loving you, you are more than likely passing some of that emotional baggage on to your children. It doesn't have to be that way for you, as a husband and father, if you are in Christ. You can stop now and receive the healing Jesus offers you. You can extend forgiveness because you have been forgiven. You can be healed because of the work Jesus did for you at the cross.

Start here. You are loved so much by your Father in heaven that He desires to spend eternity with you. You have an open door of communication to express all your wounds and needs to Him. You can learn how to love as He does because of His promises, mercy, and grace. You can prosper and live a significant life as you go to Him in your need. You can break the cycle of any form of abuse you may have received because of His love. It's time to pass on God's kind of love. Your family will thrive!

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

The Amplified Bible says that we are to "train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent]...". If we treat our children accordingly, we can help guide them into the life God has designed for them. We are to study them and discover their natural abilities, interests, and the things they prosper in, so that we can build the proper atmosphere for learning around them. In doing so, they can follow the patterns that are most comfortable for them, which will hold their interest and lead them toward success.

That is only one part of the perfect plan God has for your children. You, as a father, must help build taste buds in them for the deep things of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't mean that you should in any way force religious jargon down their throats until they choke; absolutely not. You are to become intimately in love with the Lord, longing to have Him live His life through you.

As you become all that you can be in Christ, your children will want the incredible life you enjoy. They will long to have the freedom, the wonder, the wisdom, and the power that they see in your life because of Him. The opportunity is there so that they too can become all they can be in Christ. Because they have the freedom to function in the bent God's given them, and they flourish through the intimate communion they gain from loving Jesus, there is nothing in the world that can minimize the significance of their lives.

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett

Philippians 3:10-11 AMP

10) [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11) That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

Paul saw the need to overcome the world he lived in. As a husband and father, you need to have the tools to overcome your world just as he did. The verses above give the formula for doing so.

A - Know Jesus. You need to prioritize your time to really get to know the only One Who spent His life so that you can have real life. To understand the wonders of His person is the most astounding privilege available. Knowing Him, and learning to walk as He walked, will also give you answers for how you are to function in your offices and the hope you need to be able to do what it takes so that you and your family can stand before God having lived lives that brought Him honor and glory.

B - Understand what Jesus did, and how it affects your life. Without a working comprehension of what happened at the cross - how it gave you access to your Father in heaven, established a covenant of love for you, provided a new spiritual life for eternity and a new spiritual world on this earth - you have no hope of navigating the challenges that will come your way. With this understanding, those around you will be able to see hope for their lives, too.

C - Become like Him. Becoming like Jesus is not only a hope; it's a covenant promise for everyone who has surrendered fully to His Lordship. His life, lived through you, gives you the power to see as He saw and act as He acted. In the midst of a dying world, people don't need another religious person. They need to see the life of Jesus lived out before them. You can be that life if you choose to do so. It's a gift for you because you are His. It's a command to you because you are His.

Let's talk more!

Jim Corbett