Turning the Hearts of the Fathers

God has been speaking to me about so many things and it has been overwhelming. I have spent most of the last 30 years involve in ministry to kids in some fashion. At times I helped with youth ministry. Other times I led youth ministries or worked with CYCM to reach the kids in the community. In Guatemala, we worked a lot at our schools in Membrillal and Zapote and I got to build a lot of relationships with kids. I have loved every minute of ministering to kids even when they were angry or hard to deal with. I always believed that what I was doing had eternal value and even if I did not see fruit today, God would use my effort. I still believe that but God has been changing my thinking and what I see as the most important aspect of youth ministry lately.

While in school John Arnott spoke about the lack of fathers being the largest problem the world is facing. The likelihood of growing up in poverty and of becoming a criminal goes up drastically when dads are not present. Drug use and alcohol abuse are higher among kids from single family homes. Depression is higher for this group also. In every measurable and observable category, children without dads in the picture are more at risk. This does not mean that every dad is good to be around their kids or that every single mom is doing a horrible job. What is does mean is that kids take a lot of time and energy. One person, no matter how loving and diligent they are cannot do the job as well as two loving parents. God designed kids to have two parents because that is what it takes to give a sense of security and identity.

Many of the kids I have spent my time with over the last few years come from single parent homes. I am not pointing fingers or assigning blame on anyone. I have not lived in their homes. I also recognize that it would have been better for those kids to have 2 loving parents looking after them. That is not to say that their parents were loving, just that it would be better if they had been and that they were present and involved. That is a hard position to come to because there are so many variables that we have no control over. We can want that for kids, but we cannot make it happen.

What God has been speaking to me about lately has been dads. They are crucial to kids growing up and having a sense of identity and worth. We live in a society where even our last name comes from our dad. That speaks right to the heart of our identity. Unfortunately, many kids say their last name with shame or humiliation. They are not leaving a legacy or a good family tradition for their children. Many of the kids I know are just angry with their dads, and rightly so. What is the solution?

In 2 Cor 5:16-21, I think God addresses that very clearly. 2Co 5:16-20 ESV 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

God sees things differently. He sees people through the cross. Their sin and brokenness do not define people to God. He created them with purpose and destiny. He saw them and knew them before the foundation of the world. He is telling us to see people through His eyes. He wants us to see what He loves about them and cause us to love that about them also. When we do, He gives us a ministry of reconciliation. As we begin to see the truth of a person, from the perspective of God, we can call them into a relationship with Him.

There are a lot of parents, dads especially that have been living with an ungodly view of themselves. They may have never expected a pregnancy. Maybe they were not stable or secure in their identity when children started coming. For whatever reason, they bailed out on their family. Somehow, they got the idea that they would all be better off going separate ways. They have not been there for their wives or girlfriends and they have not been there for their children. This becomes a never ending downward spiral. They start to blame their growing kids for not wanting to spend time with them and being disconnected without acknowledging that the process started with decisions that they made. There is plenty of pain and anger to go around. Finger pointing is the norm in these families, but it does not fix anything.

I believe God is saying it is time to start recognizing the real culprit. The devil hates you. He hates your kids. He hates your family. He will do all that is in his power to destroy you. He has limited authority, but he knows you and has seen who God created you to be. He has struck at the core of our identities. The kids are being targeted but it starts by attacking the identity of their dads. We need to start going after the hearts of the dads and speaking the truth of God to them. They are not the enemy. They are victims of the devil’s war on their family. They made bad choices but they were influenced by a crafty and smart enemy. They were not prepared to stand against an attack that they were not told was coming. The devil attacked their children by lying to the dads and pushing them away from their families.

It is time to say "no more". We must learn to see dads as God sees them. Their role in the family and in society is too important. We have to proclaim their God given identity at every opportunity. It is the one their families need them to live in. It is also more true about them than any other identity they may have adopted because it is the only one rooted in the truth. God sees them through the cross. In His eyes, they are already reconciled to Him.  He has a new identity and a new name to reveal to them. That does not mean they are saved or in relationship to Him, only that from His end, everything is in place for that relationship. Their sin and rebellion against God are all built on lies. He wants us to expose the lies and call them into life.

As the Church starts walking out the ministry of reconciliation and dads see themselves as God sees them, they will want to return to their families. They will want to look after the hearts of their wives and their children. They will live out of an identity that they will want to pass on. Children will understand that they have a heritage and an inheritance. Our job is to minister this reconciliation. It is to proclaim the truths of God. For too long, we have tried to shame men into being dads but that has backfired. They have felt the shame and run away. It is time to say that there is no more shame, only repentance leading to healing for dads and for their families. The cycle of lies and defeats is coming to an end because Jesus is pouring love into their hearts. They are DADs.

Pastor Mario's granddaughter Dulce. 

The better model of youth ministry God has been speaking to me about is wholistic. Kids are not whole while their families are broken. When dad is not there, a piece of their puzzle is missing. When we minister to kids, ignore the family and then send them home, we only create a sense of confusion for many of them. God loves me but my family is a mess. How do they reconcile these two contrasting ideas? The answer is that we run after the absent father, even the abusive father and we speak to them about the real identity that God has hidden in them. It has been stolen by a devil that hates them and by the blinding enticements of sin that entrap them. We proclaim the freedom that Jesus has purchased for them. We allow God to speak new identity into them even when nobody can see it because it is pushed so deep below the surface. We pray for insight and wisdom into the true identity God has and wants them to receive so that they can be godly dads. Lastly, we pursue the hearts of dads without fear or hesitation because we know it is the heart of God for them. 

Healed dads will begin to lead healed families. They will have children with identity that can walk in the purpose of God. They will be able to love freely and have deep, intimate relationships because God has set them free. Hiding and shame will no longer be part of the family life. Children will walk in destiny and become all God has for them to be.

Many of you are skeptical. You do not believe that God can, or that He desires to heal these families but Jesus, repeating the words from Malachi said that He would come and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Mal 4:6 and Lk 1:17. Lets pray that today He would do that now and then run after the absent, broken, addicted and lost fathers so they can be the dads they are called to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edl-2HUZYSQ Listen to this on YouTube and let God begin to reveal the depths of His love for you and for every person that you encounter.

Becoming

For the last few months I have been on an adventure that is changing and transforming my thought process. I am still not sure of the final outcome but I know where it has brought me as of today. I have shared little bits and pieces of it before but would like to  share a little more today. This change is beginning to alter the course that I thought I was on and I believe, in the end, will alter it more.

A few months ago I changed my blog name to Papa Jorge. That name grew out of a conversation that I had with a leader in Life Church St  Charles. He was sharing what he saw as a God given identity for me. It took a while to use this as a name but a few months ago, my pastor in Morris, Jonathan Horsfall asked me what my identity  was. Those were not his exact words but that was his question. Who is it that God has called me to be? This reminded me of the words from the leader in St Charles and so I changed my blog name even though I did not have a clear answer at that time.

Over the last few months, I have prayed about this question and many other things. As I have begun to frequently pray the prayers I shared with you previously in Eph 1-3 God started speaking to me and giving clarity to the answer. I want to encourage you to reread that blog "A  Challenge" and start praying these things for yourself and your community of believers. I believe that it is life transforming and eye opening. God has been speaking to me almost daily about some aspect of these verses and as He does, it opens a new understanding of identity.

I shared that God spoke to me about the orphans but this week, he took me deeper into that. He spoke to me about my identity as an orphan and His desire for me to be a son. In Jesus, He has already made me a son but Rom 12:1+2 speaks of our transformation coming as our minds are renewed. There are a lot of wrong ways of thinking that I had incorporated into my life. I had believed a lot of lies and reacted at in a wrong manner to most authority figures in my life. I had adopted a general mistrust of authority and in many ways had lived as the orphan myself. I am so grateful  to Jonathan for walking me through some of these issues in prayer. Through confession and repentance, I started to long for intimacy with the Father that I had often run away from. I mistrusted His motives towards me and felt valued by Him only when I performed to a certain, artificial standard that existed only in my mind and moved frequently. I began to realize His desire for fellowship with me in new and exciting ways.

What I am starting to realize is that to be Papa Jorge is to stand in the place of Father to lost and hurting people. In order to do that, I have to have the identity of son. That does not come from my will or and act of choosing to become. It only comes from being lost in Father. Jesus came to bring us into family. Through the cross, He gave us identity. We had a wrong identity from birth, given us by a fallen world. When we are brought into the family of God, He changes our understanding of who we are but he also changes our relationship to authority. (John 17:20-21 ESV - 20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.) When we know our Father, we know that we can trust Him and that His plans are good. As a son, I no longer have to make my own way. I walk with the Father and His authority surrounds me. His provision is enough for me and His purposes are enough for me. I am not on my own. I am in a family and under the authority of a Father. I do not have to make things happen, only walk with Him and obey. All the rest is a result of His goodness. I get to enjoy the full benefits of sonship.

One of my favorite verses is Rom 8:19 ESV - 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. This verse has a now and not yet aspect to it. Creation suffers when we are not living out the relationship that we are created for. We were made to live as sons and creation is longing for that to be revealed. While we know that we do not see the fullness of the Kingdom of God here on the earth, we also know that we are being transformed from glory o glory. In this transformation process, God is revealing a little more of Himself to the world moment by moment and answering more of the longing of creation. The restoration of creation is happening little by little as sons are being revealed in the earth.

I believe that the crisis we see of orphaned, abused and neglected kids, along with the rampant use of abortion as birth control are things God wants to end because every child is created as an image bearer of His. To allow the destruction of these children, either in or out of the womb is to destroy what God has created with innate and immeasurable value. The Father has a plan for ending this destruction and restoring the dignity of all life. It starts with the Church learning their identity and to stop living as servant, slaves, sinners and orphans. It will happen when we realize the authority of the Father, vested in sons and daughters. When we know who we are, we gain our voice and speak to the injustice of the fallen world that we live in. We can begin to manifest the Kingdom, as Jesus prayer on earth as it is in Heaven. It is not our work that will do this but rather it is the Father revealing His identity through the body, His children.

I do want to begin to work more with the neglected, abused, abandoned and orphaned. Even more, I believe that the father is calling me to this work. I am planning and praying about how this is going to look. I will start where I am, in San Lucas and ask God to lead me where He wants me to be. I believe that He desires to end this pain and suffering through the Church. I do not know my role in it all yet but will be talking to some friends and people that work in these areas after I get back. I believe that He is saying aim high and trust. He does not want to help a few children but to change the way that we all deal with the need and to show us that His abundant provision is enough to meet the needs foe all.

I am asking that you would join me in praying for wisdom and direction. Talk to me if God gives you insight and wisdom. Consider partnering in the future to see children delivered into the arms of a loving Father, orphans set in families and the Church walking in the power and authority that God has for us.

Col 1:9-13 ESV - 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Time to Love

As many of you know, I spend a considerable amount of time in Guatemala working with Iglesia Galilea. Soon I will be returning there for three more months to pick up the construction projects that we worked on while I was there earlier this year. While some of the work is getting close to completion, there are other projects coming up to replace them as soon as they are finished. When you work with people that have a vision for making disciples of their nation, the work does not end until everyone has had the chance to respond to the call of Jesus to come and follow Him.

While I am excited to get back to work, I will also be missing some great people in Morris. While I am passionate about the work in Guatemala, I am also passionate about the work we do at CYC and the kids that we serve. Leaving them is difficult because they have become such a big part of my life.  God has used to teach me so many things that I believe are crucial for the success of any ministry. and the truths that I have learned from these kids are important for the work God calls me to everywhere. I would like to share a little with you about these things.

For many years I have worked with kids in the Morris community. I have shared in their victories and cried through their defeats. I have had them open up to me about very personal things. Often, we are the only adults that they share any deep things about their lives with. I have heard about family lives and situations that I never thought any kid should have to live through. My heart has experienced huge highs and crushing lows as I have shared with these kids. Many times, their circumstances have been far beyond my ability to reason or figure out and so I prayed about the best way to help and God began to show me a truth about ministry.

We can love people and work to help them out of their circumstances but there will always be another crisis. If we become firefighters helping people extinguish the fires of their lives, we are going to run out of water. Love for them and empathy for their situation is not enough to carry us. Life is to much and we are not up to the challenge.

The truth is ministry must come from a place of being seated with Jesus in heavenly places. He sits above their circumstances and sees the big picture in their lives. He can navigate through places that we cannot see. Jesus has a plan for healing and deliverance that my lead through difficult places. He loves us and the people that we love better than we, on our own, ever could. He has wisdom to lead people through the place that He desires and bring them out on the other side, leaving them healed and whole.

Our role in missions or any ministry is to harvest intimacy with Jesus. We need to spend so much time with Him that He fills our vision. The bigger our vision of God the more empowered we are when we step into the enemies attack. We will have more faith as He leads us into places of staring down the enemy are he charges in to attack. When we understand the strength of Jesus, we can stand with others in scary places and not fear for them or for the outcome.

The other thing we need to do is get familiar with the love of God for us. When we know and understand the love of God for us, we have something to give away. We can believe that God wants to change the circumstances of others. His love will transform lives, communities and nations. When we are secure in it, we can join Him in that work. When we are not, we try to manipulate circumstances or God to separate people from the things that are causing them pain. We often interrupt the thing that God is using them to make them free and more the person that He created them to be. We need to receive love first from God before we can really have it to give to others. Without God's love flowing through us, all of our help will be misguided and may even deepen the problems that we are trying to fix. We love because He first loved us.

I am excited about where God is leading but I am most excited that he is teaching me to live and walk in His presence so that I can bring His life into every circumstance. I have learned to be content in Morris or San Lucas as long as I am with Jesus. I know that I will be fruitful regardless of where I am because Jesus is there. Thanks for all of your support and prayers in this journey.

If you would consider supporting me financially, as well as in prayer, it would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be sent to:
My Father's House of Prayer
C/O Guatemala Missions
P.O. Box 679 
Morris, IL 60450 Checks can be made out to MFHOP.