Arise.

I know my posts are usually more lighthearted and just fun...but right now God has just put before me something that is really heavy upon my heart.

Father's need to rise up in the body of Christ and love young men like they were their own sons.
Mother's need to rise up in the body of Christ and love young women...just like they were their own daughters.

There are people coming to know the Lord through many other avenues than being raised that way by their own parents; consequently leaving them with no father or mother to "show them the way"...so to say.
This is an arena that is sometimes hard for me to understand because I have parents that love the Lord, and they raised me to do the same. I never really realized how much of an AMAZING blessing that is, and that it is not something that everyone can say they have. For those who don't have what I did, getting saved and learning to hear God, walk with Him, deepen your relationship with Him and all of that without the guidance that was intended to be there can be really difficult.

This leads me to believe that there really is only one solution to this [aside from the fact that the Holy Spirit can & WILL be that Father if no one stands up] is that we, as the body, need to get out of our chairs, and begin pouring our lives out for the people who are seeking earnestly in their hearts for healing, restoration and love.

Jason Upton is one of my all time favorite worship leaders EVER...and he is constantly singing about father's and mother's....and the heart of God in light of those positions in life that he created the human life to be shaped with. It is how God intended it. And even though relationships like that may have been stolen from some of us...the word of God says that what the devil intended for evil, God WILL use for good. And in this case I believe that good is to rise up from the men and women in the Body of Christ.

It's time to get real and go deep guys. It's now or never.