Genesis 18:19 (NKJV)

‘For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice…’

God could say of Abraham, ‘I have known him.’ God knows everyone, but there was a different knowing that characterized God’s knowing of Abraham. It was a knowing of intimacy, a knowing of trust, a knowing of confidence. God knew the kind of man Abraham was, and He was attesting to it. God knew that Abraham was a father indeed that God could boast about anywhere.

Does God know me at that level? Am I someone whom God could vouch for as He did with Abraham? Can God validate your family life? Are your children indeed under your direct and intense tutelage? Are they being raised up in the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice? Abraham invested in teaching his kids the ways of God, the ways of righteousness and the ways of justice. We must invest intensively and deliberately, in teaching them this path of faith, discipline and commitment to the covenant with God Almighty. That’s what it means to be a true father.

‘May I not just be a father by name but a father indeed. O God, may my family be trained by You under my supervision. Help me to place the moral and spiritual development of my children as one of my highest priorities. This I pray in Your name. Amen.’