Family Friday: Father/Daughter Relationships

 

Written by: Dr. Robert Hooker

Having six daughters I thought it might be worthwhile to talk a little about Father/Daughter relationships.

To begin I would like to simply make some statements that from my experience are vital to understand in having a right relationship with a daughter.

1. You are your daughters first love and how she sees you is how she sees God.

2. Wives are the bridge-builders between dad and daughter- they hold the power to connect or separate the relationship.

3. In her developmental stage of life, you are the most important man in her life.

4. You have greater influence in your daughter's life than you think.

5. It is never too late to strengthen her relationship with you.

6    6. You, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughters life.

7. You must work to make, create and keep a close  relationship- it cannot be forced but earned through wisdom, love and consistency.

8. Your daughter needs a hero in her life- dad you should be that hero from the time she is old enough to understand to the day she walks down the aisle.

--A hero protects, a hero perseveres, a hero stands by his beliefs, a hero keeps his word, a hero is a man of integrity and honesty, a hero loves sacrificially, a hero believes there is an absolute of right and wrong and that right and wrong are defined in the Word of God.

9. A father must by his life and walk with God, lead and direct his daughter to a personal relationship with God.

In Malachi 4:5-6 the Bible says “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,and the heart of the children to their fathers,lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” 

This same thought is repeated in Luke 1:15-17 speaking of John the Baptist. "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

John the Baptist would be separated unto God for a great purpose and through the fulfillment of that purpose many of the children of Israel were turned to the Lord their God, but also he through his life, preaching, teaching and stand he would turn the heart of the fathers to the children.  

Fathers, God must have our hearts and our children must have our hearts if we are to see them turned from disobedience to the wisdom of the just. We as fathers must be prepared to meet the Lord if we are to lead our children to meet the Lord. 

As I began, daughters first see God through their daddy but then again so do little boys.