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“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”  Proverbs 1:10, NAS

Solomon begins a twelve-verse warning (Proverbs 1:8-19) about negative peer pressure with the words, “Hear, my son… ” Proverbs 1:8, NAS. It’s the first time we hear Solomon bring the affectionate designation.  Solomon goes there again in today’s text, “My son… ” Proverbs 1:10, NAS. He is establishing the love connection between himself and his child!  He wants what He loves, to know deeply that truth before anything else is communicated.  Once that connection is solid with his son, the information can be relayed and received without controlling strings attached.

I began writing this devo a couple days ago, but multiple interruptions wouldn’t allow me past that first paragraph.  It is a few days later now, very early in the morning.  I had a dream last night and was lying in bed thinking through that dream, when suddenly He begin to remind me of the last couple of weeks of my life.  Patti and I currently work with a foreign missions organization and the bulk of our duties are pastoral in nature, which primarily manifest in mentoring and discipleship with the staff of the organization.  Although they have each other for hanging out in friendship context, our directives and personal life mandates have more to do with going spiritually and emotionally deeper with those who pursue that from us.  The more aggressive they are, the more permission we have to go deeper.  It frees us to “call them out” into a higher purpose!  We do “call them out”, but God is the only one that can get them to where they are supposed to go!  All of this to say, the Lord showed me a few scenes from this past few weeks that revealed what happens as we (the learner and the teacher, the disciple and the one who disciples, or the spiritual parent and spiritual son or daughter) go deeper.  I didn’t realize it when it happened, but it happened.  He showed me a few scenes where I actually called the person I was talking to, a name of affection, that is not their birth name.  My natural daughters, who are married women, rarely hear even now, me call them by their birth name.  They hear me call them, either a rendition of their birth name or another name I gave them in their childhood; a specific name that has more “heart” in it than anything else.  I remembered this morning, specifically using that “heart” name a couple of times while counseling a few individuals through some moderately painful processes.  I didn’t notice it at the time, but I’m guilty.  I did that.  I seriously doubt they or anyone else would ever get the “heart” in it, but this source gets it, loud and clear.

Patti and I are deeply southern.  We can dish out “Baby”, “Sweetie”, and “Honey” like fried chicken at a Baptist picnic!  We grew up in homes where guest, new friends and  old friends were greeted with a kiss and a Schlitz or whatever else the bartender had stocked.  Affection, kisses, hugs and lovey nicknames are just our way.  Our northern friends think we’re strange and religious  folk deem us bound, but we know how our Father greets us (let me assure you that it isn’t with a stiff side-hug) and what He calls us.  You’d blush if you really knew how the Lord addresses me when he wants to download.  It is so real and so un-religiously raw, it makes me laugh.  I forget sometimes that not everyone sees and hears like that also.

Have you ever believed that you live in a season that has a theme?  The past two weeks, there has been a reoccurring theme that keeps surfacing.  It prompts me to believe that most people do not know who HE says they are and more specifically, they don’t know their name of affection from the Father.  There is nothing more life altering than hearing what your Heavenly Father says about you.  Natural parents, spiritual parents, pastors, mentors, lovers, BFF’s and even soul mates, can only implant love and truth so deep.  We need to hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit, the voice of our Father, say our name.  After we hear our name, we can easily receive His deeper truths about who we are and where we are to go.

-MDP-