God has appointed fathers to be men with a message, “Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.” Psalm 78:4

Men need to break the patterns of their fathers by delivering the right messages. The godly man is a man with a message. He has something to say. Men have a responsibility to declare certain messages. It is popular for we men today to create our own personal “life message” or “vision” that is unique to our personal lives. But Asaph warns us not to try to create a one of a kind, life message. No, our message is an ancient message which finds it’s source in the faithfulness of God, spelled out in the graphic simplicity that scripture provides.

Verse four clearly and succinctly describes what our message should be, what we are to tell the next generation. A man’s discipleship message to his family must include the following three elements: The praises of the Lord, His strength, and His mighty deeds.

A Father Full of Praise to the Lord

Asaph models the father who is filled up with “the Praises of the Lord”.

He is a thankful man. The man who praises the Lord spreads enthusiasm for the faithfulness of God wherever he goes. He inspires his family by telling of the praises of the Lord. He is full of the good news of God’s mighty hand in history – including his own history. It makes a big difference in the atmosphere of a household when a man sings for joy at the work of the Lord. He sees God working everywhere. He is truly a happy man because He knows that God is faithful and worthy of praise. This describes a man with an unshakeable joy in the Lord. He delights in Him. This man is not filled with head knowledge only. On the contrary, he walks around with a song in his heart. Truly, “The joy of the Lord is their strength.”

Who can calculate the impact of a happy man who sings the praises of the Lord?

You can usually detect godliness in a home by how much joy the people have registered on their faces. The face reflects the heart. Look at the faces in a home and most of the time, you can see how well a father is doing in filling his home with the praises of the Lord.

This is critical because. If a home is not full of the joy of the Lord, it will corrode and disfigure the knowledge of the true God and the hearts of the children will gravitate toward other things. But, “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day long…” (Psalm 89:15-18). And since God is the God of hope, a wise father fills his family with “hope in God.”

The only way a man can be full of praise to God is if he feeds himself on the good news recorded in Scripture. He finds his joy there. And the only reason he will feed himself with it is if he believes it is the happiest and most wonderful way. A man has no hope for being filled with the praises of the Lord unless he truly understands what David understood,

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

Men who get too “stressed out” need to reconsider what God says is acceptable behavior (the praises of the Lord) and what is not acceptable (being stressed out). Men say they are stressed out and it sounds so harmless, but in actuality, they are disobeying the commands to “fear not’, and “be anxious for nothing.” (Philippians 4:6) God’s households are designed for joy. Christian homes should be the happiest places on earth. This is only possible when a home is full of the knowledge of the promises of God toward them, and when a family believes that they are “more than conquerors.” (Romans 8:37) For a home to be this way, it needs a father who is adept at spreading enthusiasm for the goodness of God.