Coram Deo is a beautiful Latin phrase that succinctly encapsulates the essence of the Christian life. It means living our lives before the face of God. It refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To the Christian, this is the aroma of Christ. This is the awe-inspiring, knee-wobbling reality that the God of the universe, the Almighty, the great I AM, is, in fact, our Father in heaven. To the follower of Christ, living Coram Deo is walking in the belief that no matter our earthly circumstances, we live our entire lives in the presence of God, under His authority, in His love, with assurance in His sovereignty - living each day for His glory. Oh, what a glorious life to live - in the protection, provision, and grace of our Father!

This Father's Day, we want to honor our Father in heaven and thank Him for His great love and eternal grace shown to us by calling and saving us. We also want to thank Him for His provision of the earthly fathers in our lives - whether biological fathers, adopted fathers, church fathers, or spiritual fathers in the faith. We are deeply grateful for you all.

God has used fathers from the beginning of time to encourage, comfort, and urge the next generation to live Coram Deo - lives worthy of God. In Psalm 78, we see what an immense blessing it is when our fathers open their mouths in parables and utter hidden things from times past – what had been passed down through the generations, and their fathers taught them. Those fathers did not hide the precious truth of God from their children, but told the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD - His power and the wonders He did in Israel's history.

We see in Proverbs that there is great joy in being a father of a child who wants to learn from their father, and the Lord even attaches a blessing to us honoring our fathers and mothers.  

Proverbs 23:24 says, 'The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.'

The beautiful truth for those who are adopted into God's family through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is this: We are not born into this relationship simply by emerging from our mothers' wombs; rather, God has adopted us. This relationship is ours only when we are united to Christ by faith and receive "the right to become children of God."

'But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. To those who believe in His name….’ - John 1:12 (NASB)

We can see evidence of God's fathering in one of Paul's earliest letters where he refers to how a father deals with his children by encouraging, comforting, and urging them to live lives worthy of God, who calls us into His kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12). Our Father has instilled in us the ability to spur the next generation on to live Coram Deo - to live their lives before the face of God.

At The Word for the World, we are passionate about God’s Word of hope reaching the world. We live our lives Coram Deo by bringing our Father's truth in His written Word to language groups where they do not have the Bible in their mother tongue. We observe the work of the Spirit in people like Joshua Mjamba, one of Zambia's Nkangala Bible translators. Part of his passion and calling from our Father is that he wants his daughter to know their language and to hear God speaking to her in her mother tongue through the Spirit-breathed words of Scripture.

He has said that he wants her to know that their people are proud of their language and that Jesus Himself knows their language.

In another part of Zambia, Rev. Modesty Chilufya, one of TWFTW’s translators of the Aushi language is passionate about seeing his children, who are now adults, walk in the gifts God has given them. His daughter is currently studying in TWFTW’s Diploma in Bible Translation program. He reports being glad to see her inspired to work so diligently that now she is a reviewer. He has said that he gives God the glory for helping him to raise up his children by teaching them the Word of God. He says, "I have become an example to my family through dedication to God and His Words." Rev. Chilufya is living Coram Deo before the very eyes of his children and now grandchildren. We are humbled and excited to see how God uses this father as a pastor, translator, minister, teacher, evangelist, and many more as the Spirit leads him!

He says, "My passion is all about my children knowing and serving Christ forever - furthermore, to remain united in the love of God and help others to do God's will. God has provided for us in many ways. Recently, He has provided a new motorbike. We have been praying about transportation to do the work of God. Now we have a way to get around - making Bible translation much easier regarding fieldwork and consultations. To God be the glory!"