Reclaiming Fatherhood and Restoring Fathers - Part 2

Sunday, June 17, 2007 (Date written)

This edition is Part 5 of the series I began a few weeks ago on the phenomenal promises contained in Psalm 112. If you did not read the previous editions, I urge you to do so. Please understand that I am not one of those "prosperity preachers." I do believe the modern "Prosperity Gospel" has brought immeasureable spiritual harm to the Body of Christ at-large on a global basis. However, too often we tend to "throw out the baby with the bathwater." There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers." But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. Prosperity, success, and divine healing and health taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of seemingly antithetical and counterbalancing matters becomes erroneous teaching that is an abomination to God because that is precisely what God calls "a false balance," which is "an abomination to God."

There is no doubt that the pendulum has swung too far to the extremes concerning prosperity and success in the preaching and teaching of some, especially among the "name it and claim it," "blad it and grab it" crowd — the so-called "Word of Faith" camp. Unfortunately, when that happens the swing of the pendulum is equidistant in the other direction as well. I'm for the true or correct balance in all things; and I believe God is too.

The problem is that when writing about such matters where there is controversy, error, and excess on both ends of the spectrum, it is difficult to speak the truth without sounding to those who favor one extreme of the pendulum swing that you are part of and aligned with those favoring the other extreme. In my own case, I'm not part of any camp except God's. My desire is to be aligned with the Truth. Of course many would make the same claim, but any truth taken to extremes becomes error, yet the error of the extemists does not make the truth any less true.

I really believe the only safeguard against error in matters of truth is that we must have a contemporaneous co-existence of the Spirit with the Truth in order to come down on God's side with a correct, rather than false, balance. As the Spirit said through the Apostle Paul, matters of truth are "spiritually-appraised" or "spiritually-discerned." That's why Jesus called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. May we all seek and possess the "Truth" of the Spirit in all these vital matters of the Kingdom.

With that preface, let's move on to the message of this post. For those who have not read it in previous posts, here again is this powerful Psalm 112, on which this series is based, in its entirety.

Psalm 112
1 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.
7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.
10 The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

The entire Psalm 112 is speaking about the righteous man who fears the Lord and who finds great delight in his commands. Yet, in speaking about this man and his life, the focus is not only on him, but also on his children, his household, and the inheritance and legacy he leaves behind that continues to live long after he is gone. Thus, this man is a father and grandfather, and the patriarch of a lineage that follows after him.

As I was musing upon what I would be writing next in this series, the Lord suddenly and unexpectedly began giving me some prophetic revelation concerning the topic reflected in the title of this post. On this Father's Day of 2007, I am making a start at sharing some of what He showed me, in the context of the current series.

Reclaiming Fatherhood and Restoring Fathers!

It simply cannot be an accident or coincidence that the Old Testament concludes in the last two verses in the last chapter of the last book, Malachi, with this prophecy:

"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."

As I stated at the beginning, I believe the primary purpose of the prophetic, or at least the Elijah-type of prophetic ministry, those who operate in the "spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk. 1:17), is to restore fatherhood and reclaim fathers, both in the spiritual and natural realms (more on this in the next post).

Reflected in the substance of this Malachi prophecy that culminates the Old Testament is the fact that the primary purpose of the prophetic, despite the fact that the modern prophetic restoration movement seems to focus on everything but, is to restore fatherhood and reclaim fathers, both in the spiritual and natural realms. As we discussed in the previous post, there is a major dearth of fatherhood manifest in the land today that is producing numerous curses in the land, just as Malachi's prophecy predicted.

The purpose of the restoration of the prophetic is not to use it for self-aggrandizing purposes such as to build a large ministry base of people who share an interest in the prophetic, or prophetic organizations and networks comprised of "prophetic people," as some have seen it as being. In fact, my personal view is, all that is a bastardization of the prophetic restoration. I personally believe it is blasphemous to "use" any move of God for self-aggrandizement, and that those who do so heap judgment upon themselves.

Historically, self-aggrandizement was the primary reason for God writing "Ichabod" over former movements and so-called "revivals" of that past after only a few years of duration or less. Most former moves were only short-lived, though those who "hitched their wagons" to what God was doing attempted to "ride the wave" many years after God brought cessation to a movement and the cloud by day and fire by night had already moved on. Unfortunately, there are always those who believe God has delegated "ownership" of a move, revival, or emphasis of the Spirit, that leads them to construct man-made wooden carts through which to capitalize all they possibly can on what God is doing. And, inevitably such attitudes of entitlement and ascendency opens the door wide to evil spirits that eventually will corrupt both the movement as well as its principals and participants.

Virtually all former movements of the Spirit were attended with "camps" who refused to break camp long after the Spirit had moved on, but continued to build the three tabernacles per the "Peter Principle" proffered by Simon Peter as he, James, and John were "coming down" (both physically and emotionally) following the Mount of Transfiguration experience: "let us build three tabernacles." There are always those who want to capture and incarcerate the Spirit in their man-made tabernacle of dwelling, and confine Him to their exclusive and elite camp. But the Spirit will have none of that! He no longer dwells in human tabernacles and temples, organizations and networks, made with human hands, but in human hearts. The Glory of God still cannot be carried on wooden (symbolizes man-made), ox-drawn (oxen typify human ministers) carts, but must be carried on the shoulders of the Levites, for the government (of the Church Jesus is building) "shall be upon HIS shoulders" [Is. 9:6] (apostles and prophets, in particular).

The purpose of the prophetic is far greater and of a much higher level than what many claiming to be prophets are operating in today.

As I stated in an article I authored and published in 2003 concerning prophetic purpose:

"It's not to use the prophetic to build a name for oneself, or to promote and proliferate a ministry, a minister, or a movement, or to develop a means of support or income for a ministry or minister, or to sell books, or to become well-known or famous, or to build a church, a following, or a prophetic organization, or to achieve personal ambitions. The true Purpose of the prophetic is none of those things."

The foundation of the Kingdom of God is fatherhood. In essence, all Kingdom principles are fathering principles, rooted in fatherhood. There is no higher office or function than fatherhood. Our relationship with God is a relationship between a Father and His children. Yet, God delegates to human parents the role and tasks of parenting His children while they are minors. Though it seems to be such a difficult concept for human parents to grasp, "children are a gift of the Lord." Children come from the Lord. Human parents are not the "owners" of their children, but they are merely on loan to them while they are minors, and are given the assignment from God to rear them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. In the final judgment, parents, will have to give account to God for how they reared their children.

So also, as it is in the case of the natural family here on earth, there are those in the Church to whom God assigns the task of spiritually rearing His spiritual offspring, i.e., Born Again believers. Just as God designed the human family with parents, so also He designed the spiritual family with spiritual parents. There are numerous scriptures that support the concept that the Church is the family expanded and the family is the Church in miniscule. The government God has ordained for the Church is the same as that for the family — that is the import of the Apostle Paul's dissertation in Ephesians 6. The role of human parents with their children while they are minors and living under their covering and care is fourfold: 1) govern; 2) guard; 3) guide; and, 4) prepare. The role of spiritual parents in the Body of Christ — Fivefold Ministers — is similar (cf., Eph. 4:7-16; 1 Cor. 12:28). Morever, as human parents are the foundation of the natural family, Apostles and Prophets are the foundation of the spiritual family of God, the Church (Eph. 2:20).

Fathering failure, or the dearth of fatherhood, produces dysfunctional and self-destructive familial relationships, both in natural families as well as spiritual families, i.e., churches. The profile of dysfunctional families is fraught with rivalry, competition, jealousy, contentions, strife, and such things. Beyond the pews and behind the platforms, churches, because they are spiritual families, are likewise fraught with such things. So it is also within the ranks of fivefold ministers. The primary cause of the lack of collegiality and collaboration, or colabor, that God intended to be manifest among fivefold ministers is the lack of godly and effectual spiritual fathering in the Body of Christ. Indeed, the blame for dysfunctional spiritual relationships and families must be laid squarely at the feet of Fivefold Ministers. Dysfunctional leadership produces dysfunctional progeny (offspring). The unfortunate result of the dysfunctional leadership in the Body of Christ is the spiritual immaturity, impotence, and poor productivity now generally manifest in the Body of Christ (cf, Eph. 4:7-16).

There is so much more God has shown me about fatherhood that will bring abundant blessings into your life if you will simply receive it, believe it, comply with it, and decree it; in other words, if you will GET INTO AGREEMENT WITH GOD! Be sure to stay connected to hear the rest. It has the power to revolutionize your life.

To be continued....

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Reclaiming Fatherhood and Restoring Fathers - Part 1

Sunday, June 17, 2007 (Date written)

This edition is Part 4 of the series I began a few weeks ago on the phenomenal promises contained in Psalm 112.

Before I get into this message of this post, I feel it necessary to preface it with some comments because of the controversy of the subject matter.

Please understand that I am not one of those "prosperity preachers." I do believe the modern "Prosperity Gospel" has brought immeasurable spiritual harm to the Body of Christ at-large on a global basis. However, too often we are wont to "throw out the baby with the bathwater."

There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers." But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. Prosperity, success, and divine healing and health taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of seemingly antithetical and counterbalancing matters can become an abomination to God because that is precisely what God calls "a false balance." There is no doubt that the pendulum has swung too far to the extremes concerning prosperity and success in the preaching and teaching of some, especially among the "name it and claim it," "blab it and grab it" crowd -- the so-called "Word of Faith" camp. Unfortunately, when that happens the swing of the pendulum is equidistant in the other direction as well. I'm for the true or correct balance in all things; and I believe God is too.

The problem is that when writing about such matters where there is controversy and error and excess on both ends of the spectrum it is difficult to speak the truth without sounding to those who favor one extreme of the pendulum swing that you are part of and aligned with those favoring the other extreme. In my own case, I'm not part of any camp except God's. I have no denominational or protodenominational affiliations, alliances, or alignments. My desire is to be aligned with the Truth. Of course many would make the same claim, but any truth taken to extremes becomes error, yet the error of the extremists does not make the truth any less true.

I really believe the only safeguard against error in matters of truth is that we must have a contemporaneous co-existence of the Spirit with the Truth in order to come down on God's side with a correct, rather than false, balance. As the Spirit said through the Apostle Paul, matters of truth are "spiritually-appraised" or -discerned. That's why Jesus called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. May we all seek and possess the "Truth" of the Spirit in all these vital matters of the Kingdom.

With that preface, let's move on to the message of this post. If you did not read the previous editions, I urge you to do so. For those who have not read it in previous posts, here is this powerful Psalm again in its entirety.

Psalm 112
1 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.
7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.
10 The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

The entire Psalm 112 is speaking about the righteous man who fears the Lord and who finds great delight in his commands. Yet, in speaking about this man and his life, the focus is not only on him, but also on his children, his household, and the inheritance and legacy he leaves behind that continues to live long after he is gone. Thus, this man is a father and grandfather, and the patriarch of a lineage that follows after him.

As I was musing upon what I would be writing next in this series, the Lord suddenly and unexpectedly began giving me some prophetic revelation concerning the topic reflected in the title of this post. On this Father's Day of 2007, I am making a start at sharing some of what He showed me, in the context of the current series.

Reclaiming Fatherhood and Restoring Fathers!

Note: Though all the writing experts say to do so is a major no-no, I need to preface this article with a bit of a disclaimer, which is that I am not supplying a lot of Biblical citings to support what I say here, as one usually does in writing articles or books. I felt that the Lord wanted me to post this article pretty much in the form I received it -- as a prophetic revelation. It is more revelational than it is instructional, meaning didactic, or given in the form of teaching. Albeit, I certainly believe it to be Biblical, that is, in agreement with the Bible, or I would not be publishing it. What I pass on here was revealed through the Spirit (prophetic revelation) and thus is spiritually appraised, and cannot be understood through the natural or carnal mind (1 Cor. 2:6-16).

It simply cannot be an accident or coincidence that the Old Testament concludes in the last two verses in the last chapter of the last book, Malachi, with this prophecy:

"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."

As I stated at the beginning, I believe the primary purpose of the prophetic, or at least the Elijah-type of prophetic ministry, those who operate in the "spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk. 1:17), is to restore fatherhood and reclaim fathers, both in the spiritual and natural realms (more on this in the next post).

The state of affairs in the world today makes it evident that the land has been smitten with a curse as the Malachi prophecy predicts. Corruption and criminality is ubiquitous. We see revealed in this one passage of Scripture culminating the Old Testament, the fundamental root-cause of all that corruption and criminality -- a dearth of fatherhood.

History and sociological statistics tell us that wherever and whenever there is an absence of fatherhood there is an increase in sin and rebellion, along with the resultant crime and corruption sin and rebellion engender societally. The produce of a dearth of fatherhood, both in individual lives and collective society, is disobedience of all sorts and kinds, both to God's authority and God's delegated authority -- human authority (Rom. 12). Indeed, fatherhood is the expression or manifestation on earth of God's authority. God is a Father -- the ultimate Father. He created the human race out of His need for fellowship with someone other than Himself, that is, the Trinity.

The void of fatherhood can be filled by nothing else. Fatherhood is comprised of unique properties and characteristics, and it produces unique results that cannot be produced through any other office or function. There is no substitute for fatherhood; when it is absent there is a void. When there is a void, there is the absence of the things that fatherhood provides.

Motherhood, though needed and necessary, is no substitute for fatherhood. Mothering cannot replace or substitute for fathering. When and where there is motherhood but no fatherhood, there is a stark lack of what fatherhood provides, along with the inevitable and unavoidable fruits of that lack. One of the most significant and impactful of those voids is that manhood and all God intended it to entail is not modeled. In that vacuum, a male child cannot see what Godly manhood looks like and has nothing to emulate, and so the vacuum is often filled, in some respects, instead with traits and thought patterns modeled by the women who are the authority figures in his life.

God is Love. God is "THE" Father. Fatherhood is synonymous with Agape-Love, the God-kind of love. Fathering is the ultimate expression of love (God, who is a Father, is love). Fatherhood love is the purest love. Love, that is, Fatherhood, never fails. God never fails. Nevertheless, human fathers fail. Yet, though human fathers fail, fatherhood never fails. God is a Father and He cannot fail. The failings or failure of fathers is not a failure of fatherhood.

God is Spirit. Fatherhood is of the Spirit, spiritual, though not ethereal, meaning not of this world or non-substantial. Fatherhood is a manifestation of the Spirit of the Father. Fatherhood is a spiritual and therefore a supernatural thing, not a human, natural thing. Yet, fatherhood cannot be merely "spiritualized," that is, be manifest separate from the natural. While it is intrinsically spiritual, of the unseen realm, it is manifest in the natural, the seen realm. Fatherhood is the reflection of the Father. Jesus said to the disciples, Philip in particular, "He who has seen me has seen the Father," demonstrating that the Son was a reflection of the Father.

The foundation of the Kingdom of God is fatherhood. In essence, all Kingdom principles are fathering principles, rooted in fatherhood. There is no higher office or function than fatherhood. Our relationship with God is a relationship between a Father and His children.

Fathering failure, or the dearth of fatherhood, produces dysfunctional and self-destructive familial relationships, both in natural families as well as spiritual families, i.e., churches. The profile of dysfunctional families is fraught with rivalry, competition, jealousy, contentions, strife, and such things. Beyond the pews and behind the platforms, churches, because they are spiritual families, are likewise fraught with such things. So it is also within the ranks of fivefold ministers. The primary cause of the lack of collegiality and collaboration, or colabor, that God intended to be manifest among fivefold ministers is the lack of godly and effectual spiritual fathering in the Body of Christ. Indeed, the blame for dysfunctional spiritual relationships and families must be laid squarely at the feet of Fivefold Ministers. Dysfunctional leadership produces dysfunctional progeny (offspring). The unfortunate result of the dysfunctional leadership in the Body of Christ is the spiritual immaturity, impotence, and poor productivity now generally manifest in the Body of Christ (cf, Eph. 4:7-16).

Fatherhood is an exclusively male office or function. Only SONS can be fathers. Even illegitimate sons can become legitimate fathers. Females cannot father. The most spiritual female cannot father.

Fatherhood is intrinsically an internal not an external matter, albeit, it is manifested externally. Fatherhood cannot be externally worn like a shirt. Buying a T-shirt with "Super Dad" on it, does not make you a Super Dad or father. Fathering is not mere sentiment, but actions, actions of servitude. A father is simultaneously the ultimate servant, laying down his life for his family, and the ultimate source or gateway of agape-love to his family.

The awful legacy of the Garden of Eden was a fathering failure. Adam was created by God in the Image of God the Father. God intended for Adam to reflect Him even in his relationship with his helpmate suitable, Eve. Yes, Adam was to be a father to his wife; that is, God desired that he manifest the Heavenly Father on earth to his wife and family. Ultimately, Adam's FAILURE was not in his following of deceived Eve, but in the FATHERING of his helpmate (wife). In fact, it can be rightly said that the ultimate cause of "original sin" was a failure in reflecting the Image of the Father. When God created Adam in His own Image, He created a Father, because God is a Father. Adam failed as the first human father of the first family. The first result of that failure was Adam and Eve's precipitous fall into perdition, and the second result of his sin and rebellion against God was the rivalry mentioned before, in this case the contention was murderous, in that his first offspring, Cain, was a murderer, who slew his brother Abel. Right from the beginning of the human race we see demonstrated the irrefutable fact that when fathers fail, families fail. When the effectual function of fatherhood is absent, whether through abrogation or ignorance, families are dysfunctional.

Husbandhood is synonymous with fatherhood, in the Spirit. The characteristics of fatherhood are the characteristics of Godly husbandhood. After the fall, God placed in the woman (females), an innate desire for her husband's headship or authority over her (Gen. 3:16), as a covering or protection against demons, the fallen angels (1 Cor. 11:10), by whom (the serpent, Satan) she was deceived in the Garden of Eden. Though modern psychology paints it as a bane and something to be avoided, women are "wired" by God, in looking for a husband to look for a FATHER, because subconsciously she is searching for a man who will be to her what her father had been to her (if he was a righteous man and father) and she is also looking for the man who will be the father of their children, sons (fathers) and daughters (helpmates), who will continue the cycle of human reproduction.

Whether they know it or not, and though those steeped in modern feminism will bristle and gnash their teeth at such a statement, women are subconsciously looking for a man to be a father to them in their search for their lifemate. Though, it must be understood that when a woman is operating only or predominantly in the flesh, rather than "walk(ing) in the Spirit" (Gal. 5) and therefore being led by the Spirit, they will not be guided by those internal, God-placed desires.

Jesus said one of the primary reasons for His coming in the flesh was to show us the Father, and He said that he who has seen Him, has seen the Father. He was the Father come in the flesh. Jesus was the exact representation of the Father. He was not The Father, but He was the pure reflection or replica of the Father. And, whatever He saw and heard the Father doing, Jesus did. That was the model He came to present to us. He was the prototype of the Sons of God, the Holy Race, the People of God, who were born of the Spirit, and whose ultimate quest and goal is to emulate or reflect the Father in their living as well as innermost-being.

Though He had no human wife and laid with no woman (and certainly no man, per the blasphemous allegations of homosexual reprobates of recent note), meaning He had no sexual relationship with any human while here in the flesh on earth, He was the incorruptible Seed of the Father, who died and was buried in the earth, in order to undergo the miraculous metamorphosis of life and thereby become the Progenitor (Father) of the Holy Race, the people who once were not a people, but now are the People of God, the Holy Remnant, the Chosen Few, the Betrothed Unto Christ. It was not only an immaculate conception but also immaculate reproduction. Thus, Jesus, while He is the Son of God and God the Son, was the Spiritual Father of the Holy Race, the Redeemed Humanity.

Here's some Good News about fatherhood, fathers, and fathering:

• Human fathers are imperfect, but fatherhood is not imperfect, especially that of the Heavenly Father.
• Human fathers have faults, but the faults of human fathers is not a fault of fatherhood.
• Fatherhood can be delayed and/or suspended, but it can be reclaimed and restored.
• Fathers who were not themselves truly and properly fathered as sons can truly and properly father, because God said, "And all your sons will be taught of the Lord (God), And the well-being of your sons will be great" (Is. 54:13; Jn. 6:45), and God is the ultimate Father.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers!

There is so much more God has shown me about fatherhood that will bring abundant blessings into your life if you will simply receive it, believe it, comply with it, and decree it; in other words, if you will GET INTO AGREEMENT WITH GOD! Be sure to stay connected to hear the rest. It has the power to revolutionize your life.

To be continued....

email: slambert@slm.org
web: http://www.slm.org/