Jesus resplendent with light from God the Father as the voice of Majestic Glory spoke: “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of all my delight.” (Peter 1:17 Message Bible)
It’s in the character of our Heavenly Father to show us the same honor and approval as He did His beloved son Jesus.
There seems to be certain characteristics of a score keeper that are unique to them. For example, you never seem to win an argument with them…because they are usually more relentless than everyone else in the family. If a family decision needs to be made—their opinion is usually the one you go with. It is not worth all the “I told you so” comments for years to come.
Do we have unrealistic expectations of what a father is supposed to be? If not, then where are these men? Perhaps this is another one of Satan’s tricks to get us off course so we will feel sorry for ourselves and thus fall into some sort of idolatry by judging all men. After all, it doesn’t seem reasonable that we are supposed to have fathers and can’t find them. However, if Satan could mess with our mind enough to get us to start judging all men, then he has just hit a home run. This would of course cause us to raise our expectation of fathers to standards that are unattainable.
One such experience took place one night when the Lord came into my room and took me to heaven. I could see my spirit leaving my body laying there on the bed. I continued to be lifted up until I saw the roof of our home and then the street and then the city and so on. All of this took place very quickly. I could not see the one who was lifting me up because he was always behind me.
After many years I came to the conclusion that there is a father’s anointing that God Himself puts on us as He would any other anointing. Any man can be fatherly, but that does not necessarily constitute a father’s anointing. Being around one who is fatherly may be a great comfort when you are in need. However being around one with a father’s anointing could effectively change your life as did my friend’s influence changed my life.
Sometimes there’s a real father figure diamond in the rough right in front of you if you will only open your eyes and look. Such was the case for me when I was thirteen years old. I had already been on my own for a while when I had the rare privilege of meeting and working for an old man that was commonly known as the junk man.
God has given us the power and authority by the spoken word to do great things, yet far too often we use our authority (the rod) to strike the rock. You may wonder how it is possible to strike the rock in today’s world. We may not carry a rod in our hand as Moses did, but we do have a tongue in our mouth that is far more destructive. We no longer strike with a rod, but with the tongue a critical word.
Eating the apple seemed to be a good idea in order to take man to that next level, so he ate the apple. Mankind was of course deceived by Satan. The root of impatience is to attain something without paying the price. Consequently mankind is prone to fall for the old ‘apple’ trick.
Back in the days when I started ministering I was often asked, “What are you?” What they meant was, “Are you a pastor, evangelist or missionary?” Even though folks could clearly see what I was doing they still asked the question because I apparently did not fit the customary mold. Answering such a question was hard for me since I had been doing some of all three. As a matter of fact I had a passion for all three. I really wanted to answer their question but felt guilty because I didn’t have the answer. This agonizing question was on my mind far too much in the first five years of my ministry.
It has been a while since I have sung the old hymn, “Love Lifted Me.” But its message continues to have a deep impact on my life. As a matter of fact I am not sure I could sing the old hymn “Love Lifted Me” and do it justice unless I throw my head back and sing it at top of my voice as I once did.