One Word From God Can Change Your Family (5 page)

That’s the way I spoke for about 25 or 30 minutes. There was absolute silence. When it came time for questions, no one said, “Boo.” The president stood up and said, “I’ve never heard anything like this in my life.” And men came up to me and said, “I just really appreciate that.”

I didn’t try to get that response. I just responded to the training I had received as a child. Sometimes we bring our children up to almost apologize for being a Christian. I didn’t apologize for my Christianity because I had been trained to know that my parents love me. I was trained to know that God loves me. And that gave me great security—the security to jump out and say what God knew those men needed to hear.

Some people misunderstand that and say, “Oh, man of faith, you walk on water.” No, no, no, no. I walk on water because I have great faith in the One Who loves me.

And it’s not an effort, people. Don’t put men like Dr. Lester Sumrall, or Kenneth Hagin, or Kenneth Copeland on some kind of unreachable pedestal. The reason they walk in faith so consistently and effortlessly is because they know that their heavenly Father loves them. They’ve trained themselves to respond to Him instantly and confidently.

That’s how we are to raise our children. Through proper correction, we train our children’s hearts to follow God’s will for them. Then they will know the joy and peace that comes from confident, uncompromising obedience to His voice. As they grow, they won’t rebel or be overcome by the world. Instead, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

Chapter 7

Dennis Burke

Men, Join the Fatherhood Revolution!

“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.”

—Proverbs 20:7

We are in the middle of a revolution—a revolution of fatherhood. A revolution to bring the power of godly leadership and manhood back into the hands of godly fathers.

It’s the cry of our day—for men who will stand up and be men in their own homes. Men, whose focus is not the corporate ladder or the golf course. Men, whose hearts are turned toward their families.

In 1989 the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said,
There is going to be a revival of fatherhood in the land. It will take place in natural fathers as well as spiritual fathers. They will begin to take on the role of being fathers to their children.

Immediately, I began to seek God regarding my own role as a father. As I did, I saw that there was a real deficit in fatherhood in our land. According to one study, the average father spends less than one minute a day of meaningful, uninterrupted time with each of his children. Another study concluded that more than 26 percent of the children in America are living in single-parent homes—the majority with their mothers.

Statistics like this make one thing obvious: The success of a man has been rated by everything except by taking on the real responsibility of fatherhood. Some of the most lauded businessmen, and even ministers, have suffered tragic failure in their families. Families everywhere are crying out for desperately needed guidance and direction from the dads. In the absence of that input, mothers have been burdened with much of the role of fatherhood. Often the mom is the only parent who gives any meaningful, spiritual input into the family.

Obviously, real fatherhood is much more than just providing financially for the family.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
tells us
fatherhood
is “godhood in the paternal aspect.”

The Bible describes the father as one who is to the family what God is to the Body of Christ. Some of the things God is to believers includes provider, teacher, guide, comforter, counselor and strengthener. A father is to represent these roles to his family as he imitates and is empowered by the fatherhood of God.

To do this successfully, a real father should look for every opportunity to instill in his children the qualities and values that will help sustain and direct them to God. He should train them according to the Word of God, as Ephesians 6:4 instructs,
“Fathers, don’t over-correct your children or make it difficult for them to obey the commandment. Bring them up with Christian teaching in Christian discipline” (J.B. Phillips Translation).

One of the real joys of the day we live in is that God has provided an empowering for fatherhood like the world has never seen. This anointing for fatherhood was prophesied in the very last words of the Old Testament:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse”
(Malachi 4:5-6).

That prophecy links the revival of fatherhood directly to the move of God in preparing the way for the return of the Lord. This is good news! In this last-days’ outpouring of God’s Spirit, there is an anointing for us to be the kind of fathers God has created us to be.

To enter in to this anointing, first understand that this revolution of fatherhood does not begin in you. True fatherhood begins in the heart of God. All authority and importance associated with fatherhood on earth derives from the divine fatherhood of God in heaven. Ephesians 3:14-15 says,
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”
The
Twentieth Century New Testament
translation of verse 15 reads,
“from whom all ‘fatherhood’ in Heaven and on earth derives its name.”

Jesus showed us God as a Father of love. He showed us the real heart that God wants to develop within every one of us—a heart turned toward our children. That’s the heart Abraham had. God said His reason for making covenant with Abraham was because
“I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him”
(Genesis 18:19).

Abraham did instill in his children—and they in their children—the desire to keep the way of the Lord. And God’s promises to them were fulfilled as they followed His ways. Because of this, when God spoke to Moses years later, He identified Himself, not just as the God of Abraham, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We, like Abraham, can create in our children a desire to keep the way of the Lord. By expressing the heart of Father God, we can begin a tradition and a heritage in our own families. If we will impart the love of God into their lives, we will see changes that affect not only our children but our children’s children, to the glory of God.

One of the most powerful ways we are to express the heart of Father God to our children is to bless them. In Bible times, this was most clearly seen in the father’s blessing of his firstborn son. Isaac’s younger son, Jacob, so desired this blessing that he tricked his older brother, Esau, into giving the blessing of the firstborn to him.

When Esau realized what Jacob had done, he was left with a bitter void and craving nothing else could fill. His bitter cry is echoed by so many today:
“Bless me, even me also, O my father...”
(Genesis 27:38).

Our children cry out desperately for our approval. They cry out to know that we appreciate and accept them unconditionally. The blessing of a father is so important that many adults, who never felt their fathers’ approval, spend a lifetime looking for it from others. They have an empty yearning they try to fulfill through careers, relationships and empty pursuits.

God is repairing this breach of divine order. He is the heavenly Father Who equips single mothers to minister in families where there is no husband and father. And He is showing a new generation of mighty men how to bless their families.

One aspect of the word
bless
is simply to say good about someone. It means we are to purposely open our hearts and impart the acceptance and approval that our wives and children crave.

Realize that your words carry spiritual power. With your words of love and faith you can affect your children in the same way that God’s Words of love and faith affect us. Your commitments of time and interest will be a voice of blessing in your household. Your touch and loving embrace will give your family the sense of acceptance and love that they need.

You are not alone in your quest to be the father God created you to be. He has equipped you. He has poured out His Holy Spirit to bring His mighty men to a place of valor in their most important arena—their family.

The Holy Spirit is here to help restore a standard of godly fatherhood. No more renegade fathers. No more deserters from their positions. No more fathers who set aside covenant life and refuse to stand in the rightful place of love and authority.

Get in on the revolution, now. Reach out and rise up in the anointing He has provided for you. God in you will make you into a wonderful source of blessing to your household. He will help you overcome the obstacles and fears that have prevented you from expressing your love.

You can be a reflection of His fatherhood. You are equipped to represent His heart to your family. In Him you can do all things. Stand up in God today and confess: “I thank You, Lord, that the Anointed One and His Anointing lives in me. Because of that anointing, I will be the father I am created to be. My heart is turned toward my children, and I will train them to keep Your ways and receive their inheritance in covenant with You. I thank You that You have chosen me to represent Your heart of love to my family. I do not set aside my covenant with You or with them. And I thank You that by Your Holy Spirit I am raised up as a mighty man of valor before my family. Amen.”

Chapter 8

Gloria Copeland

A Word About Your Children

“But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.”

—Isaiah 49:25

The world has much to say about your children these days—and most of it is bad. We’re being told their economic futures are bleak, their ethics are waning and, for the most part, they’re on a downward slide.

But if you’ve made Jesus Lord of your life, God has something very different to say about your children. He says they’re headed for heaven, not hell, for a blessing, not a curse. So ignore the world and trust the Word. It has the power to turn your children’s lives around!

“Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they [your children] shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border” (Jeremiah 31:16-17).

“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13).

“The seed of the righteous shall be delivered” (Proverbs 11:21).

“Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed” (Psalm 112:1-2).

“I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children” (Isaiah 49:25).

“The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:9).

“...I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” (Isaiah 44:3).

“As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever” (Isaiah 59:21).

Chapter 9

Creflo A. Dollar

Giving Your Children an Inheritance of Faith

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

—Deuteronomy 6:6-7

As a pastor and a parent, it concerns me when teenagers who have grown up in Christian homes turn their backs on God and start living like the devil. It concerns me that there are godly parents, Christian parents, who pray, tithe and serve as leaders in the church—yet their children grow up only to rebel against the faith.

According to the Bible, such a situation shouldn’t even be possible because there is a scriptural law, or principle, which states,
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”
(Proverbs 22:6).

That scripture is definite. It is spiritual fact. But it’s not reality in a great many households.

Therefore, we must conclude one of two things—either God is a liar (and we know better than that!), or we are not training our children correctly.

“But Pastor Dollar,” you may say, “heaven knows I’m trying! I’ve been trying for years to bring my children in line, but I just can’t seem to figure out how to do it!”

I understand. I’ve had that same struggle and so have millions of other Christian parents. But it’s time we stopped struggling and trying to figure things out on our own. It’s time we just opened our Bibles and started putting God’s laws and principles into operation in our families. It’s time we started doing things God’s way.

What is God’s way? You can find it in Genesis 8:22. There, God tells us,
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Seedtime and harvest. That is God’s method of operation in everything He does. It’s been His way since the beginning, and it will continue to be His way as long as this Earth remains.

Seedtime and harvest is how you were saved. The principle of seedtime and harvest is what made it possible for you to have children in the first place. You planted seed and received a harvest. And seedtime and harvest is the method you must use to raise those children.