There are many words used to describe a father. He is a protector, provider, sustainer, just to name a few. Ultimately, a father is a supporter of what he generates. Fathers are loaded with blessings, and there are sons and daughters who need those blessings. It’s important for fathers to aim and affirm their children, define and design, and point them towards their purpose. Perhaps your natural father has failed you somehow. Maybe you have never heard the voice of your natural father. It doesn’t mean you give up and it doesn’t mean you stop looking for direction and identity. You’ve seen God as Savior and Lord, so it might be time for you to see him as father.
When you don’t get what you should get, from whom you should get it, God will make sure you get it anyway.
God always has a back-up plan. Such was the case with Elijah and Elisha whose story begins in 2nd Kings Chapter 2. Elijah was under divine direction from a sovereign God to find Elisha and anoint him as his son/successor. Elisha was minding his own business, plowing the field of his natural father. He had the ground groomed, and everything carefully cultivated so the seed planting would be successful. Elijah walked towards Elisha, trampling all he had done, dropped his mantle on Elisha, and walked away. In that moment Elisha knew something had hit his life that he could not ignore.
Once your life has been touched by a leader who is going to another level, you will never be content to stay where you are.
He didn’t understand it all, but he knew he had been divinely discovered and divinely disconnected from his family at the same time. He had to follow Elijah. Elisha loved Elijah and faithfully served him without motive or a hidden agenda. He synchronized his life with the timing of God rather than anxiousness and ambition. He passed the tests that might have ultimately disqualified him from receiving the blessing that empowered him to reach his destiny. Elisha came to recognize what he was going through was not a test of fatherhood, it was a test of sonship.
Unfortunately today we live amongst the “I want it now” generation that lack patience and need instant gratification. We have too many gifted, talented believers suffering from “MY ministry syndrome.” They have big dreams, big desires, and big names, however, they lack integrity, character, and stewardship. They reject accountability, refusing alignment and rejecting correction.
When we are corrected in ministry in a way we don’t like, we run from church to church, leader to leader, and pastor to pastor looking for destiny and fulfillment. Stop running. Stay close and let those whom God has chosen as the voice of the father to adjust you, teach you, and redefine your life.
I felt compelled to write this today in hopes that it would become a wind of change to break the cycles robbing so many sons and daughters of their destiny. Elisha’s first miracle was on the same level as his mentor’s last. Just imagine! Have ears to hear this Word from the Lord because your destiny is definitely locked up in the spirit of fatherhood — like father, like son (or daughter )
Love ya, Pastor Brady
