Chariot September 2006 - Norm Wakefield  

NEW RESOURCES! Our last two series that were only available on audio tape are now available on CD. We now have Unshakable Faith (12 CD's, $35) and Marriage for God's Glory (6 CD's, $25) on CD. The Unshakable Faith series is also now available on DVD. These three new products can be found at: 
http://www.spiritofelijah.com/shop/. Also, Norm is teaching through the book of Hebrews in a small group Bible study and these messages can be downloaded for free at http://www.spiritofelijah.com/newmp3/mp31.

The Spirit of Elijah – Part 1

    What turns the heart of a father away from finding his identity in the world and toward his wife and children? What turns the hearts of children away from their peers and the world and toward their father? According to Malachi 4:4-6, it is the Spirit of Elijah sent from the Lord. In the midst of the disheartening moral decay in our country, God is doing a marvelous thing - He's turning the hearts of fathers toward their families and the children's hearts toward their fathers. No aspect of society has a greater testimony of this gracious work of God than the home school community.

    From the beginning of God's identifying with a people, He established an order for family education and discipleship. In Deuteronomy, chapter 6, God called the men together to give them His law, statutes, ordinances, and commands. The blessings to God's people of well-being and multiplication were dependent upon the hearts of the fathers being turned toward God and their families. But as a people (with a few notable exceptions such as Joshua), they never were! Within one generation of Joshua, men's hearts turned toward the idols of their neighbors, securing land, houses, means of transportation, and materialism.

    The entire testimony of the Old Testament closes with these words, "Remember the law of Moses, My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel (reference back to Deut. 6!). 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 father to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:4-6).

    In Luke 1:15-17, God identifies the Spirit of Elijah: "For he [John the Baptist] will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

    The idea of fathers' hearts being the key to preparing a people for the Lord didn't originate with Elijah. He merely expressed the spirit of God as a father to His children. The first explicit revelation of the Spirit of Elijah is found early in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy.

The Family is the Foundation of Society

    A father and his family are the foundation for the church—and society. This vision was first given to God's people in Deuteronomy 6. God directed Moses to speak to the generations of men who were preparing to inhabit the Promised Land. We notice the heart of a patriarch in the first verses. God, the Ultimate Patriarch, has generations in mind. So it is with all who have a patriarchal mindset. They realize what God does with them is going to affect generations to come. They have a heart and vision to pass the word of God and their experience with God to the next generation so they may experience the blessings of God.

    "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson…"

God Provides Four Promises

    Notice the four promises God gives to His people if they will implement the blueprint He gives to them. They are:

·        Generations might fear the Lord.

·        Your days may be prolonged.

·        It will go well with you.

·        You may multiply greatly.

    So that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Generations Might Fear the Lord

    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 111:10) and knowledge (Prov. 1:7). Paul David Tripp, in his book An Age of Opportunity, states that without the fear of the Lord one can't be saved. It's the prerequisite to saving faith. A practical definition of the fear of the Lord is this: God's watching and listening, and you'll give an account to Him. As we live our lives, if we know we are going to give an account to God and that His judgment is based on perfect knowledge of our words and deeds, we live with a holy fear. Such a fear of the Lord teaches us our need of Jesus Christ and being justified by His blood rather than our own efforts. We want our children and grandchildren to fear the Lord, do we not?

Your Days May Be Prolonged

    Surely God didn't mean you would have long days. No, He meant this: He won't "wipe you off the face of the earth!" In this same discourse, twice Moses warns the people of Israel that if they don't follow God's blueprint, He would destroy them (6:15; 7:4). In fact, we'll see later that God kept His word! Israel ignored God's Word and after much long-suffering and repeated appeals through His prophets, God destroyed Israel.

It May Go Well With You  

    I have four children and eleven grandchildren, as of this writing. My heart's desire is for things to go well with them. However, God calls us to do more than simply pray for God to bless them. There's more to it than that. Those who love and trust God for their protection, provision, and life may experience well-being. Although Israel took this promise to primarily entail physical and material blessings and rest and peace from their enemies, I think the ultimate blessing is well-being of soul – inward rest and peace. We can see this because of the promises of God in Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the OT promises (Heb. 4:9-11).

You May Multiply Greatly

    What a tremendous promise to God's people that succeeding generations will walk faithfully with God and that their offspring will be numerous because of God's provision and protection. We know that the way to grow the church is exponentially through multiplication. Unfortunately, the church today is not growing by multiplication and hardly by addition. According to a George Barna survey as of Sept. 11, 2006, the evangelical church is losing three-fifths of its offspring once they hit the young adult years.

    A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twenty somethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years – and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twenty somethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood.

    God's promise to His people is not that they would decrease in size, but future generations would be birthed and remain faithful to God. It is my belief, based on these Scriptures at which we'll look over the next few months, that the church today has ignored God's blueprint for blessing His people.

Do You Know God's Blueprint for Blessing?

    Next month we'll look at God's plan for preparing the next generation for the Lord. It involves the Spirit of Elijah. In fact, the empowerment for implementing God's plan lies entirely in a man being filled with the Spirit of Elijah – the Holy Spirit. Please take time this month to study the life of the OT prophet, Elijah (1 Kings 17-21; 2 Kings 1-3). Notice what consumes him? What is his message to Israel?

    God has wonderfully provided what we need in order to enjoy the four promised blessings given in Deuteronomy 6. I hope you'll pass this article and the following articles on to friends. It is my prayer that we'll enjoy the Spirit of Elijah at work in us and through us as we learn and apply God's Word to our lives and families.

Hide God's Word in Your Heart

    In preparation for this study of the Spirit of Elijah, think about leading your family in memorizing some of the key scriptures involved (like some of Deut. 6, Mal. 4:4-6 and Luke 1:15-17). Hiding God's Word in your heart and meditating on His Word will help make the Bible alive and relevant in your heart and in your children's hearts. An excellent resource to help you and your family memorize can be found at http://www.memorizehisword.com/.

Would you like to be on the Elijah Ministries Prayer Team?

    The backbone of Elijah Ministries is the prayer team who pray diligently for God to turn the hearts of men to Himself, their wives, and their children. Before I leave to speak, I send out a prayer team invitation to those who will intercede for God to work for His glory in us as a team for the Kingdom. Not only is it a blessing to those whom I speak and myself; but it is also a reminder to the team about the direction of their own hearts. If you would like to enter into the labor together with me, you may go to my website and click on "Prayer Team".

    If you haven't visited our website, www.spiritofelijah.com, please stop by sometime. You'll find:

*   Resources to equip you and your family

*   Previous Chariot articles

*   Norm's speaking schedule

*   Free MP3 downloads  

*   Various pages translated and available in Spanish  

*   An online store to purchase resources and make tax-free contributions by credit card