Chariot November 2006 - Norm Wakefield  

We are having a winter/Christmas sale on numerous resources! You can see the items on sale here. We have also made all of our study guides available for free. If you have one of our resources and would like a study guide, you can find them here and here. 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 3

    How we need the outpouring of the Spirit of Elijah in the homes across our land! What do I mean by "The Spirit of Elijah"? The Spirit of Elijah is none other than the Spirit of God, the Father, working in the hearts of fathers and children so they may receive His blessings. In the previous Chariot articles on God's Blueprint for the Family, we've seen the hope God gives through four promises to His people (Deut. 6:1-3).

·         You, your children, and your grandchildren may fear the Lord.

·         Your days will be prolonged on the earth.

·         It will go well with you.

·         You shall multiply greatly.

    Then we studied God's blueprint for these promises coming to pass in a man's family and in the church (Deut. 6:4-9).

·         Fathers keep their hearts turned first toward the Lord.

·         Fathers keep their hearts turned second toward their wife and children.

Every Man's Battle

    To what does the heart of a man naturally turn? Certainly because of man's natural sinful condition and perhaps as a result of training, a man typically finds himself occupied with his work and his stuff – his possessions. If a man isn't intentional about following God's blueprint, his default values are selfish and material by nature. Have you noticed this about yourself? Apparently, men haven't changed in nature for millennia!

    After giving the men His blueprint for the family – home discipleship – God gave a stern warning, which highlights every man's battle (Deut. 6:10-12).

    "Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied, then watch yourself, lest you forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."

    What is every man's battle? Guarding his heart from turning away from His God and His children to his work and caring for his stuff. In the passage above, God warned them, "Watch yourself"! Every man must watch the direction of his heart. What does he treasure? What is most important to him?

    God was going to give His people their inheritance – the land of Canaan. They were going to receive wealth and possessions they did not earn or build. However, the danger was forgetting God as they were occupied with His gifts. How easily a man's heart turns to what makes money and thus provides his possessions, which in turn makes him significant (he might think). If a man isn't careful he may conclude his stuff makes him significant as a man rather than his relationship with God who gave it to him.

    The sons of Israel were in great danger of falling into the lies of the idolaters in Canaan, and God knew it. The gods of the Canaanites were fertility idols offering false hopes of blessings upon the ground and crops. Of course, this meant more financial blessings and the ability to obtain more stuff. The warning to watch out for forgetting God and turning to the gods of the people in the land was warranted. The cultural pressure would be great and the men of Israel were to remember that material possessions and work were a gift from God, not as a result of their efforts. This was not to say they were not responsible to work and be stewards of what God gave them, indeed working with one's hands (minds and abilities) to provide for family and to give to others is clearly God's will (Eph. 4:28, 1 Thess. 4:11, 1 Tim. 5:8). God intended them to remember the blueprint. Men, keep your hearts turned toward God.

Plan on being different.

    You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God (Deut. 6:13-14).

    My interpretation of this part of God's warning to the men is this: "Everyone around you is going to live in fear of displeasing false gods and each other. You must be different from everyone around you and only fear displeasing Me since I will be in your midst and am jealous for you." These words are as relevant today as they were 3200 years ago for God's people!

    The culture surrounding us worships the gods of materialism and self-aggrandizement. Philosopher and theologian of the last century, Francis Schaeffer, cited personal peace and affluence as the gods of western civilization. He wrote,

    Personal peace means just to be let alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of other people…to live one's life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed. Personal peace means wanting to have my personal life undisturbed in my lifetime, regardless of what the result will be in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren. Affluence means an overwhelming and ever-increasing prosperity – a life made up of things, things, and more things – a success judged by an ever-higher level of material abundance. (How Should We Then Live, p. 205)

    If this were thrown as a judgment against the visible church in western society, how much of it would stick? How different are we from our culture? Are we more afraid of displeasing our culture and ourselves than we are displeasing God? If the blueprint God gave the sons of Israel indicates what God values today, then these are important questions to ask. How important was this blueprint to God? Does He still mean it?

The blueprint is very important to God!

    In order to punctuate how important for God's sons to keep their hearts turned to Him and to their children, God assigned a most severe consequence to apostasy and idolatry: He would remove them from the land as a nation. Such a terrifying warning was meant to be a means of grace, as are all warnings in God's word.

    ...Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth (Deut. 6:15).  

    This warning was first given in Deut. 4:26 and repeated here and in Deut. 7:4. One thousand years later, God made good on His warning and wiped the kingdom of Israel off the face of the earth. He meant what He said. Fathers' hearts turned to Him and to their sons is on God's heart because He's a father. Father's hearts can express the gospel. When His heart is turned to His sons, their hearts turn to Him. The apostle John put it this way, "We love, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

    However, it didn't take a thousand years for the men of Israel to forget God's blueprint and turn their hearts to the gods of their neighbors. It only took a matter of years!

God still means it!

    In the next article, we'll take a quick fly-over Israel's history from this first generation of men who received the blueprint to the time of John the Baptist, a period of approximately 1280 years. If you would like to read ahead, notice the contrast between Joshua and that first generation of men who entered the Promised Land (Joshua 24:14-27). Then turn to Judges 2:8-15 and consider what happened to the next generation of sons. 2 Kings 17:7-20 reveals why God used Assyria to take the Kingdom of Israel into exile. One of the prophets God sent to remind the nation of Judah of His blueprint was the prophet Malachi. You can read what was on God's heart in Malachi 4:4-6. Finally, almost 500 years later, the Holy Spirit speaks to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, about his son (Luke 1:15-17). Again, God's blueprint for blessing His people through the Spirit of Elijah is contained in those verses.

    God still means today what He said millennia ago! The blueprint of home-based discipleship where men's hearts are turned to God and then to their sons and daughters remains God's way of blessing the church. We need to remember:

• We have a battle to fight: keep our hearts turned to God and to our children.
• We have a means of grace given us: a warning to not let our hearts go to our work and stuff.
• We must plan on being different from our culture (perhaps even in the church community).
• God means what He says about blessing the families of men who follow His blueprint of home-based discipleship.

Hide God's Word in Your Heart

    In continuing 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  

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