What a wonderful, gracious ministry God has provided through those who pray! In this past month, we've been overwhelmed with the love of Christ through our brothers and sisters who lift us up in prayer. What a tremendous comfort our Lord provides through His body.

      Although I'm sure God works out His will through those who pray, I think some of the most outstanding benefits of intercessory prayer are what God does in our own hearts as we pray. We're reminded of our own neediness and dependence upon God. Our minds turn heavenward instead of being so earthbound. Faith is strengthened as we practice coming to God with persistence. As we pray for our brothers and sisters who are waging war against sin, the flesh, and the world, we are encouraged to join the battle. Also, the love of Christ is displayed through our sacrifice of prayer on another's behalf.

      Our staff would consider it a privilege to pray for your family. If you will send prayer requests to info@spiritofelijah.com, we will gladly lift you up in prayer in our morning's prayer times. We also invite you to join our intercessory prayer team if you are not already on it. Each weekend that I go out to minister in men's retreats and state homeschool conventions, I depend upon the prayer team as the backbone of the ministry. Specific requests are given which encourage each of us to consider our own hearts before God and our ministry to our families. Often, I'll include a report on what God did the previous weekend so that our faith may be lifted.

      I hope the articles on "Rising to the Call" have provided you with food for thought and spurred fruitful discussions around your dinner table or family devotion time. This month's newsletter focuses on the privileges of our foundational calling to be sons and daughters of our parents. I think you'll see how these should fill the heart of a child with hope for the future.

Rising to the Call:
The Privileges of The Foundational Calling

      Every call of God involves an action by God that calls an individual into a special relationship. With that relationship there are responsibilities, privileges, and promises that produce hope if faithfully received. The foundational call to be sons or daughters to our parents should be filled with privileges to enjoy. I want to invite you to think with me about the privileges of our first calling.

      Of course, I'm presenting these ideas couched in the context of a home where the parents are born again by the Spirit of God, are filled with the Spirit, and are participating regularly in the assembly of others who express the life of Jesus Christ when they gather. Perhaps you did not grow up in such a home, but since you are receiving this newsletter, I'm assuming that God has graciously worked in your lives. If you are a first generation Christian, then perhaps God is providing to you the foundation to launch the next generation further into God's ways.

The Privileges of Sonship

      If we think of the relationship between the Heavenly Father and His Son, we get a vision of the privileges of sonship. (I'm not implying that the daughters don't have the same privileges, but there are distinctions revealed in the scriptures that I'll touch on later.) An exhaustive list of blessings would be impossible, but we can highlight some of the most important ones.

Receiving the father's heart is the fountain

      Our sons should have the privilege of having their fathers' hearts turned toward them. What does that mean? In part, it means that next to God and his wife, a father's heart should be directed to his sons. Deut. 6:7 commands a father to daily, diligently teach his sons what God has taught him. As a father's heart is turned to God and receives wisdom, direction, skills, and grace the father should pass those things on to his sons. It is their privilege to receive the blessings God gives to their father.

      My working definition of "diligently" is: "no vacation." It means that our sons shouldn't have to compete with our work, ministry, recreation, or entertainment for attention, time, and love. No other sons should get that privilege. Men, hear clearly the word of the Lord from Malachi 4 that a curse is on the land when the sons are not receiving that blessing. Our hearts turned to our sons is like a fountain from which all blessings flow.

Receiving vision from the father

      Because of the irrevocable call of God putting a son in a special relationship with that particular father, God intends to channel vision and direction in life to the son through that father. As one looks through the Old Testament history, there are many examples of sons receiving the blessing of vision from their fathers. Generations were impacted. In your family devotions, you might look at the following passages and discover what vision was given through the fathers that flowed down through generations.

      Consider first how God the Father gave to His son vision to live and die for others so that they would be blessed. In Is. 53:10 "But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand." Jesus came, gave his life, and his offspring have the same vision of not living for themselves. Notice what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf" (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

      In the Old Testament, we have a number of examples of a generational vision. The premier testimony features Abraham, who passed on the vision of a relationship to God and His blessing to Isaac. David's vision for a temple was passed to his son, Solomon, through whom Israel was blessed until they forgot and failed to recognize their calling. The vision of Jonadab given to his sons brought blessing on them for generations and spared them in time of God's judgment (Jer. 35:6 -10). You might look up these examples and discuss how God blessed succeeding generations as fathers communicated their vision to their sons.

Receiving wisdom and experience from the father

      As God works in the heart and life of a man, God also has the sons in mind. God is a patriarch, a father who thinks and sees generationally. The wisdom and experience given to a man are to become a blessing to his sons as they are shared. These blessings are unique and distinct from what other fathers have to give and other sons receive. Your sons should have the privilege of learning from your mistakes! For instance, it is a blessing if a son knows that there are certain areas of sin for which he must especially be on guard.

      God also has given you experiences in life out of which He has taught you tremendous practical principles. Your sons should have the privilege of reaping the blessings from those life messages. If you are a writer, perhaps your sons would benefit from a notebook which chronicles some of those lessons. Maybe you're a good story-teller. Give your sons life-long gifts by planting those experiences in their minds. They will bear fruit for years and generations to come.

      A brief word to the sons (regardless of age!): receive with joy the privileges given by God to you through your father. Like parched earth drinks in the refreshing water of a rain, so you should drink in the blessings of your father's experience, wisdom, and teaching. A wise son will ask his father's advice on every situation in life. It's your privilege as his son and his responsibility as your father. May I encourage you to open your heart to your father.

      I think I can imagine some sons hedging because their fathers are not Christians. As I mentioned before, a son has the privilege of learning from his father's mistakes. Learn from them. That's a blessing from God. Also, even an unregenerate man can be given practical wisdom and experience from God for your benefit. Humble yourself, ask advice, listen carefully, evaluate what you hear and see by God's Word, and then receive the blessing from God. If you haven't done this with your father, then you might consider praying for an attitude of repentance toward your father as well as God, who has called you to that father. May God give you grace to receive from your father. It's one of the privileges of being a son.

Receiving skills from the father

      It is also a privilege to be equipped by the skills of a father. Recently, I was impressed by a physician who took his son on his hospital visits. As the doctor was leaving, he encouraged his four or five year old son to say, "I hope you feel better, Mrs. Wakefield." What was the son receiving? He was acquiring the same compassion and caring skills that his father had been given by the Lord. It was his privilege as the son of the physician.

      What skills do you have that you can pass on to your sons that will equip them for life? Perhaps your son doesn't have the same aptitude you have or natural abilities to work with the hands. But that doesn't mean that he shouldn't receive what God has given you in that area. Even if he is never going to use a particular skill or ability in his vocation, it won't be wasted time or energy. If it is an ability that will be useful around the house or as a husband and father, you will have given him a blessing. Although a son may not take up his father's vocation, the skills learned will be of great benefit in the future. A son, on the other hand, might carry on his father's business. Either way, it will perhaps allow the son to walk through doors of opportunity and ministry that would not have been possible had the father not equipped his son.

Receiving an inheritance

      As sons of God, we are heirs of a wonderful inheritance. That blessing is described in the first verses of chapter 4 of Galatians and also in the first chapter of I Peter. The Old Testament is replete with examples of sons receiving inheritances from their fathers. All of the privileges above apply to both sons and daughters, but the biblical example of an inheritance applies to the sons. This is not because sons are more important or more loved than daughters. Married daughters become benefactors of the inheritance left to their husbands as sons of their fathers. If a daughter remains unmarried and the father dies, the responsibility of caring for the daughter falls upon the oldest son or the one appointed by the father before his death. This is exemplified when being crucified, Jesus, the oldest son, appointed his disciple, John, as the one to "cover" his mother, Mary.

      One aspect of an inheritance left to a son, is a good name and reputation. The son of a father who has earned respect and honor has the privilege of inheriting a blessing more valuable than silver or gold according to the proverb. Can you and your family think of fathers throughout history who have passed on to their sons the blessings that come with a good name?

What privileges are your sons receiving?

      Are your sons aware of the privileges they are receiving because of their calling as your sons? Perhaps you can think of a creative way to teach them this important aspect of their calling. I would love to hear of some. May I encourage you to not only teach this to your children, but to do whatever is necessary to implant the vision of teaching the same thing to their children.

      Sons of royalty quickly learn that there are responsibilities and privileges that come with their calling as sons of their fathers. The sons of a king of England, for instance, have the blessing of relationship with the king and the benefit of his great wealth. How about your sons? Do they recognize their privileges, and are they good stewards of them?

      So it is with all of us sons and daughters of our God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you aware of the great privileges our sonship brings us? I would like to encourage your family to make a list of all the privileges you can think of regarding your being children of God and children of your parents. Then have a glorious tribute of thanksgiving to your Heavenly Father for the goodness He has poured out on you. You might even bring the experience to a close by singing, "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart"!

            Norm Wakefield
            Elijah Ministries
            PO 377
            Bulverde, Texas 78163
            www.spiritofelijah.com