Fatherly Discernment
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Eph 3:14-21; Heb 4:15)
Background
In recent days the Lord has been calling me to set up something which will be called The Fathering Foundation. Whilst being encouraged by some friends to chair this entity, it cannot be “my foundation”. (Unlike the claims of similarly named networks whose leaders I know e.g. https://www.ausheart.com.au/fathers/aboutUs.html) The prophetic call to the “fathering team” is to be a community of like-minded leaders who “bear on their body the marks of Jesus.”, as those having been “crucified to the world” (Gal 6:17,14). I must declare that I can’t have intimate dealings with those who have not experienced the Gospel mill of being “utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself…that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Cor 1:8-9). The team must be a group conformed to the likeness of the “Lamb standing as slain” (Rev 5:6); i.e. crucified and raised from death. At the heart to this team will be the much-neglected exercise of the “discernment of spirits” (1 Cor 12:10; Eph 4:15). Today’s teaching will briefly expound this call.
The Mystery of Creativity
I resist calling some people, “creatives”, because it can unhelpfully exclude the rest of the Body of Christ. Anyone who thinks, in any way, or dreams or imagines does so uniquely is a creator. Paul taught the pagans, “he (the Creator) is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:27-28). He thus describes not about any “God” but the indwelling Father of the eternal Word “through him all things were made.” (John 1:3 cf. Col 1:16). If the ongoing preservation of the world is a process of continuing creation (Heb 1:3 cf. https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/sacred-space-astronomy/god-creation-understanding-interplay-creatio-ex-nihilo-creatio-continua/), then to exist as a human with thoughts and feelings unique to yourself is to be a “creative” person. So the psalmist is enraptured, “How amazing are your thoughts concerning me God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Ps 139:17). He knows that only humans can be self-aware. (Angelic minds are inaccessible to us.) Though this teaching may seem focussed on artists, creatives, inventors and entrepreneurs, its application is for all the adopted children of God (John 1:11-13).
Sovereign Provision
Out of the 1000’s of pieces of annotated paper I have in my filing cabinets I recently “chanced upon” one where I’d scribbled some notes from a time in Hong Kong decades ago where I prayed over a dear brother who was launching a new business arm. The title of the note was Marketplace Fathering. It followed my exhortation to George to grow in the revelation of God as his Father! As I prayed prophetically, I sensed a foundational unity between how he will allow God to Father him as a son and how he is called to “father” his new business. If he walks in the Spirit, sent from the Father through the Son (e.g. Acts 2:33), success is assured. “Success” here is not being defined numerically but by the sure presence of the Lord amongst his faithful (Rom 5:3). The risen “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) encouraged the unblemished/successful Philadelphian Church: “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ” (Rev 3:8). Therefore, the list below is NOT a formula in the “if X then Y ” (https://www.amazon.com.au/21-Irrefutable-Laws-Leadership-Follow-ebook/dp/B09LV2QN4J), not a matter of self-glorifying, like naming the business after oneself, but existing for the glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Mutual Indwelling
““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23) This prayer of Jesus has radical implications which the Lord first showed me in relationship to my friend George’s new business venture. As the final outcome of this life is the glory of God (Isa 43:7) and the planned outcome of his new venture is also divine glory (1 Cor 10:31), then all the factors forming his sonship (faith, abiding, grace, obedience, weakness etc.) are also vital to the glory of God through his business. The simplest way to be apprehended by this truth follows the most difficult of paths.
Hurdles From Heaven
Hebrews teaches, “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” (Heb 2:10). This teaches that the road to our final glorification in Christ will be accompanied by many troubles. toils and snares, as “Amazing Grace” puts it so clearly. Similarly, Paul is adamant, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Tim 3:12). If Jesus and Paul needed God-ordained conflict for maturity (Rev 18:20) so will all “creatives”. Entrepreneurs, with all of God’s people, including apostles and prophets, fathering foundation folk, with the whole Church on earth must be swept up in this dynamic to triumph in Christ. Business entrepreneurs especially will encounter the severe danger of their love for the kingdom call going cold (Matt 24:12) through persecutions, affliction, betrayal, false witnesses and so on
Conclusion
Before teaching on the triumph of the humility of Christ Paul exhorts us all: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Phil 2:3). In so doing he undermines the idol of pride found in all natural “creatives”. St. Thomas Aquinas said, “What is first in intention is last in execution.”, this profound truth apples not only for God’s cosmic plan but for the lives of all Christians. Failure to apply this vison has crippled the kingdom purposes of contemporary Western Christianity, pastorally, creatively, inventively and financially. In the power of the Word-Spirit, The Fathering Foundation will work to heal this problem to the glory of God the Father. Please pray for our vision.