Acts 2:17-18 (NIV) “'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’”
Malachi 4:5-6 (NIV) “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Ephesians 6:1-3 (NIV) “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ’Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise— ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’”
The scripture teaches children to honor their parents, and there are blessings that come with that obedience. This honor for biological fathers can also be understood for spiritual fathers as well. In other words, we need to honor our spiritual fathers for the truth that they’ve passed on to us. The principle is this: we need to recognize what we have been given and be thankful for it and honor those through whom God chose to give it to us. The temptation for the younger generation is to think that the older generation doesn’t understand life in the now. The temptation for the older generation is to think that they’ve seen it all before. The truth is that the Lord doesn’t give a complete understanding to any generation so that they can be interdependent. It is when the children hearts are turned toward their fathers and the fathers toward their children, that a more complete picture of God’s work of revelation will be seen. This is why it is important to allow children to operate in their gifts as the Lord unfolds them. The grace of God will often come through an immature package, and those of us who land in the father category need to be reminded to look for the seed of the Spirit that is beginning to grow.
In a similar way, the younger generation must understand that they aren’t the only ones who have dreams. They need to realize that there is a wisdom and determination that has been honed in their spiritual fathers which can only come from living out life in the Spirit. The dreams that God gives to the older generation have teeth. They will not be relinquished because they have been refined by the fire of perseverance. In this way the Lord has planned for the fathers and their children to work in tandem to see the glory of the Lord revealed in their land.
Father, pour out your Spirit on the fathers and their children so that we will see your glory in our land!
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