Role of the Spiritual Father
Today’s Focus: Command and Encouragement
Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 1:18-19
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
I do not know anybody who has not ever received direction or encouragement. Funny when you think about it, when it is time for an opinion you can find anybody to give you one. But when it comes to the trials and tribulations of life, there are few that will be with you. One person besides the Lord that will be with you to give command and encouragement is your spiritual father. When we transition to the things that God is doing the first thing you will have to do is deny yourself and what you think is right (soul) and step out on faith to do what God has called you to do. Most times the thing that God wants to do through you is unlike you that it is hard to believe and may times you will question whether this is the way because of the direction it looks like everybody else is going in. I want to give you this personal testimony of my transition in grace to the thing God is doing with me because even I needed encouragement and command through this time and I know someone may read this and find the strength and encouragement to step out on faith and walk in the Spirit and grace God has given you.
For the past 27 years I was a member of the Primitive Baptist church. I was a faithful, committed member. Over my past 3 years of ministry the Lord began to lead me in a different direction than the direction most in the church desired for me to go. For four months I prayed and fast over this issue to leave but the Lord spoke to me in 2011 and said it was time to leave. This was all I knew as it pertained to church but through my studies over the past 3 years the Lord was consistently revealing another angle to this thing called "church" and that was called the household model. During this time I had brothers, Floyd Miles, Mark Mayhew, and Leon Elijah giving me encouragement and command. Now when I speak of encouragement and command I am speaking of godly counsel and encouragement and not manipulation. The true mark of son of God is that they allow God to use them to speak to you without manipulation or emotional pulling. They were giving me the very word that I taught and what God was doing was putting me through an application process where I now had to apply what God had taught me. When it was time to move, it was the hardest week of my life. I was emotionally drained, spiritually drained. I was spent trying to explain what God was doing and it got so bad that not only was I questioning God why is all of this happening but I questioned the call to move. Once again God sends godly counsel through spiritual family and my spiritual father to encourage me to fast and pray and ask God for direction. I thank God for them because there were times during this whole process where I mishandled situations and it was correction that came from the spiritual family as well as encouragement. The Lord lead me and my family to join the Household of Elijah and now the Lord has been revealing to me all He had taught me over the past 2-3 years and now I am seeing it in God's order.
The point in telling you all of this is that the spiritual father is and the person who gives the Word of God in times of distress to strengthen you and encourages you to stay close to the Lord. Paul did this exact thing with his spiritual son Timothy.
1 Timothy 1:3-4: As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
Paul is giving Timothy command and Timothy in honor to who Paul is in his life is obeying him. How many of us have truly submitted to the authority of a spiritual father in our lives? In as much as they give command they also give encouragement because being a son of God is not easy and the road gets rough and God has given us each other to help each other along the way. Listen to how Paul encourages Timothy after telling him about the trials he will encounter through his ministry in Ephesus.
1 Timothy 1:18-19: This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.
Paul telling Timothy to remember the prophecies about him that he may stand and fight the good fight of faith with a good conscience that no many say any evil about him. I love the way Paul encouraged Timothy, not in the natural sense but spiritually. We must understand that just as a natural son grows up and experiences some hard times in their life, the father in that child's life is so important to encourage and validate them to continue to strive and achieve their goals. God has a goal for His sons and that is that they mature to the full stature of Christ. Allow the spiritual father to command, correct and encourage you in your maturity.
Peace, Love and Grace from the Father,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.
