Fathering: Your Latter Will Be Greater

Seven Principles of Fathering Today’s Focus: Fathering: Your Latter Will Be Greater Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:16; Jeremiah 29:11; 1 Corinthians 15:28 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Deuteronomy 8:16: Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; When we examine fathering and especially spiritual fathering one of the beautiful aspects is always seeing the bigger picture and understanding the end. When God started with Genesis 1:1, He already knew how we would end at Revelation 22:21. Now God knows the end before the beginning. We actually know what the end is. We may not know what it will exactly look like but the scriptures tell us what the end is: 1 Corinthians 15:28: And when all things shall be subdued unto Him (Christ Jesus), then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him (Father) that put all things under Him (Christ Jesus), that God may be all in all. This is the end, God be all in all. He will be all of who He is in all of the sons. There will be nothing within the sons restricting God from being all of who He is within them. So with God it is all about the finish line and how we finish. In this mentality there has to be a focus on maturity. Let me show you this scripture that everyone probably knows: Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTATED END. So God is concerned about our end but the key is getting started for many of us. So let’s lay out some things about God that you may or may not know and we touched on some of these in the previous messages. First, God is not a spoiling God. God will not spoil us and give us what we cannot handle. Spoiling children is always about the here and now and the problem that arises later is a lack of attitude towards responsibility and work ethic that is required. Since God loves us he will make it a little difficult now for the greater end. Look at your life now. If you are a mature son who is a spiritual father you will definitely relate to this. Before the Lord would put sons under your household you had to go through a wilderness experience where there was pain, tears, trials and tribulations but all of it was to make you to be the mature son you are today so that you are able to do the Will of the Father in maturing the sons. Please understand there will be times where you will have to discipline the children and sons of the household and bring correction to correct improper behavior. Real children love discipline and boundaries because it keeps them in favor with their parents and God. If there were no boundaries you would not know how to be in favor with your parents or God. You would actually find yourself more out of favor than in it. But we as spiritual fathers and natural fathers should always want our children to have a better end than beginning and in order for that to be there is a process of maturity that must happen and correction that will be given in order to keep the son or child on the right path to the Father’s expected end. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.