Guide, Guard, and Govern

A Father has a responsibility to guide, guard, and govern.  Our Heavenly Father provides the ultimate example of these attributes.  How many fathers out there are doing the same?

! Corinthians 4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

As mature saints, we are to guide the less mature into the deeper matters of life.  Often, these are the tougher lessons to be learned.  Judgment is a corrective aspect of being a father.  Our Heavenly Father, by necessity, gives us two alternatives to live by: blessing or cursing.  The choice is ours.  HIS two choices are sovereign in that there is no third alternative.  However, within those categories you  have many choices or decisions.  Yes, free choice does exist within HIS sovereignty.  Your choice does have ramifications.

If you choose to walk lawfully by Love, you will have access to blessings.  Those blessings will be given as you mature in those areas of understanding and stewardship.  If you choose to walk lawlessly, you will come under judgment and be removed from the “light” of the Presence of Our Heavenly Father.  This is by necessity.  HE Loves you and does not want your lawlessness to cut short your life by “disintegrating” in HIS Presence where sin cannot survive.  You need to be corrected and restored instead.  You will go to a far country as a prodigal son until you come to the end of your “self”.  Only then will you finally get the revelation of restoration and reconciliation.  The father must guard the rest of the family from you until you are ready and able to be restored.  Yes, you will suffer while you are in the outer darkness.  But in the end, Jesus, or the Word, will come to you find you.  The one lost sheep is important enough to leave the ninety-nine and search out the missing one. 

A father must make the best decisions on behalf of the entire family.  Lawlessness cannot be tolerated to coexist with the lawful.  The lawless must be separated for a period of time so that judgment may ensue and begin the purging, cleansing process.  Each person is unique in regards to how much cleansing is needful.  Our Heavenly Father knows the heart of the prodigal son and issues the appropriate level of judgment under the category of cursing.  Deuteronomy 28 provides us with an excellent comparison between the two categories.  As fathers, we must guide those who have been given for us to minister maturity.  We must focus on being good examples to them.  We must guard them against the “wiles of the devil” and the lawlessness of men.  We must govern in Love, but firmly, with Our Heavenly Father being the best example.  We must pursue grace and mercy until judgment becomes the necessary path.  For some of the immature, judgment is a necessity.  They must come to the end of self-preservation.  Their blindness must be removed.  For others who resist not the Word, restoration comes quickly.

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