Tuesday 5 July 2011

The Two Generations

Slow motion replay:Andy Roddick
I rarely do a repost on here but this is the bottom section of the healing post "Carol Lucas Winkler,Bill....." from the other day. This was commented on when it was rerun in Facebook.


The Two Generations
What this post has turned up is the reality of the two generations that are currently at large in the church. Both spiritual.
You remember that I have previously highlighted Psalm 45:16
In place of your fathers will be your sons;
You shall make them princes in all the earth.

I've had more light also on an a capella song I was given when I recorded my double CD Early Harvest in 1990.
I will share what I have seen, then share the short track.
The Bible says Before the Day of the Lord Comes he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Malachi 4:6, and in Luke 1 :17
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."(John the Baptist's call)
It also says in Ephesians Chapter 3
For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family 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.

There is a dynamic tension in tuning the 12 strings of a piano, or more precisely, exactly detuning each of the 12 strings so they play in every key. Apart from Octaves, everything else on a piano is tuned so that it is just "out". Too much out, and people will wince, too much "in", and when you come to play in certain keys people will also wince.
There is a tension in the work of God, in the doctrines of God, in people's personalities, that is there in the Holy Spirit, but as every really good gathering of the saints shows, God Himself fills in the gaps and smoothes over the seeming incompatibilities.He joins our dots.

Until this last century , men had pretty much everything their own way. Women and children were subjugated to them. And this seemed to work fine as long as women and children did exactly that.
However, God's plan was never supporting this.
God's heart is more along the lines of this phrase:
....Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.Ephesians 4:16

God never planned for women not to function fully
God never planned for children not to function fully
God never planned for every single member of the Body of Christ regardless of maturity not to function fully

Part of the sickness we inherited at the fall was fatherlessness. This means both absenteeism. But also where Fathers do not function as "enabling figures to others."
Part of the "Fathers Blessing" which a lot of people erroneously named the Toronto Blessing was to quicken the reality of Ephesians 3 :14 the name/character and function of father is the Blueprint of how heaven runs. We are connected to God the Father. Every family derives its form from this blueprint.
A ripped, torn up blueprint, shatters the internal image, the internal identity of the family individually and as a unit.Paul Anderson Walsh said about this subject..."That's all there is...connection." There are conditions like Aspergers which make this very difficult, but as Daniel Yordy's recent videos show, God even overrides this.
What goes wrong first is connection.
What went wrong in Genesis 3 was a spirit to spirit connection was broken.
Had to walk out of a job this week, not in an acrimonious way, just a simple mutual acknowledgement that though I've moved pianos for 30 years with just me doing the lifting, the particular ladies unbelief that I could do it ,would be dangerous for the job, so a connection had been broken, and I had to withdraw.Outwardly you see nothing at first, but inwardly you know pretty precisely when the connection breaks down.
Churches do not need more power and anointing. They need to "see" the full extent of the supply of the Father through all the channels in their midst.
Christ is in each member as each member. The Kingdom of God is here now. Even in our mouth.

It is not a natural thing for someone trained in the flesh to do less,wind down, and encourage others to take their place.
But if we live the Life of God which has always had a Cross in it since before the foundation of the world, then sons will be turned to fathers and fathers to sons.
Notice Psalm 45:16 comes immediately before 17 :
I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations;
Therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever.
There is great ongoing dividend if we follow the Spirit pattern. Here are some more:
The Luke verse adds
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
The Ephesians passage goes straight onto
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.
Now Havant and most charismatic churches are always asking the Lord for more power and more anointing, when all along these passages describe where the flow already is. Churches do not need more power and anointing. They need to "see" the full extent of the supply of the Father through all the channels in their midst.
Christ is in each member as each member. The Kingdom of God is here now. Even in our mouth.
Like an electrical circuit board with all sorts of gaps, and shortcircuiting pieces, the power is there in the church now, but each part does not do its work. Or if it does what it thinks is its work, it's some kind of "works" activity which refuses to acknowledge the finished work of God and seeks to add:
If I can just pray for 2 hours, if I can just fast more, if i can just worship more, if I can just read more Bible pages....... What is the work of God? That we believe on the Son of God whom the Father has sent. Where is this Son who the Father has sent now? At the righthand of God, but also indwelling us by the Spirit. This is the work of God , believing it.
So there is this dynamic tension between sons and fathers, even in the church, which the Holy Spirit alone holds together to form a vibrant community.


HYMN TO YOUTH/THE WORD - ©Words and Music A. Christopher Welch 1990
Lift up your sword you're a young man / It's your time to join the fight / You ain't got that much wisdom / But you're holding a bright light. / Do not fear all the old ones / As they cower and they rage / They once held the sword you're holding / But it's now you in centre-stage. /
Drama of history / Unrolling, unfolding Word / Somewhere in the middle / Of what is said and what is heard. / At the vortex of the conflict / Between the deaf, between the dumb / Between the aged and the stripling / Is the Word not old nor young.
Administered by No Name Ltd. 1991

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