Greetings;
There is a need to restore the Father’s likeness and image in the earth. The masculine identity of mankind is under attack in the cultures of the world. Their hearts are not bad; they just lack the knowledge of life-giving fathers among them. The masculine identity has been stripped by the lack of true fathers in the cultures of the world. The church must lead in embracing the attributes of the Father in their culture in order to influence the communities of the world with the community of heaven.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
We cannot fashion and form the culture of the church by the cultures of the world. We must embrace being a powerful church that disciples the nations in the ways of God. This means that the true attributes of men and women must be embraced in the body of Christ. We need the nurturing attributes of the mother to excel in the church, but we must also see the leadership attributes of the father restored to its rightful place among us. Men are designed to seek God’s glory! A man must seek to make his wife his glory! It starts there.
1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
The word glory implies the fullness of life. For a husband to seek the glory of his wife is for him to seek to make her fully alive in whom she is as a daughter of God. To do this a husband must be an activator of life, a facilitator of life, and a releaser for the life that is within his home. He can only do this if he himself excels in being activated in life, facilitated in life, and released in life in all that he is. Leadership is not a position of teaching, controlling, or assuming all of the responsibility of decision making in the home. It is a position of assuring a healthy atmosphere of life is maintained in the environment of his home so every member can be fully alive in Christ. This means every member becomes fully connected to God as his or her Father and they excel in being who God made them to be.
Who will fight for the glory of his wife? This is a masculine attribute of the nature of God. It is a heavenly masculine attribute in the culture of God’s family and it is should be seen in and through the dynamic of leadership in the church. Leadership must fight for the glory of the church. This is part of the masculine nature of God. Men must see the blessing of God as more important than their fears in order to find their true identity as men. We must see the expression of fathers as true bishops in the church. Bishops, or overseers, are not hierarchal leaders who control the lives of others. This perception is part of the curse of the fall of man where a husband rules over his wife (Gen. 3:17).
True fathers expand inheritances in the earth. They don’t live for their own agendas or person success; they live to be a blessing to others. They don’t live to be successful; they live to be significant. Their goal is to live to expand something of life into the generations that follow them. They seek to accept people as they are, but they work to empower them for greater glory. Father’s seek to raise up sons of inheritance, not servants or slaves who seek entitlements. The culture of the church must embrace this attribute of the Father. They must see themselves with successors. Where is the greatness in the church? The message of God’s kingdom is a message for fathers.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
