SERVING FATHER TIME OR FATHER GOD?

            

         

My father was an extremely talented man. He was a tenor singer, an artist, and later in life a blacksmith and artificer in woods and metals. But his mother was sure he would be a preacher. Because his greatest gift was that of persuasive speech.

                                       

He did have the preacher or evangelist anointing upon his life. In fact, as a prayer warrior, I bet my grandmother sent to heaven many prayers regarding this outcome. But everyone has a will of their own to follow God's way- or not.

Between the times when he was heartily seeking God, he let his stubborn, carnal nature guide him instead of the Holy Spirit. I am not criticizing my father...just stating a fact.

He died an ill and broken man. He had decided to listlessly and aimlessly follow Father Time rather than the call of Father God. He ended up facing his final days in loneliness, trailing three failed marriages behind him. None of his lofty dreams and plans  had come to fruition.

Father God nudged him at every turn, yet he turned away, desiring instead to follow his own interests.

As a child growing up, I closely watched Dad to see if his actions would line up with his words.

I know he yearned for more of God's Spirit in his life. When I was ten he took us from a mainstream, traditional church to a more "seeker-oriented", Southern Baptist-style congregation.

He was usually the only one in the place who would raise his hands in worship while the rest of the singing people held their hands rigidly at their sides...entranced by some invisible edict that stated "one must not get too emotional when worshipping the Lord". Heaven forbid that someone would leap up and dance like King David once did.

That same year my Pentecostal aunt and uncle gave Mom and Dad a book called, "They Speak With Other Tongues", by John Sherrill. He was the husband of long-time editor of Guideposts Magazine, Elizabeth Sherrill.
                                        

                                

In the book, rational journalist John Sherrill observed the phenomenon in worship services the across the U.S.A., trying to determine its source, purpose and validity. It was an experience that "born-again" Christians were said to experience after asking for this Shower of Power and spiritual gifts.

Not all Christians wanted it. Not all Christians even knew about it. Many well meaning pastors and congregation-members mocked and reviled it, saying it was "of the devil", because they just didn't understand it. People always fear what they do not understand. Little did they realize, because they rationalized it away, that it was clearly stated in the Bible as an important part of the Christian experience.

Sherrill finally concluded, after much research, that the experience was indeed valid, useful and valuable for receiving all that God has to give to enable His true believers to live a victorious Christian life.

My father wanted nothing to do with the "Baptism in the Holy Spirit". He simply could not open up his mind to receive something that to him was new...to him "non-traditional"...yet it was tradition set by the very original disciples and followers of Jesus Christ themselves as sound principle, as they waited for the arrival of "The Comforter" in the upper room.

Dad wanted to go beyond the rote and repetition of a traditional denominational "service" but couldn't get past his fears in order to venture out into the depths of God's Holy Spirit.

I once heard a Bible speaker who taught this analogy:

You can have as much of God as you want. But God is VAST. You can stick your little toe into God's great ocean, or just timidly step your foot in. You can venture into His Holy Spirit realm until you are up to your knees. Don't let yourself get "spooked" by the Holy Ghost and jump out of the water. Just wait. You can dip into the liquid love up to your waist and say, "Maybe I'd better move in the direction of the Tide of the Holy Spirit."

It's hard to glue your feet to the ocean floor bottom when the waves start to carry you away. You can even go in up to your neck as you feel the warm comfort of God's protecting Spirit surrounding you. Don't be afraid of getting "carried away" with God. His waves will take you to exciting places!

In my father's failing years, after having been struck with Parkinson's disease, he lived for a brief time with my brother's family. While living in that town, he attended a nearby Assembly of God church . Finally after all those wasted years he relented to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Yes. He had been "saved" for many years. In his youth, he even sang in Billy Graham's choir. But he allowed the traditions of man and a narrow mind-set to rob him of all that God had truly planned for his life. Until it was too late. He ran out of time.

Father Time certainly catches up with everyone eventually. They amble along life's loose and varied pathways without asking the Lord, "Father God, what is it you want for my life?"

Some people don't get an answer right away so they stop asking. Many individuals don't get an answer they like so they crawl back onto their own twisted path. Because they didn't like the answer or because of the sacrifices it might require, they run away from God, like Jonah, in the opposite direction.

Then there are quite a large number who don't even ask at all. They don't realize that Father Time will eventually take them to meet Father God. Then they realize that they wasted the precious time God gave them here on earth, circling round and round in the desert like the children of Israel, after their exodus from Egypt.

I have pursued the Lord the largest part of my life. Like many of us I veered off onto a side path now and then, got stuck in a hedgerow, and had to circumnavigate back onto His Highway. But it was all a learning experience.

In no way am I saying that I am better than my father. What I AM SAYING, is that Father God has put an anointing, A CALL upon my life. I cannot allow Father Time to take me to meet Father God without fulfilling my true calling.

If I waste my life working ten hours a day for "peanuts" only accomplishing putting a roof over my head and food in my mouth, but I'm not doing what the Lord has called me to do - then what good is it? I am just spinning my wheels and wasting the gift of time God the Father has given me.

Many famous people have chosen to follow foolish Father Time, wasting their lives on fame and fortune, when they could have been influencing millions for Father God. Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Miley Cyrus...to name a few. They chose to follow their own way rather than follow the path that would have brought them the most happiness.

So here I stand, at the cusp of a NEW YEAR, overwhelmed with the thought:  Do I want to end up like my father, who seeking SELF-FULFILLMENT fell far short of what God had truly planned for him?

Or do I want to enter this New Year 2017, fully convinced and ready to go full charge ahead into the ministry call Father God has place upon my life?

Here I am Lord. I surrender myself to you. My wishes, my dreams, my goals...I lay them on your altar. Here I come.

Father Time - you can't have me yet! Heavenly Father...Lead the way!