Planted by Water

Yesterday, Alison and I were in Lancaster (the picture is of Lancaster Castle) where we were both at College and where we met and got married. We were there  for the funeral of Frank Dowthwaite, who was the pastor of the church we were in, and my first father in the faith. Many would be able to call him that, but I just thank God for the influence he had in my life. Although we had not seen much of each other in later years, he was the first person that God used to give me an insight into the purposes of God and he imparted to me a passion to see God’s Kingdom filling the earth. As a prophetic pastor, he also taught me to love God’s people. Thank you, Frank; you always enjoyed worshipping God and now you are in his Presence eternally.

It has reminded me of the importance to us of our spiritual parents who have gone before us and who pass on their spiritual inheritance. God is not just our God - he is the God of our fathers. I am reminded of this as I am reading through Genesis, reading of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. We can too easily live as if we were the first generation to know God - we must be ever mindful of our spiritual heritage. In fact there is a passage in Genesis that indicates how important spiritual fathering or discipling is to the fulfilling of the purposes of God:

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. (Gen.18:18-19)

We should make sure that we receive all that we can from our spiritual fathers and pass it on to future generations - to our natural household, and to spiritual children.