The term “father” represents a position within a family. To father is an action that means to create life, as well as raise up your children.
“For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the scriptures say, a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again, I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” – Ephesians 5:22-33 This headship is not like a dictator but a servant leader; one who serves by studying each circumstance the family encounters and makes a decision based on the best interest of the family. His decision is to line up with the Word of God. For this to happen, he must read the Word and understand it. The father is the leader of the family. Below are a few things I desire to accomplish this year and in the future as the father of my family, as well as a leader in the Body of Christ. I encourage you to read these goals and create some of your own. Hopefully our goals will be similar. As a father I pledge to: GUIDE-GUARD-GOVERN those I am in authority over. MY GOALS: • GUIDE: LEAD MY FAMILY AND ALL WHO WILL BE LEAD AT POWERHOUSE CHURCH INTO A DEEPER RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST. • GUARD: TO DEFEND AND PRAY FOR MY FAMILY AND POWERHOUSE CHURCH • GOVERN: BLESS AND CORRECT MY FAMILY AND MAKE HARD CALLS/DECISIONS • CONFRONT DANGEROUS MINDSETS • REJOICE WITH MATURE DECISIONS • SET UP MY FAMILY AND THE CHURCH TO WIN WITHOUT ME • LEAVE A LEGACY OF STRONG, COURAGEOUS SONS AND DAUGHTERS BOTH NATURALLY AND SPIRITUALLY. As a member of the house, whether you are a wife, son or daughter, you have a great responsibility to follow your leader. We all desire to have guidance and a strong protection or guard, but what about when it comes to being governed or corrected? How do you respond to correction? If you cannot follow a man you can see, you will definitely have issues when trying to follow a God you cannot see. Family, our men really need your loyalty and support or this team will struggle. Church members, your pastors are the same in that they need you to be quick to respond to their decisions and to give your best sacrifice unto the Lord. Here is the thought I will leave with you: if we refuse to be governed, we cannot realistically expect to have the Lord’s guidance or protection. This equation is not easy, but it is simple. Die to yourself so the team can win! A FATHERS JOB IS TO PROVIDE FOR HIS FAMILY; TO FILL THE HOUSE WITH CHILDREN AND FUND IT. AS I LOOK AT OUR CHILDREN, I THINK ABOUT LEAVING A DEBT FREE LEGACY. THE BIBLE SAYS DAVID SUPPLIED THE GOLD FOR SOLOMON TO BUILD THE KINGDOM. DADS SERVE AND HELP THEIR FAMILY TO WIN. I want to inspire you as a man to be a leader in your home and church. The world needs godly men with godly character. Start today by reading the Word of God to your family each day. You can do this! YOU CAN BECOME THE ANSWER THIS WORLD NEEDS. If you want more of this type of teaching, order your copy of The Alpha Male and The Women Who Get Them. Keep pressing, GFW
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"But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38 NKJV).
Jesus was moved with compassion because of the apparent lack of leadership among His people. We, too, should take an inventory of the low percentage of Christians that aspire to be leaders in the Kingdom of God. Jordan Ranch Retreat Center was created for just this reason, to build leaders for the purpose of winning souls. Over 20 years ago, the Lord revealed a simple truth to me: men are called to be the head, the leaders of society (1 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5). We are a fatherless, headless, leaderless society, and to restore order in this world of chaos we need to start at the top. In today's world, all you have to do is turn on the news in order to see the need for mature, Godly men. Dr. Ed Cole stated that being a male is a matter of birth, but being a man is a matter of choice. As organizations, Jordan Ranch and Intense Men have proven, by their willingness to sacrifice before there were any partners helping with the vision, that this is a priority they value and that it will prevail in their legacy. Maturity doesn’t come with age; it comes with the acceptance of responsibility. We do not just need men. We need mature, Christ-like men to take responsibility for a society that’s gone wild. Here are some important fatherless statistics that you must understand :
What is the answer? Mature men. This concept was the catalyst for our ministry to open the doors of Jordan Ranch, Texas' premiere Christian retreat center. We have already seen over 60,000 people come through these doors over the last 9 years. Through the marriage retreats, church events and our annual Intense Men campout, we're molding mature men to impact a generation. This ministry is non-profit and has already been shown to have a profound impact. If you're interested in learning more, visit JordanRanch.org. We'd love for you to partner with us to continue what God is doing here in Texas. You can be a huge help by simply committing to as little as $3 per day towards this movement. For more information about how you can contribute financially to the cause of building the men of this nation, please visit www.jordanranch.org. If you'd like to learn more about Intense Men, visit IntenseMen.com. #WeAreTheAnswer from G.F. Watkins on Vimeo. Our men are lost. The pendulum has swung way to the left. Our nation and our world need men of character, integrity, single-mindedness, courage and maturity to stand up and begin to reverse the curse of apathy, weak-mindedness, complacency, and cowardice that has gripped this once proud and powerful nation. To reverse the curse, it will take many working together in biblical unity. The experience is available now. The tools are available now. The team is available now. The willing heart to offer the help is available now.
Strong churches exist because the men in them are strong in their faith and their courage. When we use the term church, keep in mind the first churches were called the ecclesia or “the set apart ones.” They were set apart because of their sacrificial hearts. These were people who understood the fact that if they joined this set apart group, they would be killed for a cause bigger than themselves. The first church was a group of ultimate warriors. The eternal prize is still the ultimate cause for a man to lay down his life. The following thoughts are my effort to expose why I feel it is time to plant truths in the local church that will strengthen the men and, thereby, strengthen the church. The majority of churches worldwide are composed of a ratio of 80 percent female members and 20 percent male members. The Bible is written to men and initially intended to be taught to men in a congregational setting. The men, as heads of their homes, would then be responsible for taking this information back and leading their homes in the implementation of these truths. You can have spirituality (worship, praise, atmosphere, righteousness, etc.) with women, but it takes godly, courageous men to bring strength, action, warfare, discipline, direction, leadership, single-mindedness, and decisiveness to the Church. The above-mentioned percentages show us a matriarchal or mother-led country, family, and church which depletes the attributes of a male or father figure. For example, a male is more prone to discipline with a physical force like a spanking or push-ups, while a female is more prone to discipline with her words. A current example of this can be seen in two presidents. President George W. Bush was raised with a father in his home, and when America was under attack on 9/11, he responded decisively and almost immediately with military force. President Obama was raised in a matriarchal environment, and he tried diplomatic or verbal means to rectify threatening situations. When we enter most churches, we see young, urban heterosexual males with a liberal political view, wearing skinny jeans, grooming their eyebrows, coloring their hair with streaks of yellow, doing their nails, and having an interest in the latest and greatest TV fads. Immature males are adapting to the culture of a feminine church and have little heart for sacrifice. Evangelizing the man is actually the pattern of the Bible. Jesus picked twelve male disciples to change the world. God came in the form of a man, Jesus, to illustrate roles of leadership and sacrifice from a man’s perspective. When a child is the first person saved in a family there is a 3 percent chance the rest of his family will be saved. When the mother is the first to be saved, the percentage increases to 13 percent. When the man/father is first to be saved, the percentage increases to 95 percent. The man is the ultimate influencer even though he is usually more difficult to win over. Keep following our blog as we reveal the truths that God wants men to know in this hour! Have you heard about Intense Men? Intense Men is a fellowship of men that gathers together to be strengthened in their God-given roles as strong, capable, courageous leaders in their homes and communities. To get connected, visit www.intensemen.com today! |