7 Principles of Father/Son Relationship

More and more we are seeing the Kingdom of God reproduced and expanded through the principle of Father/Son relationship.  This Biblical relationship is notoriously described in the relationship between Elijah and Elisha.

1. God told Elijah to anoint Elisha as his protégé. (1 Kings 19:16)

• Elijah was pouting in the cave when God told him to anoint three people.
• Even in the cave God can give you vision!
• Hazael to be king over Syria.
• Jehu to be king over Israel.
• Elisha to be his son in the faith. (protégé)
• Father's have the authority to anoint and affirm those with whom they've been entrusted.
• Father's recognize your gifts and talents even when you can't see them yourself.
• Father's understand the timing of your calling.
• Father's are always looking for sons to anoint.
• Father's are happy to have their quiver full of mighty arrows. (Psalms 127)

2. Elijah found Elisha plowing in the field. (1 Kings 19:19)

• Elisha showed up for work.
• Elisha was where he was supposed to be when the prophet came looking for him.
• Imagine what would have happened had Elisha called off that day.
• There's something to be said about leaders who are consistent, competent and have character.
• Elisha was hard at work. (Plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him.)
• Luke 16:12 "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?"

3. Elijah laid his mantle on Elisha. (1 Kings 19:19)

• There is no record here of any conversation from Elijah to Elisha when he laid his mantle upon him.  He merely walked by, laid it upon him and kept going.
• Elisha knew the significance of this act.
• When God begins to put a mantle upon you...no words have to be spoken for you to know that your inner man is being impressed upon by the Holy Spirit for a specific assignment or even a life call.
• The calling of God is HEAVY!  
• Accepting it is not a light matter.
• Romans 11:29 "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

4. Elisha accepted his calling & ran after Elijah. (1 Kings 19:20)

• Notice that Elisha ran after Elijah and not the other way around.
• Elijah did not have to continually coax Elisha to keep up the relationship.
• True sons run after their father's heart.
• They stay in tune to what their leader is feeling and thinking.
• They anticipate the next step of their leader before it's ever taken.

5. Elisha prepared a farewell feast for his family and friends. (1 Kings 19:20-21)

• Elisha made a complete break from his past.
• He made a complete surrender to God and broke off all ties with the old life.
• He took the yoke of oxen he had been plowing with and slew them for the purposes of an offering before God and a feast for his friends.
• He made firewood out of the plow and the yokes.
• His friends and neighbors saw him burning all his bridges behind him, cutting off all connections with his former life.

6. Elisha went to Elijah and the relationship of Father/Son began. (1 Kings 19:21)

• Elijah became his spiritual father.
• Elisha took the humble place of being his servant.
• He served God in the serving of his leader.
• We see this principle so many times in Scripture...both in the Old and New Testaments.
• One example is in Joshua 1:1-3 "Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses."
• "So the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight. And you shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him."
• True sonship is first being a true servant.
• Then, and only then, will you find yourself one day in the same place as your spiritual parents.
• Our problem in networking has been that the sons have expected the fathers to serve them.
• We have had this backwards as with many other things in the Church.

2 Kings 2:1-2 "And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, stay here please, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elisha said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel."

• This was a test for Elisha (who may have thought by now that he would not need any more testings) and he passed it without even hesitating.
• This expression "as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you" could be restated this way: "As sure as God lives in you and in me I will not leave you!"
• This is an absolute and final statement!
• This is a CHOICE in which there is no backing down.

"...so they wen down to Bethel."  "Bethel" means "house of God" or literally means "household of God."  This again speaks loudly of the meaning of this relationship and we come into greater understanding of the meaning of "spiritual family" in our time.

7. The significance of the Father/Son relationship. (2 Kings 2:4)

"And Elijah said to him, Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho."

• Again we see Elisha passing another test and they went to Jericho.
• "Jericho" represents the place of spiritual warfare, entering into activity against forces of evil in the heavenlies.

2 Kings 2:6 then says, "Then Elijah said to him, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on."

• For a third time, Elisha passes the test and they go on to Jordan.
• Jordan speaks of death.
• It represents death to the self-life. 
• Jordan stands as the place of Israel's separation from the self-life in the desert to the life of warfare for the Lord in the land.
• This resounds loudly in the statement made by Jesus in 
• Mark 9:34-35, which says, "And He summoned the multitude with His disciples, and said to them, if anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's shall save it."
• Evidently Elisha was willing to follow Elijah anywhere at anytime the Lord directed him. Let's now look at the results of all this.

2 Kings 2:7-14 says, "Now fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. Now it came about when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. And he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so. Then it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. And Elisha saw it and cried out, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and it's horsemen! And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over."

• Notice that when Elijah departed, Elisha did not shout "my pastor, my pastor", or "my prophet, my prophet," but cried out, "my father, my father!"

What did Elisha ask for when the offer came from this great prophet of God who was his mentor?

• He did not ask for fame or fortune, but for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah.
• He was not asking for twice as much faith and spiritual force as that which was characterized in his spiritual father.
• He was asking that he might be considered as Elijah's eldest son, the heir to his spirit, the successor to his work.
• It was all RELATIONAL!

Elijah said, "If you see me when I am taken..."

• This means, if you are still with me when I go.
• In the past we have experienced spiritual "sons" who wanted to be SONS FOR A SEASON, and then desire a peer relationship with their fathers because they now see themselves as mature fathers.
• I will tell you a truth, a true father should desire his sons to carry greater anointing than they, but the sons must realize that even if this happens, they will always be the "son" to their spiritual father.
• Dad will always be dad  no matter how great the sons becomes.
• We really miss God when we stop sitting at the feet of our elders because we think we are now more anointed and mature than them.
• I personally know great apostolic fathers in the faith who have been "put out to pasture" and are scratching for provision because their sons in whom they invested much of their life and resources have let them and stopped honoring them with their support. 

Deuteronomy 21:17 says, "But he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion  of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the first-born."

• This is what Elisha sought, and this is what he certainly obtained.
• What a powerful example of a Father/Son relationship we see through this story of the passing of a mantle.

Now is the time for all of us to check our MOTIVES and begin building everlasting covenant relationships with those whom God has placed us.

• All relationships that are entered into with the thought of divorce if things don't go our way will fail to bring fulfillment of the will of God into our lives and ministries.
• Many ministries begin to move in an anointing and believe that they have received a mantle.
• These are two different things.
• An anointing is just for a specific time or place or situation, but a mantle is that which one carries at all times, through all situations and circumstances.
• You must wait for a mantle to fall and then have the integrity of character that you have earned by keeping your relationship in Godly order so you may properly use it with a double anointing.

God is now "smiting the land with a curse" (Malachi 4) because the fathers and sons have not allowed the Lord to deal with their hearts to walk in close covenant relationship.

• Most "networks" are still more organizational rather than relational. 
• Will you be counted among the true sons and daughters who walk closely with their spiritual fathers through the oncoming kingdom battles, or are you just doing your own things while being accountable to no man?