In this week we are celebrating our spiritual parents; and the truth is as we celebrate our spiritual parents, we must also aspire to live our lives in ways that our spiritual children will also have a cause to celebrate us. As you do for your spiritual parents, your spiritual children will also do for you. Say Amen to that! The Bible exhorts us to celebrate and follow the faith of those who speak the word of God to us.
[Isaiah 51:1-3 KJV] “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord : look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord ; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”
One of the greatest benefits of following the faith of your spiritual parents is that it saves you from jumping from one wind of doctrine to the other. We are in the last days and there are so many winds of doctrine. There are so many people preaching so many attractive things; but remember, only the truth will stand.
[Hebrews 13:7-9 KJV] “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein”
We can follow their faith when we look up to them. We can follow their faith when we know who they are. It is safe to follow their faith than to be carried away by every wind of doctrine. If you don’t want to follow every wind of doctrine, then you must;
- Receive your spiritual parents as models of faith
- Commit yourself to follow their model of faith
It is important to remember that you will become a version of what you follow; so if you don’t want to end up as your spiritual parents, don’t follow them. That is why Apostle Paul says “follow me as I follow Christ.”
We live in the last days that have unique characteristics, especially the nature of the people. The safest way to make it I to eternal life is to follow the faith of your spiritual parents, but don’t follow blindly. You must strive to know 9 things about these brethren you call spiritual parents.
[2 Timothy 3:1-11 KJV] “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith”
“But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”
9 things you should know about these brethren you receive as spiritual parents whose faith you want to follow;
- Doctrine
- Manner of life
- Purpose
- Faith
- Longsuffering
- Charity
- Patience
- Persecution (afflictions that come from external conflicts)
- Afflictions (internal conflicts and struggles)
Sometimes we don’t receive and treat these brethren well because we don’t even know them. Sometimes, we judge them and accuse them because we don’t even know what they are dealing with or struggling with.
I pray that as we celebrate our spiritual parents, we will take time to know them so that we can receive and follow them well.
I love you
Pastor Noah Simpe Bediako
