Know The God Of Your Fathers

Extracted from Henry Blackaby's CHOSEN to be GOD'S PROPHET

There arose on the scene of the people of God a younger generation that felt they had to begin everything new without any reference to what God had done for Israel. They could not, and would not, recite any of the mighty acts of God done in other generations. Therefore, they did not know the God of their fathers. They had no reference point to the God who delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. They hardly remembered the stories. They did not understand at all the time in the wilderness. They did not know the mighty deeds of God at Jericho. This generation determined that anything they labelled tradition was to be turned aside. Was it possible that the previous generation, who did not know God, failed to adequately instruct the net generation?

In our own generation, what many today are calling tradition is really the mighty acts of God, which He has done in His people. No child of God must ever forget what God has done. If he does, he will not be able to build on what God has done previously. If you try to lay another foundation than what has already been laid by God, He will let you. The cost of missing what God has already done will be great as you attempt to move forward in your own decisions. Understand, though, that to ignore what God has already done is disobedience. You can call it "creative ministry" all you want, but God may simply call it disobedience.

You are not to ignore the God of your fathers. You are to ask the older generation to tell you what God did in your community to start the church you are now attending. What did God do when He brought that group of people together to begin His local church in that area? Do not try to live in your generation as though you have nothing to do with the previous generation. You are a vital part of a covenant people of God. If all you see that has gone before you are men and you say, "They had their time; now we have our turn," you do not understand that it was not them who built th church; it was God! Do not confuse the men who have preceded you with the God who has preceded you. God later instructed Jeremiah to tell the people:

Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk in it" (Jer 6:16).

My Thoughts:
1. God only wants obedience and submission from His people in our daily personal relationships with Him. Have we been obedient and have we also submit ourselves perfectly to God daily?
2. The ministry of the local churches today are no different from the time of Jesus. Do we remember how Jesus and the local church carry out their ministries? Do we ask God to always look at and answer our own needs or do we pray that the needs of others will be answered and also ministered to? The only difference is that we are living two thousand years from the time of Jesus. The context may have changed but not the content and the intent (sounds cheem!)