C h a p t e r1 3

Fathering
Your Fields

Spiritual fathers and mothers have a
distinct sphere of influence

I

live in the fertile agricultural area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvan-
ia, with its lush green and golden fields of corn, alfalfa, barley and
wheat covering the landscape. Whenever I fly over the area, I am amazed at the patterns the fields of all shapes and sizes display with their unique colors and boundaries. Each field represents a particular crop waiting to be harvested. This diversity of crops in carefully cultivated fields gives us the distinction of producing more agricultural products and yielding more food than any other non-irrigated county in our nation.

Do you know that you have specific fields of ministry, unique to you, that have been assigned to you by the Lord? These fields, dotting the landscape of your life, are your spheres of influence, responsibility and anointing.

The Greek word translated field (sphere) in II Corinthians 10, is metron which is a measure of activity that defines the limits of one's power and influence. Every Christian has various spiritual fields that give him or her great opportunity to experience God's blessing and empowerment: "We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us--a sphere which especially includes you” (II Corinthians 10:13).

If you are married, you have a field of ministry with your spouse. If you have children, it extends to your family. If you lead a cell group, you have another sphere of influence that includes the spiritual responsibility you have for the cell members. Your involvement in your church gives you a sphere in which to experience God's blessing. Your community is yet another sphere. As a member of your neighborhood, you have a field of ministry on your street as you pray for your neighbors to come to Christ. Your workplace provides an additional sphere of influence. As a spiritual parent, the Lord gives you spheres of influence to bless and strengthen the lives of your spiritual children. Everyone has several different areas in which they have the influence and power to decide what goes on within that field.

A person who wants to have prosperous fields of ministry understands that each of his fields has certain limitations and boundaries. These boundaries give protection to the field and must be carefully and prayerfully respected. When I was a farmer, I did not have the option of taking my tractor over to plow in my neighbor's field and then deciding what crops he would plant. That was up to him. It was his field! I also never contemplated going into his field and planting my seed. This would be counterproductive because I did not own that field and could never claim the harvest from it. I planted, cultivated and harvested crops that fell within my own property lines.

Where I live, farmers often post several "No Trespassing” signs at the edges of their fields, meant to deter hunters from tramping across their fields during hunting season. In life, there are often disastrous results when someone trespasses on another's field.

You have only to look at the divorce statistics in today's world to see the trail of devastation left when a married person steps across his or her marriage boundaries into someone else's marriage. A police officer works within the boundaries of his jurisdiction. He can arrest only those criminals within the area of his legal authority. As a parent, you have authority and responsibility for your own family's field. You cannot tell your neighbors how to raise their children because you do not have authority in their home. The stereotypical mother-in-law gets a bad rap as an interfering, meddlesome creature who disrupts her children's marriage. This kind of intruding mother-in-law moves beyond her area of authority and infringes into the marriage relationship that belongs to her children.

Your field has boundaries

Like the farming fields of my county, clearly distinguishable by color, size and boundaries, ministry fields also have certain boundaries and size. As spiritual parents, we must have a clear understanding of the boundaries of our fields. We should never presume to speak into another's life unless he has opened his boundaries to us. In other words, we cannot intrude into the life of another until there is a relationship of trust built which opens the door for us to speak into his field.

Of course, if a spiritual son clearly has sin in his life, we need to lovingly appeal to him according to Matthew 18:15-17. Even then, we must be careful to allow our spiritual sons and daughters to take responsibility for their own boundaries and personal choices they make. They must learn to live with the consequences of their own choices; spiritual parents are in place to encourage, not dictate or control.

In Genesis 1:26, God gave Adam and Eve authority over the whole world, but they had to prove their stewardship in the Garden of Eden first. We know what happened when Satan came into Adam and Eve's field and they listened to his lies--they surrendered their authority to Satan, and pain and death fell on them and the world God had made beautiful.

Do not surrender your field to another. If someone feels he has a "word from God” for you, remember, it must be tested (I Thessalonians 5:20-21). Test it with the Word of God, with the godly advice of spiritual fathers the Lord has placed in your life, and with the peace of Christ that rules in your heart (Colossians 3:15).

Several years ago when I was serving as a pastor in Pennsylvania, a Christian speaker gave a specific "prophetic” word to me and to our leadership team while he was ministering at various congregations in our area. He described to us something he was convinced the Lord was leading our church to do. We prayed and considered his "word,” and realized that in order for us to fulfill it, we could not keep our commitment to rent one of our buildings to a Christian group in our area. It would be an issue of integrity for us. We thanked this man for sharing with us what he believed the Lord was saying and told him that it may be a timing issue. Perhaps we could still do what he suggested at another time.

The next day, I received a phone call from him, and he gave me another "prophetic” word (a curse, really) for our church. He even used the scriptures to pronounce this curse. That evening we called all of our local leaders together in united prayer. Since this man was simply visiting our field and did not have authority in our field, we knew he was not responsible for our field. It was a field that the Lord had given to us. We took authority over this curse and received the Lord's protection in Jesus' name. We avoided a potentially devastating "prophetic word” for our church by understanding our own particular field and its boundaries. A few days later, I spoke with a missionary friend who was serving in the same nation this "prophet” had come from. We learned that this man had divided many churches in his homeland by prophecies that overstepped the boundaries of his authority with his attempt at manipulation.

Praying within your spiritual field

Another type of unhealthy control can even occur in prayer. For example, if an intercessor in a church begins to pray for his pastor to "understand [a certain truth] like I understand it,” he is attempting to change the pastor rather than allowing God Himself to impress a particular truth on the pastor's heart.

Praying for things to go the way we think they should go rather than the way the person responsible for that field is led by the Spirit to take them can be dangerous.If intercessors are not taught about fields of ministry, this kind of control becomes a type of "spiritual witchcraft.” I have ministered to many church leaders who were under tremendous spiritual oppression, because people in the church were praying according to their own agendas rather than praying for God's agenda. True spiritual fathers, with their maturity and experience, need to help leaders and other believers discern the source of this oppression.

You will not go wrong when you pray the scriptures. Pray like Paul, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with the might of His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:14-21).

Honoring the fields of others

Paul, the apostle, understood his sphere of influence and reminded the Corinthians that he only operates in the sphere in which God appointed him. He did not go around troubling churches founded by others. He only boasted of the Corinthian church because he was responsible before the Lord for them:

"We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us--a sphere which especially includes you. For we are not extending ourselves beyond our sphere (thus not reaching you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere” (II Corinthians 10:13-15).

Paul was careful not to take the credit or responsibility for another person's field of ministry. He knew his own sphere's "shape and color” and operated within God's authority and anointing for its oversight.

I preach at a different church in a different part of the world nearly every week. I always remember: I am serving in someone else's field. I am helping a pastor and a team of church leadership to build in their particular field.

Sadly, over the years, many who claimed to be anointed and spiritual did not properly understand serving within the field of another. Sometimes pastors ofchurches have had to take months to "clean up” from various things that were said or "prophesied” by a visiting speaker that were not edifying to the church. This will not happen if we walk within our own fields of ministry and honor the fields of others.

Grace for your field

Along with the authority a spiritual father has within the boundaries of his field, a portion of grace is given to do the job. Grace is often described as the free unmerited favor of God on the undeserving and ill-deserving, but it also can be defined as the desire and the power to do God's will. It is like a divine energy that the Holy Spirit releases in our lives. It helps us to victoriously accomplish a task within our fields of ministry.

How do we know that God gives a person grace to operate within his field of ministry? The word metron has a slightly different meaning in Ephesians 4:7: "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” Here the word apportioned is a translation of the same word metron found in II Corinthians 10:13. So, it would follow that for each metron or field of ministry, there is a special grace given for it.

Since we all have different-sized fields, God apportions grace in varying amounts according to what we need. Spiritual fathers and mothers will know how many spiritual children they can mentor at a time, and they will receive grace to do it. If spiritual parents get out of the field of ministry in which they are assigned, they get out of God's grace, and that is not a good place to be!

Spiritual parents will caution their spiritual children to remain in their fields of ministry and thus remain in the grace of God. Did you ever wonder why some pastors have large churches and others have smaller churches? Is it prayer? Although prayer is extremely important, I do not think this is necessarily always the reason. I know of pastors of small churches who have a much more effective prayer life than pastors with large churches. God simply gives some pastors grace for larger churches, and others grace for smaller churches. The size of our church is not the issue; the issue is obedience and training and releasing spiritual children (John 14:15).

I was speaking at a leadership conference a few years ago, and joined the group of about 500 pastors and Christian leaders in the audience for an evening service. The moderator of the conference asked a friend of mine to stand. I had talked to this man earlier in the conference. He pastored a church of 50 people in Dallas, Texas. He had served as a pastor in churches in various states over the years. The moderator then asked every man to stand in the auditorium who had been a spiritual son or had been influenced by this pastor. Men stood up all over the auditorium! I was deeply moved. Then I sensed the Lord's still small voice, "That's success.” Success does not necessarily have anything to do with the size of a church or ministry. Success is loving God enough to obey Him as a spiritual parent.

Don't plow in your son's field

In the mid 1970's a movement called the "discipleship movement” was popular. Good discipleship principles were sometimes overshadowed by unhealthy one-on-one relationships where leaders required those under their authority to get their approval before making decisions such as dating, marriage, and even visiting relatives during holidays! In some cases, families were split apart and lives turned upside down.

This movement led to unbiblical obedience to human leaders, and in some cases, the leaders twisted the biblical principle of accountability by stepping into others' fields and attempting to make their decisions for them.Occasionally, believers moved halfway across the country to follow their spiritual parents to a new location when they moved.

To say we will always have a close relationship with someone can become bondage. We must take the attitude of"if the Lord wills!” James 4:13-15 (NIV) tells us: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'”

We do not know if we will maintain a long-term, close fathering or mothering relationship with the spiritual children we are now mentoring. This is up to the Lord, not up to us.

Those who found themselves in these situations in the 1970's were involved in what could be called "unholy covenants.” True spiritual fathers never ask their sons to make unholy covenants or make decisions for them. Spiritual fathers and mothers will never seek to control their spiritual children in this manner.

A holy covenant vs. an unholy covenant

A holy covenant is a promise or undertaking on the part of God. The only covenants that are holy and last for a lifetime are (1) the covenant I have with Christ to serve Him completely, (2) the covenant I have with my wife to love her and cherish her "until death do us part,” and (3) the covenant I have with the body of Christ to love her and be a blessing to the Lord's bride. We must be careful to never get involved in unholy covenants.

So what is an unholy covenant? While a holy covenant is a promise on the part of God, an unholy covenant is made with a person or group that hinders one from obeying the Holy Spirit's leading in his life.For example, some believers were asked to stay at a certain church their entire lifetimes because they were "in covenant” with the leadership. This is unholy and unhealthy. We cannot be sure of the time frame of serving with those in our current church.

In a spiritual fathering relationship, if the Lord calls either the father or the son to serve elsewhere in another field, we need to release them and help them find their place of most fruitful ministry.

Your field yields fruit

When you are cultivating your field within its boundaries and receiving God's grace for the field, it will yield fruit: "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance” (Psalm 16:5-6 NIV).

Rather than limit us, boundary lines allow us to be fruitful in our spheres of influence. The fields to which God assigns us are protected, secure places of learning. We grow and learn how to receive our inheritance within that field. Within the boundaries of our fields, we will receive rich blessings because we are where the Lord wants us to be. We will know when we are in the right spiritual parenting relationship(s) because they will yield fruit!

God determines and expands our fields

Be responsible within your present field. Build it, and God will enhance it. Allow God to promote you. If you are called to be a spiritual father or mother to someone, or to start a cell group or plant a new church, remember, timing is everything. Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 indicates that there is a proper time and procedure for every matter. David is the classic example--he was called and anointed to be king, but there was already a king. David did not seize or attempt to overthrow authority. He allowed God to promote him in His time.

Spiritual fathers should help their sons determine their fields and encourage them to allow the Lord to promote them into other fields when change is on the horizon. The sons may not have the maturity to see this. It is one way fathers can protect their sons.

Delegate authority in your field

Another way to father spiritual sons is to help them delegate authority to the sons they are raising. You can temporarily delegate to others the authority God has given you in a field of ministry. For example, when parents are away from home, they might ask the oldest child to be responsible for the house. This child has received delegated authority for his parent's field.

I Timothy 1:1-4 describes how Timothy was assigned a portion of Paul's authority in Ephesus, even to the point of bringing correction to false teachers and doctrines. Pastors of churches assign authority to cell leaders to lead a cell group, and cell leaders work within the field they are assigned. They do not take authority in other areas of the church. This would cause confusion.

It is only the Lord who empowers us and gives us the anointing to rule our fields. In Matthew 10:1, Jesus gave authority to His disciples as He was opening up a new field for them. He did not send them out without first giving them the delegated authority. With this delegated authority, they would operate in His power and love to change the world.

Allow God to assign you fields through His delegated authority with the expectation that He will expand them as you are faithful. You have stewardship of the field, not ownership. A teller at a bank does not own the money she handles day after day, but she is a steward of it. Our God owns all spiritual fields. We are only stewards.

A symptom that you are taking ownership rather than stewardship occurs if you get discouraged when someone leaves your field. For instance, if you are leading a small group and someone leaves the group, or if your spiritual son or daughter moves on to another mentoring relationship, you must realize that God brings people to your field, and God can lead them away. This is His field, and these are His people, not ours. We must get a broader picture of the greater body of Christ and rejoice, rather than be threatened, when "our family” (those we have mentored and trained) is released to other fields (churches and ministries).

Do not tolerate the enemy's activity in your field

Paul had a sense of responsibility for the Corinthian church (II Corinthians 11:28-29). We, too, must be responsible and, as spiritual fathers and mothers, stand in the gap and intercede for our spiritual children. Ezekiel 22:30 gives us a picture of prayer warfare as a believer standing in the gap between God's mercy and man's need. God has given you the authority to intercede in this way.

As we parent our spiritual children, we need to stand in the gap for them and refuse to allow the enemy to rob them when sin creates a gap in their lives. As spiritual parents, we must take possession of our inheritance by interceding diligently. Our intercession restricts and destroys satanic strongholds and evil forces of the enemy and allows the Holy Spirit to bring godly influences into our spiritual children's lives.

A complete discussion of fields of ministry and their importance to church leaders is found in Appendix A (page 169).

Take possession of your fields

By way of summary, we must recognize what fields are and faithfully work within them. It is important to teach spiritual moms and dads, cell leaders, church leadership, and future leadership how fields of ministry work. You may be a grassroots spiritual parent, a pastor serving as a spiritual parent, or an apostolic spiritual parent. No matter what type of spiritual parent you are--the responsibility is yours for your fields of ministry, large or small. You are given responsibility and oversight for multiple fields of ministry: your home, church,business and community. These are your fields of assignment from the Lord. Know what your fields are. Your fields have certain boundaries, giving them size and shape. As a spiritual father or mother, rise up in faith and possess the fields the Lord has given to you!

Take possession of your fields, working faithfully in His grace and respecting others' fields around you. Christ has entrusted your fields to you. Walk in His grace and produce a diversity of crops in carefully cultivated fields. This will give you the distinction of yielding more fruit than you could ever have imagined!

As you work in your fruit-bearing fields, it is paramount that you know how to make wise decisions. In the next chapter, you will learn how to impart biblical decision-making principles to your spiritual children.

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