This is intended as a part two to Teach Us To Pray and I  call it Teach Us To Pray For Our Children. It assumes the basics covered in Teach Us To Pray. The next step after Teach Us To Pray For Our Children is Teach_Us_to_Preach_the_Kingdom.

Basic Things That We Want For Our Children

In my opinion the letter to the Colossians hits the nail directly on the head when it comes to the approach that we need to take for our children.

I have included the NET version for clarification but I will stick with the KJV for my references. I have learned that I must take that attitude to my son and as it says do not cease to pray. According to that scripture it starts with being filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. All wisdom includes scripture but since it is all it must apply to every aspect of life. So I ask myself if he (my son) or I am there yet. Have we even begun the process? Once you have started you go on to be fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Then we go from strength to strength being Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power so that we can be genuinely Giving thanks unto the Father for the evidence of being saints. When I look at that, then where is my family along that path? What evidence is there in each member of my family for which I can give thanks? If that is what I want for my family then how do I get it all?

It was bad enough when I was growing up but now it is getting worse. After a parable encouraging us to be persistent Christ asks And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? [8] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth (Luke 18:7-8 [KJV])? Children growing up in this era are faced with challenges that were almost unheard of a generation ago. For example the whole education system ignores God and focuses on only its indoctrination of the youth to put their faith in the system, the establishment. When it fails them they are taught to blame themselves, not blame the system and turn to God. The indoctrination makes it seem natural that the knowledge of God can be ignored in the practical steps of life (getting a career, finding a wife, even inheriting the Kingdom). From their perspective you can just do what comes natural, rely on the system and it will work out. In reality that is neither natural or true. So what is true?

According to Galatians 3:29 [KJV], And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Christians are Abraham's seed and hence this scripture is directed to us. We need to know this and remind God of it in prayers for our children. We also need to remind our children that this is written to them.

God says this in spite of recognising that we are just worms (verse 14). We also need to comfort our children with this when they are under stress.

In addition we must also somehow get our children to practise the sentiment of these next scriptures, knowing that for most of us we cannot do it except by prayer and fasting.

Why We Need To Pray For Our Children

I have found that those basics still leave me with a gap of confidence largely stemming from a lack of appreciation of where my own offspring fits in. In other words I am nowhere near Colossians 1:9-12 yet. The remainder of this message is me grappling with that. Our children, no matter how many we have, are targeted. Job lost his first crop of children. We look at the scriptures and we see that Abimelech killed Gideon's 70 sons. Samuel lost his children. Eli lost his children. David lost Absalom and a daughter to sexual violence. Hezekiah had Manasseh. We see the tragedy of Josiah's Children. These fathers were all amazing men so what hope is there for me? Perhaps the answer can be found in these next two cases:

Make our Home His Abode

I find it interesting that this is my main point and that I even introduced it as a bullet in the list that I made but somehow I omitted it from my original composition. I will not elaborate on the need for the Holy Spirit as opposed to natural wisdom alone because we all know that as Christians but the point of Psalm 107 is that we cannot save our children. We are bluntly told that in the very first verse of Psalm 127.

No matter what we do, unless God decides to build our house it fails. What is our house? According to Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Dictionaries of the Greek and Hebrew Testaments it is translated from Strong's H1004, Hebrew bayith: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.. It is talking about our family. So where does that leave us? Do we retreat in despair? Do we claim perfection so that God is obligated to us? Is there any sure hope?

I introduced the answer in my article Teach us to pray under the caption Keeping His commands. Christ answered a question from Judas (not Iscariot) If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (John 14:23 [KJV]). It is from there that we extrapolate.

The Ten Commandments were introduced when the glory of the Lord abode on mount Sinai. We can see the power associated with that but it also shows us that His abiding is connected with The Commandments.

Moving forward we see the connection with the pillar of cloud and fire that they followed.

Following this Israel made a Golden Calf that broke God's Commandments in Exodus 32, forcing Him to remove his abode in Exodus 33. With that abode went God's initial blessings and they knew it. God's abode is a powerful thing that Israel craved all its existence. It became connected with the Ark of the Covenant (that contained the Ten Commandments) which they took to battle and resorted to in time of crisis. Taking it in to battle it showed that they were keeping them and not breaking the stone tablets. To keep the focus on our children we jump over much of that and come to Elijah.

Elijah had made his abode with a woman living in Zarephath and we see his response when her son died. Where did Elijah get the heart to do that from? Elijah pursued the child through death and brought him back. He would not let him go even after he was dead. The first person the Bible records as raised from the dead is the son of this widow. Elijah had no precedent. It resulted from the place being his abode. It was not a fluke since the same thing happened with Elisha.

So Elisha had an abode. Some time later this transpired.

These were just men so what would happen if we have the living God making an abode with us? An then we have Psalm 112.

It does place some responsibility on us to be gracious but there is no getting away from the promise. The only prerequisite is to fear God primarily demonstrated by keeping His commandments. It is repeated in Psalm 115.

Notice from Psalm 112 that it is connected with keeping God's commandments (that is how we show fear of God) and is also what Christ emphasised in John 14:23 quoted in beginning this topic above. Elijah and Elisha responded positively to the need because they had an abode in the house, but they would not have known about the children if the parents had not brought a petition to them. Praying involves bringing petitions to God just as the parents brought petitions to these men.

In God's Best Interest

I think that they go a long way in teaching us fundamentals of why we need to pray for our children and what to pray about. Their intelligence would never be sufficient even if it was the very best it could be. I want to add another consideration that is perhaps the most potent option, that being that it is in God's best interest. Our children are presented to Christ at childhood to be labourers and are later baptised as a further step in that direction.

The bible is clear on presenting children (especially the firstborn) to God (Luke 2:22-23), and on bringing children to Christ for blessing (Mark 10:13-16).

If we have done these things, then God certainly knows our children, but what would He want with them? What use are they to Him?

Prophecy

There are two main analogies that Christ gave for Christians. One is fishermen and that appears to apply to the apostles, who are the people that transitioned from apprentice labourers after basic training. The other is labourers which applies to all Christians. The apostles are labourers who passed basic training and were selected and sent to a do a specific task. This is according to prophecy.

The prophesy also mentions hunters. This can only be a reference to the final directive given to the Twelve as they were sent to hunt down the Ten Lost Tribes and share the Gospel with them. Both fishermen and hunters are apostles. They were first trained as fishers, which is a more general endeavour, and finally given a more specific task as hunters, but in both cases they were sent and hence apostles and are labourers. The Twelve were therefore hunter-apostles or hunter-labourers in function but they were never given that name by God. Fishers and hunters are both labourers.

FISHERMEN

Perhaps it is at this juncture that I should point out that according to the majority of scholars, Mark was the first Gospel to be written. It is believed that both Luke and Matthew used Mark as the main source to which they added their own perspectives. Fishermen generally do not look for specific fish, but throw out their nets and God provides a catch. The emphasis of my next scripture is Matthew 4:19.

Mark makes the same point in Mark 1:17.

Luke makes the same point in Luke 5:10.

The context shows how He did that, i.e. made them fishers of men. He taught them how to be fishers by example. Matthew summarises it this way teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. He taught in a way that it was clear that He knew what He was talking about. He taught of their future in the Kingdom. He helped people in a meaningful way. These attracted people to them. He later sent them to do the same thing that He did.

LABOURERS

According to Jeremiah 16:16 we may be described as hunters or fishers, but in either case there is work to be done and we are all labourers. Matthew 9:37 and Luke 10:2 make it clear that the labourers are scarce and it also gives a command or commandment!

At the risk of being offensive by labouring the obvious, I point out that we are commanded to do this, i.e. pray for labourers, and who better to recommend than our children. I don't care if they have left the Church. God is the potter and refiner and He would have known them all their lives. However we cannot tell God how to reward His labourers. Some may seem to benefit more than others for their effort but our only concern is that He rewards us according to His promise. Jealousy leads to mischief.

Everybody cannot be a big kahuna, or the one who has preeminence, and I do not believe that most of us want that anyhow. Paul says that he built a foundation in Corinth based on plans given to him by God. He welcomed others building on that foundation as long as they followed the same plan. The plan does not belong to Paul and neither do the other labourers. Everything belongs to God and is for God but also for our corporate benefit, not for any individual. Our argument needs to be that our children are among the best that there is available, they just need some help. Every child does not have to be a Peter or a Paul or an Apollos. In any case you may be surprised to see that people who may at first seem to be less may in reality be very much more. I will go on to talk later of Barnabas and Mark and others.

That includes the females. Women are fellowlabourers. Because of biological differences and societal norms it is not practical to expose them to all situations that men can be immersed in, but other than that they have the same gifts and power from Christ that strengthens them. They are not to be held back.

You do not need to be a Paul. Remember that Paul and Mark had gone their separate ways because Paul condemned him for leaving the work (Acts 13.13, Acts 15:38-41, Matthew 18:21-22). Now Paul calls him a fellowlabourer. Paul is the one who later said that you can have all of these fancy gifts but the greatest one is brotherly love (1 Corinthians 13), and it may be Mark that taught him that. Who made them both labourers? Mark was a Christian before Paul was, and he apparently outlived Paul. Mark endured longer.

How do we endure as labourers?

James takes a turn in the rich who sustain their wealth by defrauding the labourers/employees. He likens Christians to these employees and tells us how to endure. Notice that it is the well-to-do who put stress on the labourers. He does not say rich men of the world just rich men. These are the affluent and influential. Remember the Pharisee, and the publican that beat his own chest (Luke 18:11-14).

That should remind us of the Message to Sardis in Revelation 3. To continue, the rich typically endure by afflicting the labourers, and maybe this also applies to those who think that they are rich as defined in Revelation 3. They are the taskmasters that belittle the labourers and prosper at their expense. According to Revelation 3 they think pretty highly of themselves but we continue with James.

Some of the specific advice is found in verse 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. According to Mickelson (Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries) the word translated psalm here is:

G5567 psallo (psal'-lo) v.

1. to twitch or twang, i.e. to play on a stringed instrument (celebrate the divine worship with music and accompanying odes)

In short it does not say hymns. Obviously the standards of Christianity censor us from certain types of music but not all uplifting songs are hymns. To you or I rock music may be noise but to them it is not. You may be surprised if you took note of the lyrics. To sum up then in order to endure, pray (don't get angry or hostile) when you have stress, sing and celebrate when you are happy, and seek the support of the elders (not the pastor) when you are sick. Africans are famous for demonstrating the power of singing while labouring.

We need to observe our children as is within our ability and have directed prayers and interventions when we notice these things. We are the elders for them. It goes on in verse 15 to deal with sickness and sin. Prayer is the solution to both. The solution is not the elders, it is the prayers.

Labourers have no direct benefit from a successful harvest. They are paid a wage according to a promise. We briefly considered the parable in Matthew 20:1-16 where a householder went out and saw idle workers and offered them a penny for their daily wage. In Matthew 9 and Luke 10 Christ talks about the labourers being few and appears to be saying that He wants this done. Labourers are dependent on the generosity of the householder. A labourer that is sick cannot work and a labourer that is happy can work harder. For our wage we are promised eternal life. Labourers need to have endurance.

How do we do the work of labourers?

The basic example that Christ left is that we are first trained as apprentices and then we are sent to prove that the training worked. We touched on the nature of the training when we dealt with the topic of Fishermen: Christ set the example and later we will see that He gave them a chance to work independently. We began with Colossians 1 which demonstrated the importance of wisdom and understanding as a first step. We cannot work without it.

That covers the two main elements of training for labourers: wisdom with understanding and the Holy Spirit. This is confirmed in the election of who are commonly referred to as the seven deacons in Acts 6.

According to them these were a prerequisite to be eligible to wait on tables, the lowest responsibility defined by the Church.

They (wisdom and understanding and the Holy Spirit) are therefore essential for labourers. Wisdom and understanding includes mastering the scriptures.

Our general responsibility is to carry out the main command

Family is not mentioned there so where does family fit in?

Our biggest responsibility is to our family! It is not to build a church or win converts, it is to pass on wisdom and understanding with the Holy Spirit to our families. Apostolic work comes after being a reliable labourer and it is opened to all as we will soon see. The offices that people crave and extol (bishop and deacon) were not established by Christ directly but came much later. As far as the priority of the Church is concerned let us start with Timothy. The greatest responsibility of a labourer is not an apostle (and hence being specially selected) but to his family, and not when one is given the office of a bishop.

The other label that emerged to describe the responsibilities of labourers to sustain the Church is deacon.

I am going to look at what these words mean and hence what is expected of those who are ordained to these offices which I prefer to look at as gifts. Gifts that can be abused by those who like preeminence.

Bishop and deacon, are always found together in the body of letters to Timothy, Titus and the Philipians. The places where they do not occur together have been added by some unknown editor at the end of the letter, and cannot therefore be verified as scripture. These additions are the places which make them appear to be jobs. Bishop is found on its own only once and that is in speaking of Christ in the first general letter from Peter.

DISCIPLES

Disciples are followers of Christ. Jesus attracted followers but He explained that it required supreme commitment.

The disciples were being trained, as it turned out in some cases, to take the responsibility to wait on tables. God takes everything that He does seriously and for us to even be on the bottom rung we need to reflect that.

The evidence of discipleship is already in our children. They understand, they already know the mystery of the kingdom of God. God already has a vested interest in making them to be some of those labourers that are scarce.

The Parable of the Sower is found in Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20 and Luke 8:4–15. What are the issues highlighted there? Let us pick it up from Mark 4:14-20 [KJV].

1.

Are you going to allow that without a fight? Are you going to let what God has planted be snatched away. Keep praying and keep talking about God.

2.

If they have no root then we have to be the root for them and pray. Keep them attached to us and feed them as part of our vine. We also need to do what we can to help them through the affliction/persecution and to avoid being offended. I got these three tips from a website called faith.ph which featured this article How to Overcome Feeling Offended https://faith.ph/tips-and-advice/how-to-overcome-feeling-offended/ Posted by Contributor | Sep 29, 2021:

1.  Listen with the ears and heart to understand and not to attack or defend
2.  Be honest with how you feel. They will not know unless you tell them
3.  Remember that what they say about you or others, says more about themselves and less about you

So what if our children do not want to listen, do not want to talk, and do not want to see it through God's eyes and from the other's perspective? The only course of action that may be left is prayer.

3.

Another tough job but we have to remind them of the vanity of these things and pray.

4.

If we keep battling successfully through prayer we hope for this result. We form part of the good ground for them.

THE TWELVE

In the case of the twelve Christ hand picked and called them at the beginning of the work. After initial training they were sent to work on their own.

Christ's concern was that they were too few to address the needs of the work.

And so He sent the 12 as apostles!

Notice that this is where the term apostle was introduced, when they were initially sent to the lost sheep of Israel in the area surrounding Jerusalem, not when they were sent to the twelve scattered tribes of Israel, and we will soon see that they were not the only apostles. Also notice what the training to be an apostle entailed. You had to be willing to set out with nothing and address the needs of the people, armed only with the Holy Spirit and Judas had done this successfully.

Just for information a script is a food bag. Now back on topic, this is why Christ warned people who wanted to be His disciples, because the final exam depended on it so that by the time that He was ready to leave this earth He could give them the great commission. He was not exaggerating. He wanted people that were loosed from the shackles of this life.

It appears that He was willing to send these on their final training as apostles but they would not go. All disciples must be trained as labourers and graduate to be able to carry out the commission.

So Christ gave a template of how a Church (the group of people called out) is to be developed. It is not focussed on somebody called an apostle but on training others to be independent and rely only on the Holy Spirit. He neither created pastors before or after the 70. Christ is who opened their understanding of the scriptures not a pastor. He was very concerned that they were not up to the task.

This concern persisted until His crucifixion. He did not want them holding on to His skirt tail. He wanted them to be independently able and do greater things. It bothered Him to the point of crying.

THE SEVENTY

Following the castigation in Luke 9 of some who desired to follow Him Christ selected seventy in Luke 10 to go in pairs and preach the gospel. He gave them the same training as the 12 and sent them as apostles in the same way. Notice that He considered 70 to be still few! There were only 12 tribes so why did He need seventy more trained in the same manner?

The seventy and the twelve became apostles after initial training, i.e. they had qualified to be sent. When they became scattered because of Stephen they were effectively sent and anonymously did the work wherever they went. We will look at a couple more later, but for now it is quite possible that Barnabas was one of them. Barnabas was a nickname, his given name was Joseph, a Levite, born in Cyprus (Acts 4:36). He earned the nickname Barnabas (son of encouragement) from the twelve. Very early on he had sold land and laid the money at the apostles' feet (Acts 4:36-37). Since this happened soon after the day of Pentecost, he must have been an early convert and not one brought in by the Twelve, hence he was very likely one of the seventy. He had obviously earned the right to be sent and so they arranged to send him to Antioch.

The work of Paul was built on Barnabas. Barnabas was successful before Paul. It seems that Paul never actually called him anything but Barnabas and so Luke did the same. Christ had left a foundation of people that He could call on.

The next one I look at now is Matthias.

Where did they get these two from? They were already trained and just had to be selected. What happened to Barsabas from Acts 1:23? Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren (Acts 15:22 [KJV]). I was inclined to believe that he was the same person as Judas Barsabas but this is what Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries (hereinafter referred to as Mickelson) the indicates:

G923 Βαρσαβᾶς Barsabas (bar-sab-as`) n/p.

1. son of Sabas (or Tsaba)

2. Bar-sabas, the name of two Israelites .

Judas and Joseph were probably brothers whose father was Sabas. He was good enough to be of the twelve apostles so where was he when they wanted people to wait on tables? In my opinion he was doing the work to which he was called elsewhere. It's not as though they could not find him. He was not sitting around waiting on the twelve. Also note that Silas, who accompanied Paul, was not dependent on Paul. He was one of the chief men among the brethren, also And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them (Acts 15:32 [KJV]).

THE SEVEN

It is generally believed that the seven were of the seventy that Christ had trained. The Bible nowhere says that but it is logical. Their appointment is described in Acts 6:16. Although they are presently referred to as deacons that does not come from the scriptures either. The Seven were:

•  Stephen the martyr
•  Philip the Evangelist
•  Prochorus
•  Nicanor
•  Timon
•  Parmenas
•  Nicholas

The works of Stephen and Philip are the only two recorded in the Scriptures. There are extra-biblical records indicating that Nicholas became apostate and is the origin of the term Nicolaitan in the Revelation recorded by John.

STEPHEN

Stephen had no title but he was unstoppable as a labourer. Notice verse 10.

Stephen knew the scriptures. In Acts 7 Stephen recounted the history of Israel to make a point,

God knew what was happening to Stephen and He did not prevent it. Christ and the Father were standing  and hence alert. Bad things can happen to the very best of us. The book of Job goes more deeply into this. After the Martyrdom of Stephen the disciples began to be scattered.

PHILIP

Philip had no title either and was also unstoppable like Stephen, but in a different way. Philip went to Samaria. He is referred to as the evangelist in Acts 21:8. He was not ordained an evangelist! It was a gift of the Holy Spirit.

It was Philip, not Peter, that stirred up the work in Samaria. Christ had explicitly told the twelve not to go there (Matthew 10:5 [KJV]) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. It was also Philip that caused the gospel to go to Ethiopia. After leaving Samaria the Holy Spirit sent Philip to Gaza. From Samaria to Gaza is 129 km and Gaza is to the south of Samaria. After Gaza he was found back north of Gaza in Azotus (a.k.a Ashdod) about 38 km north of Gaza.

Philip and Stephen did not wait on Peter or anybody else. They were empowered by Christ to do God's work and they did not allow themselves to be held back. They did not focus on labels. Paul visited Philip who had been employed in God's work much longer than Paul.

Why was he called an evangelist?

An evangelist was a counter against apostasy and false doctrine. Part of evangelical work is what is called apologetics nowadays. Philip had been doing evangelical work before Barnabas or Paul and by Acts 21 he had not stopped. There were no limits placed on Philip. On the other hand Paul was directed to Gentiles and his objective was to reach Rome (Acts 19:21, Acts 23:11), but he did not plant the gospel there, it was already there when he reached. Somebody acting as evangelist had to have taken it. Philip was obviously doing the work since he was called the evangelist but he was not the only one. Philip was not called deacon but was identified as one of the seven. Philip's evangelical work was an extension of the work that he did in his family. According to Acts 21:7-9 he had settled in Caesarea and had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. How many pastors today let their daughters prophesy? How did it happen with Philip? Christ's example was to teach and then send the disciples out in pairs. Did these stay at home and preach? The word prophet does not mean the same as seer. Because of Nicean Church bias against women we get the idea that they were shut up in the house and spoke only to their father. Is that what John did?

Is it what the Corinthians did?

Why is there a distinction between prophesy and see visions and dream dreams?

Why is there a distinction in Corinthians?

What is it that Isaiah did in order for it to be recorded today?

He was given understanding of the future and spoke about it. That is what prophecy is about. We are given understanding about the Kingdom and we speak about it to whomever will hear. Philip had taught his daughters to gain spiritual understanding and publicly talk about it. Philip's daughters spoke such that it made an impact on Paul's group. They were not shy to speak in the company of men and teach them of the future Kingdom. Furthermore they were living in Greek society and this provided them with an additional opportunity, brought out by this scripture Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues (I Corinthians 14:39 [KJV]). Speaking in tongues does not mean rambling on in incoherent gibberish (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). They were brought up with the Hebrew language and also spoke fluent Greek. They could therefore translate what Christ said as well as the Hebrew Torah. Why does God reveal things to His servants, the prophets? One daughter could be a fluke but four? In ancient Roman society there would have been limits to women as evangelists (e.g. being suddenly found in some strange place) but they could, and did prophesy as with Priscilla. Her husband Aquila is traditionally counted among the seventy and apparently did his homework. He taught his wife and gave her independence.

Priscilla and Aquila

There is no evidence in the Bible that Peter was ever in Rome. Before Paul ever reached Rome he wrote the Church there a letter so he could not have started it. In that letter he presents a list of some of the people. You can read the list of names for yourself in Romans 16:1-16. It is a long list and these are only the ones that he knew and wanted to greet. It is quite possible that the Church there was developed by people like Priscilla and Aquila because they were there: Romans 16:3 says Greet Priscilla and Aquila .... These two had travelled with Paul for a while and were already Christians when they met him. These are the same two who had updated Apollos in the teachings of the Gospel. They moved around a lot and were known to host the Church at their house as shown by The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house (I Corinthians 16:19 [KJV]). When Paul wrote to Timothy at Ephesus they were there. They were apparently in Philippi with Paul when he wrote 1 Corinthians as was just shown in I Corinthians 16:19. It seems like they moved around quite a bit and were always in the service of the gospel. Therefore these two evangelists were in Rome long before Paul.

To take a closer look at Romans 16: Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:  [4] Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.  [5] Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ (Romans 16:3-5 [KJV]). The context suggest that they were of assistance to all the churches of the Gentiles. So we saw that Philip was an evangelist long before Paul and now we have also taken note of Priscilla and Aquila. The people were working before there were any fancy titles to describe them. The titles came after. That is want we want for our children. We want them capable and independent.

DEACON

The Philippian Church was established by Paul at the beginning of his second journey. In Acts 15:36 Paul expressed his desire to visit the churches in cities where he and Barnabas had preached. Because of a dispute Paul ended up going with Silas. The expression by Luke And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God (Acts 15:40 [KJV]) makes it appear that Silas was subservient to Paul and was obliged to obey, but that could not be further from the truth. Silas did not need Paul but chose to accompany him. Silas was a chief man in the Church (Acts 15:22 [KJV]). While on that mission Paul had a vision to go the Macedonia and settled at Philippi which was one of its chief cities. The letter to the Church was written many years later when Paul was incarcerated in Rome (Philippians 1:7, Acts 28:16-31). The words deacon and bishop first appear in Philippians 1:1 with the work of Paul. The only other person to use the word bishop is Peter and it was in referring to Christ.

The word deacon essentially means servant and bishop means overseer/inspector. We can swap out the words deacon and bishop and replace them accordingly. They are not fancy titles but words used in regular language.

As you can see these are gifts, i.e. He gave, and they do not include deacon or bishop. These words are used to generalise the roles of labourers. Some oversee the work of other labourers but all serve. Someone may oversee in evangelism and be a deacon in teaching. The gifts are of God while these general labels are of men. The list in Ephesians begins with apostle which is how Christ began things. He first tested if His labourers could be sent. Later we have Stephen, who clearly was given the gift of a prophet, followed by Philip an evangelist, and after the dispersed Church became more established, pastors and teachers (like Priscilla and Aquila).

BISHOP

What does bishop mean and what does it entail? According to Mickelson it is:

G1984 episkope (ep-is-kop-ay') n.

1. inspection (for relief)

2. (by implication) superintendence

I have searched around and the fundamental meaning of the word is something like inspector. People who want to give themselves preeminence have added highfalutin meanings to the word. A bishop must be someone who is able to inspect and report to God and the other labourers when relief or assistance is needed. Labourers who are not given adequate relief or assistance can quickly become overwhelmed and burned out, especially if they are selfless as the disciples were. He should be able to recommend a course of relief. That's it. The rest is done by God. The overseer might have been given other gifts by God but that is on an individual basis. With that in mind let us look at some of what God tells us. We begin with Acts 1 and the term bishoprick.

That is referring to the scope or range that was opened to Judas as one to inspect and report to God and God's people for relief, and his specialty was the state of the finances. He was not called accountant but that is what he did at the time. This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein (John 12:6 [KJV]). In the long term the Twelve were each assigned to a tribe of Israel,  Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. [29] And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; [30] That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:28-30 [KJV]). So their ultimate job was to inspect the state of the tribes and report back to God with recommendations for relief. Judas had the personal talent of being an accountant. They were not given power to control Israel in their mortal lives.

At the other extreme Jesus is called the Bishop of your souls (1 Pet. 2:2125) where the obvious intention is to monitor the state of our lives with the objective of providing relief. It is the same role of bishop but Christ has other gifts which give Him power at any time.

These other bishops and deacons did not have that power.

Notice that the end of 2 Timothy was added by someone other than Paul.

Again notice that all that is written after Amen in the letter to Titus was added later.

Apostles

Paul makes a comment on the organisation of the Church in his first letter to the Corinthians.

Apostles are a feature of the New Covenant and were all trained personally by Christ. The first 12 were the foundation and held in highest regard. Often the word apostle was qualified by using 12 to identify these foundational ones. Luke takes a different approach in his Gospel and in the book of Acts. When he says apostles the 12 is implied. Paul said that he was also an apostle and explained that Christ taught him in Arabia (Galatians 1:17-18). Barnabas was most likely trained as one of the 70 (who were like floating apostles and could fit in anywhere) so he and Paul were hand picked by the Church and sent to the gentiles. People tend to look at names and view apostle as higher than bishop but they are very different and an apostle can be a bishop and vice versa. A bishop cares for a flock. An apostle is sent to accomplish a task and may move on. The two jobs require different skill sets. Many people view Paul as perfect, I do not. I do believe that he was a great Christian man with strong faith and unquestioned commitment. Paul struggled with certain issues which I believe came out in his writing. For example in Galatians 2:8 he said For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. He did not say effective in Barnabas and I although God clearly sent Barnabas too. In addition, at first he says that they seemed to be pillars but later he said in Ephesians 2:20 [KJV] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Paul continuously grew as a person. In spite of whatever faults he might or might not have had I do not see where Paul claims that he was the only apostle to the gentiles or the main apostle to the gentiles. He simply points out that he was just as effective in drawing gentiles to Christ as Peter was to Jews. Paul does not appear to have followed Christ's pattern for establishing independent labourers and Churches of today follow Paul. We do not know how the twelve apostles established the Gospel where they went. According to Paul he was called for a specific purpose (I Corinthians 1:1 [KJV] Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. . .). This is also the correct translation of Romans 11:13 as is corrected in the New English Translation, Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry (Romans 11:13 [NETfree]) and corroborated in his letter to Timothy, Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity (I Timothy 2:7 [KJV]). Apostles are sent with a directive as was the case with Peter, Paul and others. Even though the 70 were not given a directive to a specific following upon their initial return, the Holy Spirit continued to work powerfully in them. It does not make sense to compare Philip with Paul.

Paul confronted Peter before he was officially recognised as an apostle. Peter had issues but so did Paul. If Paul did not have issues he would have been healed of his affliction. The point is that there is no perfect human and our example of perfection is Christ alone.

The present practice in Christianity is that groups are brought together under a man. That man controls the group. That man typically does not have the gifts that Christ gave to the seventy far less the twelve, yet he and his inner circle seek to censor the other Christians from exercising God given independence in his/their church. It stifles the Church. The Church belongs to God and He sets the rules. Many of the rules devised by these religious elites were inherited from the Catholic Church and do not come from scripture. Paul (as did the other noted 82 apostles) had power given by the Holy Spirit and it was evident in his actions. Today's elites have political power based on dividing the Church against other Christians, but little evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are all labourers together unless we can demonstrate that we have graduated to something more. Our children have that same potential to graduate as was given the first 82 and it is our privilege to assist in their training. We cannot send them. God has to do that. God sent apostles to demonstrate that they could survive on their own in pairs before He unleashed them on unsuspecting potential disciples. Our first job as parents is to help our children learn to survive on their own, without the backing of a Church group or pastor or whatever. They must be independent first and then contribute to the group out of love and not out of need for survival. That is the mark of a true apostle, one that has graduated from being dependent to one that is a fisher or hunter. Having said that, the evidence of the Spirit is not the same in everyone.

Defective labourers

God does not want to use anything that is defective. If you search through the New Testament for the word perfect you will see how many times the scriptures tell us that God aims for perfection.

But yet this is the reality for some of us as was mentioned earlier in this article.

We are just worms (verse 14) as defined by But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people (Psalms 22:6 [KJV]). So what is the solution? Prayer. When dealing with broken people God has to be involved, whether it is an age old problem like drug addiction, gambling, or any of the more recent entrants to the stage which include the spectrum of developmental disorders like ADHD and so on. These are all situations where people are compelled or driven to harm themselves or have their faculties stymied.

There are two key issues with defective labourers: one is wisdom with understanding and the other is the Holy Spirit less than a mustard seed. I will illustrate the concern with wisdom and understanding first.

Now the solution of sharpening a blunt cutting tool may seem so obvious to most, but for a person with impaired faculties it may never enter their consciousness. Depending on how severe it is they will not understand even if you go to great pains to explain. You may never understand why something so obvious does not spring to mind immediately because to you it is natural. They just do not have that feature in them but God can give it instantly. You can find examples of the value of wisdom in Proverbs 2 & 3 and elsewhere.

The second issue is really power. There is a spirit in man and the human spirit can provide significant power, however the Holy Spirit is far more powerful, so why settle for less? The Holy Spirit provides faith which in even tiny quantities can move mountains (Matthew 17:20-21) and heal people.

Every human being has a spirit that gives them power, which may be significant in some cases, but the Holy Spirit, given as needed by Christ, can provide limitless power as Paul recognised, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Philippians 4:13 [KJV]).

The situation of demon possession in scripture is representative of the range of serious personality problems mentioned earlier. Let me be very clear here, I am in no way suggesting that these problems involve any type of demon possession. I am saying that they capture people's personality and diminish people's faculties in the same way that demon possession does. The real person is in there struggling to escape, but cannot break free of these mental shackles. Attempting to alter peoples' personalities without absolute reliance on God can be disastrous. Fixing personalities is a very delicate operation and God needs to be involved long-term. For example a relapse (or multiple relapses) is often part of recovering from alcohol and other drug dependence and can typically be considered a feature of the recovery.

So you see that while we may be oblivious to the true danger the person is actually at risk of permanent harm. What may appear to be initial success can lead to a final escalation of the problem. Mary Magdalene was defective, broken. She had seven demons and in that state she hardly could pray for herself. She would scarcely have been inclined to know the scriptures or the Messiah. Either Christ healed her of His own volition or someone else interceded for her, but based on the previous scripture there had to be long-term commitment to provide and accept help. In this same way our children may not appreciate or recognise the condition that they are in.

Mary Magdalene had become devoted to Christ and Christ to her. People can be blessed by God and go away in an ungrateful manner as we have see with the nine out of ten lepers (Luke 17:11–19) and other places. Keeping God's commands is how we show that love, and neglecting them can be disastrous. Even beyond that our gratitude for life-changing assistance should result in an improvement of our spiritual lifestyle. We are called to account for our gifts  As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (I Peter 4:10 [KJV]). Also, as mentioned before if the demon returns there must be something occupying our presence to resist it from returning even more devastatingly. For example money is hard to come by and for someone in dire straights giving money to honour Christ is very difficult, but we have to set aside for God's feasts and give wherever else we can. Mary Magdalene was evidently not poor but she was a giver.

Lazarus' sister Mary was fairly well to do or else how would she end up with this valuable perfume. She lived in Bethany and aside from that she could have been the same Mary Magdalene. Also keep in mind that in the parable householder hiring labourers a days wage was a penny (Matthew 20:2). This ointment was therefore worth a year's wages since there would have been 52 Sabbaths to add to 300 days for the 300 pence.

There is also the unnamed woman who was a sinner. This could easily have been Mary Magdalene earning this reputation in her former life when she was possessed, but this incident occurred in Capernaum (Luke 7:1). Such women could easily be prostituted or abused in some other way for profit (Acts 16:16-19). We can look here and see how the unnamed woman responded to Christ's goodness.

Perhaps the sinner was Mary Magdalene but I will not pursue that because if God wanted it to be proved He would have made it clear. I will however proceed under the assumption that she was for the sake of my point. Somebody would have had to intercede on her behalf and we see the result. She came to love God and supported the work in the capacity that she could. She became a labourer. Our children may be defective but look at the potential. Also notice that in this and other cases of Christ's healing, all other sins were forgiven at the same time. When Christ does the job of healing He can also deal with the consequences of other transgressions at the same time. His admonition is therefore go and sin no more, because even though the subject of our request for healing for may not be a result of our sin, we are not perfect and the other sins would have been forgiven at the same time.

Being Considered Useless or Worse

We just saw that God can take someone who is completely defective and turn them into a labourer and a fisher. Mary was definitely defective. With seven demons you are incapable of rational behaviour. For all intents and purposes you are considered useless. But that is not the only way to be considered useless, we are about to consider Mark. The other question that I want to ask is are you willing to be a Barnabas? You might ask yourself why Barnabas and not Paul? Paul is greater isn't he? Both Paul and Mark are as a result of Barnabas. Mark wrote the first Gospel and the others copied from him and added their embellishments, but it is Mark that is initially responsible for us having Gospels. It is Barnabas that went for Paul when all of the others wanted little to do with him because they did not trust him. Paul started out with the kind of intolerant spirit that would be willing to kill people that did not agree with him, And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him (Acts 22:20 [KJV]). I would consider Paul to be the or worse.

Paul was rejected and he in turn rejected Mark as hopeless. It could have been because Paul still had some of that spirit of my way or the highway. Our children need a Barnabas and God's kingdom needs the Barnabases of this world. The Gospels started with Mark and most of the rest of the New Testament is about Paul. So what is the story with Barnabas and Paul?

Joseph, a Levite, born in Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (son of encouragement), sold a field he owned, brought the money, and turned it over to the apostles (Acts 4:36). This is the first mention we have of Barnabas.

Apparently soon after his conversion Paul knew that he would have to preach to the gentiles and went to be taught directly by God. He returned and went to Damascus where he had been struck down by God. After a period of about three years (Galatians 1:17-18) he went to see Peter. He had begun to preach but apparently was making little progress except for making the Jews want to kill him.

Barnabas' new name fits what we know of his actions. When Saul (or Paul) came to Jerusalem after his conversion, most of the Christians there wanted nothing to do with him (Acts 9:26-27). They had known him as a persecutor and an enemy of the Church. But Barnabas was willing to give him a second chance. He looked him up, spoke with him, and brought him to see the other Christians, vouching for him.

When the Gospel started to spread to the gentiles in Antioch, the Church sent Barnabas.

That is when Paul's work took off and Paul recognised that his transformation was through the kindness of God.

Paul now worked with Barnabas to assist the Church.

This is also where Mark enters the picture.

Paul was among others who were given the gift of being teachers.

They sent Paul and Barnabas off because God obviously had special work in mind for them to do, so Paul and Barnabas went off on the missionary journey together, taking Mark with them. Part way, Mark turned back and went home. When Paul and Barnabas were about to set out on another such journey, Barnabas proposed to take Mark along, and Paul was against it, saying that Mark had shown himself undependable. My way or the highway.

Barnabas wanted to give Mark a second chance, and so he and Mark went off on one journey, while Paul took Silas and went on another. Apparently Mark responded well to the trust given him by the son of encouragement, since we find that Paul later speaks of him as a valuable assistant and wants his help (2 Tim 4:11; see also Col 4:10 and Phil 24). Who would you rather have in your life, Paul or Barnabas? All Christian parents need to be Barnabas and not my way or the highway.

The Final Ingredient is Faith

If you are anything like me you have tried and tried and have not seen the results. The Bible explains that the problem is faith or rather our lack of it.

So what can we do to turn things around?

Putting those together we see that faith is a gift but a gift that is based on knowing the scriptures or what is said to us directly by God. So one thing we do is increase our knowledge of scripture. The next thing is the main subject of this article, prayer.

Faith is a gift so we ask for the gift.

You might say, well, that's not very helpful because it says nothing of faith; but now add this.

So the gift of faith is there but camouflaged in . . . the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Our faith can be increased through prayer.

This brings us back to the objective that we started with at the very beginning i.e. why we pray without ceasing and how we justify our pleas for our children.

We want our children to be:
• filled with wisdom and understanding
• live worthy of the Lord in everything
• be fruitful in every good work
• growing in knowledge of God
• strengthened to generate patience and joy
• showing gratitude to the Father

A worked example

The psychiatrists and medical experts would like us to believe that our only solution to caring for our children is their brand of methodologies. The Bible shows us anther way.

For this example I chose a case where a child has impaired faculties (perhaps diagnosed with ADHD etc.)
1. John 14 says that we love Christ and Christ loves us and lives in us and in our home, if we keep the commands/commandments (John 14:13-15, John 14:22-24)
   
2. In Romans 4 and Galatians 3 it says that we are Abraham's seed and therefore all the scriptures are to us (e.g. Romans 4:12, Romans 4:16, Galatians 3:29)
3. Even if the worst case were true and we were treated as heathen still Christ healed the Syrophoenician woman who was a heathen (Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30)
   
4. James 1 tells us that if we lack wisdom and understanding we pray for it (James 1:5-8)
   
5. In Matthew 7 and Luke 11 Christ tells us that if we lack faith we pray for the Holy Spirit and the Father will not deny us (Matthew 7:7–8, Luke 11:10-13)
   
6. The fruit of the Holy Spirit includes faith (Galatians 5:22-23)
7. We want our children to be fishers (which are labourers)
8. Christ says that He lacks labourers for the harvest and we should pray for more (Matthew 9:37-28, Luke 10:2)
   
9. Our children are perfectly suited since they have been taught the scriptures and to keep the Commandments from small so it is a win-win
   
10. To be fishers (e.g. Philip - or Stephen without the martyrdom¯_(ツ)_/¯) they need wisdom and understanding, the very things that are hampered by impaired faculties
11. Christ healed Mary Magdalene and raised Lazarus restoring their full faculties (Luke 8:1-3)
    
12. If our faculties are healed we need the void to be filled by the Holy Spirit or the end result will be worse than the first (Matthew 12:43-45)
13. Our children need the Holy Spirit and their full faculties and they need us to be like Barnabas
14. For our faith to succeed we too need to pray for faith (the fruit of the Spirit) even as much as a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6)

Sin no more

This section is one that is not fully developed and I hope to spend more time on it at a later date. John points out a problem that we face in seeking healing.

In John 5 the person had been afflicted with an infirmity for 38 years. We don't know what it was and it is unlikely that he knew the cause and ignored it, nevertheless Christ warned him that he could end up in a worse condition if he sinned again. This is similar to what we know from the healing of possessed people brought out earlier in Matthew 12:43-45. The second case (the one in John 8) involved a woman caught in adultery. That is something that she certainly knew about. When God provides help He expects us to correct any contributing factors. In the case of children with impaired faculties that is easier said than done.

MONITORING, FEEDBACK AND CONTROL (The conclusion)

Remember that very early on I asked what would God want with our children. They fit right in as labourers. For any dynamic system to stay on course and reach its objective it must have monitoring, feedback and control. In the specific case of children with impaired faculties they understand the world differently and the percentage of that classification of person is increasing. We cannot monitor what we cannot even properly observe. Perhaps God is in the process of preparing our children to deal with that but He needs labourers that can understand. Parents can do our part by helping God to bring them to maturity. They can then do work that we are not capable of. The monitoring, feedback and control in the church is done by God but we do the manual labour. The manual labour seems to centre on the bishop whether or not one officially exists. As I see it bishop is a general term for labourers with the responsibility to monitor, but it does not confer power. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira we see exceptional power of the Holy Spirit in Peter and so they died. That type of power is not required and the Holy Spirit is given on an individual basis.

Look at the situation with the Corinthians. There were no apostles there to deal with the situation domestically. There was no bishop either yet someone acted as bishop and reported to Paul. Paul had power given by God and it was evident. The best situation is when there are domestic apostles or bishops. In the case of Corinth one can see a stark difference when comparing it with Judea. The native Jews of Judea would have been immersed in the Old Testament from children and knew it much like Apollos did. They only needed updating. Apollos was a devout Jew born in Alexandria. He appears to have been taught by John the Baptist. Corinth was probably much like Antioch.

The men that were sent (Judas and Silas) were undoubtedly from the seventy. These men were not born with super powers. This is the answer to what God wants with our children and what specifically we need to pray about. Just like these men our children have come up with the scriptures and practising obedience to God, so they can be quickly trained to do the work of labourers. Judas and Silas were not novices and they prophesied like Philip's daughters. They were not seers. The elders sent advice on the basics as they perceived that the new converts would learn the rest from attending Sabbath meetings and personal study, not at the Synagogue as they would have been uncircumcised. These were new to the scriptures so you could not quickly train them and send them out. Churches however all graduate to the point where they are no longer focussing on the milk as is pointed out in Hebrews 5:13-14. At that point there needs to be an emphasis on sending apostles. Barnabas took this approach and found Paul. They went off as a pair. Most churches could not handle 70 as Christ did but most do not even try. We have to try with our children to give them that independence. Following that they can support the church in monitoring and feedback to God and man.

The Parable of the Talents, in Matthew 25:14–30, tells the story of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and before leaving, entrusted the care of his property to his servants. As I see it the key point of the parable is And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine (verse 25). The issue was that he hid his talent, the reason just serves to emphasize that core problem. This is supported by another presentation by Jesus Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  [8] For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  [9] Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?  [10] Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? That is from Matthew 7:7-10 [KJV]. These are intended for comfort not for fear! Everybody that earnestly tries is rewarded. The talents that Christ left us include some very mundane things as is pointed out in Matthew following the parable of the talents. The discourse, found in Matthew 25:31-46, concerns the distribution of rewards at Christ's coming to people who had been kind to Him. He pointed out that the kindness was in practical things that they had done for people who were serving Him, and this would include service to your family.    

Acknowledgements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventy_disciples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_the_Evangelist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Stephen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Deacons

https://www.revival.com/a/494-the-fruit-of-the-spirit-is-faith