Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
Healing the Wounds of a Fatherless Generation
Copyright © 2011 by Varn Brown

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Inner Court Publishing

P.O. Box 180141
Dallas, Texas 75218
http://innercourpublishing.com

ISBN 978-0-9830822-0-0

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, except for
the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible:
New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights
reserved.

Scripture references marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, ©
The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, and are
used by permission.

Scripture references marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

All New Testament definitions are taken from W.E. Vines Dictionary of New
Testament Words.

Published in the United States of America

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
 Epigraph

I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though
you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers, for in
Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ─1 Corinthians 4: 14-15

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
 Table of Contents
Healing the Wounds of a Fatherless Generation

Foreword

Preface

Chapters

1. Knowing the Importance of a Father

2. Becoming Sons through the Spirit of God
3. Turning the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children
4. Turning the Hearts of the Children to the Fathers
5. Pushing Past the Pain of Fatherlessness
6. Healing the Wounds of the Fatherless
7. Growing from Good Sons to Become Great Fathers
8. Learning to Just Be In the Kingdom of God
9. Walking In God’s Dunamis Power
10. Receiving the Double-Portion Mantle
11. Learning Lessons from the Great Elephants
12. Final Word

Summary

Study Guide
Notes
About Author
Resources

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
 CHAPTER 6

Healing the Wounds of the Fatherless

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD

has compassion on those who fear him; Psalm ─103:13 NIV

N ot long ago, I was at a popular gas station called Race Trac. This particular gas
station is always very busy. I went in and the line was long as usual. But this time
I was waiting behind a young African American man. He was in his early twenties.
He was wearing the Hip Hop attire most young people wear, which I somewhat like.
But there was one major problem with the young man directly in front of me that day.
His short pants were so low; all I could see were his underwear. Since he was in front of
me there was no way I could ignore it. And this day, the old elephant (me) didn’t want to
be quiet. I said to him and the store manager at the register, “Do I have to put up with
this?”
I have to admit I didn’t start the conversation well. So the situation didn’t start well.
We had a few words. I said to the young man, “I bet your father would not be in
agreement with the way you’re dressed.” He sparked back at me, “You don’t know what
you’re talking about.” He went on to say his father didn’t have anything to say about it.
As you probably can imagine, we had more words. In short, he told me to mind my
own business. After a slight debate back and forth, I told him I just wanted to help. I
explained he was about the same age as my youngest son. As he was finishing up gassing
his vehicle, he shouted back at a distance that he didn’t believe I was trying to help him.
He drove off with a string of curse words directed at me.
My point in telling this story is, this generation (that young man and a whole lot more
like him) are asking for our help. But we must be willing and have the courage to help
them. I believe that interchange may not have had immediate results but I know by the
Spirit of God the seed of God’s correction was planted.
For example, let me tell you one of the reasons I decided to say something. I believe in
reaching out for people. The Lord requires it of me and perhaps you. Once I was picking
up my sister from work. There were some ladies talking loud about their husband
problems. To make a long story short, one of the young ladies was telling the others
about how she would tell her husband off when she got home that evening and it would
not be good.
My first prompting was to tell her the correct way to handle it, the biblical way.
Normally, I would have said something but this day I didn’t say anything. A week later, I

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
saw the other girls talking to someone else saying that the young lady was killed by her
husband. Right then, I knew I had missed a chance to instruct her and perhaps influence
her to handle it differently. So, I always carry that with me to keep me on point with
being a witness for Christ.
With all of that said, we must be willing to be the mean parent for a while and say no
when no needs to be said. We must take our courage and say in love to the children in
our circle of influence, “Pull up your pants, son. Or young lady, be modest; cover
yourself.” We should use wisdom in speaking and ministering to them but we must do
something. Why? Because if we don’t, who will?

THE REVIVAL OF THE FAMILY

This chapter is the dearest to my heart because I believe one of the ways the Lord will
heal the fatherless generations is by restoring the relationship between the fathers and
sons, mother and daughters—in essence families. All over the world relationships are
being brought to God’s intended order.
God is restoring the godly authority lines the prophet Malachi spoke of. That great
and dreadful day which I believe stands for the judgment day, the Lord would send that
same spirit of Elijah of power and restoration to turn the hearts of the father to their
children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. It has begun in this day and in this
time lest He smite the earth with a curse.1
We see the price (divorce, teen age pregnancies, crime, suicides, killings and more)
being paid with all of the fatherlessness which is very obvious in this generation. Yet,
there is a spirit of revival taking place in God’s church. All across America men are
becoming more active in the church. Songs are being written about these fathers like
never before.
Luther Vandross wrote a song about the love of his father. Football players are
shouting out ‘Love you, Pops!” My youngest son who is 23 years old at the time of this
writing still kisses me on the cheek and says I love you Dad with his baritone voice.
We are in a new day. The reason I mention this is, it was not like this when I grew up
in the 70s and 80s. Men didn’t cry and they didn’t say I love you. They would knock you
out if you didn’t respect them. It is a better day with many restorations between the
father and his children.
Again, we turn to the words of the Malachi writer who prophesied, “Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord
and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
their father, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”2
I believe this is the beginning of a revival of family that the Lord is sending in these
last days. In this revival of family, restoration begins a journey that will bring freedom,
liberty and power of authority that will change your life for ever. Remember, the family
lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even when the Father God spoke of them, he
spoke in generational language.

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
 There are five things I notice the Spirit of God is doing in this revival of families to
heal the fatherless wounds within many of us and our children.

Restoring family relationships (father and mothers to sons and daughters) I

believe as the family turns back to our heavenly Father, the Church, and the Word
of God this is when restoration begins. The father and mother must take their
place in Christ and in the Church. This is where it begins a foundation to build on.
And you know you don’t want to build on a faulty foundation but a sure one that
will stand.
As they abide by the word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead them to raise
their children in the Word; this is where success begins. I know it can sound a bit
presto, but it is sure that life is in the Word of God as is the truth. It takes courage
to live by the Word but there is a reward. The Corinthian writer says it well, “For
no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.”3
Restoring godly authority. All authority belongs to our heavenly Father the Word
of God says if you are given any authority it can only come from God. Our
heavenly Father created all authority, spiritual authority and earthly authority.
What we have to learn is we have authority and where it comes from. Are we
walking in it correct or are we using it appropriately.
There are heavenly authorities, governmental authority, all the way to the
judge, police, principal and teachers to Dad and mom in order for us to have
authority we must submit to authority. As the old saying goes you gotta serve
somebody. Remember, power is authority. The Apostle Matthew instructed us
with Jesus’ words, “All power and authority is given unto me in heaven and in
earth.”4
Sending the spirit of power. The Word of God says in Acts 1:8, “And ye shall
receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be
witnesses.”5 The question is are you willing to believe it, I see so many of us stop
short of the power of God. The word of God says that some of us would even deny
the power there of. The spirit of power comes from our heavenly father by his son
Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
The writer of Acts describes it well, “And when they had prayed, the place was
shaken where they were assembled together. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”6 This is the fullness of God
that we should seek him for. And the victories will be endless in Christ Jesus.
Stirring the spirit of revival. The Spirit of revival is described way back in
Malachi 4:6 where the Lord is turning the fathers’ heart toward his children and
in these last days the Lord is calling us to stir up the Holy Spirit to set the revival
ablaze.
I believe with the family returning back to the rightful place naturally and
supernaturally things will begin to come into order. Fathers will align with their
 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
 sons. Fathers, mothers and families will link together every place they go Christ
will go with them.
And as we carry Christ with us, revival will be set ablaze anew. Prophet Micah
said it like this when God’s power was being sent in and to his generation, “But
truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might to
declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”7
Passing the blessing to the next generation (passing the paton) All this, the
Bible, Christians, everything is to naught, nada—nothing, if we don’t pass this
revival of families to the next generation. Sins are passed to the fourth and fifth
generation, but the Lord of host wants to pass his blessing through us to the
thousandths generations. What do we do?
It starts with a generation following faithfully hard after the Lord. After we’ve
become a faithful generation, then we must raise our children in the Word and
teach them to be obedient to the Word of God. Then they learn how to follow hard
after the Lord and pass to their children.
The same wonderful thing begins to happen for generation to generation; we
must teach them. The Apostle Peter describes it like this, “But ye are a chosen
generation a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.”8
This is God’s purpose; he wants to see the authority and righteousness passed from
generation to generation. In 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul says I write to you not to
shame you but to warn you. He wants to correct his spiritual sons thinking and says,
“You have ten thousand instructors but what you need is many fathers.”
Meaning an instructor is usually paid and not usually obligated to make sure the
instructions are carried out. But a father will take personal and intimate interest in your
growth. The father is obligated to make sure it is carried to the end of the matter. This is
why we must have many fathers.
As for the fathers, the Ephesians writer instructed fathers with, “And ye fathers
provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord.9 Webster’s definition explains provoke: to excite to some action or feeling, to
anger or irritate, to stir up to evoke. So, when the Ephesians writer said provoke not your
children, he meant don’t push them to anger. I’m pretty sure he knew how tough we
fathers can get.
The Apostle Paul tells the fathers not to provoke their children to wrath. I wish some
body could have told my generation about this Scripture. I’m saying this smiling but
being serious too. In my generation it was very different from these days among families.
In the 60s, 70s, mostly in the African American culture being a young teenager if you
did something wrong or bad you got whipped or told off. And you better not talk back or
you might get slapped. We could have used a bit more revelation on Ephesians 6, back
then. So don’t push your children beyond what’s needed. Now, I do believe in spanking
just to let you know but not to the extreme.
 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
 The Word of God says to bring our children up in a nurturing way. All rolled into
nurturing is to train, educate and rear. The Lord wants the father to be a nurturer! Note,
this doesn’t mean that you can’t discipline them; you do them both in balance. When a
father loves his children, he will train them in a nurturing way.
When he rears them he should rear them in a nurturing way. You see I can tell this
story now that my mother is gone to glory. When my mother was raising me or
disciplining me, she did it one way. For example, as a kid I stole A DOLLAR from her
only two times. Yes, I can hear you saying, “Ohhhh Varn, twice!” Yes, I made a bad
choice twice and my mother reared me good. I can only describe it like this: She whipped
me so bad, she wrote the ABCs on my backside with a belt.
Now that’s not the way I did with my boys; you can ask them. If they did wrong I gave
them two to three hard swipes on the hand with a belt. I guess my mother was so hard
because she raised 5 boys and 1 girl by herself. I might add and she did a very good job of
it.
So, we should be loving in our rearing and not excessive (Smile) and admonish our
children. Admonition means to notice, exhort and advise. The Word of God says to
admonish them in the Lord. So what we should do is take the Word as it is and notice
them, exhort them and advise them in the Lord. And when we do this, we are being great
Fathers raising great children.
SUMMARY

I started this chapter with the Pants on the Ground story. I wanted to title the chapter
Pants on the Ground but I guess I didn’t push hard enough with my editor. We
examined how important it is for us to stay involved in the lives of this generation. We
must continue to offer our input and our influence when the opportunity presents itself.
We need more fathers that will stand up and say, “Young man pull up your pants or
son, you did that job excellent. I told you about my encounter with a young man at Race
Trac getting gas and about to pay for it. The young African American male in front of me
had his pants so low, only his underwear covered him. I wanted to do a “Color Purple” on
him. Slap him and pray for him later. But I did the correct thing; I did what a mature
elephant would do.
After telling him exactly what I thought of his Hip Hop attire-gone-bad I talked to him
gently and said you are the same age as my youngest son. I would say the same thing to
him. You can probably guess what he did next; yes he cursed me out. (Smile) There was
no problem; he couldn’t whip me. And we went our separate ways but the seed of
correction had been planted.
We examined Prophet Malachi’s when he spoke of a great and dreadful day. He went
on to say the Lord would send the spirit of Elijah. With that spirit of Elijah, He the Lord
would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. and hearts of the children to the
fathers. In short, he would heal the fatherless generation.
We examined five things the Spirit of God is doing to bring revival to the family. He is
restoring family relationships, godly authority lines, sending the Spirit of power, stirring

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
the spirit of revival and calling and empowering his families and fathers to pass the
blessing to the next generation.
Our heavenly Father wants us to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to receive
God’s authority. It is His will for us to operate in His Spirit of power. But we must begin
with the spirit of revival in the family. After we start this revival, we need to pass it to the
next generation.
Finally, I sought to encourage you with Ephesians 6:4 instructing the father not to
provoke the children but to nurture and admonish them. This is a good example of where
we should start in rebuilding and restoring our family structures.

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com 
  

Buy the H.T.W.O.A.F.G. Book Now!

Visit http://varnbrown.com

Other fine online retailers to purchase the H.T.W.O.A.F.G. Book from: 

           

     

 
Get full book at http://varnbrown.com 
Presented by Inner Court Publishing at http://innercourtpublishing.com