Mark Hanby Ministries - Messages

A few weeks ago I went into spiritual labor. I was sitting on my deck drifting somewhere between jet leg and inspiration, meditating on the profound blessing of being home. My only distraction seemed to be captured in the line of some old English poetry, 'To mow or not to mow, that is the question.' Other familiar literary passages seem to capsulated and breathe my deeper feelings, 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.' Then I felt pain, like a slow, certain aching in my spirit. Eventually, I found myself wandering the all too familiar fields of burdened thought. These were not normal birth feelings that accompany new spiritual ideas, illumination or revelation. Rather a certain foreboding, a sense of the holy fear and respect that often goes before rebuke. I felt caught away to the arid, lonely deserts where lay the bleached bones of countless thousands of misguided, purposeless and failed ministries. This forlorn place lay lost between the springs of hopeful beginnings and the still waters of righteous consummation. Those few who somehow manage to survive here packed practiced cliché's and clutched cassette-canteens, sipping water from stolen streams. It was in this wilderness of anguished recognition that the Lord began speaking to me. Malachi 4:5-6 dropped in on me and I knew I was in trouble: '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 hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.' There it was: the hearts of the fathers. The term simply shattered my peace and filled me with a painful remorse I hardly know how to express. The heart of this father has refused to be turned. I knew that this did not mean that everyone who requested help automatically belonged to me. However, I was faced with the awful truth that some lonely hurting men and women in gospel work had been rejected by me leaving them either orphans or even worse, bastards. Furthermore, any inheritance either through gifting or anointing was being withheld, causing them a painful endurance of spiritual wandering with single portion. Disconnected from anointing, the flow of purposeful ministry was interrupted. They were restricted to pouring forth life from their own vessels with only borrowed or stolen waters to replenish the supply. The result could only end in burn out and empty frustrations." The preceding statement has been lifted from the introduction of my new book entitled, "YOU HAVE NOT MANY FATHERS." In this just-released volume, you will see my heart laid bare with the understanding that the church today can find "the exceeding greatness of his power" through relationships and the recovering of the generational blessing. I am requesting that everyone who has ever shared in my ministry read this book. Finally, on a personal note, Linda and I are very excited about our ministry schedule for 1997. First of all, we are traveling less and for shorter periods of time. We are also planning to minister to greater numbers of people this year though newly released books, audio tapes, and videos. We are praying that you will respond, making it possible for us to spend more time recharging and regrouping for greater Kingdom effectiveness, We thank you so much four your continued love and support. Dr. Mark Hanby You can order "You Have Not Many Father" online from MHM Resources.