All of us have biological fathers. One of the key roles of natural fathers is to help us find and fulfill our life purpose in accordance with the will and ways of God. But natural fathers are never perfect; hence we also need spiritual fathers. Spiritual fathers are older, mature men who fill in the gaps for natural fathers.

In the above text, the apostle Paul is speaking of his relationship with his spiritual sons. He characterizes those relationships as encouraging, comforting, and urging them to live lives worthy of God. As with natural fathers, spiritual fathers should help us align with the will and ways of God.

In the movie The King’s Speech there is a wonderful picture of the way natural and spiritual fathers are used by God to release us into our destinies. The natural father provided the context for his son to fulfill his purpose but was unable to properly prepare the son. So the Lord provided a spiritual father as an antidote to the natural father’s deficiencies and to help the son overcome blocks that were the result of natural father's failures. However, for the spiritual father to help the son, the son had to submit to his authority. Therefore for the son to find and fulfill his life purpose, he needed to submit to both the natural father and the spiritual father.  

Each person’s natural father is sovereignly chosen by God to prepare each of us for our life purpose. Regardless of our natural fathers' effectiveness or ineffectiveness, our natural fathers will play a role in God’s plan and purpose for each of us.

Because of the imperfections in every human, natural fathers are unable, in and of themselves, to fully help us find and fulfill our life purpose. Therefore each person also needs a spiritual father—a man who can make up for the deficiencies of the natural father and help each of us realize our potential in accordance with the will and ways of God.

Our natural and spiritual fathers help us to understand life and make wise choices. Both natural and spiritual fathers are sovereignly placed in our lives to enable us to find and fulfill our divinely ordained life purpose.

For us to enjoy our fathers’ blessings, we must submit to them. We must trust that God is working in and through our fathers to guide and direct us. In other words, fathers are the ultimate life coaches.

Here is your Business Tip: To build world-class organizations, one must build with people who are submitted to the authority of natural and spiritual fathers. Any person who lives without the guidance of natural and spiritual fathers will be blocked in his or her ability to fulfill his or her potential. Train your people in a biblical view of fathering. Seek to develop a culture in your organization that encourages healthy fathering relationships. Workers who have experienced trauma from their natural fathers will need more help in gaining a biblical view of fathering; work patiently with them. However, any person in the organization who refuses your encouragement to grow in their submission to fathers must ultimately be released.