*BE AWARE OF THE GENERATIONS OF SONS* Fathers must also recognize that the sons will have sons. If you have small kids, hug them now because they grow quickly and they leave to start their own lives. When the sons have sons, the rules of the game change. What my father did for my boy he did not do for my siblings and me, but the rules changed. Be aware that generations of sons are coming. Jacob was a mighty man, but had sons. Ruben had children. Fathers then have to begin the work of understanding interrelationships. Some of them are complex. There are fathers and sons. There are peers. There are uncles. There are servants. Fathers must develop the ability to interact and function in all of these various roles. Without this ability fathers will create conflict, and conflicts cannot be resolved in any of these realms in the same way. You do not deal with a son in the way you deal with a servant. You do not deal with a son in the way you deal with a brother. You do not deal with a son in the way you deal with an uncle. As early as possible, understand and process these different dynamics. A servant is not a son, so he does not get the same kind of judgment that a son gets. This is what fathers must consider. *Confrontation* The spirit of fathering prepares fathers to approach confrontation on many levels. Fathers may need to study conflict resolution and learn or relearn methodology to confront certain things. This is important because by nature, some of us are not confrontational. Some of us only know to confront when we are angry, but confrontation can be gentle, quiet, and controlled. Others are extremely confrontational; we can attack an issue, get it out in the open, and then leave the room and forget about it. *Tact* Fathers have to learn diplomacy and tact. Some folks, regardless of their effort, will never show statesmanship. Fathers have to train their sons how to be stately, how to walk with fear, respect and honor. This requires the use of diplomacy and tact. Sometimes when we have conflict, we think ignoring the problem makes it go away. That never happens. The conflict only metastasizes into something bigger. At other times we can neglect the conflict, as in Eli’s case, and it grows into a problem that affects people a hundred years later. The best diplomacy and tact is discipline. Absalom should be confronted from the beginning, and not ignored. He should be corrected and then his life be saved. If Absalom sons can be groomed, they will make great kings, but they miss great opportunities. There is no point in trying to use diplomacy and tact with Absalom. *Become a Gift* One of the ways fathers can develop sons to overcome areas of conflict is to come into a place of blessing where we do more than give gifts, but we become a gift. If a father cannot deal with an inner conflict, then they will be unable to resolve the conflict with others. Inner war and turmoil are the result of many things. First, incompetence causes inner conflict because a father can experience quick elevation based on his inherent weaknesses. Next, various levels of sickness provoke inner conflict when the sickness remains despite diligence in the spiritual disciplines and confessing healing scriptures. The war going on inside a father is a struggle with why the conflict is happening to him. Like Paul, he seeks the Lord three times to move this thing in his flesh 2 Corinthians 12:8. A father has to resolve areas of personal internal conflict because there will be conflict that comes with other people and other problems. The same way a father handles conflict on one level with people, he will also have to deal with it himself. https://chat.whatsapp.com/ElKaNjH1oHz6UF5yulS7b2 https://chat.whatsapp.com/ExCD9jKcKnR8wQUJqC1mSj