November 2021 – Fight for your family!

This month we want to focus on the family, because while we may not be able to do anything about our ancestors, God is depending on us for our descendants. Isaiah 59:21 says, “As for Me, this is My covenant with them…

fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” (Nehemiah 4:14)

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.” (Genesis. 18:19)

We honor our God Who has brought us to November, the second to the last of the -ember months. To Him alone, we say, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign overall. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12). 

This month we want to focus on the family, because while we may not be able to do anything about our ancestors, God is depending on us for our descendants. Isaiah 59:21 says, “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever.” Hence, you must use everything in your spiritual, intellectual, physical, and psychological arsenal to fight for your family.

Challenges Today:

Today, we are faced with a tough world, a difficult society, and a harsh reality. Everything seems to be against marriage, the family, raising one’s children and them growing up. As part of their growing up experience, children must most often contend with drugs, alcohol, sexual diseases, crime, violence, divorce, and abuse. As such, in this 21st century, parents must guard their children against all these harmful things, some of which our parents never had to deal with. Even the things they did have to deal with were on a much smaller scale and with less prevalence than is true today. There are struggles in the home that have never been seen before. There are disciplines in the home that never have been observed. There are pressures in the home that have never been present in times past. Even the basic definition of marriage and family has been skewed to fit the demand of the society rather than God’s standard.

In a Google search, an article from the journal, Psychology Today, defined marriage as “…the process by which two people make their relationship public, official, and permanent. It is the joining of two people in a bond that putatively lasts until death, but in practice is often cut short by separation or divorce.” Additionally, a redefinition of family in America, by Google, is “a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption, constituting a single household, and interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually those of spouses, parents, children, and siblings.”

  • These are what the younger generation is been fed as to the definition of marriage. There is no mention of male or female, but just any two people or group of persons. With a definition such as this, there is no future and no hope for marriage as it can only eventually end in separation and/or divorce. Whoa!

One of the biggest threats to the generation we are now raising is the breakdown of the family. Lifelong marriages provide the foundation for social order; everything of value rests on that underpinning. Historically, once the family begins to unravel in any culture, everything else becomes adversely affected.

  • 70% of black babies and 20% of white babies born in North America are born out of wedlock. Most of them will never know their fathers or a father’s love. Only one-third of children born in North America will live with both biological parents through age 18. How does this affect us?

Thirty years ago, we believed that poverty and racial discrimination were primarily responsible for juvenile crime and behavioral problems. Now, nearly all the evidence points to family breakup as the real culprit and predicts a societal catastrophe if we do not turn this trend around! 72% of North Americans say the physical absence of fathers is the most serious problem facing our families. How can we buck the trend? By committing our lives totally to Christ and raising our families to do the same! This is what God testified of Abraham.

So, how can we fight for our families?

  1. Fathers must be fathers again: Our wives and children are not property to own. Rather, they are to be trained as image-bearers of God. Dads, we are called to provide a proper nurturing environment where our children can grow up to love and serve the Lord! It was counter-cultural in the first century, and it still is today!
  2. The New Testament challenges us to see the word “father” also as a verb, and not just as a noun. It is much easier to become a biological father than it is to live up to the Biblical challenge to actually “father” our children. The Bible very clearly challenges dads to be the spiritual leader in their homes, because the ultimate responsibility for what a family becomes belongs to the father. The primary part of that responsibility is striking a balance between LOVE and DISCIPLINE.
  3. Hebrews 12:7 (LB) – Let God train you, for He is doing what any loving father does for his children. Whoever heard of a son who was never corrected?
  4. Abraham fought for his family; be like him: We can see, throughout the book of Genesis, how Abraham fought for his family.
    1. For example, when Abraham heard that Lot was taken captive (Genesis 14:12), he did not hesitate to go to his rescue. He chose not to dwell on the slight of Lot choosing first when they had the dispute amongst their herdsmen. “Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house and went in pursuit as far as Dan” (Genesis 14:14). What a hero of a father.
  5. Mothers who fought for their families:
    1. Lois & Eunice: “When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5). These are mothers who fought for their children, ensuring Timothy becoming and finishing well as a minister of the gospel.
    2. Susan Wesley: Susanna Wesley, mother of John & Charles Wesley, was an amazing woman. Born in England in 1669, her seventy-three years were lived during a challenging time. Susanna bore nineteen children in nineteen years. Nine of those children died as infants, including two sets of twins. William Henry Fitchett describes the Wesley children as “a cluster of bright, vehement, argumentative boys and girls, living by a clean and high code, and on the plainest fare; but drilled to soft tones, to pretty formal courtesies; with learning as an ideal, duty as an atmosphere and fear of God as law.”  Every week, each child had an hour of Suzanna’s time, to learn and to talk about the spiritual side of life.
  6. God’s agenda for children: Ephesians 6 addresses the relationship between parents and their children. Two things every child needs to give his or her parents are obedience and honor.
    1. Children obey your parents (Ephesians 6:1): How far does a child’s obedience go? Is it expected to continue even when the child is no longer living at home or dependent on his or her parents? What happens if the child decides not to obey the parents’ instruction? Children’s obedience to parents is comparable to obedience to God when what they their parents are asking them to do agrees with God’s instruction.   
    2. Honor your parents (Ephesians 6:2-3): To honor means “to value highly, to hold in highest regard.” There may be some areas of controversy and disagreement when it comes to obeying parents, but children never reach an age when they no longer owe their parents honor. If children do not learn to respect Dad and Mom, they may never learn to respect authority figures (e.g. police officers, judges), or anyone else’s person or property. Exodus 21:17 says, “…he who curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” To dishonor your parents meant the gas chamber, the electric chair, or lethal injection in ancient Israel. That is how serious God is about children dishonoring their parents.
  7. The Church fought for the family: 
    1. Jesus said to Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The test of the church’s power is whether hell backs down when the church shows up. Jesus is on the offensive, building His church and accomplishing His agenda. Jesus is out to destroy the works of the devil while the forces of Satan and hell are trying their hardest to stop Him. So, the test of our power, both individually and corporately as the body of Christ, is whether hell backs down when we show up. If hell is winning, then we are not building Christ’s church, instead, we are building our church using Christ’s Name.  

Conclusion:

God’s Word defines the guidelines by which we need to build our lives today. As we walk in them, God can be relied on to fulfill His promises and purposes in our lives. God provided the blueprints which we are to review in order to construct our lives so that they will be what the design architect specified in His plans.

Give your children these four things:

  1. Instruction: “Do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children” (Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV). It is not the responsibility of the government or the school system to instill character and convictions in your child; it is your job! And God will hold you accountable for it.
  2. Correction: “Discipline your children while there is hope” (Proverbs 19:18 NLT). Children who know how far they can go are relieved of a great burden. Knowing your authority will stand gives them security. When they learn that no really means NO, they will be able to say it to others, as well as to their own impulses.
  3. Blessing: “Joseph said unto his father, ‘They are my sons’…And he [Jacob] said, ‘Bring them…and I will bless them” (Genesis 48:9). Old Testament parents laid hands on their children because they believed the blessing of God was transferable. If nobody did this for you, then start a new tradition. For with God’s blessing comes peace, long life and prosperity (see Deuteronomy 28). That is why the enemy has attacked you so often; he is trying to break the link through which the blessing of God comes. Do not let him.
  4. Example: A great preacher once looked into the crib of his infant son and prayed: “Lord, if ever You made a man, make me one now. Let my life, my example and my prayers mold him into someone You can use. And, Lord, let me die twenty-four hours before I say or do anything that would cause him to stumble.”

Prayers:

  • Begin to thank God for this day, this month, and this year. Thank Him because He is our God forever. Sing,” For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.” (Psalm 48:14)
  • Plead the Blood of Jesus upon your life and family for redemption and deliverance.
  • Power to pursue, overtake and recover the losses of the past years of my life, fall upon me right now by fire, in Jesus’ Name.
  • Every program of disaster, tragedy and misfortune organized for me and my family in any area of our lives this year and in the years ahead of us, scatter now by fire, in Jesus’ Name.
  • Oh, thou my destiny and the destiny of my family, the Lord shall establish, increase, enlarge and prosper you in all areas of our lives as from today, in Jesus’ Name.
  •  I command the blessings that are greater than my age, that will advertise God in my life and family, begin to locate us from today, in Jesus’ Name.
  • I command the anointing to attract blessings of money, also that blessings that money cannot buy fall upon me, my family, and our church, in Jesus’ Name.
  • Every situation in my life, my family, our church, and community that is hopeless, helpless, and frustrating, turn now and become miracles and testimonies in our lives, in Jesus’ Name.
  • I prophesy that where one door has closed against me and my family and our church before, seven better, greater doors open unto us as from today, in Jesus’ Name.
  • Begin to thank God for answered prayers.