FAITH IN THE FAMILY

Like the oak that stands firm amidst the storm,

Faith, unyielding, keeps the family safe and warm,

God is the family’s pillar and divine cornerstone,

His Word should be our only steppingstone.

Through life’s ebb and flow, we find solace and peace,

In the arms of our family, where love will not cease,

For faith and family, bound by God’s decree,

Are the cornerstone of a blessed legacy.

For “I can do all things through Christ,” we confess,

Who strengthens us and grants us divine success,

Our families are shielded from all bitterness,

For God’s love and mercy and His grace, we embrace.

For “As for me and my house,” we proclaim,

“We will serve the Lord,” and honor His name,

For faith in God raises the dead and heals the lame,

Faith in the Most High pleases God and glorifies His name.

Hebrews 11:7 (KJV) – “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Genesis 7:1 (KJV) – “And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”

Noah’s faith enabled his entire household to be saved from the flood’s destruction. Noah was diligent in building the ark. His family gave him the support he needed while making it. He had been given the mandate by God to build the ark, and he laboured tirelessly on it for one hundred and twenty years.

The Head of the Family

God has called men to pursue a particular purpose and lead their homes accordingly. Some obey God’s commands and successfully lead their families to walk in the ways of the Lord. Such a person bestows eternal blessings in his home through his leadership. Like Noah, the members of his household are saved from destruction through the faith he possesses. His faith in action is a blessing to people outside his home, and the blessings he gives others are reflected in his home.

Noah moved with fear. He acted immediately, leaving no space for doubt in his heart. He embarked diligently on the task that God had given him. He did not focus on those who criticized him. His focus was on God.

“The Head of the Family Firm—The husband and father is the head of the household. The wife looks to him for love and sympathy and for aid in the training of the children; and this is right. The children are his as well as hers, and he is equally interested in their welfare. The children look to the father for support and guidance; he needs to have a right conception of life and of the influences and associations that should surround his family; above all, he should be controlled by the love and fear of God and by the teaching of His Word, that he may guide the feet of his children in the right way.” –The Adventist Home, Page 211.4, Ellen G. White.

Decisions that govern the Family

Joshua 24:15 (KJV) – “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

As the head of his house, Joshua had to take a firm stand on their chosen path. This should be the stand of every Christian man. The first role of a man is to be a priest in his home. God has given him the responsibility to lead the family in the ordained ways of God. Putting God first makes him a pillar of strength to the family and a threat to Satan.

It is a common practice in society to witness mothers taking their children to church while fathers stay at home or go about other businesses. Unfortunately, according to various studies, most children brought up by fathers who are weak in faith end up being weak in faith no matter how Godly their mothers may be.

Solution to societal Problems

Herbert W. Armstrong said most societal problems would be solved if we put fathers in their rightful place. A man who puts God first cannot be abusive. He cannot be a drunkard, and he cannot be adulterous. Instead, he will have nobility of character and steadfastness in purpose.

A man needs to set particular times for family prayer sessions. He needs to fix days for family fasting. He needs to encourage members of his family to use their God-given skills and talents to serve God while he is leading by example. He needs to emphasize Godly issues more than all other issues. Unfortunately, it is not strange to find some Christian fathers putting a stronger emphasis on academics and careers than on spiritual matters.

Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” His family includes him; therefore, if he said, “We will serve God as a family,” it would still be okay. However, he said, “As for me and my house,” because he had to separate himself from his family. In other words, if his home chooses not to serve God, He will serve God.

The decision to serve God should first be an individual decision. After you have made that decision is when you can lead your family towards it (not force them but lead them). Joshua told the crowd to choose whom they will serve, but for him and his household, they will serve God. We need to lead our families and unite them in worship before we lead others.

Family worship

Some people serve diligently in church but rarely have time for family worship. Some strive to give their best service in the church, ensuring the church is functioning well but play a huge role in breaking their own homes.

It is not strange to see wives being submissive to the church pastor while they are not submissive to their husbands. It is not peculiar to see people giving gifts to their pastors while never giving anything to their parents. Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt, and we tend to consider our family members less important because we live with them and are used to them.

“The Lawmaker and Priest—All members of the family center in the father. He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner virtues: energy, integrity, honesty, patience, courage, diligence, and practical usefulness. The father is in one sense the priest of the household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice. The wife and children should be encouraged to unite in this offering and also to engage in the song of praise. Morning and evening the father, as priest of the household, should confess to God the sins committed by himself and his children through the day. Those sins which have come to his knowledge and also those which are secret, of which God’s eye alone has taken cognizance, should be confessed. This rule of action, zealously carried out by the father when he is present or by the mother when he is absent, will result in blessings to the family.” – The Adventist Home, Page 212.1, Ellen G. White.

Family and the Sabbath

Exodus 20:8-10 (KJV) – “⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ¹⁰ But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

When giving the Sabbath commandment, God had the family unit in mind. He commanded that we should not allow our children, servants and everyone within our household to violate the Sabbath.

In this fourth commandment, God addresses the head of the family when He says, “Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” First, this commandment is to be observed in the family unit because a society is formed by many families.

If each family obeys the Sabbath commandment (and all other commandments) in a society, then it is followed by the whole community. This commandment points us to God as the Creator when it reminds us of how God rested on the Seventh day after creation. Therefore, if we obey it, we acknowledge God as the Creator, and if we truly recognize God as the Creator, we shall easily observe the other nine.

Before God mentions the household members to be led by you in obeying His commands, He first mentions you. Exodus 20:10 (KJV) – “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.”

The commandment starts by addressing us before it addresses our sons, daughters and other household members. “Thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter.” What does this mean? This means we need to obey God’s commandments before leading others to follow them. Words have more power if actions back them up. A sermon is more effective if a person practices what he preaches.

Some may argue that the congregation will not know if they are actively living the sermon. Indeed, the congregation might not know, but they may sense more authority in a person who lives his word more than one who merely preaches. Matthew 7:28-29 (KJV) – “²⁸ And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine: ²⁹ For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

Jesus spoke as one having authority because He lived by every Word He preached. For example, He taught people to love their enemies, and He portrayed this when He restored the ear of the soldier whom Peter had cut (Luke 22:49-51). Fathers have a solemn responsibility as heads of the family to keep God’s commandments and to lead their families in obeying God’s law.

A righteous influence on the family

Genesis 18:19 (KJV) – “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.”

Abraham always pleased God because he continuously acted in faith. God knew that Abraham would have a righteous influence on his family when He said, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him.” Abraham’s influence brought blessings to his entire household and future generations. Abraham not only preached to his family, but he practiced what he preached.

Job offered sacrifices to God for his family members

Job 1:5 (KJV) – “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”

Job’s devotion to God was so much that he tried to ensure his family members had the right standing with God. He offered sacrifices for his children in case they sinned wherever they went to.

Some parents assume their children are righteous because they behave properly at home. Some children have habits that their parents are not aware of. Therefore, it is not wise to assume that your children are sinless. It is essential to pray for them, asking God to forgive them for their sins and to bring them closer to Him. It can also be a precious activity when parents take days to fast for their children.

Adam’s Fall

Genesis 3:17 (KJV) – “And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.”

A negative influence in the family can lead the whole family to destruction. Each member of the family should be diligent in studying God’s Word, knowing what God requires of them. God told Adam because he chose to obey his wife’s Word and disobeyed God’s Word, he shall suffer a curse.

There are consequences of putting another person’s Word above God’s Word. Therefore, knowing what the Word of God says in various aspects of our life is profitable. Knowledge of God’s Word will shield us from confusion. Many struggle to figure out life because they have a limited understanding of God’s Word.

In Matthew 6:33 (KJV), the Bible says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” We need to seek God’s kingdom first before pursuing anything else. We do that by studying scripture and applying it. This will make our path more straightforward, for God is not an author of confusion. Therefore, we shall be shielded from all evil influences, including the ones that may come from our family members.

Do we think of our families?

Joshua 2:12-13 (KJV) – “¹² Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: ¹³And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”

Rahab did not think of herself alone. She thought of her family. It is pretty common to see people seeking blessings for themselves alone, having absolutely no regard for their family members.

It is not surprising to see siblings fighting over family property, some going to the extent of killing each other. Rahab was not selfish. She asked the men to save her parents and her siblings together with their property. Many families have the spirit of competition whereby one sibling wants to be more successful than the other.

Therefore, they do everything to win over their fellow siblings instead of cooperating with them. Some children live while secretly wishing for their parents’ death so they can get their share of the parent’s property. Rahab had her family’s best interest at heart. A certain 5-year-old girl in church impressed me when I promised her a Bible, and she asked, “Will you buy one for my brother?” She was not thinking of herself alone. She was thinking of her brother as well.

Joshua 6:25 (KJV) – ”And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”

Rahab’s faithful action saved her family from being destroyed. Children should not be undermined. A child can bring blessings to the family that would not have been gotten if the child had not been there. Rahab’s actions saved her brothers and sisters.

Our siblings

We should not undermine and neglect our brothers and sisters, no matter how sinful we think them to be. Rahab was a harlot, but she brought salvation to her family. Some families have divisions inside them whereby financially and academically successful siblings segregate themselves and do not want to associate with unsuccessful ones. Such discrimination can deprive us of our most needed blessings.

I was looking for mentorship in my career, and all the mentorship programs that I knew of were costly, and I could not afford them. While conversing with my brother Martin, he told me about MicroMentor, a platform that offers you world-class mentors for free.

Genesis 47:11 (KJV) – “And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.”

Joseph brought blessings to his father and brothers. His fathers and brothers were saved from encountering the famine that was so severe in their land because Joseph moved them to Egypt.

Joseph’s brothers had done great evil against Joseph by selling him as an enslaved person to the land of Egypt, but Joseph did not take revenge. Instead, he recompensed evil for good. His love for them brought them closer to God and made them love each other. The best remedy is love. Love wins all battles.

King Josiah

2 Kings 22:2 (KJV) – “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.”

King Josiah did not follow in the footsteps of his father Amon and his grandfather Manasseh. Some people think because their parents were bound by a particular sin, they are forever doomed to live a life of bondage in that sin.

We should follow the good example of our parents and ask Jesus to help us not fall into the same temptations they fell into. King Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, he would have given himself an excuse to worship idols like his father because he was a child, but he did not. Instead, he cherished the one and only true God.

Abraham was from a lineage of idolaters but did not worship idols. He worshipped God and clung firmly to Him. We should ask God to break any generational habits and curses that we might be having and ask Him to give us the strength to walk in the way He has predestined for us.

God above Family

Mark 10:29-30 (KJV) – “²⁹ And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel’s, ³⁰ But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

We should love our families wholeheartedly, but God should always come first because it is God who created the family.

GOD BLESS YOU!

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before you with hearts filled with gratitude for the blessings you’ve bestowed upon us. As we gather in prayer, we acknowledge your sovereignty and grace in our lives. You are the Alpha and Omega, the source of all wisdom and love.
Lord, we thank you for the gift of family, a sacred bond created by your divine design. We lift our families to you, seeking your guidance, protection, and abundant blessings. May our homes be filled with the warmth of your love, the light of your wisdom, and the peace that surpasses all understanding.
Father, we pray for the leaders of our families. Grant them strength, patience, and wisdom as they navigate life’s challenges. May they lead by example, reflecting your love and grace in their words and actions.
We pray for unity within our families. Please help us to cultivate an atmosphere of understanding, forgiveness, and compassion.
Let your Holy Spirit dwell in our homes, bringing harmony and joy into every heart.
Lord, we bring before you the individual members of our families. May each person profoundly experience your love. Heal the wounds, comfort the broken-hearted, and strengthen those who are weak. Grant us the grace to support and encourage one another on this faith journey.
As we face the challenges of life, we seek your guidance. Illuminate our path with your divine light so that we may walk in righteousness. Please help us to make decisions that honor you and contribute to the well-being of our families.
We lift those families who are facing trials and tribulations. Lord, be their refuge and strength in times of trouble. Bring healing to the sick, comfort to the grieving, and provision to those in need. Your mercy knows no bounds, and we trust in your unfailing love.
In all things, we surrender our families into your loving hands, knowing that you are the ultimate source of protection and provision. May our homes be sanctuaries of love, faith, and joy, reflecting the beauty of your grace.
In Jesus name, Amen.

ACTIVITY