Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Isaiah 43:18-19
Open Your Heart To New Things
Family means relationship mixing, as our families open up their borders to envelop new people coming in from other families. I call this the mish-mash of family dynamics. Some families have an easier time adjusting to the mish-mash, others fail at it, and never truly adjust or conquer by opening their hearts to new people and new things.
God’s Enlarging Work
In families, God is always doing something new, opening the borders of our family and bringing new people in. Sometimes it is not even by marriage, it is just by friendship, and other means, and our family thrives as we embrace the divine appointments of God’s enlarging of it, of His doing something new. Like I said, some families, they have trouble opening up and usually end up isolating the new people in the family, treating them with the snobbery, snobbish hand of welcome. You are welcome, but we really don’t want you here. We do things our way, and it is going to stay that way, we are not open to change or new things, and this leads to a second class citizen affect in your family, a family that never unifies. Jesus experienced this too, but He was a love conqueror and invited Himself to the local tax collector’s house for dinner. He was so inclusive, never exclusive with pretty much anyone.
Jesus’ Example
Jesus was a good example. He was not accepted and was persecuted for the new concepts of belief He was bringing to the Christian family table. Jesus did not quit even though He faced so much anguish for us so that He could be a love conqueror. He didn’t run from family strife, He grew through it for us. He didn’t quit because He was rejected and the new things He introduced were definitely not totally accepted.
Never Give Up
Jesus didn’t get angry when we let Him down, He kept inviting us to share in His heart vision, and He never gave up on the human race, never left us, abandoned us or forsook us. This is love conqueror like no other. Embracing a style of love which conquerors the flesh, and shuts down the comfort zone. This is what we need to ask Jesus to do for our family. Prayer For Our Family: Jesus conqueror our flesh and shut down our comfort zone, so we can experience the new things You have for us, so we can be love conquerors!
Family Dynamics
In a blended family where there are all kind of relational dynamics going on, we need to yield to one another, be interested in each other, and embrace each other at all times, with respect, truth, integrity, and unconditional love. Jesus was so good at this dynamics of building a bridge and getting over it. He constantly yielded to God’s will and in this surrender, we see an amazing quality of the love of God, this is such a needed family dynamic in our mish-mash families. There is no room for any petty selfishness in our family life. Selflessness! Prayer For Our Family: Jesus develop our hearts into hearts that conqueror selfishness, help us to live for the betterment of others first. Let the goal of our family life be to add value to each other daily. Let it be so Jesus, Amen!
“Selflessness yields all things self for the betterment of others. It doesn’t hold on to personal rights, it surrenders them for the good of someone else. Jesus led with a selfless, servant’s heart towards others, and in this selflessness, He conquered as He found courage to love the unloveable, to bear with the human condition of others, and not quit on them.”KimberlyMac
Then Jesus led his disciples to an orchard called “The Oil Press.” He told them, “Sit here while I pray awhile.” He took Peter, Jacob, and John with him. An intense feeling of great horror plunged his soul into deep sorrow. And he said to them, “My heart is overwhelmed with anguish and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He walked a short distance away, and being overcome with grief, he threw himself facedown on the ground. He prayed that if it were possible, he would not have to experience this hour of suffering. He prayed, “Abba, my Father, all things are possible for you. Please—remove this cup of suffering! Yet what I want is not important, for I only desire to fulfill your plan for me.” Then he came back to his three disciples and found them all sound asleep. He awakened Peter and said to him, “Simon, are you asleep? Do you lack the strength to stay awake with me for even just an hour? Keep alert and pray that you’ll be spared from this time of testing. For your spirit is eager enough, but your humanity is feeble.” Then he left them a second time and went to pray the same thing. Afterward, he came back to the disciples and found them sound asleep, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open and they didn’t know what to say to him. After praying for the third time, he returned to his disciples and awoke them again, saying, “Do you plan on sleeping and resting indefinitely? That’s enough sleep! The end has come and the hour has arrived for the Son of Man to be handed over to the authority of sinful men. Get up and let’s go. Don’t you see? My betrayer draws near.” Mark 14:32-42
Absolutely NO Compassion Shown
Jesus was not grossly exaggerating his emotional pain, He was truly in soul pain. The disciples did not see the pain of Jesus, they were too self consumed in their own perspective. They did not even see the emotional agony Jesus was going through. They had no compassion for Jesus. How sad is that? They had been with him personally as his disciples, He had served them and loved them sacrificially, but their focus was on themselves, and their comfort zone, and giving into their emotional exhaustion, they slept, they did not want to hear anymore about Jesus suffering and dying. Sometimes we don’t even hear or see the emotional pain our family member is in, nor do we want too, we are compassion fatigued ourselves, we look out for us first, and we keep our comfort zone in tact. Prayer For Our Family: Jesus change this up in our family life that we would not let any boundaries we have set tear down the walls of compassion in our family life, that we would discard the regulations, and unconditionally love, listen, and hear what our family member is growing through. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Good Family Dynamics
In good family dynamics, a love conqueror is not someone who controls the outcome, it is someone who yields to God. Yes. I. Embrace. Lordship. Daily. Jesus did not try to control his family of disciples by bullying them emotionally with what He was going through. Jesus also did not try to control them by telling them they needed to pray now or else! He was a love conqueror in this family of 12 by telling them the truth of what they needed and letting them decide. He did not breach their will, even though He knew what they needed. This is what love conquerors do in the adult family dynamics, they don’t bully, they don’t force control, they don’t emotionally beat you up, they speak the truth in love, and let you decide. Love Conquerors yield the outcome to God. Prayer For Our Family: Father God, break the spirit of control and narcissism in our family life, do not let it operate in our family. Help each family member learn not to bully each other for the outcome they want, and not to set restrictions on people who do not comply with their wishes, but instead, let go and let God work. Help our family members stay out of God’s Lane, He is the fixer, He is the reconciler, He is the Savior, and as a family member, we are not. Change it up in our family, create an atmosphere of yielding to God. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Our Human Condition Can Be Disappointing
Jesus had to be very disappointed that these disciples who knew that something was terribly wrong, did not stay and pray with Him for a bit when He asked so urgently for them to stay and tarry in prayer with Him for one hour. Jesus did not say to them, if you don’t pray with me you are no longer my disciples. He did not try to force His will upon them. In the end, they missed out, the enemy was upon them and He said: Now it is time to get up, my betrayer is here. They were not ready and He knew it, but He did not leave them nor forsake them. This forbearance is an amazing quality of someone who is destined to conquer in the end, forbearance, side by side with a yielded heart. Family Prayer: Jesus had so much forbearance for our human condition, we pray for forbearance to be a godly trait that is developed in our family members lives.
He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, “So, couldn’t you stay awake with me one hour? 41 Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26: 38 -46
The Love Conqueror
Jesus spoke truth in love, and yielded the outcome to God, this is what the love conqueror does in the mish-mash of family dynamics. Jesus responded to God, He did not react to the disciples who had let Him down. The disciples did not want to believe that Jesus was going to die, they thought He would be the conquering King. They did not want to believe it. So, they stayed in their comfort zone, and slept through the time Jesus needed them the most. Conquering was not ever defined by Meekness until Jesus wrote that definition for a true love conqueror. Power under control. Position and rights humbly sacrificed for the greater good. Family Prayer: Create in each heart of our family members, meekness that is coincided with a yielding of their way to God.
“Our reaction is to God and our response is from Him. God’s Word changes not… the heart of the Gospel changes us, we don’t change it. Unbelief has no affect on truth, therefore we don’t have to take up an offense about unbelief, the Word stands up to it, we don’t have to prove anything. God is the Proof, Jesus, is the Proven, the Holy Spirit is the Prover. We belong to God, we serve Jesus and we stay in followship of the Holy Spirit. We stay in our own lane and run our race of faith. We are not the Savior, Fixer, or Redeemer.” KimberlyMac
Not My Will But Yours
It would be so amazing if in our family life, we could be the kind of love conqueror Jesus was. He conquered His human flesh, battled with it in the Garden Of Gethsemane, wrung out His soul until He sweat drops of blood from the emotional stress, and He prayed, until He yielded fully to God saying: “Not my will but Yours be done.” Jesus was a love conqueror and He won the victory by yielding everything to the Father God, even unto death. To be like Jesus, won’t be a comfortable position for us in our family life. It is a place of discipline of our self-control, so we don’t flesh out in the hard times, but we stay steady, faithful, trusting, and in complete dependency on God, doing what we do unto Him and for His glory. Prayer For Family Members: I hear You knocking at my door Lord, I yield to You. I step out of my comfort zone of fleshly reaction, I will learn to respond to You first. To yield to You, to Your way, to whatever purposes You have in play in the unseen of my life, I yield.
Mish-Mash Of Personalities
Yes, our families may be a mish-mash of personalities, talents, past trophies, but what if we yielded all of that, looked to God and asked Him to make us selfless like Jesus was. What if we became the love conqueror who was forbearing with others, became more interested in what others were doing or feeling, being yielded to God in our own personal comforts, rights, and family position? What if we stopped controlling, bullying, and isolating others, and yielded to God, letting Him develop a safe place in our family, a place of unconditional love, where all people were allowed to learn and grow in their own specific God shape? What if we became love conquerors like Jesus, our desires, wants, expectations, past, family position, all underneath the Rulership of God’s love. Family Prayer: Let it be so in each one of our family members, position us underneath the Rulership of God’s love.
What If We….????
Let’s grow as a mish-mash family into one family, united under God. What if we patterned our mish-mash family life not after our normal family traditions and ways, but we worked at building a strong family foundation to become a love conqueror like Jesus was, so our family members could grow and thrive In Christ. Jesus had a meek, conquering spirit, and He ended powerfully well. To end well, we need to have the atmosphere of spirit and truth in our family. What if we said NO to all assumptions, speculations, presuppositions, and spoke the truth in love, in the living room of our family life? What if we accepted new people into our family dynamics, and we did not isolate them, treat them differently, or scorn them, for not knowing and understanding the dynamics of our family. What if we yielded what we knew and embraced them? What if we took all the mish-mash of assumptions and tossed them out of our family life, because these create a lack of trust, and a berating of each other, which is not an acceptable dynamic in a thriving family life. What if we trusted in each other’s character and integrity and added value to it? What if the final family dynamic that needed to take place, unconditional love, was put in play when someone messed up on the, assuming, isolating, scorning and berating? Family Prayer: Father change up our family to be a strong foundation for conquerors like Jesus, unite us under the authority of God, help us to walk in truth, integrity and unconditional love towards each other, to show mercy and kindness like Jesus does. Listen Up To This 1 Minute Encouragement Video with the wisdom of “True Love”
A Strong Foundation
Trust is a necessary foundation for a family that raises love conqueror’s like Jesus, and trust grows when we take each other at our spoken word or action, we believe each other. If we want to be like the Meek Conquering Savior, Jesus Christ, our actions need to reflect truth, trust, integrity and unconditional love. A Mish-Mash family full of different people, gifted in so many different ways will thrive when we look in the mirror before we point out someone else’s differences, shortcomings, and their past mistakes, and we choose trust, truth, integrity, forbearance, and unconditional love, because without these things our family will not flourish, and neither will the conquering spirit of Jesus Christ. Why not accept, encourage and embrace the difference in our shape and design instead of trying to make people a carbon copy of ourselves, this would be stepping out of our comfort zone. Family Prayer: Jesus change us us up, one family member at a time, cause us to flourish because we show mercy, we have forgiveness and know the power of unconditional love. Tear down our comfort zone, and cause us to embrace the giftedness and talents of each other. Pray This Scripture Up For Your Family:
Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. Perfect Love Is Love That Never Stops Loving. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Thank you for stopping into The Bridegroom’s Cafe today for a Spiritual Meal. We have the best Chef here, His name is Jesus Christ. We hope your soul was nourished today at The Family Table and you were inspired to pray for your family. We hope you enjoyed our 1 Minute Encouragement Video’s from our Rumble Channel. Make sure you help us out and subscribe to our channel here: https://rumble.com/c/KimberlyMac it helps us out and we really appreciate it. Share the Family Prayer today with another family and bless them with the encouragement, exhortation and wisdom of God. Have a great day, Kimberly Mac, Author