What you witness now will be very different—a new day when seeds of peace will be sown in fertile soil. The seeds will grow into sheaves of wheat, and the vines will produce luscious grapes. The ground will yield its crops, and pleasant dew will again fall from the heavens. And I will give these things to My remnant as their inheritance. Because you, people of Judah and Israel, were once the objects of scorn among the nations, I will rescue you and you will become a blessing. Don’t be afraid, and keep yourselves strong. Zechariah 8:12-13 The Voice
God has promised our family, much! God provides abundantly for our families, spiritually, mentally and physically. Do we acknowledge this incredible Providential Care? We should stop right now and begin praising Him for all the ways He is at work in our family life. We are blessed to be a blessing. How often do we acknowledge the provisional blessings of God in our family life? Do we appreciate the salvation of God, the Word of God that is never rescinded or powerless and having everything we need, when we need it? Do we as a family acknowledge God first?
“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord. Isaiah 59:20-21
How grateful are we for what God does for us? Does lack of gratitude mess with our family life, derailing us into selfless and self-centered living? Do we trust in ourselves to provide, or are we trusting in God’s provision for us? How can we as a family of God, better commit ourselves to acknowledging God first and trusting in our Way-Maker God to provide for us, instead of pressing and fleshing out to make our own way? What is it that holds our belief in check, keeping us believing in Jesus as a Provider, but not wholly-holy believing Him, trusting Him to provide, like we think we should be provided for? Do we have the attitude that we can do life without God, we don’t need Him?
Trust Me moment by moment. This is all I require of you, and it is sufficient to keep you standing firm in the midst of fierce spiritual battles. Sarah Young
Receiving is the easier part of the receive-give transactions going on between God and His People. All God asks us to do is believe and from faith to faith, acknowledge Him, and ask and receive. But the equation does not end there. We need to be givers also. Why is it so hard to give when God has abundantly given to us? Are we like the Israelites in the desert, who took so much that it spoiled? If God is continually giving into our family, what about giving recoils us into greedy keeping? What is overabundance for in your family life? Is your family motivated by a receive-give life style? family life?
When they used a two-quart jar to measure it, the one who had gathered a lot didn’t have more than he needed; and the one who gathered less had just what he needed.[a] Miraculously, each person and each family—regardless of how much they gathered—had exactly what they needed. Moses (continuing God’s instructions): 19 Don’t try to keep any of it until the morning. Either eat it all, or throw it away. 20 But some people ignored Moses and tried to keep some of it until the next morning. Overnight it became wormy and started to have a dreadful smell. Moses became furious with them because they had disobeyed God’s instructions. 21 Every morning the people went out and gathered it—each family took only what it needed. By the time the sun became hot, it had melted away. Exodus 16:18-21 The Voice
What are some things American families struggle with? Greed of experience is one of them. Satiating our fleshly desires, wanting to experience all the new things of our culture and not miss out on anything. New experiences can sometimes be our idol. We want the newest and the best and we want it now. We crave new excitement. Therefore, the plates of American families are full of the culture and things that don’t matter in the long run of eternity. A lack of gratitude or even acknowledging the One, Who is providing everything for the family, is at epidemic propensity in family life today. This take-for-granted attitude, it spoils family’s manna as they keep taking and taking without being satiated and wanting more and more. This inner core greed for having the fast excitement and new experiences our culture offers has changed up the face of family life in ways God never designed and put our families back under the law that Jesus came to save us from.
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
When we were merely living natural lives, the law, through defining sin, actually awakened sinful desires within us, which resulted in bearing the fruit of death. But now that we have been fully released from the power of the law, we are dead to what once controlled us. And our lives are no longer motivated by the obsolete way of following the written code, so that now we may serve God by living in the freshness of a new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 7:5-6 The Passion Translation
Jesus is our Deliverer; He came to deliver us from our very human condition that is so prevalent in our family lives. Acknowledge HIM. It is the Holy Spirit’s hope to bring forth in our families a new God-empowered living as we make it personal with God, in vital-vertical relationship and acknowledge Him in all of our ways. We need to change it up. Give God the pen of our family life journal and let Him write our families story. Jesus has known and experienced human emotion, temptations and trials, He understands that draw for families to isolate themselves from Him, in order to go their own way of provision of what they think they need. Families need to do what it takes to change it up, to receive their Deliverer and their deliverance from the things of this world, to have a family life that acknowledges God first, in the all of their everything.
When I finally saw my own lies, I owned up to my sins before You, and I did not try to hide my evil deeds from You. I said to myself, “I’ll admit all my sins to the Eternal,” and You lifted and carried away the guilt of my sin. [pause] Psalm 32:5 The Voice
Many families are led by feelings and wants today more than they are by truth and faith. We need to flip-flop that in our family lives and be led by Truth, in followship of a kingdom perspective. It is time to stop bowing to a worldly viewpoint, letting the culture fill the plate of our family life, so we are continuously pushing the envelope and exhausted. It is time for our family to fully face God and acknowledge the sin of ungraciousness, greed for excitement, self-aspiration, selfishness, ungratefulness, and the chasing after the new experiences of the world, more than we chase after God and His Kingdom. Families, it is time to change it up, to put God first, to exchange our worldly viewpoint for a kingdom perspective. It is time to dig our life roots deeply in God’s Kingdom and acknowledge Him, clinging to Him first and giving Him total access to our family life. Let it be so.
“Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.” ~ Edwin Hubbel Chapin
Eternal One: Abram, get up and go! Leave your country. Leave your relatives and your father’s home, and travel to the land I will show you. Don’t worry—I will guide you there. I have plans to make a great people from your descendants. And I am going to put a special blessing on you and cause your reputation to grow so that you will become a blessing and example to others. I will also bless those who bless you and further you in your journey, and I’ll trip up those who try to trip you along the way. Through your descendants, all of the families of the earth will find their blessing in you. Genesis 12:2-3 The Voice
Pray it up Patriarchs and Matriarchs and adjust the course of your family life in followship of Jesus, going where He leads, doing what He asks. Be the family who acknowledges God first and adds kingdom value to wherever God plants you; blooming in a God glory that can’t be ignored, that draws many to Jesus. How do we change it up? We acknowledge God first in our family life and value the things that wholly-holy bring honor to Jesus, leaving behind the pursuit of materialistic, for followship of Jesus. Let’s take this time to listen up to God and let Him adjust the navigation of our family life, to charting our course for the Kingdom of God. Let it be so, Jesus. Let us as Your Family units that you have created and maintained, acknowledge You first and seek first the Kingdom of God.
So then, forsake your worries! Why would you say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For that is what the unbelievers chase after. Doesn’t your heavenly Father already know the things your bodies require? “So above all, constantly chase after the realm of God’s kingdom and the righteousness that proceeds from him. Then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly. Matthew 6:31-33 The Passion Translation
“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” ~ Jeremiah Burroughs
What a meal God prepared for us today at the Family Table in The Bridegroom’s Café. It was very soul nourishing and should strengthen our inner spiritual core like no other. Thank you for partaking in this meal, please share it with other families using the social media buttons below. The best way we can continue being strong in God as a family unit is to stay in His Word, hearing “The Bridegroom’s Voice” daily. I highly suggest you purchase this book and take the Journey with Jesus to an incredible, vital-vertical relationship with Him. God bless ya, KimberlyMac
