Families; a Word from 12/07

A few weeks ago the Lord was reviewing my last year with me. It is the end of 2007 and this isn’t unusual for Him to go over His purposes, and if they were accomplished.

One big change in my husband Dave and my lives is that the Lord called us back to live in my home town to be with my ailing father. Because we came back in June, I had 3 months to be with my father before he died. He had strayed from his faith and I was blessed to see him restored before his death. The Lord pointed this out to me, saying “See, I answered your prayers”. Yes, that was a big answer.

From this memory came others as the Holy Spirit directed me to family members whose lives I had seen Him touch. My mother had been lonely, and seemed to cheer up more and more as we spent time with her. Then the Lord reminded me of my sons and how my youngest had begun talking about the “fear of the Lord” and other Christian topics. How wonderful to see God at work here in my family. It was almost as if we had left one ministry (we had been serving in YWAM) for another. Even better, it was my family.

Then the Lord began telling me how important families are to Him. He reminded me of King David, and how it was said of him that he had a heart after God’s own heart. The Lord asked me to turn to 1 Chron. 17, and I wondered what I would find there. It was about David’s desire to build God a house, but that the Lord said He would build David a house. I stopped right there. I remembered the Lord saying that David’s son would build His house, but I hadn’t remembered that the Lord said He would build a house for David. Yes, I remember the term “house of David” from the Bible. But, it wasn’t about a house. “It’s about his family” the Lord said. Just like Abraham’s family was important, so was David’s. God gave a legacy to David’s family, to rule over Israel. God is concerned with building families, generation after generation, who will serve Him.

The Lord directed me to the passage about David’s house of Cedar, saying that some men are more concerned with building their own house than having God build one for them. “That is why I am sending the spirit of Elijah to the earth; he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the parents.” If this wasn’t so serious, God wouldn’t threaten the earth with a curse (see Mal 4:5,6). Families have a purpose, and are more important than we know. God has plans for families, and for each generation of a family, He has a planned work for them to do.

I had a dream a few months ago wherein many people were called to an old church, to repair it. There was a lot of work to do, and each person was there to assess his or her part. All of a sudden the building began to shake. I looked out the window to see demons driving large earth-moving equipment, and digging away at the hillside the church was on. Satan’s evil laugh could be heard, saying that he conscripted the people called “Missionaries” to help him. Then I saw that most of the people who had come to repair the church were helping to move the land away from it, down a long river bed. At the end of this dream I had a feeling that the church had lost something very important to her; her land, her inheritance.

I had wondered how the devil could fool missionaries into his service, when the Lord began talking to me again about families. He reminded me that many people feel compelled to leave their homes and go to far lands to spread the gospel and participate in many ministries there. Then He said, “I am sending the spirit of Elijah. This is My plan, to get My Bride ready. The Church needs repair. Without the fathers, the children’s hearts will grow bitter. Even now there are sons who will not enter into My kingdom because their parents go. It is the season for My Bride to prepare herself, to make herself ready. It is the time to mend families, to rid them of their generational curses and strongholds. Why should they remain under a curse when I have come to set them free? I want the fathers to give their children a legacy of walking in the kingdom with them. But many of the church leaders are compelling the fathers and mothers to go out and plant their seeds in far away lands. So My own house is in need of repair. My Bride has stains on her garment still. And the families I would mend are waiting.” I believe the Lord is telling us more about the Spirit of Elijah and the purpose of turning the hearts of the parents and children to each other.

This is the end of the teaching about families. Let us pray to have our eyes opened concerning our families, and the part we have in them. Let us see with Jesus’ eyes the important work our family has to do in this present generation, and also learn how to prepare our children for their work, and the work to come. Amen. God will come to see a Bride who has prepared herself (Rev 19:7).