A Story of Spiritual Turmoil
All our lives we totter on a tightrope,
stretched across a vast chasm
without a net below to catch us and save us
from the internal erosion that manifests
generation after generation
Idols were the number one termite in the home thousands of years ago and it is so of today's family. Genesis 35:2. Put away strange God's. Don't let anything take the Lord away from you. Go back to your Bethel and remember your struggle with the Lord and how you reckoned with him and entered into a covenant. We have forgotten our first love. Don't ever think that you're so strong you can ignore God's word and have a fine family. Work to build the bedrock of God's word into your home and you'll have harmony.
If the men of their families could ever get to their rightful place in the world, in the home and in the church and operate in the authority God has given them we would have a different family structure in this nation. Be a daddy duck, and the momma duck will follow and then all the baby ducks will following right behind. What kind of duck is leading your home today? Are all your baby ducks in a row behind you or are they scattered across the pond with the momma duck searching to see if the dangers lurking about in the waters have swallowed up her babies?
Let's look at one man's journey and see how termites overtook his family. Genesis 25:7 tells us that Jacob's life is in a big mess. He has no peace because he's been running from God. This is the same Jacob that laid his head down on a rock, and that saw the ladder from heaven with angels descending and ascending. He saw God do supernatural things in his life, and then he walked away from God.
Have you ever walked away from a sermon you heard after knowing that it was word for you? Jacob wrestled all night with the Lord, and he was strong but the angel knocked his hip out of its socket. Jacob said, I won't leave until you bless me. Jacob got his blessing, but he was just plain uncommitted. Aren't we like that? We go from church to church. We don't want the Pastor to get up in our mess. We say, oh but we want it like Burger King, ordered to our liking. When we don't get our way, we whine and say, why does the preacher shout and jump around? Because he's got a fire in his bones to deliver the power of God's word to you. Everybody gets offended! I don't like the way they shook my hand, I'm just gonna find me another church.
Jacob is in trouble again after asking God to bless him! His daughter had been seduced and defiled by going to an ungodly crowd. Jacob's sons take revenge that shamed the family. Those 12 son's become the leaders of the 12 tribes of God's people. Because the blessing had come to Jacob. Their daddy was a man of God, away from God. The story of this family is complicated and makes you ponder why God chooses to bless who he does. But that was God's chose because of Jacob's inheritance blessing from Abraham and Isaac. You see a Godly man chosen by God gives a covering to his family and his children. But you've got to get the family in divine order to stop the termites.
Your covering is at your Bethel, which means the House of God, where you come to a reckoning of who you are in God and enter into a covenant. We need to keep our family in the house of the Lord. That's where God has placed his anointed ministers to speak to you. You need to hear what God is wanting to speak to you. All you single mother's, God will give you a loving church. God will give you a Pastor. Jeremiah 3:15.
He will give you the word that will split soul and sunder and pierce through bone and marrow. He says, I will give you Pastors to feed you the word of God. God told Jacob, if you'll come back to where I appeared to you; the place I first revealed myself to you, he promises he will cover you.
How does a single mom get covered? By Godly men in the church. Sunday teachers, children's church teachers. Never underestimate the power and influence over children from Christians. If your church is not loving others and making provisions for their lack, then find one with the fruit of the spirit in it. Because serving in the church is not about you. It's about lifting other lives up. You can make a difference in someone's life in your church.
Jesus made a difference, one man. One man, one woman, can make a difference. Have you ever looked at a church bus driver? He's happy! You don't have to be in the leadership to serve. The least of them all makes the biggest difference and makes the body one. One drink of water in His name will get you a blessing. Think about that the next time some single mother comes to you and says I'm having a problem with one of my children. Are you too busy being in leadership to stop and say, hey I can give some of my time to help this mother get through this rough spot.
God came to Jacob and he had a defiled daughter, and shame from his sons. Can this happen in your family? It happened in Jacob's family and it will happen in your family for you to come into your Bethel. Prov. 22:6. Well, you say, I can't make my children listen, but you teach by example. You are affecting generations to come. You say, I can't call my adult children in college or on their own all the time. They don't want it. Call them anyway! It won't drive them away. Stand up and let them know that Holy Ghost power in you. They will reckon with it. It will save their soul down the road.
These tribes weren't sanctified, but they became leaders of the family of God. Guard your home. It's the little foxes, those little sins that rob the peace in a home and that cause arguments. I'm not talking about abuse and such, that totally destroys the home.
You see, God is a generational God. He wants the family together. Well, my children don't want to go to church. Well try that plea with the school system. Does the school have more control and power than you over your children? Church is a given and should not be discussed as an option to not go from the child. They are supported by the parents, and the parents say, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. The children will know this is a part of our family structure. Let it be you that influences your children, don't give it away to the school, friends, and well meaning family members.
Sooner or later the Lord will take what is in you as a parent and it will get into the children. Your passions will become theirs, your delights will be theirs. That seed will be planted in them and they will not depart from it when they are older. What is the passion in you that is getting into your children? I guess I am like the preacher, 'cause I'm getting up in your mess here. I'm not talking about going to any old church. I'm talking about a church were love is demonstrated, the presence of God and the word preached in truth and spirit that can set a strong foundation for the family.
Let us rise and go up to the house of the Lord. Put away the strange god's among you. Know what your children are worshipping with the books they read, with the music they listen to, and the friends that are influencing them. You say, oh but my kids don't have strange gods. What posters are on their walls? What music is on their IPODS, what pictures are they looking at on their phones? What sights are they visiting on the internet? Now tell me, do your kids have strange gods influencing them? Some of the daddy's need to put away the strange gods too!
If you've got something that is drawing you away from God, then its a strange god. One step at a time we ease ourselves into sin, but then he delivered you from it, don't keep going back to your Bethel. Keep your heart fixed on him and never go back. We can learn a lot from Jacob and how God gets us to come to our Bethel. I'm like David, I was glad when they said, come let us go to the house of the Lord.
You may say, but my child is strong willed, well daddy better get strong willed back. Put away all the idols and when trouble comes in your family you will be covered.
To order complete sermons on cd of Pastor Jerry Nelson's email me at: djbraman@gmail.com or westmorelandphc.org
To see more articles on Christian living by D.J. Braman go to calledtobeanintercessor.blogspot.com
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