Floodgates of Heaven Devotions: Family

Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 4-7, Acts 2:22-47

Today’s Reflection: Nehemiah 4:14b …remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

In our selected verse, we are coming in right after Nehemiah “set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bow.” In short, each family joined in the reconstruction of the wall of Jerusalem, as well as the protection of the project against threats that were coming in from the enemy.

Today, I would like to borrow from Nehemiah’s strategy and say that in much the same way, the church also ought to organize, equip, and motivate its families to join in to the effort of not only rebuilding the church, but defending the work.

We understand that Christ is the one who builds the church, but we also understand that we are Christ’s body; hence, His hands and His feet. That means that He builds the church through us! And the truth is, a healthy church is made up of families surrendered to God’s will for their lives.

In today’s world, the breakdown of the family is a large contributor to the breakdown of the church. Statistically, strong families have been proven to be the backbone of a stable society.

Often, the family that was in church together was the family that stayed together, and produced children that later made long and lasting contributions to church, then ultimately society.

The devil knows that if the family unit can be destroyed, then all of society will be conquered. Why? Because if there’s no stable parent as an authority to teach right from wrong, and to discipline consistently in love and firmness, then children are often left to grow up being instructed by many confusing voices who all work hard to win that child’s mind and allegiance.

Ultimately, many then become a product of mass confusion as they try to figure things out without a guiding light to help them make the right decisions in life. And I’m here to tell you, there’s a better way!

This may sound a bit old-fashioned and outdated, but as much as is humanly possible, if we would go back to a Biblically defined family, where mom and dad are married and committed for better and for worse, and where their children are raised together under the same roof, and raised together in church, then the church could grow exponentially, and as a result, society could be saved!

----------------------------------------------

Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 167 of 365

----------------------------------------------

copyright © by Gary D. Caudill

---

GET YOUR NEXT 365 DAYS OF DEVOTIONS
ON KINDLE NOW!!

Today’s Reading: 2 Chron. 19-20, John 13:21-38

Today’s Reflection: 2 Chronicles 20:13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

The nation of Israel was in distress. A neighboring kingdom had risen up against them and was planning an attack. When they heard of it, they immediately began fasting, praying, and calling upon The Lord together as a nation, for wisdom and protection against their enemies.

And NO ONE was excluded. Not even the infants. “And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” In other words, every member of every family stood before The Lord, seeking His guidance and protection for their families, and ultimately, their nation.

Now, could you imagine what kind of difference this would make, if every member of every family in God’s church would stand before Him today, seeking guidance and protection? Unfortunately, however, my heart breaks at the deafening silence that the absence of children creates in our churches across this land.

What has happened? Why, it seems that we have time for our children to play, but we do not have time with them to pray. It seems we have time for teaching them recreation, but we have no time to teach them repentance. It seems we have time to give them entertainment from this wicked world, but we have no time to give them enlightenment from God’s Holy Word.

Furthermore, we feed our marriages on worldly wisdom and advice, while neglecting what God teaches us about it. Husbands lead their wives to sin, but seldom lead their wives to The Savior.

No wonder the breakdown of the family is so prevalent today. We have forsaken God’s design for a successful family unit. In fact, we are so far removed from what God expects of the family as a whole, that the average family is hardly even recognizable as a Biblically defined family any more.

And we wonder why divorce rates are at an all-time high. We wonder why little Johnny or Suzy walks away from church at age 18, if they’re even raised in church at all. We wonder why sexual promiscuity is the social norm, and why no one seems to blush over adultery and fornication any more.

Dear friend, we have gotten used to the dark. We have forsaken God’s plan for the family unit. We MUST repent and get our houses in order, if we are ever going to procure God’s blessings as a nation again!

To gain regular insight that may serve helpful in drawing your family closer to The Lord, please consider following our blog via email. Just one word from God could change your entire family!

----------------------------------------------

Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 154 of 365

---

GET YOUR NEXT 365 DAYS OF DEVOTIONS
ON KINDLE NOW!!

Floodgates of Heaven Devotions

Family and Church

Our faimilies are under attack, so we MUST act QUICKLY!