12/30/2018
Do you make intercession for your family? Do you pray for your wife, your children, your parents, and others in your house? Sometimes we think that we are only responsible for our own salvation, and only have the power to save ourselves, but in fact we have the ability, and even the obligation, to lift up our family before God.
“And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.”
Job 1:5 ESV
Praying for the forgiveness of our children, and making offerings in their stead. These are ways in which we become intercessors for our families. In fact, we should worry about their salvation, and fear for their souls, just like we do for our own. By doing this God sees us as blameless and upright. He sees us honoring him as we confront evil before ourselves and our families.
“And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"”
Job 1:8 ESV
Some use two particular verses in Matthew to justify separating themselves from their families as they pursue their faith. They read these verse and say “See, I can’t be associated with them any longer.” This is not true... Listen to the words of Jesus in these verses...
“For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.”
Matthew 10:35-36 ESV
Read alone you might draw this conclusion, but coupled with the verses we previously read from Job, and refined by the very next verse in Matthew, we realize that setting us against each other is redefining the fear of God to include Jesus... not meaning that we should totally abandon our family, but rather that we should see their disbelief as our enemy, pray for them, and intercede for them, seeking out forgiveness for their lack of belief in Jesus. Listen to how Jesus follows up His verses on separation...
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
Matthew 10:37 ESV
It is natural to love our parents and our siblings, but the thought Jesus is conveying is that this love should not be greater than the love we have for Him. He is not instructing us to abandon family when we become one with Him any more than we are to abandon our families when we marry.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24 ESV
No, we are being told to place Jesus before our families just as we are to do with our spouse when we marry. The original family maintains its importance and should continue to receive our prayers for their salvation and faith. God’s commandment concerning honoring our mother and father is not abandoned, but rather it is further defined and understood as it relates to the first commandment, and the placement of God above all things in our life.
“"You shall have no other gods before me.”
Exodus 20:3 ESV
So, pray for your family and the disbelief they might have. Love God and Jesus Christ more than you love even them, yet continue to love them , pray for their souls, ask for their forgiveness, and intercede in tears for their eventual acceptance and faith in Jesus. Do this, even if it appears futile to you, because not to do so says that you don’t believe the Lord can reach them... it is a lack of faith on our part.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the love you have for me, and for never giving up on me when I was unfaithful, and did not love you with all my heart, soul, and mind. I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who died for me, and redeemed me... even when I was yet a sinner. Help me Holy Father as I place you and Jesus above even my mother and father, but circumcise my heart, and give me a deep concern and fear for their salvation... so much so that I will intercede for them, and offer personal sacrifice for them. Let my overwhelming faith and love for you sooth me in my pain and suffering as I pray for my family, and even for their lack of faith in you, and disdain for my faith. Establish me as the reflection of you, and your Son Jesus that will lead them Merciful Father. Let my example in faith inspire them to seek out a personal relationship with you, and keep my faith strong as I believe firmly that your desire is to redeem their souls... just as you are continually refining and redeeming mine. Establish a legacy of godliness within my family Father, and make us one that others would identify as a family of God. I pray for my family, and their faith in you Gracious Father, and I long to one day hear your voice as you say “considered this my servant, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” Blessed am I to kneel before you Lord, for Holy, Holy, Holy are you who loved us enough to send His Son to suffer, and become our sacrifice, even while we were yet immersed in our sin. Great are you who teaches me to love and pray for all those who are yet to believe... especially my children and family, on whom I pray your scripture day and night...
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
Amen
Rich Forbes