Building Godly Homes Through Family Devotion

        Both the Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) and The World is One News (WION) carried an interesting story in their trend analysis for October 2021. CBNC’s story was titled, ‘The Great Resignation: Why Millions of Workers Are Quitting’, while WION posed the question ‘Why Are So Many People Quitting?’

The two networks advanced several reasons for the development, one of which touched on the importance of family ties. Some of those who quit their jobs and chose to work from home in order to spend more time with their families. This was reportedly one of the fallouts of the lockdown which trailed the outbreak of the Wuhan virus. If the analysis is authentic, it shows that something positive came out of the pandemic.

          The concept of family originated with God. That is why it attracts so much attacks from satan and his demons. It started with the first wedding ceremony officiated by God Himself in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve were joined together in holy matrimony, the Bible records that both of them were naked before each other and were not ashamed.

Then came the demonic interruption of the plan of God through the insidious lies of the slippery serpent (satan) which caused the first couple to rebel against God. The fall intensified after Adam and Eve had two boys, Cain and Abel, culminating in the first shedding of innocent human blood – the murder of Abel by his brother.

Why does satan hate the family with passion? According to William Ruckelshaus, former United States Assistant Attorney General, “The family is the building block for whatever solidarity there is in society”. Haniel Long describes family from the perspective of its functionality: “So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty”.

On his part, C. S. Lewis explains the importance of family through the eyes of the mother, whom he described as the ‘homemaker’. He said, “The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career”. Anthony Liccione sums up the criticality of the family as the building block of society: “Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home”.

          Is it any wonder that globalists preparing grounds for the Anti-Christ are making concerted efforts to undermine the family? One of the groups mobilised by the Satanists, namely Black Lives Matter (BLM) has made no bones of its desire to destroy the family unit, starting from America and moving to other parts of the world.

One of the cardinal objectives of the violent prone organisation is “to disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure”. It is apparent that the current American administration is in league with the organisation in this respect as its policies tend to give teeth to the stated aim of BLM to undermine the family structure.

          The American government now promotes transgender culture with gusto, to the extent that traditional family norms are being projected as anti-progressive. The push is for gender-neutral terms that would accommodate the interest of the transgender population. These are people who have undergone sex change from males to females and vice versa. In fact, the government is encouraging even minors as young as eight years old to change their sex without the consent of their parents or guardians.

In line with this 21^st Century demon inspired wisdom, mothers have been renamed ‘birthing people’ by the American authorities, while some officials are canvassing for the removal of the demand for sexual preference from documents that specifies male and female genders.

The craze to be politically correct in terms of gender neutrality is not confined to the United States. Recently, British Airways instructed its cabin crew not to address passengers as ‘ladies and gentlemen’. This was intended to capture the new ‘binary and non-binary structure of the human species’. In a nut shell, humans can no longer be classified as males or females since there are people who do not fit into these categories.

           What has the foregoing got to do with family devotion? In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul the apostle described the Anti-Christ as the “lawless one”. The reign of lawlessness cannot materialise except satan destroys the family structure using his human agents as it is already happening in parts of the world.

Lawlessness manifests in increased violence, needless bloodshed and wickedness at a level never seen before. For the globalists to achieve their goal of preparing the world for the reign of the Anti-Christ, they must first destroy the family. What has started in America will eventually spread to the rest of the world. This is why Christians need to put on the spiritual weapons to fight for the survival of their families.

          Establishing and maintaining a relationship with God are critical to the survival of the traditional family structure. The next step is to water the relationship through family devotion – a deliberate act to hide the family under the shadow of the Almighty. This involves setting a time when the husband and wife or parents and kids, sit down, read the Bible, worship God and pray together. Family devotions are vital for moving our spiritual lives beyond the church walls and into an active, thriving faith. It is a time designed to build up each individual and establish a sense of unity and direction within families.

Being intentional about a devotional time and developing a family culture around that habit is important. Family devotions can initiate deep relationships with children and expand opportunities to pray with and for them. While it might require a shift in the way a family spends their time, scheduling family devotions can yield eternal dividends in a family’s spiritual growth and legacy. As the old saying goes, “a family that prays together stays together”.

This is because God blesses families who pray together, giving a sense of His presence, increased peace, love and harmony in the home. Family prayer is also a great way to help younger children develop the habit of praying on their own.

         Unless parents have established a devotional discipline in their personal lives first, having family devotions can feel awkward or overwhelming. The desire to begin having personal devotions can become a model for the children as the parents actively pursue a relationship with God. The parents’ commitment to Bible reading and prayer can speak volumes about the importance they place on spiritual development and their love for God.

It is something they need to grow into with their children. Transparency and perseverance are keys to building and sustaining family devotion. The goal is to raise children who remain devoted to God as adults. The desire of every Christian parent should be to raise children who use prayer, God’s word, and the solid core of family, friends, and church community to guide their decision-making, their life goals and relationships.

The following ideas are useful in crafting or designing family devotions. The parents should however try to be consistent, but should not be discouraged if they falter. Also, even if everyone cannot participate for whatever reason, the parents should endeavour to make it a refreshing and meaningful time together. The under-listed ideas are not cast in stone. Parents should also seek the face of God for guidance.

1. Pray together before bedtime.
2. Discuss Sunday School lessons.
3. Ask the Sunday School teachers about the lesson guide to help you reinforce the subject at home.
4. Act out a Bible story with every member of the family playing specific roles.
5. Read through a good children’s Bible and discuss interesting points with your children.
6. Discuss a Christian hymn or use hymn histories – Many good hymn history books are available online.
7. Enjoy a Christian movie together and discuss the principles gleaned from it.
8. Play some Bible games together.
9. Pray through a Psalm together praising God and asking Him to fulfil promises outlined in the Scripture. and
10. Memorise a Bible verse together.

Additional materials sourced from https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com and https://www.maranathabaptistacademy.com