FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Discover God’s blessings for your family
Find out how you can have a family filled with the peace of God, His love and blessing.
The key to good family relationships is unquestionably the relationship of the husband and wife with each other and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even if you are a solo parent, you can realise that you are married to Jesus Christ in the Spirit and as you obey and follow Him you also can have a wonderful relationship with Him and with your family.
When we have a born again experience our whole outlook is changed. This is particularly true if we turn 180 degrees from darkness to light from the power of Satan to the power of God. (Acts 26:18.)
When Pat and I were married many years ago we were quite young and many temptations began to enter my life as I succeeded in business and as a lawyer.
After a while I reached the point that I thought I would like to separate from Pat and live my own life. We had four children.
One part of me wanted to do so but the other part did not.
I did not realise that it was a spirit of lust which was endeavouring to break up the marriage.
All of this was despite the fact that we attended a church every week and I occupied every position available to a layman in the Anglican Church.
When we attended an evangelist’s meeting one evening everything began to change for me. As this evangelist prayed for the sick and I saw the power of God healing people I suddenly realised how little I knew about the power of God. I did not regularly read my Bible so I did not know much about what was in it.
I knew the basics of the Gospel including the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fact that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. But I knew little more because I did not have the power of God within me to defeat the wiles of the devil.
We gave our lives to Jesus Christ in that evangelist’s meetings and immediately the presence of God entered our lives. We were born again, filled with the Holy Spirit and totally changed.
We began a prayer meeting in our home and for the next eight years large numbers of people came each week. We all prayed together and saw the power of God healing people. As we were casting out demons we saw many lives changed.
When we submitted our lives to God then our relationship with each other totally changed and Jesus became the head of the house.
Our relationships with our adolescent children also changed as they realised that we had had a dramatic conversion. They in turn were born again.
This meant that the Holy Spirit was now leading us in every way including in business, in law (I was a lawyer), in our relationships with each other, and our children, as well as in every aspect of our lives.
The love of God entered our lives in a way that I had never thought possible. We were now in the kingdom of God.
As the spiritual head of the house, I was changed into a much softer person and the Lord gave Pat and me wisdom in dealing with family issues and with each other.
While there can be a fleshly love in marriage, when we are born again and enter the kingdom of God, the Spirit of God is living within us guiding and helping us in our relationships and filling us with His love.
As we read the Bible and followed the principles that God has set out very clearly, arguments disappeared, contentions fell away and the overwhelming presence of God filled our lives and hearts.
We learned that we must forgive each other and everybody no matter the cost. We prayed a blessing on those who cursed us, opposed us and spoke against us.
As we shared this with others, and as Pat and I practised evangelism, we saw thousands of lives changed.
As a husband I live the truth of the Scripture which tells us that as a husband I must dwell with my wife with understanding, giving honour to her, so that together we could receive God’s favour in life, and that our prayers were not hindered. (1 Peter 3:7.)
We prayed together every morning as we took communion and prayed for others. Over the years God answered thousands of our prayers.
He is a wonderful Lord! He only wants us to humble ourselves and be obedient to Him. Then He pours out mighty blessings.
We learnt the truth of “give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” (Luke 6:38.)
Following our conversions, Pat and I had a lifetime of marriage where we knew the peace of God, His love and blessing.
Our four children and 16 grandchildren all know the love and presence of God and over the years we enjoyed a wonderful relationship with them all.
All of these blessings can be yours by simply submitting your life fully to Jesus Christ and asking Him to be your Lord and Saviour.