The Glory of God in a Home I
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Important messages
Fathers, do not
provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and
instruction of the
Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
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| Tom and Raquel have youth meetings in their home in ND |
I presented this article and two others in the first half of 2015, entitling
them, Forming a Home for the Glory of God.
I want to post them again, hoping they can be of use, especially to young
Christian families. They are under three subtitles: This one is The Reality of God in the Home, the next
is The Love of God in the Home, and
finally Priorities in the Home. Please
read carefully and prayerfully.
Raquel, our oldest
daughter, and Daniel, our oldest son, both wrote in 2012 about their home life
growing up. I think that a son or daughter can express with more authority the
impressions of his childhood than a parent can. I might have classes, in which
I give my opinions about bringing up children, but in the end, the proof lies
with the children themselves. How did they see their childhood and adolescence?
Of course, we have
heard our other five children speak of similar impressions, as those expressed
here, but I have these written accounts conveniently at hand. They make it easy
for me to convey to you, with greater strength, three basic and essential
ingredients that can make a Christian home stand firm. Dan wrote to us
personally and Raquel wrote in a Christmas letter the statements that I have
copied. Also in 2003, Mike, the youngest son, wrote his testimony.
God’s reality in the home
Raquel: “God answered prayer after prayer
supernaturally. None of us had any excuse to doubt God.”
“Through trials, Dad
and Mom always prayed for us and God always sent that peace that passes
understanding. They taught us so faithfully to trust God and lived it
themselves.”
“I was especially
thankful for my godly upbringing when we had our car accident and we found out
that especially in trials, God shows himself faithful. He filled us with such
peace and joy and a supernatural acceptance that this too was God's plan,
understanding that so clearly that even to this day I have never wanted to wish
it all away. And the joy remains.” (The accident left Raquel in a wheel chair.)
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| Dan is pastor of Swanton Christian Church in Vermont |
Daniel: “Another memory that is so clear in
my mind was when we were living in Pinotepa. Dad was gone on a trip somewhere.
Mom was home alone with us kids late at night… all the lights were out. Mom
sang over and over again the song, To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus all I
ask, to be like Him, all through life’s journey, from earth to glory, all I ask
is to be like Him. What an example! I can’t sing the song without thinking
of that time.”
“I do remember a large
church in Oaxaca that we used to go to quite often and dad would preach there.
We all sat as a family on the men’s side of the isle with Dad until he got up
to preach. There was a restaurant near the church and the owners were
Christians. One of them was healed in a meeting… before that she couldn’t lift
her arm.”
“I remember always
looking forward to camp. The last year we went to “Camp Lebanon” you shared
stories about your upbringing and our family. That last year was special. I
remember the last night when Dad dismissed the meeting and no one moved. What a
time of prayer we had afterwards! Two of the most rebellious young people
didn’t even move for a while.”
Mike: “I grew up on the mission field and I have to
say that I wouldn't trade that opportunity for anything in the world. When I am
asked what caused me to continue in God's work after leaving home, I have to
agree with the answer that my older brothers and sisters give to the same
question: It's the reality of God – it’s as simple as that. We grew up in a
home where God was alive and we were able to see God work on a regular
basis. Day by day He would supply needs, because my parents put God first in
everything. One of the biggest problems in Christian homes today is that kids
are raised on a form of godliness that has no power. God isn't allowed to be
real. Oh, it's what everybody says that they want, but few are willing to trust
God for everything in the home. I remember making a
commitment to the Lord at the age of six during a communion
service.”
…………………….
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| Mike is pastor of the Church of Hope in MN |
“And (Joshua) said to the people of Israel, When
your children ask their fathers in times to come, What do these stones mean?
then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry
ground. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until
you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for
us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the
hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”
(Joshua 4:21-24)
I saw these “stones”
piled up in my childhood home. The moving of the Holy Spirit in the lives of my
parents caused me to see the reality of God at an early age. All the pleasures
of the world lose their flavor before a living and true God. To see His power
and to experience His guidance dims all the brilliance of the world and the
demonstrations of its capabilities. Above all else, if Christian parents want
to keep their children from going in the way of the world, their children must
experience the reality of God working before their eyes.
Paul wrote to Timothy
of the end times, when nominal Christians would have a form of godliness, but
deny its power. In my case, I knew also the reality of our enemy since I was a
child. My father worked among the native people in Midwestern U.S, who know a
lot about supernatural power. Dad tried to protect me from what was all around
us, but it was impossible to avoid it all.
When you see someone
doing strange and even supernatural things and, in taking him to psychiatrists,
they tell you that there is no mental problem, then you have to consider
another source for his behavior. When someone loses the use of a part of his
body and the doctors tell you that they can find no cause for his condition,
don’t be surprised, because in the Gospels you read of lunatics, of a lady
disabled and bent over, and of a person deaf and dumb, whose infirmities Jesus
attributed to demons.
When I was twelve
years old, I had a Chippewa friend my age, whose older sister went to see a
medicine man and immediately began to have visions of little men dancing around
her bed at night. One evening in a meeting, the spirit in her manifested itself
and what I saw robbed me of a lot of sleep for a long time. I knew this girl
well and she was a perfectly normal teenager, but what we saw in her face in
that meeting, what we heard her say and the voice with which she said it, was
not hers. I can’t describe it; you would have to see for yourself. I
could give many examples.
One thing that I know
since childhood is that the spiritual world is very real and the physical world
is subject to this other world. God must be a palpable reality in our daily
lives and our children should experience Him. An American army commander’s
wife, who found Christ in meetings in our home, spoke of sensing Someone else
present every time she entered the house. Not long ago, six people entered our
house with TV cameras and the master of ceremonies asked me about the peace
that he felt here. An elderly judge, after leaving our son’s house in Alaska,
commented about the peace that he experienced inside.
Entire families were
present in Christ’s meetings and the children were at hand, whenever He placed
them in the midst of the people to teach about the Kingdom of God. When Jesus
fed five thousand men and, on another occasion, four thousand, the writers add
that women and children were also fed. It is very clear that whole families
attended these events.
At one of them, a
child played a very special part: “There is a boy here who has five barley
loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” (Jn.6:9). Well, that
boy found out “what they are for so many” The Bible doesn’t tell us what
happened to that child, but you can be sure that he never forgot that
afternoon. When the world came to him with its offers of provision, he could
always think about that better world, that is a fountain for all of our needs.
And when the world offered him a position, we could look back upon the ministry
that he was involved in, through which about 20,000 people were fed, when he
was only a little boy.
Children should be
with their family, when the church comes together. Today Christians are
committing the same error that the disciples committed, when parents came to
Jesus, wanting Him to bless their children. The disciples wanted to dismiss
them and Jesus became angry with them. In these days, the children are
dismissed, when the regular meeting begins. One justification that we hear for
this practice is that children cannot sit still for long and so they will
create a disturbance. In that case, they are admitting a very serious lack
among us, which is the fact that the parents do not know how to discipline
their children. There is no excuse for this ignorance, because we have a Bible
full of instructions for parents.
In past generations,
the family sat together in one row. Today, it is said that the separation is
justified because children cannot understand the messages and they should be in
meetings, where they can be taught according to age. That is a demonstration of
a carnal mentality common among Christians. They ignore the special moving of
the Holy Spirit in the assembling of the church, to which children, just as the
adults, are sensitive; it could be that they are even more sensitive than
adults. I have seen that to be true and besides, they understand much more of
the teaching than we give them credit for. However, if God doesn´t move in the
meetings, I relinquish my argument. The children do not have to be in such
services… neither should the adults be there.
Friend, it is the work
of the parent to teach their sons and daughters the things of God in the home.
I will soon prepare two more articles, related to this theme and in one of
them, Raquel and Dan will tell of our family times that took place every day in
our house. We prayed together for all the needs. We prayed for anyone who was
sick in the home and everyone observed how God healed. We prayed when there was
a financial need and all the children could see God´s answer and how he
supplied. The testimonies are many, but I want to be brief in these articles
and brevity causes me to be selective and concise in writing them.
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