Families of FaithIs Your Family Building Faith to Face the Impossible?
For many years we have seen the Church grow in faith for many things. Faith has been increasingly preached and practiced. Physical healing, prosperity, inner healing and deliverance – all areas in which we have seen faith grow in the hearts of believers, but marriage and family have seemed to remain low on the list. Many times we have heard couples going forward in altar calls being told to just believe God and they would see a difference in their marriage. How could they do that, though, in the face of impossible circumstances? If altar calls for physical healing were conducted like altar calls for marriage and family healing, few would ever have faith for the healing of their bodies. Doubt and unbelief permeate the thinking of the church when it comes to marriage and family. “Free will” is touted as the primary reason one cannot believe for a spouse to change.
Too often counselors view problems in marriage and family more from their own experience or background rather than what God says about them. Couples are robbed of hope, parents are discouraged from “getting their hopes up”, and little children are told that the breakup of their family is going to make things better. If faith is the substance of things hoped for, how can faith be developed in an atmosphere of absent hope?
Do Our Present-Day Families Lack Faith?
When a couple reaches a point of separation or divorce, often the one who wants to work on the marriage is told there is nothing that can be done. “It takes two to heal a marriage”. If one spouse doesn’t want to stay together, it is almost a given that the remaining spouse will be told to “let go” and get on with life.
If people who had just been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness were counseled the same way, would there be any hope for physical healing? No, altar calls for physical healing are given after the Word has been preached and testimonies have fortified the believers to reach out for their own miracles. Why should marriage and family not be the same?
Scripture has many things to say about faith. We know that without it, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). We know that even Jesus was hindered in His earthly ministry because of the lack of faith around Him (Matthew 13:58). And scripture asks a very important question, “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Will He find faith for marriage and family?
Faith Starts in Our Families
We cannot continue to address faith in the Body of Christ without looking at marriage and family. All of our issues of life begin in the home. God wants us to learn what He says about marriage and family! We need to learn how to have faith for each other within our families first. Sometimes it is much easier to believe for others than for those we know best and who know us best. It is much easier to have faith for other things outside the family. But God wants our faith to start in our families! Growing together in faith for our families means learning to look beyond circumstances to what God has promised. Faith for our families means …
-
Learning what God’s faith vision is for our spouse and children.
-
Discovering what gifts God has put within each of us and how to help them develop.
-
Uncovering early in the lives of our children what God is calling them to do and cooperating with His plan.
-
Repenting when the years have passed and we didn’t know then what we know now.
-
Trusting God for each new day and believing that He is still at work in each family member.
Our families provide the best school of faith we could ask for. Family is the arena where our hearts are tested the most and where we can truly see what still lies within us. We may be able to smile superficially for a few hours a week at church, but those in our homes know whom and how we really are. What better place to honestly begin growing in faith?
Walking in faith is a life-long process. Every family has challenges. May each challenge that we face only encourage us to become stronger in God’s Word and believe even more what He has promised. May we learn to be honest about our family and stand together, facing the storms of life together in unity! The enemy seeks to divide us and conquer our families, but Jesus has paid the price for our victory.
By Mike and Marilyn Phillipps
Mike and Marilyn are the founders of 2=1 formerly the University of the Family.
Please click here to give us feedback about this article.
Want to know more?
|
Designed and Delivered by
