Family

 

  

FAMILY

 

    



    It has been almost a month since my last blog and I am trying really hard to do a blog once a month about a subject that is important.  Family for Jeannine and I is, next to our relationship with God; the ultimate most important factor in our lives. When we lived in the Middle East we learned another definition of family.  In the Middle East, family is everything.  There are traditions that say when a family member comes to you for help, you are to help them.  If a family member shows up at your door you are to house them, feed them and take care of them for 6 months and no questions asked. 
    Last month, our son got married to a wonderful person.  Two years ago our daughter married a wonderful person.  And our family grew.  But is this all my family, the answer is a simple no.  So it again feigns the question, what is family. 
    The Bible says the following about family:
          1.  Family is a key concept both in a physical sense and in a theological sense. The concept of family was introduced in the very beginning, as we see in Genesis 1:28, "God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth..."
          2.  Family members look after each other in every situation.
          3.  The Bible has a more communal sense of people and family than is generally held in Western cultures today, where citizens are more individualized than people in the Middle East and definitely more so than the people of the ancient near East.
          4.  Through Jesus' ministry we see another and eternal definition of family.  Jesus' ministry, "He is making the clear theological point that in the Kingdom of Heaven, the most important family connection is spiritual, not physical.  This is a truth made explicitly clear in John's Gospel, when the evangelist says, Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13)."
    "So what does the Bible say about family? The physical family is the most important building block to human society, and as such, it should be nurtured and protected. But more important than that is the new creation that God is making in Christ, which is comprised of a spiritual family, the Church, made up of all people who call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. This is a family drawn "from every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9), and the defining characteristic of this spiritual family is love for one another: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35)."
    Again what is family.  I think the Bible is very clear we are all one family.  And if we are to really go back to the creation story then we all are related (although distant) through Adam and Eve.  I think we, as a world; have forgotten we are one family.  I feel it is time that we remember this and follow what God says and that is "to love one another."  Loving one another is not just words, to love we MUST have actions.  So the question I have for us all is do our actions meet our words?  I sure pray that my actions meet my words but I am sure that I fall short a whole lot of the time. 
     Thank you for reading my blog and being part of my family....
   
   



How Do I Know God Is Speaking To Me

 

 

How Do I Know God Is Speaking To Me?

 

 

    I was preparing this blog to be about family but over the last couple of weeks and especially this last week I have had to ask myself if God is speaking to us and if He is how do I know.   Let me give you a little perspective and history so that you will know why I have asked that question of how do I know if God is speaking to me.
    Six months ago I received an invitation to come to a country (to be named later in this blog).  The country is part of the battle that is going on in the region that God has called me to work in.  It is also a country that Christians are constantly being persecuted for their faith. When I got home and told my wife, she pretty quickly said she was comfortable with me going.  As the time has progressed and time for visa preparation, getting flights and planning Jeannine has gotten more apprehensive about my going.  All she asked was that I pray about it but that she doesn't want me to go. So I have been really searching the right answer. 
    So I have searched and this is what I have found out about what the Bible says about how God speaks to us:


1. Through the Word of God(2 Tim 3:16, Psalm 119:11, 105):This is the most clear and effective way of God’s communication with His people. If you want to know how things work perfectly, you need to read the manual. The Bible is God’s manual for His people. But as in case with other manuals, we often ignore the Bible. How often do we try everything else, but His word?
2. Through the inner still, small voice of Holy Spirit (Acts 11:12, Acts 13:2, Acts 16:6-7, 1 Kings 19:12, Isaiah 30:19-21)
3. Through the advice and counsel of the Men and the Women of God(Prov 12:15)
4. Through the Audible Voice of God (Acts 9:4-5)
5. Through Dreams  (Matthew 1:20-21) – There are many instances in the Bible, where God clearly communicates through dreams.
6. Through Visions (Acts 10:9-18)
7. Through Angels (Luke 1: 26-38) 
8. Through circumstances: However there is a danger of opening doors to Satan by letting mere circumstances dictate our lives. . So be wise and discerning with regards to your circumstances and expect God to speak to you through them.
9. By Inner Conviction and Peace: It is similar to the inner still, small voice of Holy Spirit.  God can give you deep conviction and inner peace about something.  (http://bibleseo.com/church/ways-god-speak-to-his-people/)

    Does God speak to us in all of the above.  Yes God does speak to us in the above methods.  But in this case of why I was searching for an answer because my wife asked me to.  So I did.  And in the end I cancelled the trip that was being planned. The reasons are simple:  see numbers 1, 2, 8, 9 and of course number 3. 

    Why do I share this?  It is because we all need to know when God speaks and HE DOES SPEAK!!!!