This message is primarily for Pastors and leaders that may or not be in full time ministry. Where do you spend most of your time? Do you spend most of your time working for money? Do you spend most of your time in ministry working, thinking that you are doing something for work? Some leaders spend all their time with their ministry that they neglect their families and then they end up getting divorce or their children often feel neglected. Don’t get me wrong, ministry work is good, and vital, and should take a very important part in a leader’s life, and even Jesus left His brothers and His mother outside, but sometimes in efforts of being shining lights to the world the most we neglect the very most important people in our lives and then their our home life suffers.
When you are trying to evangelize, and then your child comes to you asking you to pray for them, or maybe just to talk to them, do you turn them away and say that “No” I am too busy. I just watched the movie “COURAGEOUS” yesterday, and it showed how these fathers learned the lesson of how to be good parents in instilling the Godly authority upon their children’s lives. SPOILER ALERT: The main thing that got to me was that the father spent so much time at work, that he didn’t have enough time to spend with his daughter and then his daughter died and then he went through emotional grief.
We don’t want to get to that place where mothers and fathers neglect their time with their children, or husbands neglect their time with their wives or visa versa. It should be God first, family second, and ministry and/or work. The way it is for most people is work first, ministry second, God third, family last. Some people are in ministry and they haven’t sought the presence of God to dwell with them, that when they are in ministry they are just doing legalistic things, and things that just need to get done for the sake of evangelism. This can be very dangerous. If you have not repented and sought out God before you enter into ministry, and gotten into ministry, then it won’t matter if there is an interruption from your family members when you are going to minister because God’s presence will help you solve that problem when otherwise you would be operating out of your own flesh. We should never get into ministry work out of a sense of obligation. It should be a desire that dwells from the heart and something that comes from the inside that you are willing to lay down if God calls you to do something else and God has a way of interrupting plans. If you have this mode of “I have to do it this way” and “be stuck in this schedule”, then God has no way of operating through us because essentially His will has to remain dominant in us. We have to show Agape Love to people around us. Don’t get into the trap of obligation. You may have a purpose in fulfilling your ministry, but sometimes your primary purpose is to be a parent and instill values to your children so that when they have problems then they can go and depend on God. If you don’t have children, then the intimacy that you have with God first, and then your spouse should be expressed in the relationship and I’m not saying that to tell you what to do because I know any better, but I can say that I know what results from people who don’t spend enough time with their families. That’s what results in crime and violence, suicide, depression, and major problems because parents don’t spend enough time with their families and husbands and wives don’t spend time together realizing that this is a commitment that they have entered into for life. It’s sad to see that some people will never get beyond where they are because they refuse to see the things that are wrong in their lives and change, I’m preaching to myself on that one. Sometimes we see but there is so much of our own flesh in there and pride, that is not willing to subject to God and His ways and it all becomes about head knowledge and not a heart transformation. What we need is a real heart transformation from God and that is what can help us to determine priorities. As long as we don’t see the things that are dangerous and obstacles in our lives and the things that can become stumbling blocks, then the enemy will use our own weaknesses against us. That is why it is good to have a good prayer life.
The Bible says “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and the rest shall be added unto you.” That is His way of doing things and His way of entering into His Presence. He knows all the people’s needs. You may have so many people that you want to evangelize or minister to, but sometimes if you have someone with a broken heart at home, then you haven’t really listened to God about what is important. That’s why it is good for families to have a family altar, where they bring their needs and discussions before God, and discuss His Word and pray as a family so that they can grow closer together. That may be difficult to do when some of the members of the family are not saved yet, but the ones that are should be as living examples of the light of Christ in whatever the believers in the household do. Sometimes parents get tired of giving love to their kids especially when they are older, but as the movie COURAGEOUS talks about, the parents have to let the child know that they are adults. If you have a ministry and you want to encourage your children and your household to have the Presence of God on your lives, then I encourage you to have a family altar.
The Book of Joshua says, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” This is the meditation for today.
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