Recently the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night. I
cannot remember the last time He has done this. He woke me up with a dream, and
kept me up for the next two hours. In short the dream had to do with me lending
a hand to help a women in need. She needed some work done with fixing her roof.
It was then that the Lord begin to speak to me. I was shocked at what He had to say.
You see for the last several months I have been getting
pretty lose with how I speak to and reprimand my kids. While on our most recent
vacation it all came to a head. No matter how sternly I spoke to my kids, how
many times I spanked their butts, or how often they stood in the corner they
simply would not listen. After God woke me up in the night, He made it clear
that I had been going about this all wrong! You see I love my wife and kids. I
even pride myself in saying that I am a family man. Though how I was acting you
would not have been fooled. I had to repent for my behavior towards my wife and
kids. Why? because there was not love there! How can I expect to live in
Christ, and for Christ when I did not even show His love towards my wife and
kids?...
Let me try and share with you what God shared with me. It
starts in Matthew Chapter 6. After following God's leading to get out of the
military, and do it in/on faith, He gave me this verse to begin living out:
Mat 6:33 ESV But seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to
you.
For several months now I have been praying and seeking God
on what that means for me. How I live that out. Where and what does His kingdom
look like in my life? Trust me there has been a world of things that have come
to mind, but none have stuck. That is until He woke me up in the night!
God began to take me on a journey through His word, and
lead me to several things. One of which was to begin walking in love towards my
wife and kids. I must... it must start there!
Mar 12:28-34 ESV And one of the scribes came up and heard them
disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him,
"Which commandment is the most important of all?" (29) Jesus answered, "The
most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. (30) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
(31) The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (32) And the
scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he
is one, and there is no other besides him.
(33)
And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and
with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than
all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
(34)
And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom
of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more
questions.
God gave me the word to seek Him, His kingdom, and
righteousness first. We also know that He said to love God and others... what
is catching is that when we begin do to this He tells us that "You are
not far from the kingdom of God..." When God woke me up in the
night. He showed me that I was in fact not walking in love towards my own wife
and kids! WOW! what a word from God... right? If that will not wake up a person
I don’t know what will!
We all know what love looks like. It looks like Christ,
and Him crucified! If we dwell there for a moment, more will come into focus!...
Paul helps by writing what love is:
1Co 13:4-8a ESV Love is patient and kind; love does not envy
or boast; it is not arrogant (5) or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; (6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but
rejoices with the truth. (7) Love bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (8) Love never ends.
Yes we have all seen this before, and I am sure that we
have heard it preached from pulpit to pulpit, from wedding to wedding. But
let's keep this in light of what God is saying. That the kingdom of God is not
far when we love God, and when we love others! So how can we love others
"outside" of our family, when we have not loved our family first? How
can I teach and grow fellow believers, when I have lacked to teach my children?
How will my children learn to "love" like Christ, when they have not
seen His love in me?... What a gut check!!!
Christ also goes on to show us just what this means, and
how this kind of love should look like:
Joh 15:10-17 ESV If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and abide in his love. (11) These things I
have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
(12) "This is my commandment, that you
love one another as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has
no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (14) You are my friends if you do what I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I
have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (16) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that
whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (17) These things I command you, so
that you will love one another.
If we are called to love each other, friends, and
neighbors, then how much more are we to love our wife and kids?
We as men are called to be the head of our house! We are
to lead our family not only with words, but even more with deeds! We are to
teach our children in the ways of God, and we are to do that by showing them
with our actions!
God says this:
1Co 11:3 ESV But I want you to understand that the head of
every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ
is God.
To be the man of the house is much more than being the
boss! It is laying your life down at the feet of Jesus... daily! Taking up your
cross and following Him Luk_9:23! For there, and only there
can you see the love that He shared for you, and in turn begin to put Him on Rom_13:14, and begin to live in love
towards others!
Look at it like this how can I build my house without
Christ being the cornerstone Eph_2:20? He must be the rock on which I build my family! But none
of this can be done without love! When we begin to walk in a Christ love, we
(in His words) are not "far from the kingdom of God."
So let us all begin here:
Mat 6:6 ESV But when you pray,
go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Let us men, fathers, and husbands seek God with all of our
heart in the secret places. Where no one is looking. Where God can deal with
us, teach us, lead us, correct us.... love us.... For then and only then can we
begin to be the head of our own house (which He has graciously given us to look
after!). As our own house (and our actions towards them) come into alignment,
we can then know how to practice and operate in Christ love towards others
outside our family!!!!
Your Brother in Christ
Grace and Peace be with you
Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team
Member
And Jesus said to me:
Eze 3:10b-11a "...Receive into your heart all My words
that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get
to the captives..."
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