Joseph Prince - Does God Care About My Family?
This excerpt is from: God's Heart For Your Family (17 Oct 2021)
The Lord's been putting this on my heart for the past weeks, actually. And He's been speaking to me in different ways about family blessings and that's what He wants you to enjoy. The aspect of blessings pertaining to the family. And God wants this because it's a testimony in these end times. Praise the Lord! To the glory of God. When our families live in heavenly peace and in heavenly light. God wants you to have light in your dwellings. God wants you to enjoy light in your dwellings. And just like that darkness was supernatural back then, the light is supernatural. It is not a natural light of their own works. They did not produce that light. None of the children of Israel could produce that light, or even earn that light. Don't forget. At this point in time, they were still worshiping, many of them later on, it bears it out when Joshua told them: "You worship idols, even in Egypt". And many of them don't even know God the way they should. And they were in that place. Yet the Bible says: "All the children of Israel had light in their dwellings".
So church, I'm saying to you right now that God's going to bring that light into your dwelling! Get ready for it! Flow with it! Do we have a responsibility in this? Yes! Our responsibility is to believe and just get out of the way and let God bring light into your dwellings, light into your families, light into your marriage, light into your children. Amen. That they will see what God wants them to see and they'll not be blinded anymore. Praise the Lord. Light in their dwelling and this light is heavenly light, from the Father of lights. Hallelujah! Just like the darkness is supernatural, this light is supernatural light. Praise the Lord. We're going to live with supernatural light in these last days. Praise the name of Jesus! There'll be light in our dwellings. People that step into our house, they'll feel as if there's an atmosphere where they're less stressed and there's a peace that they can’t explain it...
Now we might be, we are living in a way that is not altogether godly or in a way that God wants us to. But even then, there's a light there that people can sense. There is a difference about you, child of God! Yes, and may that motivate us to even live for His glory! Live a life that is victorious. A life that will bear testimony that our God is good. Amen. And our Lord Jesus loves the people! Praise the Lord! Our lives should reflect that. Amen. "That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven". We all want that. Amen. We want to see our Father glorified. So the Lord says: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works". Amen. So the light produces the good works. That's the manifestation. Not dead works. A dead work is anything that you do to try to earn favor with God. No, no, no. That is not good work. That is a dead work. And the Bible says: "We've got to repent from dead works". No, the Bible talks about good works. A good work is an outflow of the life of Christ in us. Amen. As we cease, He starts. Amen. We need to flow with Him. And the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace.
Notice it is called fruit. Not the works, as in the works of the flesh. Why the works of the flesh? Because people are struggling with their efforts. And the result is the works of the flesh, which is adultery, variance, witchcraft, bitterness, hatred. But the fruit. Notice it is not the works of the Spirit It is the fruit of the Spirit. So works is the result of energy, effort. Amen. Fruit is the result of life. If you have the life of Christ, the fruit will be there. Expect it! Believe it! Amen. God wants our families saved. If they're not saved yet, if you have family members not saved yet, God really came strong on me to tell you: "Get your family saved". Praise the Lord. "Get your children saved". And men of the house, the head of the family is always the father and if the father is an unbeliever, of course, the mother will step in, in that role. But predominantly, God is speaking to the fathers. Amen. And the father is the determining factor for the salvation of the family.
Look at this in Genesis 7:1, "Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, You and all your household, your entire family. Because I have seen that you are righteous.’" Not his household! Notice God didn’t say: "I have seen that you and your household are righteous". But because of one man being righteous, his entire household is blessed. And God spoke to one man. What sweet words these are. "Noah come into the ark, you and your family. For you, I have seen righteous. You, I have seen righteous". Because of one man, the entire family is blessed. I want to say this to you. Men of God, fathers of the family, you are the leader of the house. Do you know your family today is blessed? Whatever blessings you see in your family, they are blessed. Yes, of course directly is the Lord Jesus Christ who did it, but the principle of God, God does not violate His principles, his ways. It's because of you. Because you are righteous. Amen.
You have received the Lord Jesus Christ and you follow God, praise the Lord. Your entire family's blessed. And God's heart is not just for one man's salvation, but for his entire family. God thinks generationally. When God blessed Abraham, God says: "I'll bless you and your seed. In you and your seed, all the nations will be blessed". Amen. And I know that Seed refers to Christ primarily, but in many other places, it also refers to your descendants. To Jacob, it was the same promise, right? "Your seed, your descendants will be blessed". Amen. All the way! Isaac, Jacob. And Jacob's 12 sons and the blessings went on to them. God's mind is always on blessing generationally. Amen. Generation after generation. Praise the Lord. So we got to think like God. What is holiness? Holiness is to think like God. Praise the Lord. It is to think like God. Love what He loves, hate what He hates. Flow with Him. Praise the Lord. And you are holy practically. We are all holy through Christ's death at the cross. And that is in terms of our position, who we are in Christ and how God sees us. But there is an outworking of it. And how do you do it? Thinking God's thoughts. Where do you find God's thoughts? In His Word. Amen.
So I'm sharing God's thoughts and the now word and this word in season for a time such as this. You say: "Where does it all start, Pastor? I want my family blessed. I want my children to have a heart for God, to always taste and see His goodness. I want them all saved". If they're not saved, then friends, start with this. There's a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus in the story of Joseph. The clearest picture of Jesus is actually Joseph. The story of Joseph. Now look at this. Joseph, our heavenly Joseph. Look at Genesis 39 over here. "Joseph found favor in his sight, his master's sight, and served him. Then his master made Joseph overseer of his house. And all that he had, he put under his authority". So because Joseph is the clearest picture of Jesus, I believe God is telling us something here about family blessings. God says: "If you want your family to be blessed, then put everything into Joseph's hand".
In our case, our heavenly Joseph, our Lord Jesus Christ. Put everything, everything about your family, your children, name them one by one. The best thing you can do for your children is to pray for them on a daily basis. Pray for them! That's the greatest thing because what you cannot do as a man, as a father, God can do. Pray for them. God hears the prayers for our children because children are very close to His heart. Pray for your spouse. Things that you cannot resolve on your own. Pray! Pray. Amen. God can drop the revelation. God can open up their hearts. God can move away all the obstacles. Only God can make the crooked places straight. Pray. Amen. You have influence with God! Don't just say: "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ" and don't pray because why be all dressed up and have nowhere to go. You are dressed in righteousness, so that you can have influence with God. You can pray and God will move heaven and earth for you. Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus. Amen.
So put everything in your heavenly Joseph's hand. The next thing, notice the result. "So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake;" We can say the Lord blessed, you and put your name right there. "Joseph Prince's house". Amen. "For Jesus' sake". Hallelujah. "And the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field". That speaks of your career or whatever you undertake. "The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field". May this be true for you. Amen.
My friend, let's pray! Let's pray for our loved ones. Let's pray for our little ones. Let's pray for our spouse. Let's pray for our entire family. Let's pray for our church. Let's pray for our nation. Let's pray because God moves when we pray. Pray this prayer from your heart right now, child of God. If you're a father and you feel inadequate, you feel like: "Pastor, you've just put a burden on my heart". That’s not God's purpose. You know that: "My yoke is easy". Jesus said: "My burden is light". If God is telling us to become the head of a household, that means He has given us the grace and the anointing to do it. Amen. So just pray this right now and put everything in Jesus’ hands, will you? Go ahead, say:
Lord Jesus, I place my children, every single one of them and I place my spouse into Your loving hands. Thank you Lord Jesus. You are my heavenly Joseph. I thank You that right now, from this time forth, they are blessed and I will not take back the worry and care over them because I know they are in Your hands. If the devil tries to bring in worry and care into my heart in the future, I'll just remember this prayer that I prayed right now. And Lord, they are safe in Your hands. They are blessed in Your hands and from this time forth, I thank You that all that I have in the house and in my career, in my ministry is blessed in Jesus’ name. Amen.